11,516 stories by "Trav S.D."
Most who remember actor Robert Warwick (Robert Bien, 1878-1964) probably know him best as a supporting player of the sound era. His over 250 credits include nearly all of the Preston Sturges…
Years ago I went on a purge, ruthlessly removing scores, probably hundreds of obsolete and/or underperforming posts from Travalanche. My piece on the interesting figure Paschal Beverly Rando…
Don't answer that! The question is both rhetorical and a joking reference to Atlas Shrugged. Al Alt (Alexander Alt, 1897-1992) was a comedian of the silent and early sound eras, who worked b…
We were saddened just now to hear about the passing of comedian/performance artist Judy Tenuta (b. 1949), a supreme example of the neo-vaudeville style that played a huge part in the stand-u…
Robert Z. Leonard (1889-1968) managed to direct some of the best known and loved classics of the studio era, without achieving lasting fame himself, a factor clearly of the anonymous Hollywo…
If you're like me, and I know that you are, you've spent a lifetime mixing up Britt Ekland (b. 1942) with Anita Ekberg (1931-2015) and Elke Sommer (b. 1940). Why not Ursula Andress (b. 1936)…
We have too long overlooked silent screen comedian and director Bobby Ray (Wilhelm Robert McBain Fuehrer, 1899-1957). Originally billed as Bobby Fuerher (yes, Bobby Fuerher, which I guess is…
"The first ones now shall later be last" " Matthew 20:16, by way of Bob Dylan. The Lumière Brothers [Auguste (1862-1954) and Louis (1864-1948)] were neither first nor last in the history of…
Harry Bowen (1888-1941) appeared in nearly 200 films as a bit player and stunt double, most of them comedy shorts of both the silent and talkie era with the likes of Our Gang, Laurel and Har…
Of all those so-called "public intellectuals" of the mid 20th century TV talk show circuit who consistently fail to impress me (Norman Mailer, William F. Buckley, etc), Gore Vidal (1925-2012…
We were already scheduled to do a post on Sacheen Littlefeather (Mary Louise Cruz, 1946-2022) on her birthday six weeks from now as part of our section on Native American performers and othe…
Rare is it now for us to add new posts to our section on the different forms of variety arts, for there can only be a finite and not very large number. But we recently learned about another …
Charles Kellogg (1868-1949) was a star of the B.F. Keith vaudeville circuit for decades by virtue of his ability to imitate bird calls, not just by whistling (as was common in his day) but b…
October 2 is the birthday of Bud Abbott, our favorite member of the comedy team of Abbott and Costello. As we have written here a few times, we are fans of the radio and television work of t…
Will F. Denny (ca. 1860-1908) started out performing on the vaudeville stages of his native Boston, firmly in B.F. Keith territory. He specialized in comic songs and parodies sung in a high …
A tip of the cap today to the great British star Stanley Holloway (1910-1982), who left us 40 years ago this year. Americans know him best from his role as Eliza Doolittle's cockney father i…
Today, a post on the legendary lesbian cabaret singer and screen actress Bertha Levine (1906-1971), variously billed as Spivy, Spivy Levoe, or Madame Spivy. (Pronounced "Spivvy", i.e., with …
Born this day the great early Hollywood star Virginia Bruce (Helen Virginia Briggs, 1910-1982). I don't usually frontload an actor's credits, but in this case I fear it might be necessary, f…
Hollywood actress Lizabeth Scott (Emma Matzo, 1922-2015) was born 100 years ago today. In the 1940s there was inexplicable vogue in pop culture for mannish women with deep voices, thick eye …
Born this day 130 years ago, silent screen actress Ruth Stonehouse (1892-1941). Now, while I do bristle whenever the word "historian" is applied to me (not being a professional in a professi…
Born 100 years ago today, stage and screen director Arthur Penn (1922-2010). Penn is widely considered the Father of New Hollywood on account of his breakthrough hit Bonnie and Clyde (1967),…
Hilary Mantel, author of the Wolf Hall trilogy passed away on September 22 at the age of 70, and perhaps you'll forgive me if I find myself much more saddened by the loss of a critic of mona…
Folksinger Jim Post died on September 14 at the age 82, but there is something highly appropriate about the fact that I learned about it yesterday, which was National One Hit Wonder Day. (Th…
This is a snapshot of near term America if YOU do not lean heavily into the upcoming midterm election to safeguard America's democratic process. The GOP has made it plain that if they win Co…
Many years ago I lucked into a treasure trove. One of my first jobs when I moved to New York was painting apartments for a real estate management company between tenants. Most of the propert…
