11,727 stories by "Trav S.d."
Born 100 years ago today, the giant of 20th century French mime Marcel Marceau (Marcel Mangel, 1923-2007). Now, it probably won't surprise you to learn that the born-again Francophilia I kee…
It's World Puppetry Day! We haven't written tons of puppetry per se to date on Travalanche; our "Ventriloquism and Puppetry" section is overwhelmingly lop-sided in favor of ventriloquism, al…
This post comes to you through the courtesy of the fact that March 21 is the birthday of Florenz Ziegfeld, and that I happen to be working on a book called Vaudeville in Your Living Room: A …
Okay, this is our second post today for French Language Day (here's the first). I'm just kind of in that place, I must tell you bluntly, it's not likely to wane at any time before I die. In …
It's been a while since I've trotted out my Trav S.D. Theme Song, as its been a while since I've performed anything, what with all manner of ills befalling our nation since, oh, I'll pluck t…
This will be a telescopic post: about my own times, but also (by way of a stimulated imagination), all of human history as well. Most probably The Book of Lists (1977) will require no introd…
March 19 was the natal day of James Otis Kaler, pen name "James Otis" (1848-1912), author of some 200 books for young people, most notably (and relevantly, to us) Toby Tyler, or Ten Weeks in…
March 18 was the birthday of burlesque performer and producer Mollie Williams (Mollie Hersh, 1884-1854). Williams was the daughter of German-Jewish immigrants, and raised in New York, where …
And now a brief encounter with Russian-American dancer, actress and choreographer Tamara Geva (1906-1997). Geva was the first wife of George Balanchine and a principal member of his first ba…
Happy St. Patrick's Day! Here's a wee post to add to our over 270 Irish and Irish-American artists profiled on Travalanche. I first became aware of the team of Conroy and Fox during my recen…
We will divide our readership into two mutually hostile camps by announcing the inauguration of the new Jerry Lewis section of Travalanche! (Haha, yes, we make all the Jerry Lewis people sit…
Of the many important American exponents of the Stanislavki Method (Lee Strasberg, Harold Clurman, Stella Adler, Elia Kazan, Sanford Meisner) one who seems never to the forefront of people's…
More crazy news: Sylvester Stewart a.k.a. Sly Stone (b.1943) turns 80 years old today. It seems a good reason to shine a spotlight on him for that reason, as does the less happy benchmark th…
Now, here is a remarkable family with a persistent gene for albinism which they put to good pecuniary use. The husband billed himself as Rob Roy, after the Scottish hero, though he later adm…
Yow! I almost found out too late that today marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of Diane Arbus (Diane Nemerov (1923-1971)! It's pronounced "Dee-ann", by the way. It's rare for us to wri…
I very much hope to get a chance at a second edition of No Applause at some point. In addition to correcting the spelling of Bud Abbott's name, and a small handful of other imperfections, I'…
Today (3.14) is joshingly celebrated now as Pi Day (as distinct from Pie Day) and we thought we would take the opportunity to point out the tiny number (ha, I said "number") of mathematician…
There were only a handful of books about the history of vaudeville that were written prior to mine; perhaps a dozen that were of any consequence. Naturally, they all became secondary sources…
Jesse "Lone Cat" Fuller (1896-1976) was a legendary San Francisco based folk-blues act from the 1950s through the end of his life. I first learned about him as an influence on Bob Dylan; he …
A celebration today of burlesque dancer and actress Angelique Pettyjohn (Dorothy Lee Perrins, 1943-1992). Most of Angelique's screen roles echoed her live performing career as an exotic danc…
I'd certainly heard about New York's famous Stork Club all my life, but learned more than I ever knew I had any use for in the year 2000, when I was working at the New-York Historical Societ…
Let's establish one thing coming out of the starting gate: Mickey Spillane (Frank Morrison Spillane, 1918-2006) was not a good writer. You may see him in Hemingway-esque photographic poses, …
Director Frank Borzage (1894-1962) may be best known to classic film buffs for his sound films, such as the Oscar winning Bad Girl (1931) with Sally Eilers, A Farewell to Arms (1932), the Jo…
Last month I contemplated doing some sort of Black History listicle showcasing black artists who meant a lot to me personally. But I quickly gave it up as a bad job, because it was silly and…
Today is the natal day of the unfortunate Lou Costello. It is one of my chief joys in my life to bait his admirers here on Travalanche and watch them blow their stacks, and toward that end t…
