Thursday, March 22, 2018
March 22 is the birthday of Karl Malden (Mladen George Sekulovich, 1922-2009). Malden was a Serbian-Czech steelworker from Gary, Indiana who took classes at the Goodman in Chicago, then came…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 06:50AM[SHARE]Wednesday, March 21, 2018
Break out the balloons, it’s the birthday of Russ Meyer (1922-2004)! But already we do him an injustice. Meyer is best known, perhaps virtually only known for his obsession with a cert…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 12:23PM[SHARE]Mark Hellinger (1903-1947) had one of the more unusual career trajectories in show business…from newspaper writer to top movie producer. Along the way he touched many of our customary …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 02:33AM[SHARE]Tuesday, March 20, 2018
Three cheers for one of my favorite western character actors Edgar Buchanan (1903-1979), whose birthday it is. I just did something I have never done before: watched an episode of Petticoat …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 06:21AM[SHARE]Sunday, March 18, 2018
A treat for your Sunday, the traditional day of the week when all the comic strips come out in color and stretch their legs for a bit. In my books No Applause and Chain of Fools, I wrote a l…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 08:08AM[SHARE]Saturday, March 17, 2018
Legendary ragtime piano player and composer Mike Bernard (Michael Barnet Brown, 1875-1936) was born of a St. Patrick’s Day. Like Ben Harney, who introduced him to ragtime circa 1896, B…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 05:04AM[SHARE]Friday, March 16, 2018
Happy birthday to the late, lamented Jerry Lewis. I wrote an earlier appreciation of the comedy auteur here and I hope to do much more at some point. His work merits a book length exam…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 08:00AM[SHARE]What are the odds that there would be two major Hollywood screen idols by the same name, completely coincidentally, and with no relation at all between them? I’m thinking pretty remote…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:28AM[SHARE]Thursday, March 15, 2018
Ah, the Ides of March! When several Roman Senators slew Caesar rather than see him crowned king and the Republic laid waste. The act only led to more chaos, civil war and Empire anyway, leav…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:10AM[SHARE]Wednesday, March 14, 2018
And now, part two of the thoroughly thorough Milberger’s breakdown of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. Part One is here. Episode 5: "Doink" B. Altman and Company was a high-end department st…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 08:09AM[SHARE]Tuesday, March 13, 2018
Ed Lee Wrothe was one third of the burlesque comedy trio that also included Harry Watson, Jr. and George Bickel. If his cohorts have become hugely obscure, Wrothe has become tenfold so, for …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:32AM[SHARE]Monday, March 12, 2018
For anyone with a memory or a mind, the present informational landscape where there are hundreds of cable and streaming channels, and thousands of news and culture related websites and blogs…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:55AM[SHARE]Sunday, March 11, 2018
English-American immigrant David Horsely (1873-1933) was a cinematic pioneer many times over: founder of America’s first independent film studio, founder of the first film studio in Ho…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:34AM[SHARE]Saturday, March 10, 2018
Today is the natal day of the extraordinary Clare Boothe Luce (1903-1987). It is convenient for us marketing-wise that her birthday falls within Women’s History Month, but in reality, …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:30AM[SHARE]March was the birthday of Muriel Angelus (Muriel Findlay, 1912-2004). But a single performance intrigued me enough to begin exploring her background for Travalanche: she plays the wife of th…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:40AM[SHARE]Friday, March 9, 2018
Film director and producer S. Sylvan Simon (1910-1951), who worked with such comedians as the Marx Brothers, Abbott and Costello, Red Skelton, W.C. Fields, Edgar Bergen, et al, was born …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 08:29AM[SHARE]Thursday, March 8, 2018
Last week,I wrote a tribute to the community I was then leaving; today an introduction to the one I have moved to. I mentioned that my new home inspired me romantically almost or about as mu…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:54AM[SHARE]Wednesday, March 7, 2018
When I saw that it was National Cereal Day, one thing sprang immediately to mind to blog about, almost a no-brainer. One of the first Old Time Radio shows I ever listened to was The Adventur…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 02:14PM[SHARE]Michael John Chaplin was born on this day in 1946. Michael is Charlie Chaplin’s third surviving son, and the oldest son from his marriage to Oona O’Neill. His older sister…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 08:15AM[SHARE]March 7 is the birthday of famed mentalist Julius Zancig (Juius Jorgenson, 1857-1929). Zancig was an iron smelter from Copenhagen who developed an elaborate verbal code with his wife Agnes (…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:29AM[SHARE]Monday, March 5, 2018
Born today: beloved character actor: Henry Travers (Travers John Heagerty, 1874-1965.) Tarvers’ gentle presence distinguished such classic Hollywood films as The Invisible Man (1933), …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:42AM[SHARE]Sunday, March 4, 2018
Born today: Ferencz Dezso Weisz (1876-1945), the younger brother of Harry Houdini, professionally known as “Hardeen.” Called “Dash” by his family, Hardeen was, like h…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 04:47AM[SHARE]Saturday, March 3, 2018
Character actor Barney Martin (1923-2005) was born on this day. When I learned the name of the face I knew so well, it made me laugh: could there be a more Barney-Martin-looking Barney Marti…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 08:53AM[SHARE]Friday, March 2, 2018
Something seismic is happening to me today: I am moving out of my beloved Brooklyn, the borough where I have lived for nearly a quarter century and almost half my life. I don’t do such…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 06:00AM[SHARE]Thursday, March 1, 2018
Huzzahs resounded here at Travlanche when we heard the news that The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel had been picked up for a full season by Amazon a few months ago. For Women’s History Month we…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 08:16AM[SHARE]Wednesday, February 28, 2018
Say “Happy Birthday” to Travalanche, which turns ten years old sometime between today and tomorrow! Travalanche is a Leap Year Baby, born on February 29, 2008. The first post was…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:05PM[SHARE]Happy birthday, Gavin MacLeod (Allan George See, b. 1931). MacLeod is a pretty Scottish surname, but it isn’t his; he took it to honor his acting teacher Beatrice MacLeod. He’s a…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:48AM[SHARE]February 28 was the birthday of Billie Bird (Berniece Bird Stowell, 1908-2002). Bird was in show business for over 80 years, so there’s something skewed about using the photo above…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 05:34AM[SHARE]Opera soprano Geraldine Farrar (1882-1967) crossed over into pop culture so we thought we’d give her a little attention here. Farrar spent the beginning and end of her life in New Engl…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 03:42AM[SHARE]Tuesday, February 27, 2018
h Many happy returns of the day to Reginald Gardiner (1903-1980). We thought to fit to treat of him today, for his clipped British diction, and poised demeanor grace many a classic comedy. H…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:28AM[SHARE]Monday, February 26, 2018
Born February 26, Irene Lydia Siewert Jewell a.k.a. Ricki Covette (1925-2016). Originally from British Columbia, Ricki eventually grew to a height of 6’8″, making her easily the …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 04:24AM[SHARE]Loading more stories…
