11,499 stories by "Trav S.D."
Is it by pure chance that I pen this review on Ondine's birthday or was it decreed by demented Gods? I had occasion to mention playwright H.M. Koutoukas in this morning's post about Ondine, …
Fortunate for those who celebrate Pride Month, the birthday of Ondine (Robert Olivo,1937-1989) falls within it. Ondine was one of those legendary Warhol Superstar characters, oft mentioned i…
June 15 is the birthday of some mighty big stars in my personal pantheon: silent comedian Harry Langdon, who has a whole section on Travalanche; 19th century stage star Adah Isaacs Mencken, …
The United States Army was created by the Continental Congress on this day in 1775. George Washington was appointed as its commander on the following day. (Note how the army was always inten…
If you're a fan of classic films and don't recognize the name Ian Hunter (1900-1975), relax, it's okay. I didn't! But he's right there, right there, in prominent roles in some of the best kn…
June 12 was the birthday of Anne Frank (1929-1945). Confronted with the bewildering descent of America into a place where schoolgirls need to hide out in attics and where Jews are being viol…
June 12 being the birthday of Weegee (1899-1968), we thought it might be useful to create a little post that relates him to some of this blog's customary topics. First, some short biography …
Just got the word that Brian Wilson has passed. Never mind the cause. The man was 82. Still, who'd ever dream that all three Wilson brothers would die before Keith Richards? I had something …
If I didn't know any better and you had asked me which of the cast members of Plan 9 from Outer Space (1959) was named "DUDLEY MANLOVE" I almost certainly would have pointed to Bunny Breckin…
According to IMDB June 10 was the birthday of female impersonator Frederick Kovert (1895-1949). The name is sometimes rendered "Ko Vert", making it seem exotic somehow. Kovert, his real surn…
Paul Marco (Angelo Inzalaco, 1927-2006) dined out better than most on being part of the Ed Wood stock company. Die-hards know him as the guy who played goofy Officer Kelton, the Gilligan-esq…
The world is horrible so as an antidote, I proffer these two Rhode Island cultural tidbits, as fluffy as a clamcake: 1) The streaming series Sirens is set in a very Block Island-esque locati…
Cole Porter, Jackie Mason, S.N. Behrman, Bob Cummings, Michael J. Fox, Fred Waring, Skip James, Harry Gribbon, George Axelrod, John Howard Payne, and Leslie Banks were all born on June 9; so…
The title of this piece in not to imply that my previous post on Joan Rivers (Joan Molinsky, 1933-2014) was in any way improper. It was however, incomplete. I wrote it in 2013, when she was …
Vaudeville lovers owe much to the enterprise of Hans August (H.A.) Spanuth (1884-1976). Spanuth was a second generation cultural figure. His father, August Spanuth (1857-1920) was a German p…
Tribute today to burlesque legend Kitty West (Abbie Jewel Slawson, 1930-2019), whose ingenious stage name plants the idea in your head that you've heard of her before, no doubt because it so…
Broadway composer Charles Strouse (1928-2025) would have been 97 years old today; we lost him three weeks ago. Strouse left behind a staggering body of accomplishment at the time of his pass…
Having had temperatures in the high 80s in New York the past couple of days put me in an odd frame of mind to contemplate the life (and death) of British polar explorer Robert Falcon Scott (…
This may shock you, maybe it won't, most likely you won't care, but I was a huge fan of Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn (2002-2004) back in the day, and I'm still a fan of Quinn's. If you wonde…
Before Mitzi Green and Mitzi Gaynor, show biz had Mitzi Mayfair (Juanita Emylyn Pique, 1914-1976). This Mitzi started out as a kid act in vaudeville at age 11 in her hometown of St. Louis, e…
Tribute now to stage and screen actor Tyler Brooke (Victor Hugo de Bierre, 1886-1943), known especially for his association with classic comedy. Brooke had been a bank clerk and a lawyer pri…
Okay, no one remembers Peter Donald (1918-1979) but the handful who do know him as the Irishman Ajax Cassidy from Allen's Alley on The Fred Allen Show. In that and such-like capacities he wa…
June 5 is National Hot Air Balloon Day, so we thought we would expend a little hot air celebrating their history and presence in pop culture, as we have done previously with blimps and Zeppe…
Of all the major comic strips of the early 20th century, it seems to me none have been quite as forgotten as Toonerville Folks. I'm trying to think why. In its own time (1908-1955) there wer…
