11,508 stories by "Trav S.D."
May 25 is National Wine Day. Here on Travalanche we have something of an Americana fixation, and that would appear to rule out wine, at first blush (see what I did there?). In the realm of i…
Today we celebrate a comedian so great that he has transcended having the same name as the psycho killer from Halloween. To date, there have been well over 150 regular cast members on Saturd…
So many of the classic comedy directors are fairly anonymous as compared with the comedians they helped make look good. I checked myself from using the word "great" with reference to Charles…
May 25 was the birthday of Dixie Carter (1939-2010). That's actually her name! (Not a nickname). I happened to acquire a copy of her 1996 autobiography Trying to Get to Heaven, a hodgepodge …
Not only was there a Montgomery and Stone back in the day but there was also a Montgomery and Rock! And believe it or not, I can keep it all straight! We've already written about Joe Rock an…
Congratulations to Travalanche friend Tamara Rose of Transcendental Concord, recently elected to the board of the Margaret Fuller Society. Margaret Fuller (1810-1850) was a remarkable Americ…
1985 was the year Marine Corps vet Drew Carey (b. 1958) started writing jokes for a local Cleveland radio station. His stand-up grew out of that. By 1988 he had made it onto Star Search, and…
Imagine if you can (I have a hard time doing so) a world in which an introverted nerd can bag eight wives, including Lana Turner, Ava Gardner, and Evelyn Keyes, and date the likes of Betty G…
Tribute today to actor John Payne (John Howard Payne, 1912-1989). While he has around 100 screen credits, Payne will probably always be best remembered for his role as the anti-feminist nood…
May 23 was the birthday of Harlem singer, dancer and showgirl Isabel Washington (1908-2007). The younger sister of Fredi Washington, Isabel followed her sister from Georgia up to Harlem to j…
Those of us of a certain age remember Johnny Olson (1910-85) from his last gig as the announcer on The Price is Right, from 1972 until his passing. Come to think of it, I remember his voice …
Our recent viewing of Lucy Worsley's latest BBC doc Holmes vs. Doyle (2023) awakened my longstanding desire to add a post here on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) that went beyond Sherlock…
If there were a dating app to match theatre-goers with shows, any successful software would have paired me up with The End of All Flesh, the new bluegrass musical by Greg Kotis, Tony-winning…
I've done a couple of posts to date on Hollywood star James Stewart (1908-1997) and several others that mention him, but none that encompass his whole story, so I thought I'd tackle that tod…
This year National Unicycle Day falls on May 18, and we want to use the opportunity to plug the King Charles Troupe! The unique Bronx based troupe can trace its origins to 1918 when Jerry Ki…
This may seem an odd thing for an online blogger to say, but at this moment in history the most constructive acts of affirmative dissent against encroaching techno-autocracy will take place …
Somewhat late in the game for us to shine a light on a silent comedy figure as significant as Natalie Kingston (Natalia Ringstrom, 1905-1991), but these things happen. Though her father's su…
As a kind of private joke, whenever I listen to the old Searchers' tune "Needles and Pins", I likes to change the titular refrain "Needles and Pins-uh" into "Ezio Pinz-a". To those young 'un…
How sweet it is that International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia (IDAHOBIT) falls on the birthday of playwright Ronald Tavel (1936-2009). Tavel is an important figure in 2…
As promised in yesterday's post on Margaret Sullavan, today a look at her posthumous son-in-law Dennis Hopper (1936-2010). Only time and distance have allowed us to see Hopper for the great …
May 16 was the birthday of Margaret Sullavan (1909-1960), an actress of great significance, remembered today only by classic movie buffs, and only a fraction of those, for her films are few …
May 15 being the birthday of author L. Frank Baum, we thought today would be an appropriate time to create a finding aid for our dozens of posts related to my favorite childhood author and t…
May 14 is the baptismal day of the painter Thomas Gainsborough (1727-1788), best known as the creator of The Blue Boy (1770), which ranks with the Mona Lisa, The Last Supper, The Creation of…
Thanks to Sapphira for reminding me that May 14 was the birthday of the great Scottish music hall star Arthur Lloyd (1839-1904). While apparently unrelated to Marie Lloyd, Alice Lloyd, Daisy…
May 14 was the birthday of the great comedy foil Del Moore (Marion Delbridge Moore, 1916-1970). Moore completes a triad of comedy Dels that also includes Del Lord, who directed the Three Sto…
