All stories by Trav S.D. on BroadwayStars

Sunday, October 12, 2025

Your Travalanche Daily Digest for October 12, 2025 by Trav S.D.

Today's new Travalanche posts for October 12, 2025 are about Aleister Crowley (born 150 years ago today), professional giant Lock Martin, and the 40th anniversary of Desperately Seeking Susa…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 06:36PM[SHARE]

Lock Martin: The Gentle Giant by Trav S.D.

No, no, not Doc Martin " LOCK Martin (Joseph Lockard Martin Jr (1916-1959). Said to stand a full seven feet seven inches in adulthood, Martin had a twin brother who died in childbirth. The f…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 12:02PM[SHARE]

The Aleister Crowley Sesquicentennial by Trav S.D.

Born 150 years ago this day, Aleister Crowley (1875-1947), prophet, poet, scholar, and all around English decadent. We've posted twice before on this influential figure, once merely as a sor…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 08:42AM[SHARE]
Saturday, October 11, 2025

Your Travalanche Daily Digest for October 11, 2025 by Trav S.D.

Today's new Travalanche post for October 11, 2025 is about Revolutionary War hero Casimir Pulaski. Earlier Travalanche posts for October 11 (in no particular order) include ones on: Sig Ruma…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 01:24PM[SHARE]

General Pulaski Memorial Day by Trav S.D.

October 11 is celebrated in America (among Polish Americans and those who love them anyway) as General Pulaski Memorial Day. It marks the day in 1779 when Polish General Casimir Pulaski (b. …

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 12:12PM[SHARE]
Friday, October 10, 2025

Your Travalanche Daily Digest for October 10, 2025 by Trav S.D.

Today's new Travalanche posts for October 10, 2025 are about the painter Benjamin West and tomorrow's ceremony at the Childs Restaurant Building in Coney Island. Earlier Travalanche posts fo…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 12:24PM[SHARE]

Tomorrow: Coney Island USA Gets a Plaque by Trav S.D.

This just in " lovers of Coney Island USA and of NYC architectural history in general may want to attend the ceremony they're holding out at 1208 Surf Avenue, tomorrow, Saturday, October 11 …

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 11:18AM[SHARE]

Benjamin West Goes East by Trav S.D.

We've had numerous opportunities to mention the influential painter Benjamin West (1738-1820) on Travalanche in the past, for he instructed or otherwise advised such renowned pupils as both …

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:06AM[SHARE]
Thursday, October 9, 2025

Your Travalanche Daily Digest for October 9, 2025 by Trav S.D.

Today's new Travalanche posts for October 9, 2025 are about The History of Peep Shows, a snapshot of Brooklyn's Albee Square, and British music hall comedian Leslie Fuller. Earlier Travalanc…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 04:42PM[SHARE]

Return to Albee Square (as well as the return OF Albee Square) by Trav S.D.

A little post about the Once and Future Brooklyn that I love so well. It's a follow up of sorts to a mini-post I left here about a dozen years ago, when I realized that my place of work (my …

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 03:36PM[SHARE]

For World Sight Day: On the History of Peep Shows by Trav S.D.

Don't get all excited! I never said or implied I was referring to pornographic or live sex peep shows, did I? They're a sub-set of what I'm talking about, but by now you should know better t…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:02AM[SHARE]

Leslie Fuller: The Rubber Faced Comedian by Trav S.D.

October 9 was the birthday of British music hall and screen comedian Leslie Fuller (1888-1948), often billed as "The Rubber Faced Comedian". Joe Rock enticed Fuller to go before the cameras …

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:02AM[SHARE]
Wednesday, October 8, 2025

Your Travalanche Daily Digest for October 8, 2025 by Trav S.D.

Today's new Travalanche posts for October 8, 2025 are about Sigourney Weaver and Her Show Biz Family, and the Peshtigo Fire of 1871. Earlier Travalanche posts for October 8 (in no particular…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 04:32PM[SHARE]

Sigourney Weaver and Her Sundry Relations by Trav S.D.

We love to write about multi-generational show business families, and here's one that ought to be more widely known than it seems to be. Stage and screen actress Susan Alexandra "Sigourney" …

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 03:24PM[SHARE]

OTD in 1871: The Deadliest Wildfire in American History (and It's Not the One You Think) by Trav S.D.

This is a bit of history I learned from an unlikely source " there was a reference to it on a recent episode of The Gilded Age. It's a timely story, given massive recent wildfires like the C…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:54AM[SHARE]
Tuesday, October 7, 2025

Your Travalanche Daily Digest for October 7, 2025 by Trav S.D.

Today's new Travalanche posts for October 7, 2025 are about singer/bandleader Vaughn Monroe, and a new LGBTQ website. Earlier Travalanche posts for October 7 (in no particular order) include…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 01:18PM[SHARE]

Announcing LGBTQ Community News by Trav S.D.

