11,729 stories by "Trav S.d."
Herewith, a literal 11th hour post on stage and screen actress Dorothy Peterson (Bergetta Peterson, 1897-1979), who played the mother in the Five Little Peppers movies (1939-1940) and was in…
When former Saturday Night Live cast member Tony Rosato (b. 1954) died in early January 2017, I recall observing it on social media, but not here. A split second of reflection jogged my memo…
Jerry Austin (Jerry Albro, 1892-1976), was often billed as "Little Jerry" on stage and screen, for he stood 3'6″ in adulthood. Born in Odessa, he is known to have appeared in Michael S…
Good news for those who will have eons of time to kill over the holiday weekend " I'm the guest on this week's episode of the Jobsolete podcast. Now here's something wild " I was interviewed…
Scarcely more than a dozen years and 40 film performances comprised the screen career of Jean Brooks (Ruby Kelly, 1915-1963), but today she is regarded as something of a Goth icon and pionee…
Wow! Lucie Arnaz was right, after all " Nicole Kidman turned out to be an excellent casting choice for the part of Lucille Ball in Aaron Sorkin's Being the Ricardos. It shouldn't have shocke…
I just learned of the passing of Steve Trimboli (Stephen Paul Trimboli), reportedly of a massive stroke on the night before Thanksgiving. We weren't friends IRL (just social media), and I me…
December 21 was the birthday of theatre impresario Arthur Hammerstein (1872-1955). What with our vaudeville goggles on, we have given Arthur short shrift, having written mostly about the fat…
Good news (for me) ! Starting January 1, the content on Travalanche (over 6000 posts, including over 2000 profiles of historical variety performers, greater than any similar resource) is goi…
We watched Shoot Me, the 2013 documentary about Elaine Stritch (1925-2014) recently, and my main takeaway from the film was "How could anyone abide that wretched woman? WHY would anyone? For…
Some words of appreciation today for the great French singer and national symbol Edith Piaf (Édith Giovanna Gassion, 1915-1963). "Piaf" was a stage name " it is French for "Sparrow". The…
Two generations of Burrows conquered a huge swath of American show biz between them: radio, Broadway and television, with some dabbling in the recording industry and films. The founder and f…
Happy National Twins Day! Travalanche has long had a special section devoted to conjoined twins " we now have amassed enough posts on the more common sort of twins to justify their own categ…
No, shame on YOU, Spade Cooley! "Spade" was western swing fiddle player and band leader Donnell Clyde Cooley (1910-1969). The native Oklahoman was part Cherokee; his folks were sharecroppers…
The Montague Brothers were a strong man act of the British music hall in the early 20th century. Their real last name was Woollaston; their father owned a shoe factory, was a Methodist preac…
My wife and I have been binging Seinfeld re-runs for the sheer pleasure of it in recent weeks and I caught a "Farfel" reference in one not long ago. Of course, the origin of that name is a J…
Great was our enjoyment, occasionally swelling to awe, of Showtime's The Real Charlie Chaplin, which we mentioned here a few days ago. Directors Peter Middleton and James Spinney pulled off …
…And by that I mean of course, not just the period in which she wrote but the need to restore Aphra Behn (1640-1689) to her rightful place in the hierarchy of English writers. I'm uncertai…
Norman Foster (Norman Foster Hoeffer, 1903-1976) was one of the rare ones who worked in Hollywood as an actor, screenwriter and director " all three " during the talkie era. If that sounds W…
Grateful homage today to Margo Jones (Margaret Virginia Jones, 1911-1955), whose contributions to American culture were significant and real, though they are often badly articulated and misu…
Today, two weeks out from Christmas, you've no doubt heard the most lasting hit of Brenda Lee (Brenda Mae Tarpley, b. 1944) several times already, as America does every year. "Rockin' Around…
Well, I don't get Showtime, and I don't know anyone who does, but periodically they show something that makes me wish I did. Tonight they premiere a program called The Real Charlie Chaplin. …
A few words today on a Scottish strongman born in Banff as William Bankier (1870-1949). Bankier's father was, of all things, a hand loom weaver, an occupation that can hardly have been remun…
This may come as news to many of you below a certain age, but some of us had not one, but two Hermiones in our lives prior to the 1997 publication of Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone.…
The internet possesses no shortage of gushing, enthusiastic blogger valentines to the great actor Lee J. Cobb (1911-1976) and that's as it should be. So I'm not going to dwell on Cobb's exce…
