11,723 stories by "Trav S.d."
Today’s new Travalanche posts for May 7, 2026 are about hypnotist Pat Collins and stage and screen actress May Cloy. Earlier Travalanche posts for May 7 (in no particular order) include on…
Her name sounds like a warning label on a bottle of floral perfume — or maybe one of her movies, but May Cloy (Mabel Larsen, 1880-1977) went by it anyhow. We’ve just been able to find so…
May 7 was the birthday of glamorous lady hypnotist Pat Collins (1935-1997). Collins was well paid for her specialty, even ran her own Hollywood club, and was featured in movies and on televi…
Today’s new Travalanche posts for May 6, 2026 are about the late Ted Turner, and the much later June Gittelson. For No Diet Day: The Travalanche Hall of Plus-Sized Comedians Earlier Traval…
Well, I was about to leave it at one blogpost today and give myself a break but this one is too big to ignore. Ted Turner (1938-2026) has passed away at the age of 87. Younger folks may not …
By some mischievous quirk of fate, character actress June Gittelson (1910-1993) was born on May 6, International No Diet Day, which was designed to promote body positivity, of which we stron…
Today’s new Travalanche posts for May 5, 2026 are about kiddie star impresario Ethel Meglin and comedian Sandy Baron. Also Happy Cinco de Mayo to those who celebrate. In observance of whic…
I noticed to my delight yesterday that I passed 10,000 blogposts a few days ago. Atsa lotta posts, boss. I’ll be truthful with you, I’ve done all this much more because I want to learn t…
May 5 was the birthday of Ethel Meglin (Ethel Marie Redman, 1890-1988), Hollywood’s top kiddie act impresario during the Golden Years. To the best of my knowledge, this is the most thoroug…
Today’s new Travalanche posts for May 4, 2026 are about Orange Julius, Frederic Church, and Jim Moore’s all-star variety show tonight. How’s that for a crazy bill of fare? And May the …
Born 200 years ago today, the great American landscape painter Frederic Church (1826-1900). I developed an appreciation of this important American artist and his fellows of the Hudson River …
Happy 80th Birthday to Jim R. Moore, the best friend the contemporary variety arts scene in New York has had, as just about anyone will tell you. Jim has chronicled circus, burlesque, sidesh…
May the 4th may be popularly observed far and wide as Star Wars Day, but there are some who use the date to celebrate something closer to our own galaxy: it’s also Orange Juice Day. We tho…
Today’s new Travalanche posts for May 3, 2026 are about Ann B. Davis, and a tremendous resource created by an alum of the American Vaudeville Theatre. Earlier Travalanche posts for May 3 (…
May 3 is World Press Freedom Day and I thought of the perfect way to mark it. I want to point you toward a beacon of clarity, truth, and that rarest of all things in today’s media landscap…
Born 100 years ago today, a much beloved and missed American icon, Ann B. Davis (1926-2014). Davis is interesting for many reasons, among them that she is almost entirely known for just TWO …
Today’s new Travalanche post for May 2, 2026 is about Lorenz Hart and the recent bio-pic Blue Moon. And since it’s Kentucky Derby Day, this little post about on and around horse racing. …
May 2 was the birthday of genius Broadway and Hollywood lyricist Lorenz Hart (1895-1943), best known for his 25 year songwriting partnership with Richard Rodgers. I wrote about the pair as a…
Today’s new Travalanche posts for May 1, 2026 are about: Joy Harmon, Sylvia Gerrish, and The Tennessee Centennial and International Exposition. And several posts for May Day: peruse the s…
Today we tie up one of the few remaining loose ends from our recent excursion to our ancestral Southern homelands (as reported in this series of posts). May 1, 1897 was opening day of the Th…
A few words on a star of old who fell on hard times, Sylvia Gerrish (Lillian Rollins, 1860-1906). Gerrish was a native San Franciscan; her parents were Mainers drawn to the west coast by the…
I was already planning a post on Joy Harmon (1938-2026), probably because she was in beach party and other teen oriented movies in the 1960s, and perhaps I had confused her in my head with J…
Today’s new Travalanche posts for April 30, 2026 are about Gary Collins, William H. Crane, and the Till Marionettes Today we also celebrate: Walpurgisnacht and the Witches of Travalanche a…
At this juncture, I feel the need to reorient my attitude toward TV personality Gary Collins (1938-2012). Is it a fit subject for worry? I reckon not. At any rate, I always found him likable…
William H. Crane (1845-1928) had a long career in the theatre, but is best known to us today from the handful of silent motion pictures he made during the last years of his life, a couple of…
