11,746 stories by "Trav S.d."
Susan and Lloyd Ecker’s terrific new film The Outrageous Sophie Tucker opens in New York tomorrow. Read my review here in Chelsea Now: http://chelseanow.com/2015/07/outrageous…
Today is the birthday (according to IMDB) of Rufus LeMaire (Rufus Ralph Goldstick, 1895-1950). LeMaire was from a family of brothers who all made a mark in show business; we have previously …
Today is the birthday of Red Skelton (for my full bio on the 20th century comedian go here). I thought I would take the occasion to enhance the Skelton presence on Travalanche by talking abo…
Filed under: BROOKLYN, Coney Island, Contemporary Variety, Magicians/ Mind Readers/ Quick Change, PLUGS Tagged: Coney Island, Magic at Coney
Thanks, talented actress friend Alyssa Simon, for alerting me to the fact that through August 26, August Wilson’s entire ten play Pittsburgh cycle will be available in free radio versi…
Yes, James Cagney was in westerns. Okay, go ahead and laugh — I can’t hear you! And Cagney definitely can’t hear you.  Yes, Cagney was primarily associated with ga…
This weekend, as part of their month long Essential John Ford series, the American Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria, Queens will be showing three Ford western classics. In the line-up (…
All credit to the Mad Marchioness for being the one to unearth this a couple of years ago. It being Barbara Stanwyck’s birthday, I thought it would be a good time to share it. In 1980,…
Today is the birthday of Barbara Stanwyck (1907-1990). Over her 60 year career, Stanwyck played in every conceivable kind of picture, including some very funny comedies (The Lady Eve, Ball o…
Tonight on TCM: a selection of films from John Wayne’s mature period. Late phase Duke is an interesting phenomenon. He stuck out like a dodo in the Hollywood of the liberal 1970s. He w…
Well, your correspondent just seems to have his finger on the pulse, doesn’t he? I was already planning this post about indie cinema from the 80s, when the Mad Marchioness tipped…
Today is the birthday of ill-fated actress Martha Mansfield (Martha Ehrlich, 1899-1923) Thanks to BronxDawn of Woodlawn Cemetery for making me acquainted with her story during my recent fiel…
The following is an excerpt from my 2013 book  Chain of Fools: Silent Comedy and Its Legacies from Nickelodeons to Youtube, published by Bear Manor Media, available from Amazo…
Tonight (tomorrow morning, actually) at 12:45 a.m. (EST) on Turner Classic Movies: William Wellman’s Westward, the Women (1951). This fairly amazing movie depicts the journey…
Today is the birthday of Toby Wing (Martha Virginia Wing, 1915-2001). The child of an assistant director at Paramount, she and her sister Pat began getting roles in silent films in 1924. The…
Visiting the progeny in Burlington, Vermont over the weekend we were privileged to have the opportunity to spend some time at the nearby Shelburne Museum on Saturday. Founded by Electr…
Today is the 100th anniversary of the release date of the Charlie Chaplin short A Woman (1915). In this Essanay comedy, Chaplin plays his usual park masher, who ends up coming home wit…
Tonight on Turner Classic Movies from 8pm-Midnight (Eastern), a variety of vintage film shorts, including Robert Benchley’s 1935 gem How to Sleep, and a bunch of Pete Smith Specialt…
Today is the birthday of screenwriter and director Edward Bernds (1905-2000). Bernds got in on the ground floor of professional radio broadcasting as a teenager in his native Chicago. When t…
Today on TCM at high noon (EST), the terrific 1955 Anthony Mann western The Man from Laramie. (Warning: we always include spoilers). Jimmy Stewart plays the title character, a f…
Well, it’s a banner day here at Travalanche. A little before 9am this morning we watched with pleasure as our number of accumulated pageviews topped one million. Thank you, readers!…
The unbelievable tale of the chucklehead and his charger set the internet abuzz over the past few days, especially amongst my set in the theatre world, as you can imagine. Just to be a crank…
How’s this for a spaz? I went to that whole launch for Spaz Comics the other day and it wasn’t until last night that I actually thought to open a copy and read it! So now I can r…
Tonight on Turner Classic Movies at 8pm (EST): John Ford’s She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949) This is the second film of Ford's so-called Cavalry Trilogy. To me, the human drama is les…
To misappropriate Ko-Ko: “I’ve got a little listicle.” There’s nothing objective about this list. It’s not THE top vaudevillians, but MY top vaudevillians, my f…
