11,502 stories by "Trav S.D."
From a certain standpoint, Harrison Greene (1884-1945) had one of the most impressive film careers I have encountered: over 250 screen credits in talking films spread across a mere 15 year p…
Yes, I am very much aware that "Eskimo" is no longer the preferred term for certain native denizens of the Arctic. It was however part of the name of a jazz band a century ago; to tell their…
An experiment " I wrote this piece (linked above) last year, and tried to circulate it today using the increasingly exhausted method of social media, with little success, so I now reblog it.…
This unusual post arises because I was amused to notice a few years ago that three unrelated female performers of the Victorian/Edwardian stage and screen shared a January 16 birthday and ha…
Avid readers of Travalanche have encountered the name of silent film comedy authority Steve Massa here in some 62 posts. We've plugged his invaluable books, and cited his research and insigh…
We had occasion to mention Lloyd Bridges (1913-1998) and his offspring yesterday " their family house was one of the casualties of the still burning L.A. fires. Lloyd's birthday was January …
The L.A. fires of 2025 still burn as I write this, though it appears that the worst has passed (knock wood). Dozens of my friends and colleagues live out there, actors, writers, critics, cre…
Sure! Thurlow Bergen! Wanna make something of it? There are better known names with January 14th birthdays I could add today, having already done posts on Hal Roach, Bebe Daniels, Russ Colum…
The screen career of Gregory Walcott (Bernard Wasdon Mattox, 1928-2015) is nicely bracketed by projects connected to Grade Z exploitation and horror auteur Ed Wood. Walcott is one of the lea…
January 12 is the birthday of British singer and actress Shirley Eaton (b. 1937). Eaton was a student at the Aida Foster Theater School who was already performing professionally on stage and…
January 11 was the birthday of Native American actor Monte Blue (Gerard Montgomery Blue or Bluefeather, 1887-1963). Blue was part Osage, Cherokee and French on his father's side, Irish on hi…
This started out to be a simple post about Florence Reed (1883-1967) the woman who played Miss Havisham so memorably in the 1934 screen version of Dickens' Great Expectations, but it turns o…
We've had a gazillion occasions to mention the phenomenon known as the Apache Dance on this blog. For International Choreographer's Day, we thought we'd do a little more comprehensive. If yo…
Joan Baez (b. 1941) is top of mind at the moment for all sorts of reasons: we saw her played by Monica Barbaro as a major character in the Bob Dylan bio-pic A Complete Unknown. At the most r…
January 8 was the birthday of the late gonzo British comedian Graham Chapman (1941-1989). For many, Chapman was their favorite member of the Monty Python troupe, though sadly he was the firs…
Born 100 years ago today, actor and male model Steve Holland (1925-1997). Holland wasn't a body builder to the extent Steve Reeves was, but, like that other Steve, he was associated with her…
This one goes out to my brother and my son, who are both Mainers, and (since I lived there briefly too), also to myself! As reported by Eve Golden, Maine humorist Robert Skoglund (1936-2024)…
Like everyone else who remembers him, I loved character Vincent Gardenia (Vincenzo Scognamiglio, 1920-1992) " but it wasn't until I learned about his early years that I got super jazzed abou…
Before there was cinema, there was illustration. That's really my only justification for posting on 19th century French artist Gustave Doré (Paul Gustave Louis Christophe Doré, 1832-1883):…
There are all sorts of reasons for wanting to capture Capucine (Germaine Hélène Irène Lefebvre, 1928-1990), principal among them being that she was both beguiling and elusive. There were …
January 6 was the birthday of swimming promoter and aquatic showman Newt Perry (1908-1987). I wouldn't claim that I would never write about better known Perrys such as Luke or Kate, but this…
Before we plunge into the impressive life and career of actress/singer/dancer Lorraine Miller (1922-1978) we'd like to pause and remind you of some of the numerous and estimable personages w…
The post I started working on for today turned out to be a real bear, so I decided to kick the can down the road on that tone 'til next year. As a stop-gap, today I share a post I had intend…
Before we plunge into the impressive life and career of actress, model and presenter Betty Furness (1916-1994) we'd like to pause and remind you of some of the numerous and estimable persona…
I've had a dozen occasions to mention one of my favorite modern playwrights Joe Orton (1933-1967) on this blog. In one post I talked one of his projects, the screenplay he was developing for…
