Friday, October 15, 2021
Attention paid today to poet, novelist, historian and activist Helen Hunt Jackson (Helen Maria Jackson, 1830-1885), best known today for her 1884 novel Ramona, which was adopted for the Amer…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:42AM[SHARE]Frustrating, but amusing " if you Google "Dick Bernie", you will get pictures of 94 year old Dick Van Dyke championing Bernie Sanders for President, or clips of Bernie Mac saying "Give her d…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 08:36AM[SHARE]We are delighted to report that our friend Lynn Sally (whom I initially knew as the burlesque performer "Dr. Lucky") has just hit the market with a tremendous new book entitled Neo-Burlesque…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 08:36AM[SHARE]Thursday, October 14, 2021
I was very jazzed last night to, through the good graces of the estimable Allen Lewis Rickman (Boardwalk Empire, A Serious Man, and the reigning king of Yiddish theatre), attend the invited …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:42AM[SHARE]I'm pretty sure that I have never heard a better name for a performing little person than Dolleta Boykin (Dolly Dodd, 1881-1948). Not just Doll like the Doll Family, but "Dolletta", an even …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:42AM[SHARE]Wednesday, October 13, 2021
I'm not certain if I would otherwise have done a post on singer/actor Yves Montand (Ivo Levi, 1921-1991) before I learned of his early years. In America, we thought of him as one of a handfu…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:24AM[SHARE]Tuesday, October 12, 2021
There are fewer than two dozen film acting credits in the dossier of Jean Wallace (Jean Walaceck, 1923-1990). Yet hers is a story worth knowing for show biz buffs I think. Wallace was raised…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 11:42AM[SHARE]Monday, October 11, 2021
Buster Brodie (Max Broida, 1885-1948) billed himself as "The Hairless Man", but he had an additional distinguishing characteristic: he was only 4′ 9 1/2″ tall, making an almost l…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:18AM[SHARE]By happy coincidence, the natal day of Chief Caupolican (Emile Barrangon, 1876-1968) falls on Indigenous Peoples Day this year. Chief Caupolican was believed to have been a member of the Map…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:18AM[SHARE]Saturday, October 9, 2021
We hope you will forgive the split nature of this portmanteau-post, which is intended to do double duty as a capsule biography of Madame Tussaud (Anna Maria Grosholtz, 1761-1850) and a revie…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 04:54PM[SHARE]Alastair Sim (1900-1976) rarely stirred from his "right little, tight little island", spent more time on stage than screen, and jealously guarded his private life. As a consquence, he is alm…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 02:42PM[SHARE]We are apt to think of Elmer Calvin "Hank" Patterson (1888-1975) as a rube comedian on account of his long standing role as Fred Ziffel, proprietor of Arnold the Sentient Pig on the Paul Hen…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:24AM[SHARE]Friday, October 8, 2021
Before the Floradora Girls, the Ziegfeld Girls, or the Goldwyn Girls, there were the Gaiety Girls. These were the creation of West End impresario George Edwardes (1855-1915). Edwardes had le…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:32AM[SHARE]Thursday, October 7, 2021
In his day, Hoosier poet James Whitcomb Riley (1849-1916) was known as "America's Best Loved Poet". Today, I fear that most English departments regard his work as primitive kitsch and he has…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:18PM[SHARE]Every person who aspires to write film scores should know the name Louis F. Gottschalk (1863-1934). He was the first guy to do it, at least the first to compose complete scores; prior to him…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:18PM[SHARE]While Lyle Tuttle (1931-2019) could easily have exhibited himself in sideshows, he did not. He was a guy who made many sideshow artists possible. Tuttle himself sported a full tattoo "body s…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 08:32AM[SHARE]Wednesday, October 6, 2021
Three cheers today for hard-working character actor Jerome Cowan (1897-1972). Cowan appeared in over 200 films and TV productions; if you don't know the name, I hope you know that face from …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 11:42AM[SHARE]Tuesday, October 5, 2021
400 years ago this November " whatever you feel about it " there occurred the event that is traditionally known in America as the "First Thanksgiving." (1621, right? The Pilgrims had just go…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 02:54PM[SHARE]It has been 40 years now since the world lost Allen Ludden (1917-1981), so long that the weird cult of young Betty White fans that sprang up since her first 2010 Saturday Night Live appearan…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:32AM[SHARE]The Sword Swallowers Hall of Fame informs me that today is the birthday of sideshow performer and impresario Bobby Reynolds (b. 1931). I know this estimable personage (who billed himself as …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:12AM[SHARE]Monday, October 4, 2021
I have no idea how Scotty Beckett (1929-1968) has fallen through the Travalanche cracks. He is sure one of the Little Rascals I knew about first, but I've not mentioned him at all, despite h…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 02:42PM[SHARE]Luis Alberni (1886-1962) was a much beloved Hollywood character actor for decades. Though often cast as comical Italians, and his surname sure sounds Italian, he was actually Spanish. Albern…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 11:24AM[SHARE]Cliff Hall (1894-1972) has at least two major claims to fame as far as classic comedy fans are concerned: he was straight man to Jack Pearl (Baron Munchausen) on radio as well as some stage …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 11:24AM[SHARE]Sunday, October 3, 2021
Once again it is Fire Prevention Week (October 3-9). Those who write about theatre history can't avoid the topic of conflagrations from time to time; they're a doleful part of the story. Con…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 11:03AM[SHARE]Saturday, October 2, 2021
King Richard III (Richard Plantagenet, 1452-1485) was born this day, and while we do not precisely celebrate the fact, we thought it would be an appropriate time for a brief contemplation of…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 01:06PM[SHARE]Actor Henry Victor (1892-1945) is known for appearing in horror classics, such as Tod Browning's Freaks (1932), in which he played the boorish strong man Hercules, as well as The Mad Doctor …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:32AM[SHARE]An enthusiastic appreciation this morning for comely stage and screen star Rita La Roy (Ina La Roi Stuart, 1901-1993). Originally from the Gold Rush town of Bonner's Ferry, Idaho on the Cana…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:32AM[SHARE]Friday, October 1, 2021
Born 100 years ago this day, actor James Whitmore (1921-2009). I chose the photo above because his Whitmore's greatest role was probably his one man show about Will Rogers, which he performe…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 02:13PM[SHARE]Most film buffs, I imagine, know Everett Sloane (1909-1965) chiefly from his professional relationship with Orson Welles. He was with the Mercury Theatre in their radio productions and in th…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:42AM[SHARE]Thursday, September 30, 2021
Check it out! I never would have pegged swing drummer and bing band leader Buddy Rich (Bernard Rich, 1917-1987) for a vaudeville veteran, but there you go! He started out at the age of two i…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:54PM[SHARE]Apparently, September 30 is now International Podcast Day " because, Lord knows there's no podcast inundation every other day of the year! I hosted my first podcast show before it was fashio…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 01:12PM[SHARE]Loading more stories…
