I'm not sure how long it would have taken me to do a post on Joe Pesci (let alone Frank Vincent) if I hadn't learned about their wonderful early years. After all, to date, I have not yet don…
I first became aware of Robert Dennis "Woody" Woodbury (b. 1924) from his rather protracted and oddly prominent performance in the 1964 youth film For Those Who Think Young. Though he plays …
I'm not sure how I missed the memo, but I'm wasting no time in sharing it with YOU. Almost exactly ten years ago, a kind conservator at the Smithsonian named Dawn Rogala put me up in her Was…
Today is Burt Mustin's birthday but the odds are quite good that I'll never be doing a post on him. The main reason for this is that a number of years ago, someone said to me "How about doin…
I think it's safe to say that there aren't any other show biz careers like that of Keefe Brasselle (1923-1981). By that I don't mean he was at the top, but that he made his own journey, one …
Russell Gleason (1908-1945) was a minor but well-known Hollywood figure in his time; you'd think his shocking death would be a better known tale. He was the son of the famous husband-wife ac…
In 1884, a man advertised that he would walk a tight rope suspended between the roofs of two buildings on opposite sides of the main street in Corsicana, Texas, some 20 or 30 feet in the air…
Criswell predicts that not many of my compadres will be celebrating this particular day, even if they knew it was upon us. The first issue of Reader's Digest was published on February 5, 192…
Were she not untimely taken from us, ventriloquist Angela Martin (Angel Mignanelli, 1942-2004) would be turning 80 today. Martin was a child prodigy from Astoria, Queens. She was still a twe…
I first became aware of Agnes "Aggie" Herring (1876-1939) from her key role in Harold Lloyd's Among Those Present (1921) as the society dame mother of the girl Harold is courting, and from s…
A few days ago I got a couple of related but separate news bulletins from Undercrank Productions. Their latest DVD/Blu-ray release Zander the Great (1925) dropped on Tuesday; and a day or tw…
Having long been familiar with Edmund Goulding's original 1947 Nightmare Alley, and recently read William Lindsay Gresham's original 1946 novel, my reaction to Guillermo del Toro's recent re…
Sure, February 2 is Groundhog Day but it also happens to be National Ukulele Day, and for reasons that should be obvious, that will always take precedence where I live. I had planning on per…
Very excited to report that Jim Moore's gorgeous new photography book Don't Miss This: A Decade of Eccentric Performing Arts Photography is now available to purchase in pre-sales! Don't Miss…
A few months ago, I was laid up with a bad back and you know how when you're unwell and immobile you'll watch anything, because well you HAVE to? So I found myself watching Atlantis: The Los…
"Chief" Willie Bowlegs (1896-1964) was a sword swallower, alligator wrestler, knife thrower and juggler from the Everglades of Florida. A full-blooded Seminole, he was named in apparent homa…
I first became aware of David Wayne (Wayne James McMeekan, 1914-95) from his role as Jim Hutton's dad on the very fun mystery series Ellery Queen (1975-76). Over the years I caught him in do…
Say hello to the 1,702nd vaudeville performer we have written about on Travalanche. Toby Claude (Harriette Mary Kavanaugh, 1877-1962) was the Dublin-born daughter of English burlesque perfor…
In the mid '80s, I was briefly diverted by the charmless charms of a low-budget independent horror movie called Mother's Day (1980). I am not ordinarily a fan of graphic horror, nor was I th…
It's always amused me that though Howard McNear (1905-1969) was a key member of the ensemble on The Andy Griffin Show from 1961 to 1967 he did not play Howard. That was Jack Dodson. McNear w…
The first William Redfield (1927-1976) performances I ever saw were among his last (and I figure my experience is not unusual). He was the persnickety "Harding" in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's…
Fragments this morning on a vaudeville couple. I'm uncertain how I became aware of them " most likely from movie comedies in which they played supporting parts. May Milloy (1875-1967) was fr…
I don't write today to celebrate the person in the title of this post per se. Ray Stevens (b. 1939) left the American mainstream 40 years ago and for at least half that time he has devoted h…
A few words today in celebration of the great instrumentalist Django Reinhardt (Jean Reinhardt, 1910-1953). Not only has the word "legend" been overused in show business, so has the phrase "…
January 23 is National Pie Day, and so I thought I would, rather grudgingly, address a topic that may be of some interest to some classic comedy fans, and one I have sort of danced around in…