11,555 stories by "Trav S.D."
How appropriate that magician and spook show innovator El-Wyn (Elwin Charles Peck, 1902-1956) was born during the Halloween season. We have already written about guys like Dr. Silkini and Bi…
The Conners, i.e., the Roseanneless Roseanne, premiers on ABC tonight. It seems a savvy and even a just move, and even a fitting punishment for the banished one herself, given that the…
Linda Lavin (whose birthday is today) was a Broadway star both before and after her famous sitcom Alice (1976-1985)…AND Ellen Burstyn also played the main character…so our title …
I don’t normally throw a big party on Penny Marshall’s birthday but it seemed a good occasion to do a post on Laverne and Shirley (1976-1983). I was a big fan of this sitcom duri…
There’s too much to tell about P.G. Wodehouse (Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, 1881-1975), whose birthday it is today, to be in any way comprehensive…but I thought I would draw a…
I’ve long wanted to do a post on character actor Fritz Feld (Fritz Feilchenfeld 1900-1993) and am so glad I have the opportunity to squeeze it in today. Feld was mostly a bit player, b…
Denman Thompson (Henry Denman Thompson, 1833-1911) was a 19th century theatrical figure whose career took him nearly to the edge of the modern era (cinema), making him a tantalizing connecti…
Sam Rice (George O’Hanlon, 1874-1946) was not the only guy to use the handle “King of Burlesque” but his choice to do so revealed a becoming Moxie. Rice produced full on bu…
Rounding out the final day of this year’s Fire Prevention Week, we thought we’d take a look at five major blazes that afflicted P.T. Barnum over his long career as an impresario.…
The great Polish-American actress Helena Modjeska (Jadwiga Benda,1840-1909) was born on this day. Born in Krakow, there is murkiness in Modjeska’s early background, especially with reg…
“Good things cometh to he who waiteth as long as he hustleth while he waiteth.” — P.G.; Lowery African American bandmaster,musician and impresario Perry G. Lowery (1869-194…
Confession: I never understood what all the fuss was about Helen Hayes (1900-1993). But then again I only ever saw her on film and television, never in the theatre where her reputation for g…
Big doings at one of my favorite NYC theatre companies, the Irish Repertory Theatre lately. I’ve loved everything I’ve ever seen at that theatre. More importantly (and this can&#…
Child star (then former child star) Johnny Downs (1913-1994) had a truly interesting if minor career on stage and screen, one that was ironically much better than those of better known colle…
Thank you, Great Neck Record, for this terrific article on your new adopted son:Â http://greatneckrecord.com/local-historian-brings-vaudeville-to-life/ As I wrote here when we moved here s…
The name “Bostock” is one that turns up often in show business annals in the context of menageries of trained animals. For Americans, the crucial figure is Frank Charles Bostock …
I was going to post this short listicle during November, Native American Heritage Month, but realized this morning that since it’s REALLY about Italians, and this is Columbus Day, and …
Just a few words of tribute to honor the late Scott Wilson, who passed away from leukemia this past weekend at age 76. I was a big fan of his quiet understated acting. He was one of those ch…
Fire Prevention Week begins today. Any study of history is to become aware of the frequency and the severity of fires in human existence prior to modern regulations and fire prevention metho…
Today is Buster Keaton’s birthday. See my biographical article on the great silent comedian’s early years here and the Buster Keaton section of Travalanche, containing c…
I had originally scheduled this post for tomorrow, A Star is Born’s announced U.S. release date. But it already seems to be playing here in New York as of today, and critical word is a…
A brief nod to Borscht Belt comedian Jan Murray (Murray Janofsky, 1916-2006), whose birthday is today. Murray was a frequent television presence when I was a kid — the kind of entertai…
The great Italian actress Eleonora Duse (1859-1924) was born this calendar day. Often spoke of in terms of rivalry with Sarah Bernhardt, in reality Duse was considered by many, including Geo…
Twitter has declared it National Boyfriends Day, and so this post on a minor series of comedy shorts from the early ’30s. The Boyfriends was a talkie comedy series produced by Hal Roac…
Strange but true: Coco the Clown shared a birthday with Toto the Clown, October 2. At least the elder Coco did. There were at least two, a father and a son, who used that handle. The father,…
