11,521 stories by "Trav S.D."
January 4, 1964 was the premiere date of the ABC tv variety show The Hollywood Palace. As it debuted before I was born, and went off the air in early 1970 when I was four years old, then was…
Mad respect this day for the example of William Haines (1900-1973) who was given a choice: to be himself or to continue being one of Hollywood's top movie stars. He chose the former. Haines …
No (apparent) relation to Charlotte Greenwood, Winifred Greenwood (1885-1961) was also a veteran of vaudeville and stock companies. Originally from the greater Rochester area, she made her s…
As promised nearly two months ago, our review of David Crump's epochal new biography Fred Karno: The Legend Behind the Laughter. Though I have had the book for weeks, it's taken me that long…
Proof palpable that all Danes are not melancholy was comedy-musician Victor Borge (Børge Rosenbaum, 1909-2000). Borge came to America too late for vaudeville but not too late for radio an…
Let's be real. While people are talking trash about the horribleness of 2021, I honestly think that, while, yes, it was plenty atrocious, it was also better in many ways than the five years …
A celebration today of the influential folk singer Odetta (Odetta Holmes, 1930-2008). Odetta was one of those performers who seemed to live at the hub, smack dab in the middle of everything,…
On the eve of putting Travalanche behind a canvas gateway like the peepshow that it is, we close out the year, as we usually do, with a little stock taking. Travalanche began in 2008 as an o…
We were reminded of how much we adore Tracey Ullman (b. 1959) during the pandemic, when my wife and I whiled away the endless hours by reading to each other and listening to books-on-tape. O…
A short nod to the multi-skilled Richard "Dick" Bruno (1901-1986), best known as the faux French ventriloquist Monsieur Brunard, with his dummy Joe Flip. Bruno's original orientation was mus…
Fun fact, and it's too exciting to make you wait for: the British movie director Carol Reed (1906-1976) was the illegitimate son of the great English actor Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree, as well…
We just learned that Monday evening's shooting spree in Denver has touched the lives of some of our sideshow and musician friends, a couple of whom knew the most prominent victim, Alicia Car…
Much hoopla about Lucy of late, what with Aaron Sorkin's recent bio-bic, but that red-headed lady clown wasn't the only Ball in show business. There was also the great sword swallower John G…
Born 100 years ago today, the one and only Johnny Otis (Ioannis Alexandres Veliotes, 1921-2012). We'll get to his ethnic identity and other interesting trivia betimes, but first, his accompl…
Robert "Bobby" Scheerer (1929-2018) had many fine credits as a movie and TV director, but nonetheless I confess I was briefly muddled about why I'd put him on my calendar to write about this…
Long have I been a fan of Charles Dingle's turn in William Wyler's 1941 screen adaptation of Lillian Hellman's The Little Foxes opposite Bette Davis, one of his first, biggest, and flashiest…
Not for the first time. I find myself in the middle of a painful artistic and institutional divorce. It happens a lot in the arts; I've witnessed dozens of these break-ups from nearly every …
Herewith, a literal 11th hour post on stage and screen actress Dorothy Peterson (Bergetta Peterson, 1897-1979), who played the mother in the Five Little Peppers movies (1939-1940) and was in…
When former Saturday Night Live cast member Tony Rosato (b. 1954) died in early January 2017, I recall observing it on social media, but not here. A split second of reflection jogged my memo…
Jerry Austin (Jerry Albro, 1892-1976), was often billed as "Little Jerry" on stage and screen, for he stood 3'6″ in adulthood. Born in Odessa, he is known to have appeared in Michael S…
Good news for those who will have eons of time to kill over the holiday weekend " I'm the guest on this week's episode of the Jobsolete podcast. Now here's something wild " I was interviewed…
Scarcely more than a dozen years and 40 film performances comprised the screen career of Jean Brooks (Ruby Kelly, 1915-1963), but today she is regarded as something of a Goth icon and pionee…
Wow! Lucie Arnaz was right, after all " Nicole Kidman turned out to be an excellent casting choice for the part of Lucille Ball in Aaron Sorkin's Being the Ricardos. It shouldn't have shocke…
I just learned of the passing of Steve Trimboli (Stephen Paul Trimboli), reportedly of a massive stroke on the night before Thanksgiving. We weren't friends IRL (just social media), and I me…
December 21 was the birthday of theatre impresario Arthur Hammerstein (1872-1955). What with our vaudeville goggles on, we have given Arthur short shrift, having written mostly about the fat…
