April 30 is International Jazz Day! Travalanche has hundreds of posts celebrating jazz singers, composers, and musicians, but they are not grouped into a single section. Rather, the various …
I don't know if you've been following the Theatre 80 saga over the last few months. I should have weighed in much sooner, but I kept thinking the cause was lost…then I would see that the o…
There are three major milestone Williversaries to celebrate this year: Willie Nelson (b. 1933) turns 90 years old today; and 2023 also marks 50 years since his first annual 4th of July Picni…
It's National Superhero Day, an appropriate time seemingly for an overdue explication upon the worthwhile topic of the Saturday morning cartoon show Underdog (1964-67). I watched the show in…
I was saddened to hear from my friends at Peculiar Works Project about the death on April 12 of Megan Terry (Marguerite Duffy, 1932-2023). Terry wasn't just one of the top female playwrights…
Animation isn't our main "space jam" here on Travalanche, but we have inevitably encroached on that territory, as many of the vocal performers and artists in that field had connections to va…
April 26 is World Burlesque Day! Travalanche has hundreds of burlesque-related posts, but I'll have to cop to the fact that it is handily the most cockamamie subject category on this blog in…
The title of today's post comes by virtue of the fact that our only previous post dedicated to this major entertainer focused on but a single accomplishment, my favorite creation of hers (th…
Born 150 years ago this day: Howard Roger Garis (1873-1962), most notable for creating the children's book character Uncle Wiggily. The title of this post is derived from that of his son's 1…
Check it out! I'm today's guest on Avi Woolf's terrific Gilded Age podcast series "Stumbling Colossus". The topic is vaudeville of course " you wanna talk about income disparity and opportun…
How delightful that Albert Zugsmith (1910-1993) shares a birthday with William Castle (1914-1977), for they have so much in common. Both became famous as independent, low-budget schlockmeist…
There is a poetic resonance in the fact that Ronald Neame, CBE (1911-2010) was born on St. George's Day, the Feast Day for England's Patron Saint, for there is something quintessentially Eng…
Very sad news to report, and I'm glad I learned it from my old editor Jason Zinoman, who nowadays has the comedy beat at the NYTimes (I wouldn't have liked to have learned it from someone wh…
There is no shortage of significant April 22 birthdays. As I write this, it is the centennial of the births of Bettie Page and Aaron Spelling; last year it was Charles Mingus. Also born this…
April 21 is the natal day of Jim Osterberg (b.1947), universally known by the handle Iggy Pop. He is top of mind at the moment, since we recently watched Gimme Danger, Jim Jarmusch's 2016 do…
This is a show biz blog and Burt Pugach (1927-2020) had a modest footprint in show business. He was invested in New York nightclubs, and he produced the crime drama Death Over My Shoulder (1…
I learned about silent comedienne Wanda Wiley (1902-1987) through the good offices of the Silent Comedy Watch Party and That Slapstick Show, both of whom have presented her shorts. How wonde…
I don't know that Dickie Goodman (1934-89) WAS the "King of Novelty" precisely (it's a crowded field), but that is the title of his son Jon's 2000 biography about his dad. The book has a for…
I have no idea who decreed it to be National Banana Day, but the instant I learned of its existence I thought of this post, for the banana is one of your top comedy fruits, as well as one th…
April 18 is World Heritage Day, also known as International Day of Monuments and Sites. I thought it would be an appropriate day on which to introduce you to my other blog, the Trav-a-Log, w…
Dawn Evelyn Paris (1918-1993) had two movie careers, the first as child star Dawn O'Day, the second, under the billing of the character she played in Anne of Green Gables (1934), Anne Shirle…
April 16 was the natal day of Pearl "Polly" Adler (1900-1962); it seemed the most apt date for this review of Debby Applegate's 2021 book Madam: The Biography of Polly Adler, Icon of the Jaz…
Thank you, Travalanche friend Anthony Di Florio, for letting me know about Italian-American entertainer Eduard Migliaccio, a.k.a Farfarfello (1880-1946). Migliaccio was a star of New York's …
Just a few brief lines about major silent screen star William Russell (William Lerche, 1884-1929) who appeared in over 200 films over the course of two decades. The son of stage actress Clar…
We don't often get occasion to add to our little section of posts defining the various types of variety arts and their venues, so we thought we would embrace National Gardening Day as an occ…