11,784 stories by "Trav S.D."
I apologize to whomever the title of this post offends (not really). I try to write catchy headlines, sometimes with alliteration, provocative if possible, and if I say so myself, this one i…
Today's new Travalanche posts for February 20, 2026 are about intersex theatre impresario John Kenley, comedy director and screenwriter Andrew Bergman, anarchist writer and activist C.E.S. W…
I was saddened to hear from my friend the composer David Mallamud that pianist/composer Christopher Berg passed away a few days ago. When Opera on Tap presented selections from our comic ope…
February 20 was the birthday of a fascinating figure: writer, lawyer, activist, and painter C.E.S. Wood (Charles Erskine Scott Wood, 1852-1944). I first learned about Wood in the context of …
February 20 is the birthday of comedy director and screenwriter Andrew Bergman (b. 1945). Bergman's cinematic career is a fascinating study of roller coaster ups and downs, ranging from clas…
February 20, was the birthday of regional theatre impresario John Kenley (John Kremchek, 1906-2009), an extraordinary person on numerous counts. There is a temptation to bury the lede here, …
Today's new Travalanche posts for February 19, 2026 are about silent screen actress Rosalind Byrne and black vaudeville star Irvin C. Miller. Earlier Travalanche post for February 19 (in no …
February 19 was the birthday of Irvin C. Miller (1884-1975), older brother of Flournoy Miller of the team of Miller and Lyles. Tennessee born Miller got his show biz start in Chicago in the …
This Olive Thomas/ Colleen Moore lookalike is movie actress Rosalind Byrne (Rosalind Loretta Mooney, 1904-1989). Byrne was born and raised in St Marys, Ohio, near the Indiana border. She was…
Today's new Travalanche posts for February 18, 2026 are about the late Jesse Jackson, the late Tom Noonan, and Father of Surrealism André Breton. Earlier Travalanche post for February 18 (i…
The Encyclopedia Britannica gives February 18 as the birthday of André Breton (1896-1966), though other sources seem less sure. We've already done a post on his role in the birth of surreal…
I swear we have no intention of turning this into an obituary blog, but people keep dying and bumping my planned posts from the day's docket! We just learned that actor Tom Noonan (1951-2026…
Jesse Jackson (1941-2026) was the first Presidential candidate I ever cared about as a voter. My political coming of age was in 1984. In the months prior to the Democratic party's nomination…
Today's new Travalanche post for February 17, 2026 is a tribute to the late Robert Duvall. Also it's Mardi Gras! My earlier post on the holiday (and related stuff) is here. And my multi-part…
I had to take a day to cogitate on what I wanted to say in praise of the late Robert Duvall (1931-2026). He was one of those quietly great Method actors, usually cast in second leads or char…
Today's new Travalanche post for February 16, 2026 is about John Schlesinger and three of his films (Midnight Cowboy, Day of the Locust, and Honky Tonk Freeway). And it's President's Day. I …
Film director John Schlesinger (1926-2003) would be 100 years ago today. I've seen about half of his movies, and could certainly whip up enthusiasm for a few more of them than I treat of her…
Today's new Travalanche posts for February 15, 2026 are about a new Tura Satana documentary, and theatre columnist and sketch writer S. Jay Kaufman. Earlier Travalanche posts for February 15…
We'd long known a documentary about film goddess Tura Satana was in the works, but hadn't heard much about it since the crowdfunding campaign many years ago. So we were beyond excited to see…
I became aware of S. Jay Kaufman (1886-1957) because there is a portrait of him by James Montgomery Flagg hanging at the Lambs. And I was immediately amused by the fact that his name is what…
Today's new Travalanche posts for February 14, 2026 are about The St. Valentine's Day Massacre, the sit-com Valentine's Day, and the show biz professionals Fanne Foxe, Al Brodax, Jessica Dra…
 A post now on Lena Horne's Valentine, born of a Valentine's Day, Leonard "Lennie" Hayton (1908-1971). Hayton was was Jewish kid, raised in New York in a family of classical music lovers …
Well, this is TECHNICALLY a Valentine's Day post, but as the title should tip you off, it's more about violence than about sex. But it DOES have a Jazz Age/ Prohibition Era theme that may ap…
Happy Valentine's Day! Seemed a good time for a post on a long-forgotten one-season sitcom created by Hal Kanter, best known for his long-time association with Bob Hope. Valentine's Day (196…
Born too of a Valentine's Day was actress Frances Dade (1907-1968), notable for playing the screen's first Lucy in Dracula (1931) and for being named a WAMPAS Baby Star " and for having one …
