11,698 stories by "Trav S.D."
The Happiest of birthdays to Penn Jillette (b. 1955) who enters his seventh decade today. My previous Penn and Teller post was published on Teller's birthday, because he was the one I got to…
I first encountered Gladys Leslie (Gladys Leslie Moore, 1899-1976) as Houdini's leading lady in Haldane of the Secret Service (1923). Though she was a star in her own day, Haldane was to be …
March 5 is the birthday of lady magician Suzy Wandas (Jeanne Van Dyke, 1896-1986). Suzy was a second generation conjurer, born and raised in Belgium to a husband-wife variety team. Her initi…
I first learned about mentalist Washington Irving Bishop (1855-1889) many decades ago from Ricky Jay's indispensable Learned Pigs and Fireproof Women. Born in New York City (plainly to fans …
On the Saturday Night Live 50th anniversary special the other night, one participant you might not have noticed (for he was seated in the audience, and at 5'2″ is easy to miss) was for…
Believe it or not I actually know where I was " not because it was a major trauma for me, but because it was when I first took note of the name in the first place. Cookie Mueller (Dorothy Ka…
Today marks the 125th anniversary of the birth Kurt Weill (1900-1950). (I sure love his music, but pictures of him always make me think he would have been good in the lead role in M. This wa…
March 1, 1925 was the release date of the silent comedy/adventure Too Many Kisses, which contains the earliest extant footage of a Marx Brother prior to the release of The Coc…
Born 100 years ago today, the man who brought the Beats together Lucien Carr (1925-2005). (Confusingly, this important figure has nothing to do with either Lucien Truscott IV or C. Carr, who…
We love to share the lives of remarkable people here on Travalanche " on rare occasion they're still alive! So it is with Diane Kiesel, a New York Supreme Court Justice for almost 20 years, …
Marian Anderson (1897-1993) retired the year I was born (1965) but she continued to be widely revered as an American institution long afterward. Anderson reigned as something like America's …
We wake to the sad news of Gene Hackman's passing, along with wife Betsy Arakawa, and their dog. All sources are vague about the manner of death. The police say they don't suspect foul play,…
Great fun at the Zeppo Marx birthday at the Algonquin Hotel last night, sponsored by the Al Hirschfeld Foundation, all in celebration of Robert Bader's new biography Zeppo: The Reluctant Mar…
For the Great One's birthday, a navigational aid to our many posts about, or relevant to, the comedian. Some additional posts, about particular films that Gleason appeared in, are planned. O…
Well, now! This isn't the post I was expecting to write about Carrot Top (Scott Thompson, b. 1965) at all. To be honest, until recently I'd really only known about Carrot Top second hand, mo…
It's been so long (over four years) since I'd posted in the "Forgotten Shows of My Nonage" section of Travalanche that I'd almost forgotten that it existed. In fact, I may have forgotten " I…
Born 100 years ago today, character actor Bert Remsen (Herbert Remsen, 1925-1999). Like many, I became aware of Remsen as a devotee of Robert Altman; he was a key member of Altman's cinemati…
Though he directed nearly 200 movies, some of them enduringly famous, we have had but one occasion to mention director Richard Thorpe (1896-1991) thus far on Travalanche. He was the second d…
"I dig my father. I wish he could open his eyes and dig me." " Peter Fonda (1940-2019). It seems significant that Peter Fonda came into the world at around the same time audiences were watch…
February 23, 1965 was the day on which Stan Laurel (Stanley Jefferson, b. 1890), best known as one half of the comedy team of Laurel and Hardy, made his way toward the Pearly Gates. In a way…
Thanks Eve Golden, Daughter of Three Gods (Hermes, Aphrodite, and Thanatos) for relating the sad news of the passing Lynne Marie Stewart (1946-2025), best known as Miss Yvonne (The Most Beau…
World Sword Swallowers Day happens every year for the last Saturday in February. It falls a little early this year. We hope you will use the opportunity to peruse the Travalanche Sword Swall…
Born 100 years ago today: illustrator, author, designer Edward Gorey (1925-2000). While primarily celebrated for his book illustrations, Gorey did cross over into stage and screen success br…
Born 100 years ago today, Hollywood's original poet of violence, Sam Peckinpah (1922-1984). I reckon it was always forgone that Peckinpah would not live to see this day. The man consumed vas…
Founded 100 years ago today, that seminal American organ of taste, craft, wisdom, and discernment (and almost always several good laughs), The New Yorker. The New Yorker was the innovative b…
