11,841 stories by "Trav S.d."
At the age of 45, silent screen actor J. Warren Kerrigan (1879-1947), star of such major features as The Covered Wagon (1923), The Girl of the Golden West (1923), and the original screen ver…
I was so sad to learn just now that my new friend Mari Lyn Henry passed away last month. It was just about a year ago that I spent the loveliest time at Mari Lyn's apartment listening to her…
Alan Curtis (Harold Ueberroth, 1909-1953) was well on the way to some kind of lasting stardom when a bad reaction to a routine kidney operation took him at age 43. Despite a somewhat forgett…
July 23 marks the beginning of the Discovery Channel's Shark Week this year, an annual tradition since 1988. I have always been shocked at how successful this promotional campaign has been w…
Vivian Martin (1893-1987) was a Broadway actress and movie star of the silent era, one of the many rivals to Mary Pickford as a sweet screen damsel, and a for a time the wife of actor Willia…
July 21 was the natal day of stage and screen actress Gladys Hulette (1896-1991) " the same birthday as my beautiful wife. not to mention Chauncey Olcott; Don Knotts; Joe Laurie Jr; Little T…
The final screen credit of Verna Felton (1890-1966), as Winifred the Elephant in Walt Disney's The Jungle Book (1967) makes a good touchstone for exploring the rest of her career. She specia…
Well, it's a big day, and I really ought to be focusing on tonight's show at QED or the Tom Carvel documentary podcast I'm in that dropped this morning, but old habits die hard so I thought …
Within a span of hours, two press releases have hit my inbox concerning the departures of two of my favorite indie theatre artistic directors, Alex Roe of Metropolitan Playhouse, and Kristin…
I first became aware of Billy Sullivan (William Arthur Sullivan, 1891-1946) through my investigation of boxing movies in this post. His association with the genre, and the fact that he was f…
Happy National Tattoo Day! We thought this a suitable day to share a finding aid to our little tattoo section of Travalanche, for we do indeed have one, with about 15 posts. None precisely t…
I contemplated writing about a much more famous Canadian actor this morning, one who'd certainly attract more clicks, but that's not how we roll on Travalanche. Mission first, clicks second.…
My reasons for ssssssselecting Sssssss (1973) to write about today are ssssssseveral: Sssssss is also one of those movies that, when I talk to people of about my own age, most of them seem t…
Unlike nearly everyone else of my acquaintance, I've been mum on the topic of the writers' (and now actors') strike for a variety of reasons. One is that, given my long-standing and certainl…
We just word on the passing a couple of days ago of ventriloquist, voice-over artist, announcer, children's host, and actor Jimmy Weldon (1923-2023), just two months shy of his centennial bi…
How lucky was French actress Annabella (Suzanne Georgette Charpentier, 1907-1996) to be born on Bastille Day? It's kind of like George M. Cohan being born on the 4th of July. And that's not …
Born today, the much-missed ice cream entrepreneur Tom Carvel (Athanasios Karvelas, 1906-1990). Those of a certain age RELISHED (and I mean ALL of us) Carvel's voice-overs in his own TV and …
July 14 isn't only Bastille Day, it's now also Non-Binary Peoples Day, and so today we use the occasion to celebrate Tre'vell Anderson, founder of Slayzhon, podcaster, former Editor-At-Large…
Few people in show business have enjoyed such a huge impact in the daily lives of millions of Americans and then vanished from the public consciousness so utterly Dave Garroway (1913-1982). …
I find myself awestruck by that it is possible to have directed so many well-known Hollywood movies, many regarded as "classics" or semi-classics, while remaining as anonymous as Alfred E. G…
It wasn't that long ago, but still I can't recall what in particular it was that motivated me to take note of Tony Hendra (1941-2021) with the purpose of writing a post on him. It may have b…
July 10, 2023 would have been the centennial birthday of Betty Brian (1923-2015), who, with her sibs Doris (1926-2018) and Gwen (1928-1990) was one third of the juvenile sister act trio The …
Oh, don't worry, I'm not going to be mean to the Ames Brothers " I just like a bit of sonic wordplay in my headlines. But if I'd written this post back in the '70s when I was a kid, I likely…
An overdue salute today to early television pioneer Faye Emerson (1917-83). Emerson was a stunning Broadway, radio, and Hollywood movie actress who just happened to be married to Elliott Roo…
I just got the memo that today is the birthday of the STILL-LIVING Carl "Doc" Severinsen (b. 1927). Severinsen was a transitional figure of a very rare sort when I was a kid. Rock and roll h…
