11,508 stories by "Trav S.D."
The name John Scarne (Orlando Carmelo Scarnecchia, 1903-1985) was brought back to me recently when I was working on my article on NYC's magic shops for Chelsea Community News. That's three y…
I just…had to do this. It's only right. A couple of years ago I binged Seinfeld (1989-1998), because I had only caught it sporadically during the original run, though I did manage a pretty…
Today, a brief remembrance of character actor Harold J. Stone (1913-2005). I associate Stone with crook and thug characters but he also played doctors, generals, and other rough-hewn authori…
Like our recent post about Lucy and Desi bio-pics, this post arises out of the quality time I spent with this entertaining couple and their various shows during the Covid lockdown (in partic…
People just a shade younger than me have an entirely different mental association with Alan Thicke (Alan Jeffrey, 1947-2016). To them, he is the dad on the TV sitcom Growing Pains (1985-1992…
February 29, 2008 was the day Travalanche was launched, making this erstwhile offspring of mine 16 years old, but having had only four birthdays. A Leap Year Baby. I launched the blog while …
It isn't often (once every four years, in fact) that we get to add a new Leap Year Baby to Travalanche. Thus far, out of thousands of bios here, we've only got Dinah Shore, William Wellman, …
The sordid tragedy of Dorothy Stratten (1960-80) has been rehashed countless times over the past four decades. I find it less compelling for the horrific story itself than for its resonances…
There's an actor and an opera star I could be writing about this morning, but I just can't get myself worked up about them, whereas there's much more to be said on the topic of John Steinbec…
This post will lap around the edges of carnival, though nothing really connects its constituent parts beyond a name. February 26 was the birthday of the intriguing French figure Camille Flam…
A few words on Billy "Zoot" Reed (1913-1974) and Billy Reed's Little Club (1947-1965). I first learned about this long gone Manhattan institution in writing about the magician Harry Lorayne,…
Notes on stage and screen actress Lucille Ward (1880-1952). A native of Dayton, Ohio the first years of the 20th century saw Ward touring with vaudeville and stock companies, and appearing i…
February 24 was the natal day of William M. Ruthrauff (1881-1969), inventor of Pepsodent. At least, he's the inventor according to this excellent article at the Made in Chicago Museum. The a…
February 24 was the birthday of "Chrome Dome Frome" a.k.a. Texaco Star Theatre's Second Best Milton, Milton Frome (1908-1989). (No one ever called him those things, I just thought them up). …
Born 150 years ago today May Davis Wait (1874-1956). Just over a century ago, Wait's husband, a sometime cough syrup manufacturer name Pearle, invented Jell-O; May's the one who named it. Wh…
February 22 is the birthday of respected veteran character actor James Hong (b. 1929). He's 95 as I pen this, and still toiling at what he loves, which is pretty incredible. Hong's father ow…
Hello, you must be going! The long-awaited return of Marxfest will take place over two glorious weekends in NYC, packed with once-in-a-lifetime events calculated to thrill the obsessive Marx…
It amuses me especially to title this post "the OTHER Charles King" since it's likely that precious few readers have ever heard of the first one we wrote about here. As it happens, today's C…
Gloria Vanderbilt (1924-2019) was born 100 years ago today. Hers is a name that has meant something different to every American generation. Contemporary people may or may not recognize her a…
Happy Presidents Day! Young people may not know this, but ostensibly this is not a day for ALL the Presidents, just Washington and Lincoln. We used to celebrate them each as separate holiday…
It is our pleasure this morning to tell you about Early American Renaissance Man William Dunlap (1766-1839). Dunlap's most significant contributions were in the theatre, but he was also a no…
A few words on the brief career of Hope Hampton (Mae Elizabeth Hampton,1897-1982). Hampton was a Philadelphia beauty pageant queen who was spotted by pioneering producer Jules Brulatour whil…
Though we have been writing about lots of corporate brands of late, we regret to advise that today's post is not about the pizza chain. Nor even the 1931 gangster movie with Edward G. Robins…
For a goodly stretch there, when I was about 20 years old, my very favorite movie in all the world was Roger Corman's original 1960 Little Shop of Horrors (which is one of the many reasons I…
On this day in 2011, Professor Hokum W. Jeebs (Robert Stabile, b. 1951) breathed his last. This is a story of the New Vaudeville, but sounds for all the world like something from the Very Ol…
