11,442 stories by "Trav S.D."
Café Carlyle, long time showplace of Bobby Short, Elaine Stritch, Eartha Kitt and others, turned 70 years old this year. But I'm afraid I'm not going to address that topic much at all. Fool…
Today's new Travalanche posts for December 3, 2025 are about March Master Henry Fillmore, portrait painter Gilbert Stuart (and daughter), and the 150th Anniversary of the New York Coaching C…
December 3 was the birth date (and December 7 the death date) of bandleader, musician, and composer Henry Fillmore (1881-1956), who was especially known for his original marches and screamer…
I'm quite certain that the first museum and/or historical site of any kind I ever visited was the birthplace of the portrait painter Gilbert Stuart (1755-1828), which is located barely ten m…
This post was prompted by my visit to Newport's Redwood Library this past summer. December 3, 1875 was the date on which the Coaching Club of New York, sometimes shortened to New York Coachi…
Today's new Travalanche posts for December 2, 2025 are about a new Sid Caesar book launch, and a couple of R.K.O. film series that revived silent films and vaudeville. Before we proceed to t…
Today we treat of some interesting programmatic experiments implemented by R.K.O. in the '40s and early '50s I really wish I'd known about when I was writing my books No Applause and Chain o…
Tonight (December 2, 2025) at 6pm, New York's Film Forum will be presenting an unusual sort of event (for them) " a compilation of great clips from the television programs Your Show of Shows…
Today's new Travalanche post for December 1, 2025 is about Jerry Murad and the Harmonicats. Earlier Travalanche posts for December 1 (in no particular order) include ones on: World AIDS Day …
The Harmonicats were a splinter group off of Borrah Minnevich's Harmonica Rascals formed in 1941 by Jerry Murad (1918-1996) and Al Fiore (1922-1996). Murad and Fiore had been playing Chicago…
Woody Allen turns 90 today, and his great collaborators Diane Keaton and Marshall Brickman have recently passed way. The moment seems worth observing. Allen may or may not have directed his …
Today's new Travalanche posts for November 30, 2025 are about the new Stiller and Meara documentary, the early films of Woody Allen, and a wonderful anti-fascist film penned by Donald Ogden …
Ben Stiller and I are exactly the same age (3 weeks different) so I happen to know that today he reaches a fraught birthday threshold. Sans doute, it's no coincidence that he just released t…
November 30 was the birthday of Donald Ogden Stewart (1894-1980). As we share a given name (I'm Donald Travis Stewart, according to my birth certificate), I have long been aware of this Algo…
Today's new Travalanche posts for November 29, 2025 are about Otis Turner, director of the first Oz plays; and Broadway and vaudeville performer Lillian Fitzgerald and her several notable re…
November 29 was the D.O.B. of theatrical and cinematic Jack-of-All-Trades Otis Turner (1862-1918). What a name! Suggesting on the one hand a mash-up of James Otis and Turn: Washington's Spie…
I was first put wise to the existence of Lillian Fitzgerald (1882-1947) and her industrious theatrical family through Kevin Fitzpatrick of the Lambs Club. Fitzgerald's son-in-law, whom we'll…
Today's new Travalanche posts for November 28, 2025 include a celebration of the Grand Ole Opry Centennial, and a post on the late Anna Nicole Smith. Earlier Travalanche posts for November 2…
I had long planned to mark this date anyway, but our ardor to do so was redoubled by our recent time in Nashville and the series of posts we ended here just a week ago. That revered American…
No, this chronicler is not "above" paying some attention to the life and career of the late Anna Nicole Smith (Vickie Lynn Hogan, 1967-2007). Indeed, we have an entire section of nearly 700 …
Happy Thanksgiving! Please peruse the Thanksgiving section of Travalanche for numerous posts related to the history of the holiday. Today's new Travalanche posts for November 27, 2025 are ab…
I have several November 27 birthdays flagged for future posts, but this year the date falls on Thanksgiving, and I do like to keep to a theme. As you can probably glean, your correspondent i…
This one goes out to my old colleague Robert Engel, who used to work at Clermont, the museum at the historic upstate estate of Robert Livingston (1746-1813). Engels' is a face and name I wil…
As we come upon Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday, and every other Shopping Day through Christmas and Beyond, may we suggest the following Trav S.D. products? From newes…
Today's new Travalanche posts for November 26, 2025 are about Robert Goulet and an upcoming screening of the Dogville comedy shorts. Earlier Travalanche posts for November 26 (in no particul…
