11,837 stories from Trav S.D.
A brief look today at Larry Fine (Louis Feinberg, 1902-1975), today known almost exclusively as the vaguely catatonic member of the Three Stooges with the Brillo pad on his head. Larry is of…
The Bell Sisters, like the Clooney Sisters, were originally from Kentucky. The duo consisted of Cynthia (b. 1935) and Kay (b. 1940. Their given name was Strother; Bell was their mother's mai…
Happy Buster Keaton's birthday! This year marks some significant Keaton anniversaries: it's a century since he began directing and starring in his own feature-length comedies. We thought we'…
Born 100 years ago today, actress, performer and politician Faith Dane (1923-2020) Born in Brooklyn, Dane started out as a Broadway chorus girl in her early 20s. She was in Sadie Thompson, t…
You could make such a great bio-pic of the life of Eddie Cochran (1938-1960); the one I imagine would have the same title as this post. Why Hollywood never made such a picture (though there …
I have multiple reasons for being excited about Ileana Douglas's new book Connecticut in the Movies: From Dream Houses to Dark Suburbia, which is being released today. One is the author, who…
Trav S.D.'s Variety Store puts the ha-ha in Halloween this month with a lycanthropic line-up that includes the contortionist The Amazing Amy, not so scary clown Becca Bernard, and a tribute …
Happy Groucho Marx's birthday! There is never a time when Groucho's name is NOT out there flitting around the culture like a medfly ("gadfly" was already taken), but we seem to be in a heati…
You just THINK I don't write about ballet dancers here; in point of fact, I've written about at least a dozen and a half of them, mostly due to their connections to vaudeville or silent film…
I first learned about Michael Strange (Blanche Oelrichs, 1890-1950) as the second wife of John Barrymore and the mother of Diana Barrymore, but she's way more fascinating than that. fascinat…
Max Morath (1926-2023) would have been 97 today; he passed away just three months ago. Morath was both an entertainer and an educator, and definitely a crucial figure linking the original ra…
"Fatso Marco" Marcella (1906-1962) was a 300 lb. comedian best known as a regular cast member on The Texaco Star Theatre with Milton Berle. Marcella appeared in vaudeville, burlesque, minstr…
How crazy perfect is it that Tony Darrow (Anthony Borgese, b. 1938) shares a birthday with Fatso Marco Marcella? They could share a nice torta di compleanno. Or perhaps squabble over who it …
A special treat to celebrate National Podcast Day " a treat for me, anyway. I had the honor and pleasure of talking with show biz biographer Eve Golden this week about her new book Strictly …
Happy National Podcast Day! In honor of the day, I've done a little round-up of some of my more recent (i.e., post-Covid) podcast appearances for your delectation. (And please stay tuned for…
We have two reasons for selecting this birthday on which to celebrate comic actress Fran Drescher (b. 1957). The first will be obvious to anyone who has followed the news. As the President o…
Born 100 years ago today composer, singer and pianist Donald Swann (1923-1995). Together with lyricist, singer, and monologist Michael Flanders (1922-1975) he formed the English songwriting …
September 30, Jazz Age bandleader and bassist Thelma Terry (Thelma Combes, 1901-66). Born in Michigan, Terry was raised in Chicago by a single mother who worked as a domestic servant to a ri…
And by this we do NOT mean the nemesis of Lillian Hellman and the author of The Group. That's Mary McCARTHY. Mary McCarty (1923-80) was a workhorse of stage and screen for over 50 years " an…
Among other things, September 29 is Goose Day, chiefly because it is also Michaelmas and goose is traditionally eaten on that day in some countries. Compared with ducks, for example, there a…
Happy Silent Movie Day! Of course, just about every day is Silent Movie Day here at Travalanche, what with nearly 1,400 posts related to silent movies, about a third of which concern slapsti…
September 28 was the birthday of songwriter Dave Franklin (1895-1970), best known for writing, with his frequent collaborator Cliff Friend the song "The Merry Go Round Broke Down" which bega…
Don't shoot the messenger " I don't make the news, I just report it! And the extraordinary news is true: in 1937 Hal Roach and Benito Mussolini announced their joint project, to be called "R…
Casual classic movie fans surely know at least two of the later supporting performances of Antonio Moreno (Antonio Monteagudo, 1887-1967); he has memorable roles in the horror classic Creatu…
Laurie Bird's best known movie role is her smallest one. She plays Paul Simon's girlfriend in Annie Hall (1977); at the time, she was Art Garfunkle's girlfriend. It was her third and last pa…
