11,552 stories by "Trav S.D."
Very late in his life, I got to meet one of my favorite actors Jason Robards Jr (1922-2000) and for once I wasn’t tongue-tied, I knew just what to say to put us both at ease. For on th…
A tribute today to Russ Tamblyn (b. 1934). Ironically, I’ve already written a post on Russ’s much more obscure father, Eddie Tamblyn, a vaudeville performer, because that is the …
For those of us of a certain age there is only one Hawaii Five-O worth talking about, the original one starring Jack Lord (John Joseph Patrick Ryan, 1920-1998) which ran from 1968 through 19…
Everyone loved character actor Jack Riley (1935-2016). I considered a tribute to him at the time he passed a couple of years ago, but here follows a more thorough one than I would have done …
December 30 was the birthday of the late Bert Parks (Bertram Jacobson, 1914-1992). When I was a kid in the 1970s, Parks was a sort of a lightning rod representing the worst in old school, mo…
The late Ed Flanders was born on this day in 1934. We’ll talk about his eventual fate in a bit; meantime, we celebrate him, his career, and his hit TV show. An army vet from Minneapoli…
Wow! Okay, I fell down a happy rabbit hole this morning, and it was one of those experiences that assures me that this blog sometimes serves a useful function. Travalanche is the only place …
December 28 was the birthday of Martin “Mike” Branner (1888-1970). Branner was the son of a New York lacemaker. At age 17 he got a job as a clerk to a couple of vaudeville booker…
We were delighted to see “Radio City Music Hall” trending on Twitter this morning and to realize that today (December 27) was the anniversary of that storied venue’s 1932 o…
Australian character actor Robert Greig (1879-1958) rarely got more than a few minutes of screen time per picture but he always left a big impression. Most of us who are his fans first knew …
A few fragments today on the career of minor screen comedian Eddie Boland (1885-1935). Originally from San Francisco, Boland had six years of theatrical training prior to going into films. H…
Actress Marguerite Churchill (1910-2000) was born on this day. Churchill was one of the few lucky enough to start at the top, though the bulk of her career lasted only around 15 years. Her f…
One day after writing about Humphrey Bogart we are delighted to contribute a birthday squib on Elija Cook Jr (1903-1995) who played Wilmer, the mean-spirited punk who Bogart gets the better …
A nod today to a forgotten minor figure who counted Hollywood’s top stars among his closest friends, stage and screen comedian and caricaturist Don Barclay (1892-1975). Originally from…
December 25 is the birthday of Gary Sandy, star of the sitcom WKRP in Cincinnati, which ran from 1978 through 1982. I was a teenager when this show originally aired, and I remember it as a k…
Jonathan Joseph Candido (1913-1999) deserves better than the headline I just gave him. Show biz buffs know of his long career, and the many high points he enjoyed. But the job of a headline …
Happy birthday to the late Jack Dracula (Martin Semnack, 1935-2011). A Brooklyn native, he got his first tattoo in Coney Island in 1954, followed by another 29 tattoos that same year. By the…
There is some debate as to whether Humphrey Bogart (1899-1957) was actually born on Christmas day but let’s go with the perverse premise that he was. I have been late in writing about …
I became aware of songwriter and performer Fred Hillebrand (1893-1963) via his inclusion in the Sobel’s Illustrated History of Vaudeville. Born in Brooklyn, Hillebrand had a relati…
December 24 is the birthday of the great film director Michael Curtiz (Mihály Kertész, 1886-1962). Curtiz was born to Jewish parents in Budapest, in what was then Austria-Hungary. His bi…
An acknowledgment today of dancer Vera Olcott (1893-?), who led a strange, wonderful and still-mysterious life. Olcott was apparently from a family of wealthy international bankers and finan…
Today we celebrate stage and screen actress and activist Fredi Washington (Fredericka Carolyn Washington, 1903-1994). Born in Georgia to bi-racial parents, Washington moved to New York with …
Trav S.D. — investigating who Gene Rayburn was, so you don’t have to. Four decades ago who would anticipated a Match Game re-run renaissance such as the world has never known in …
The great music hall comedian Herbert Campbell (Herbert Edward Story, 1844-1904) was born on this day. Campbell was a London factory worker who was inspired to go into show business after…
Someone, somewhere declared December 21 “Short Girl Appreciation Day”. We’ve profiled many a funny lady of stage and screen who answered the description; and here are some …
