Sunday, July 8, 2018
The Four Mortons were an Irish family act in big time vaudeville, not unlike the Four Cohans or the Three Keatons. The team consisted of the parents, Sam and Kate (“Kitty”), the …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 01:04PM[SHARE]Saturday, July 7, 2018
Some tidbits today on William and Joe Mandel. The brothers’ original last name was Manetti. They started out as an acrobatic duo, but gradually morphed into a comedy crosstalk and knoc…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 11:42AM[SHARE]Friday, July 6, 2018
July 6 was the natal day of the late comedian Pat Paulsen (1927-1997). Paulsen was famous for his dry-as-a-bone, almost funereal deadpan, just this side of Eeyore, but this was on top of ano…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 08:24AM[SHARE]Wednesday, July 4, 2018
I saved this post about the cheesy made-for-tv movie Smash-Up on Interstate 5 for today because it is set on July 4. I watched the film when it premiered in December, 1976 as part of the ori…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:42AM[SHARE]An Independence Day post concerning a brief anomalous short-lived experiment on ABC. The Young Rebels (1969-70) was one of those shows that must have sounded like a brilliant idea-stroke at …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 08:32AM[SHARE]Tuesday, July 3, 2018
A tribute today to the fabulous sensation La Sylphe (Edith Lambelle Langerfeld, 1883-1968). The daughter of wealthy German-American inventor Arthur Langerfeld, La Sylphe began to dance serio…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 06:54AM[SHARE]Monday, July 2, 2018
50 years ago, from May 30 to October 14, 1968, the Beatles were in the midst of recording the White Album. The album was released in November, but rather than wait until then, and having no …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:36AM[SHARE]Sunday, July 1, 2018
Well, it’s Canada Day! And it’s made me crazy watching our remedial pseudo-President do dirt to America’s closest neighbor and best ally of late, so I thought I’d aug…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 05:48AM[SHARE]Saturday, June 30, 2018
I’m a little astonished I haven’t yet done a post on stage and screen star Glenda Farrell (1904-1971). I’ve meant to for years, and hers is the kind of background we specia…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 11:32AM[SHARE]A tribute today to the mentalist known as Alexander (Claude Alexander Conlin, 1880-1954), billed sometimes as The Crystal Seer, sometimes as The Man Who Knows. Originally from Alexandria, So…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:18AM[SHARE]Thank you, Meg Farrell, for calling my attention to the fact that one of the five fatalities in the Capital Gazette massacre, Wendi Winters, was part of the Travalanche family. She’d w…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:54AM[SHARE]Friday, June 29, 2018
Jackie Lynn Taylor (Jacqueline Taylor, 1925-2014) was a child actress and local television personality. She is best known for appearing in several Our Gang shorts, usually playing a characte…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 05:36AM[SHARE]Thursday, June 28, 2018
The great stage actor Otis Skinner (1858-194) was a proud son of New England. The son of Universalist minister Charles Skinner, he grew up in Cambridge and Hartford, and was clearly raised t…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:54AM[SHARE]Wednesday, June 27, 2018
A tribute today today to a performer I’ve seen billed many different ways: “Ferry”, “William Ferry”, or “Will Ferry”, “The Frog Man”, &#…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 02:54PM[SHARE]Tuesday, June 26, 2018
Tonight! A launch event for Jo Weldon’s long awaited book Fierce: The History of Leopard Print! Jo is of course best known as “Jo Boobs” one of the reigning queens, founder…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 01:36PM[SHARE]A little post to follow up on a character I made mention of my recent “drag vaudeville” piece in Chelsea Now. Omar Kingsley (1840-79) hailed from St Louis and ran off to join…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:06AM[SHARE]Sunday, June 24, 2018
I’ve been promoting this on social media, but thought I’d spread the word here as well, since some of you Neo-Luddites may not follow me there. This Wednesday, June 27 at 8pm the…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:48AM[SHARE]Thursday, June 21, 2018
It is appropriate that we celebrate character actor Bernie Kopell (b. 1933) today (or any day), don’t you think? To me it is ironic that the role Kopell is best known for (Doc on Th…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:18AM[SHARE]Wednesday, June 20, 2018
Oliver Morosco (Oliver Mitchell, 1875-1945) for whom the Morosco Theatre was named, was born on June 20. Who Morosco was is an interesting story in and of itself but it leads backwards to so…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:06AM[SHARE]Tuesday, June 19, 2018
A tribute today to one of New York’s most colorful and beloved Mayors, James John “Jimmy” Walker (1881-1946). Almost all New York’s Mayors have been fascinating chara…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:54AM[SHARE]Elisabeth “Bessie” Marbury (1856-1933) is an important cultural figure for you to know about, for about a dozen different reasons. She was an important New York literary agent an…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:54AM[SHARE]Monday, June 18, 2018
My introduction to actor Richard Boone (1917-1981) was no doubt atypical. Instead of initially encountering him through the many westerns for which he is best known, I first saw him in the 1…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 11:06AM[SHARE]Sunday, June 17, 2018
This being Father’s Day and a Sunday, I thought I would give myself (and hopefully you) a treat by dropping Part Two of my previous post on comic strips adapted into movies during the …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:48AM[SHARE]Saturday, June 16, 2018
Stepping off at 1pm today: the 36th annual Coney Island Mermaid Parade! Get all the info you need on the annual beach-side Bacchanalia here. And, by way of mental preparation, check out the …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 08:36AM[SHARE]Happy World Juggling Day, sponsored by the International Jugglers Association. In observance, we invite you to check out the juggling section of Travalanche, which features 3 dozen juggling …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 08:36AM[SHARE]Friday, June 15, 2018
You can be punished by success, and that was most certainly the case with the late Jim Varney (1949-2000), although he was slowly beginning to remedy his peculiar predicament at the time of …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:24AM[SHARE]Thursday, June 14, 2018
As much as it pains me personally to have to report this, the New-York Historical Society is launching a TERRIFIC looking exhibition and program series drawn from and inspired by the collect…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 12:54PM[SHARE]For Pride Month: my article on drag in classic comedy is in this week’s Chelsea Now! http://chelseanow.com/2018/06/dressed-for-laughs-drag-in-the-days-of-yore/ Advertisements
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:24AM[SHARE]Wednesday, June 13, 2018
We’ve been binge watching The Americans of late and so I’ve got Richard Thomas (whose birthday it is) on my mind. Nothing makes me happier than when actors manage to escape the e…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 11:24AM[SHARE]A tribute today to pathbreaking African-American actress Nina Mae McKinney (1912-1967). Originally from Lancaster, South Carolina, she moved to New York where her good looks, and singing and…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:12AM[SHARE]Tuesday, June 12, 2018
I was tempted to save this one for St. Andrews’ Day (since we don’t have a birthday for her) but what the hey, it’s pretty much in the can, so I release it into the world n…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:24AM[SHARE]Loading more stories…
