11,845 stories by "Trav S.d."
I had the honor and (frankly, thrill) of chatting with film director Penelope Spheeris on the phone for about an hour a couple of months ago. What we talked about (an upcoming project of her…
December 1 was the birthday of Sylvester Clark Long, otherwise known as Chief Buffalo Child Long Lance (1890-1932. The Chief's heyday was the late '20s and early '30s, when he published a po…
December 1 is World AIDS Day. I took a quick inventory of artists and scholars whom I admire, or matter to me, or whose work I have enjoyed, or who even simply interest me, who died of AIDS …
In my post about Billy Connolly t'other day I mentioned that, inconceivable as it may seem, there were some even more accomplished Scotsmen down the years. St. Andrew's Day is the day to cel…
The great Anglo-Irish satirist Jonathan Swift (1667-1745) was born this day. My previous post on this literary hero of mine was a bit perfunctory, so today we lay down something slightly mor…
Hi! It's #GivingTuesday " did you know that Travalanche is member-supported? I have thousands of regular readers but only about 100 of them truly pull their weight to help me keep the thing …
That's right. Howie Mandel (b. 1955) wanna make something of it? Mandel first made his mark 40 years ago in the most uncharacteristic way possible " he was cast in the groundbreaking medical…
November 28, 1942 was the date of one of the worst fires in American history, the burning of the Cocoanut Grove nightclub in Boston, which caused the death of 492 people. It is the biggest n…
Just heard from friend and funny man Bob Greenberg that comedian Freddie Roman (Fred Kirschenbaum, 1937-2022). Though he has many great stage and screen credits, Roman was best known for bei…
Dad Gum it, I'm not going to allow the death of Freddie Roman or the 80th anniversary of the Cocoanut Grove Fire divert me celebrating the birthday of Paul Shaffer (b. 1949), though I'm quit…
Jaleel White was born this day in 1976. The name may not ring an immediate bell in and of itself, but perhaps a light will dawn if I mention that he was the child actor who played the part o…
Born this day in 1955, entertainer Buddy Big Mountain. Impossible to determine whether he is America's first Native American ventriloquist (I'm guessing there must have been somebody before …
80 years ago today saw the Hollywood launch of the motion picture classic Casablanca (1942). It went into nationwide release a couple of months later. I first got heavily into this classic m…
No words could make someone my age feel so old or so heartbroken as: Irene Cara: Dead at 63. It was just announced, no cause has been released. I've contemplated tributes to her here before,…
The screen career of Priscilla Dean (1896-1987) lasted about 20 years (1912-32), with the peak being the decade from 1917 to 1927. Silent and classic comedy fans may known her best; she was …
Apparently this Thanksgiving I am giving thanks for Billy Connolly (b. 1942), who turns 80 years old today. Actually it's now SIR Billy Connolly " The Big Yin was knighted in 2017. What an i…
The great Russian born Parisian designer Erté (Romain de Tirtoff, 1892-1990) was born 130 years ago today. I've known about Erté for over 30 years, and today it's making me miss the friend…
Last evening we got the bad news about the passing of much respected Village Voice critic Michael Feingold (1945-2022). I'd gotten a sense he wasn't well from our last exchange in early 2020…
As we mentioned in our recent podcast special about the Little Rascals, the great neo-big band outfit Vince Giordano and the Nighthawks is starting a 7 week residency at Birdland, with weekl…
Coleman Hawkins (1904-1969) is largely pioneered with largely reinvented the tenor sax a as a jazz instrument, as well as being on the pioneers of be bop. Hawkins was a musical prodigy, play…
Happy World Children's Day! We've chosen this symbolic day to release our new podcast special exploring the 100 year history of Our Gang a.k.a. The Little Rascals. It's a half hour long, and…
Tommy (1905-56) and Jimmy Dorsey (1904-1957) were among the biggest musical names of the Big Band era, and we've had dozens of occasions to mention them here, so today we shine the spotlight…
The screen career of Eugenia (sometimes Eugenie) Gilbert (1907-1978), coincided almost precisely with the decade of the 1920. (It's an auspicious day for those with her surname; W.S. Gilbert…
Man, do I find myself intrigued by the career of character actor Robert Weil (1914-2002). On account of the kinds of projects he did, I'm going to guess that his origins were in burlesque, o…
Martin Scorsese (b.1942) turns 80 today, so I thought it would be a good time for some kind of omnibus post on him, having scribbled about his movies piecemeal over the years. Thus far in so…