I'm thrilled and proud to announce my place in the stable of Scott Stiffler's very necessary new website, LGBTQ Community News, alongside the likes of Michael Musto, my old pal Jay Walker of…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 12:12PM[SHARE]

The Vaughn Monroe Show by Trav S.D.

It's odd and rare and rare for a pop culture figure as successful as Vaughn Monroe (1911-1973) to be so forgotten today. The bandleader, singer, and musician was a star of radio, television,…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 11:02AM[SHARE]
Monday, October 6, 2025

Your Travalanche Daily Digest for October 6, 2025 by Trav S.D.

Today's new Travalanche post for October 6, 2025 is about plus-sized silent screen comedian Dee Lampton. Earlier Travalanche posts for October 6 (in no particular order) include ones on: Plu…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 01:18PM[SHARE]

A Dollop of Dee Lampton by Trav S.D.

How fortuitous that silent screen comedian Dee Lampton (1898-1919) was born on Plus Sized Appreciation Day; he's a perfect candidate for my Hall of Plus Sized Comedians. Lampton's life was s…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:02AM[SHARE]
Sunday, October 5, 2025

Your Travalanche Daily Digest for October 5, 2025 by Trav S.D.

Today's new Travalanche post for October 5, 2025 is about the history of Grey Gardens. It is also Rhode Island Day. Earlier Travalanche posts for October 5 (in no particular order) include o…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 01:02PM[SHARE]

The Saga of Grey Gardens, Soup to Nuts by Trav S.D.

October 5 was the birthday of Edith Ewing Bouvier Beale (1895-1977). Those familiar with her story and that of her daughter Edith Bouvier Beale (1917-2002) are accustomed to getting it in…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 11:02AM[SHARE]
Saturday, October 4, 2025

Your Travalanche Daily Digest for October 4, 2025 by Trav S.D.

Today's new Travalanche post for October 4, 2025 is about Ilise Carter's new book on Spiritualism, When We Spoke to the Dead. Earlier Travalanche posts for October 4 (in no particular order)…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 01:06PM[SHARE]

Lady Aye at Morbid Anatomy Today by Trav S.D.

I must be psychic! How did I just KNOW that Ilise S. Carter (a.k.a. The Lady Aye) would have a book event at the Morbid Anatomy Museum, and, conversely, that the museum would want to do an e…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 12:06PM[SHARE]
Friday, October 3, 2025

Your Travalanche Daily Digest for October 3, 2025 by Trav S.D.

Today's new Travalanche posts for October 3, 2025 include ones on Newport Jazz and Folk Festival founder George Wein…Wilna Hervey of Toonerville Folks…and Broadway playwright Sophie Trea…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:02PM[SHARE]

Sophie Treadwell Was In Vaudeville! by Trav S.D.

The remarkable Sophie Treadwell (1885-1970) is best remembered as a modernist playwright, journalist, and activist, but that's just the tip of the iceberg. We can also claim her for our Star…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 03:48PM[SHARE]

The George Wein Centennial by Trav S.D.

October 3 was the birthday of concert promoter/producer/organizer George Wein (1925-2021). The key to how to pronounce his name is in the title of one of his albums, Wein, Women and Song. Th…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:12AM[SHARE]

The Pictures of Wilna Hervey by Trav S.D.

The comedy of Wilna Hervey (1894-1979), sometimes billed as Wilna Wilde, was similar to that of Blanche Payson, Babe London, Muriel Landers, and Lulu Roman. She was a large woman, 6'3″…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 02:36AM[SHARE]
Thursday, October 2, 2025

Your Travalanche Daily Digest for October 2, 2025 by Trav S.D.

Today's new Travalanche posts for October 2, 2025 include ones on Rob Farr's upcoming biography of Mr. and Mrs. Sidney Drew; and the recent film Late Night with the Devil (and how it relates…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 03:42PM[SHARE]

In Which I Read Too Much Into "Late Night with the Devil" by Trav S.D.

I watched the excellent Australian horror film Late Night With the Devil (2023) several months ago; we time our post today both because it's the Halloween season and because certain late nig…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 02:36PM[SHARE]

The New Book About Mr. and Mrs. Sidney Drew! by Trav S.D.

I have been excited beyond reason since Rob Farr told me about his new book about Mr. and Mrs. Sidney Drew. Okay, that's an exaggeration, but hyperbole is the clay from which I mold my most …

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:12AM[SHARE]

All that Chat

2025-2026 BROADWAY SEASON
Jun 12, 2025: Call Me Izzy - Studio 54
Sep 16, 2025: Art - Music Box Theatre
Oct 08, 2025: Beetlejuice - Palace Theatre
Nov 13, 2025: Oedipus - Studio 54
Nov 16, 2025: Chess - Imperial Theatre
Mar 23, 2026: Giant - Music Box Theatre
Apr 06, 2026: Becky Shaw - Hayes Theater
Apr 16, 2026: Proof - Booth Theatre
Apr 26, 2026: Drama Desk Cut-Off