11,509 stories by "Trav S.D."
November 15 was the birthday of humorist, columnist, radio personality and Algonquin wit Franklin P. Adams (Franklin Pierce Adams, 1881-1960). In his day, Adams was best known as a regular o…
While I have long known the most famous work of regionalist painter John Steuart Curry (1897-1946), I'm quite sure I never knew the name of the artist, because if I had I would have taken no…
I know not whether Gertrude Olmstead (1897-1975) was related to the famous designer of city parks, but I do know that, astoundingly, she is far from the only bygone star named Gertrude, what…
Everything goes in threes, so they say, so this is our third big post in honor of the late Mari Lyn Henry. The first was in the aftermath of our very fortunate meeting last year, wherein she…
A tribute today to the memory of of Brother Theodore (Theodore Gottlieb, 1906-2001). For years and years, long after he passed away in fact, there was a sign advertising Brother Theodore's l…
It is characteristic of this specialized age that appreciation for Oliver Goldsmith (1728-1774) seems to have declined over the past century. And yet it is the very eclecticism of his undert…
Gordon Lightfoot (1938-2023) died on May Day of this year. Sometimes I'm ready and able to do a rapid response tribute to somebody when they suddenly pass away (much as Lightfoot did for a c…
For the great Ed Wynn's birthday this year, I have spruced up my previous post on The Perfect Fool, and add this spotlight on his ground breaking TV variety show. That he was brave enough to…
I swear I haven't gone car crazy (today's earlier post was about TV shows sponsored by Chevrolet). It's just that this seemed the best angle for me to take on my post about singer Patti Page…
I don't give two hoots in hell about cars or car companies, but it just so happens that Chevrolet did sponsor some great radio and television variety shows and that IS our bailiwick, so we t…
Please join me Saturday, November 18, 6:00pm (EST) for a special live-stream event celebrating the 60th anniversary of one of my favorite movies, Stanley Kramer's beloved all-star comedy …
When Dan W. Quinn passed away on November 7, 1938 he'd been out of the limelight for 20 years. With the Big Band Era in full swing (!) he was little remembered by the record buying public de…
The tale of stage star May De Sousa (1884-1948) is one of great unexpected success, followed by tragedy great enough to sap whatever savor there was of her triumphs. This is a common enough …
When people want to kid around about the British Invasion of the 1960s, it's usually Herman's Hermits or The Dave Clark Five they'll mention, presumably on the grounds that they were among t…
We've paid plenty of attention to Will Rogers (1879-1935) on Travalanche in tribute to his mighty cultural reach and today, even though we could well be writing about 2 or 3 people we've nev…
Dennis Miller (b. 1953) turns 70 today, but let's get real " hasn't he been 70 for the past 30 years? So let's just say that he's about a hundred. Hearing that he supported our previous garb…
This comes under the header of neither fish nor foul…neither quite historical yet, nor any longer contemporary. But I do take note of the fact that the Canadian television show Slings and …
That lame attempt at a witticism in the title of this post is spawned by the knowledge that November 3 is the birthday of Charles Louis Fleischmann (1835-1897), who, along with his brother M…
Lulu (Marie McDonald McLaughlin Lawrie, b. 1948) turns 75 today, which means that she has been a pop star for 60 years. She was only 15 years old when she broke into the biz! It can be awful…
Born November 2, jazz genius Bunny Berrigan (1908-1942), very much not to be confused with Bunny Breckinridge. Here on Travalanche, we have many bunnies. Singer and horn player Berrigan head…
We pause now from our unceasing torrent of self-promotion to engage in a little…indirect self-promotion! I've been working with Gary Hardcastle for months on the audio-book version of my 2…
John Adams (1735-1826) was born on October30. Around 1990, I began a three year stint working in New York's greatest bookstore, Brentano's Fifth Avenue. Assigned to the history section, I re…
As promised a couple of days ago, a thing on Fay, the very short lived 1975 sit-com starring Lee Grant (Lyova Haskell Rosenthal). Grant is top-of-mind at the moment because my wife recently …
How flipping cool is it that Michael J. Anderson (b. 1953) was born on HALLOWEEN? The "J" is very important so as not to confuse him with the movie director or his son. The guy I mean is the…
October 31 being Ethel Waters' birthday, I thought I'd give you an early head's up about an exciting upcoming musical show that celebrates her life and work. Bread and Gravy: The Songs and L…
