11,521 stories by "Trav S.D."
This past weekend we had the distinct privilege of obtaining a much clarified picture of an American institution we had long known and written about and occasionally experienced: the small t…
A hard-working sword swallower was born in Russia on this day in 1881. He had more professional names than a check kiter and I've no idea which came first, although over his half century car…
The life and career of Kalla Pasha (Joseph T. Rickard, 1879-1933) make for a ripping yarn, one both comical and dramatic " just like a wrestling match! Originally a professional wrestler, Pa…
A credo for the times, for good or for ill. 100 years ago this day black Broadway star Bert Williams left the earth at the young age of 47. The causes were a bad heart and, more immediately,…
Paging Friends of Dorothy! Haha, and straight people, too. But on a whim I just did a little tally and realized that we have done articles on nearly 30 Dorothies here on Travalanche. That wo…
More exciting news for Buster Keaton fans! This weekend, New York's Film Forum is launching a two month series of Keaton films called Buster's Century (though to be quite anal, they're later…
Fans of classic movies all know and love character actor Felix Bressart (Solomon Breslau, 1892-1949). The wispy, willowy little man with an otter-like face often played music masters, profes…
The name Edwin Milton Royle (1862-1942) is important in show business annals for at least a couple of different reasons. One is that he wrote The Squaw Man, which had five Broadway productio…
I originally published this review here on Travalanche ten years ago (2012). At some point, I moved most of my book reviews over to Goodreads. A couple of days ago a bunch of people noticed …
Today would have been the 80th birthday of Rolling Stones founder Brian Jones (1942-1969); this year will also mark the 60th of the Stones as a group. The fact that the Stones outlasted him …
To clarify what we intend by the title of this post and what is meant by "us": A member of the human race? Sure. A proponent of (small "L", small "D") liberal democracy? No doubt. Jewish? Tr…
"Happy birthday, Howard Hesseman" " sounds like the title of a Kurt Vonnegut novel, doesn't it? Mr. Hesseman (1940-2022) passed away a month ago, but it happened during a seemingly unprecede…
Here's a major British entertainment phenomenon that never seemed to cross the puddle, but is well worth knowing about. Ventriloquist Peter Brough (1916-1999) was a major star of music hall/…
Appropriately surnamed was Alan, or Al Bridge (1891-1957), whose nearly 300 screen credits are split between B movies (mostly westerns) and main features. And we all know the drill by now " …
Happy World Sword Swallowers Day! It is scheduled every year for the last Saturday in February. This year's is a special one on Travalanche however as it is the first one to come along since…
February 26 is a good day for Paulines. It gave us Pauline Musters, the Smallest Woman Ever. And also stage star Pauline Hall (Pauline Fredrika Schmidgall (1860-1919). Like Musters, Hall was…
One week from today (March 4, 2022) will mark the centennial anniversary of the passing of the great black comedian Bert Williams. To observe this milestone I'll be presenting a podcast abou…
A nod today to ventriloquist Ronn Lucas (b. 1954). El Paso native Lucas has been a professional vent for nearly 50 years. Judging strictly from video clips, he just might be the most technic…
As we write this, Putin's armies are streaming over Russia's western border in a bid to swallow the sovereign nation of Ukraine. There is no denying that historically Ukraine has long been p…
Having already done a post today with a down ending about a young talented star who died way too young, I contemplated a kicking the can down the road and saving this one on Mitch Hedberg (1…
Pete Duel (1940-1971) would have been 82 today, which seems unthinkable, for like so many who would be so old now (James Dean, JFK) he left this world when he was in the prime of life. In ol…
Today something I almost never do: plug a book that's decades old (as opposed to 150 years old or new). My friend Last-Up Larry kindly gave me some used books a few months back; two were by …
Of all things, a rare appeal to support a website I write for that isn't the Travalanche campaign. In point of fact, I'm super proud of many of the articles I've cooked up for Chelsea Commun…
The provocative title of this morning's post happens also to be the name of an actual American court case, one of the most ironically yet aptly named in history, right up there with "Loving …
I sure hope you recall a project I contributed to a while back, organized and presented by the Bowery Alliance of Neighbors, entitled Windows on the Bowery, which put informative placards in…
