11,792 stories from Trav S.D.
Today's new Travalanche posts for March 3, 2026 are about Disney animator Ward Kimball, cartoonist Milt Gross, character actor Wallace Howe; Singing Cowgirl Dorothy Page, stage and screen di…
Unlike so many friends, colleagues, peers, etc, your correspondent never could whip himself into a dither about any particular Golden Age animator. I obviously love old cartoons " anyone who…
This post is about the cartoonist Milt Gross (1895-1953), not the sportswriter Milton Gross (1912-1973). How that must have confused people back in the day, since they both worked for newspa…
Dorothy Page (Dorothy Lillian Stofflett, 1904-1961) enjoyed but a brief minute in the spotlight, but it's more than many get to experience! Page's career came about as a result of her winnin…
Stuart Walker (1888-1941) was an estimable figure: a director, producer, and writer of both stage and screen. Today he is perhaps best known for having directed the horror classic Werewolf o…
According to IMDB today would the 150th birthday of character actor Wallace Howe (Orlando Wallace Howe); although some other sources give 1878 as the birth year. Howe's nearly 150 screen cre…
Today's new Travalanche posts for March 3, 2026 are about Diana Barrymore, Lee Radziwill, Frankie "Half Pint" Jaxon, and Josh Alan Friedman's new novel All Roads Lead to Great Neck. Earli…
Yesterday I got word that a new novel by Josh Alan Friedman called All Roads Lead to Great Neck has just dropped. As a citizen of that well-heeled and neurotic metropolis, and a booster of i…
"Style" is not my style, so you'll find what you may consider an appalling absence of references to fashion or decor in this brief post about the late Lee Radziwill (Caroline Lee Bouvier, 19…
March 3 was the birthday of the doomed Diana Barrymore (1921-1960). Barrymore was the daughter of John Barrymore and Michael Strange (Blanche Oelrichs), who split up when the child was fo…
March 3 was the birthday of the amazing Frankie "Half Pint" Jaxon, though posterity seems uncertain whether the year was 1895, 1896, or 1897. Jaxon was a singer, musician, female impersonato…
Today's new Travalanche post for March 2, 2026 is about blues singer Bessie Brown. Earlier Travalanche posts for March 2 (in no particular order) include ones on: Dr. Seuss Tom Wolfe Lou Ree…
March 2 was the birthday of The Original Bessie Brown (1890-1955). The adjective (which she applied to herself) was and is to differentiate herself from another woman of the same name who pe…
Today's new Travalanche post for March 1, 2026 is about Robert Grossman and his graphic novel Life on the Moon. Also, Happy Women's History Month! Read 2,000 posts about female subjects here…
Last night, those with telescopes could look at the night sky just after sunset and enjoy a rare spectacle of six of our solar system's satellites all stacked up in a row like a parade of pl…
Today's new Travalanche post for February 28, 2026 are about gangster Bugsy Siegel, Sam the Sham and The Pharaohs, and silent comedian Sid Smith. Also Meet the Sword Swallowers of Travalanch…
This post is cooked up in the spirit of my earlier one on Al Capone. Gangsters and organized crime and the lore that goes with them aren't what get me up in the morning, though I do enjoy re…
Today we celebrate that unlikely rock and roll giant, Domingo Samudio (b. 1937), better known as Sam the Sham, of Sam the Sham and the Pharoahs. It's likely that a majority of our readers ha…
February 28 was the birthday of silent screen comedian Sidney "Sid" Smith (1892-1928). The title of this post is to differentiate its subject from the cartoonist, creator of the comic strip …
Today's new Travalanche post for February 27, 2026 are about episode 90 of the Marx Brothers Council Podcast (on which I talk about Gallagher and Shean), singer Mildred Bailey, and Francis M…
It's been over three quarters of a century since singer Mildred Bailey née Rinker (1900-1951) left the earth, so, sadly she's not still among us as the title of this post implies. She would…
Third time's a charm! What a pleasure it was to return to the Marx Brothers Council Podcast to chat with Matthew Coniam and Noah Diamond. On this occasion we talk about the team of Gallagher…
We continue our 250th anniversary celebration of the American Revolution today with a nod to General Francis Marion (1732-1795), affectionately nicknamed "The Swamp Fox". Marion was a South …
Today's new Travalanche posts for February 26, 2026 are about quotes by me in today's Irish Echo, the origin of Kellogg's Cereal, Christopher Marlowe, and dancer Judy Landon (wife of Brian K…
Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593) was baptized on a February 26; presumably his birth was a couple of days earlier as was the custom. I often think of Marlowe as the John the Baptist to Shakes…
