11,442 stories by "Trav S.D."
We've had numerous opportunities to mention the influential painter Benjamin West (1738-1820) on Travalanche in the past, for he instructed or otherwise advised such renowned pupils as both …
Today's new Travalanche posts for October 9, 2025 are about The History of Peep Shows, a snapshot of Brooklyn's Albee Square, and British music hall comedian Leslie Fuller. Earlier Travalanc…
A little post about the Once and Future Brooklyn that I love so well. It's a follow up of sorts to a mini-post I left here about a dozen years ago, when I realized that my place of work (my …
Don't get all excited! I never said or implied I was referring to pornographic or live sex peep shows, did I? They're a sub-set of what I'm talking about, but by now you should know better t…
October 9 was the birthday of British music hall and screen comedian Leslie Fuller (1888-1948), often billed as "The Rubber Faced Comedian". Joe Rock enticed Fuller to go before the cameras …
Today's new Travalanche posts for October 8, 2025 are about Sigourney Weaver and Her Show Biz Family, and the Peshtigo Fire of 1871. Earlier Travalanche posts for October 8 (in no particular…
We love to write about multi-generational show business families, and here's one that ought to be more widely known than it seems to be. Stage and screen actress Susan Alexandra "Sigourney" …
This is a bit of history I learned from an unlikely source " there was a reference to it on a recent episode of The Gilded Age. It's a timely story, given massive recent wildfires like the C…
Today's new Travalanche posts for October 7, 2025 are about singer/bandleader Vaughn Monroe, and a new LGBTQ website. Earlier Travalanche posts for October 7 (in no particular order) include…
I'm thrilled and proud to announce my place in the stable of Scott Stiffler's very necessary new website, LGBTQ Community News, alongside the likes of Michael Musto, my old pal Jay Walker of…
It's odd and rare and rare for a pop culture figure as successful as Vaughn Monroe (1911-1973) to be so forgotten today. The bandleader, singer, and musician was a star of radio, television,…
Today's new Travalanche post for October 6, 2025 is about plus-sized silent screen comedian Dee Lampton. Earlier Travalanche posts for October 6 (in no particular order) include ones on: Plu…
How fortuitous that silent screen comedian Dee Lampton (1898-1919) was born on Plus Sized Appreciation Day; he's a perfect candidate for my Hall of Plus Sized Comedians. Lampton's life was s…
Today's new Travalanche post for October 5, 2025 is about the history of Grey Gardens. It is also Rhode Island Day. Earlier Travalanche posts for October 5 (in no particular order) include o…
October 5 was the birthday of Edith Ewing Bouvier Beale (1895-1977). Those familiar with her story and that of her daughter Edith Bouvier Beale (1917-2002) are accustomed to getting it in…
Today's new Travalanche post for October 4, 2025 is about Ilise Carter's new book on Spiritualism, When We Spoke to the Dead. Earlier Travalanche posts for October 4 (in no particular order)…
I must be psychic! How did I just KNOW that Ilise S. Carter (a.k.a. The Lady Aye) would have a book event at the Morbid Anatomy Museum, and, conversely, that the museum would want to do an e…
Today's new Travalanche posts for October 3, 2025 include ones on Newport Jazz and Folk Festival founder George Wein…Wilna Hervey of Toonerville Folks…and Broadway playwright Sophie Trea…
The remarkable Sophie Treadwell (1885-1970) is best remembered as a modernist playwright, journalist, and activist, but that's just the tip of the iceberg. We can also claim her for our Star…
October 3 was the birthday of concert promoter/producer/organizer George Wein (1925-2021). The key to how to pronounce his name is in the title of one of his albums, Wein, Women and Song. Th…
The comedy of Wilna Hervey (1894-1979), sometimes billed as Wilna Wilde, was similar to that of Blanche Payson, Babe London, Muriel Landers, and Lulu Roman. She was a large woman, 6'3″…
Today's new Travalanche posts for October 2, 2025 include ones on Rob Farr's upcoming biography of Mr. and Mrs. Sidney Drew; and the recent film Late Night with the Devil (and how it relates…
I watched the excellent Australian horror film Late Night With the Devil (2023) several months ago; we time our post today both because it's the Halloween season and because certain late nig…
I have been excited beyond reason since Rob Farr told me about his new book about Mr. and Mrs. Sidney Drew. Okay, that's an exaggeration, but hyperbole is the clay from which I mold my most …
Today's new Travalanche post for October 1, 2025 is about the late actor Peter Kastner (You're a Big Boy Now). Earlier Travalanche posts for October 1 (in no particular order) include ones o…
