12,167 stories from Trav S.D.
The Keech Brothers were Alvin (1890-1948) and Kelvin (1895-1977). Born in Honolulu before Hawaii was even a U.S. territory (though the colonial takeover had begun), the boys were adept ukule…
I'm a multi-tasker: my daily routine includes catching up on the highlights of the previous night's late shows on Youtube, while I do the busywork of sharing my blogposts. It's an exciting t…
So Chaplin Days begins today (you can see my video talk on "Chaplin and Vaudeville" here) so it seemed a propitious day for a preliminary post on a contemporary artist I'm presently obsessin…
Maurice Rocco (Rockhold, 1915-1976) was the boogie-woogie piano showman who originated the idea of playing while standing up. He claimed he first did it when a tough guy appropriated his ben…
A reader got in touch yesterday to comment on a list we shared here about five years ago which reported on the popularity of the various classic comedians on Travalanche (he was pleased to s…
Comedy writer Wilkie C. Mahoney has one champion on this world, and a fierce one it is. Journalist Bob Sarber knew him personally as a family friend when he was growing up. Nine months ago, …
Wow! just got a stellar plug for my book No Applause by Adam Buckman on MediaPost's TV Blog. The context is blackface and comedians Jimmy Fallon and Jimmy Kimmel. It's pretty intimidating to…
An appreciation today for stage and screen director/choreographer/dancer/actor Bob Fosse (1927-1987). Your author had to mature and steep himself in show biz history for decades before truly…
I am very proud to be taking part in two very cool online events happening this week, which I hope will check out: My two part online video talk on Charlie Chaplin and Vaudeville will go onl…
Today we write of a family that figured in films for a time. The father, Arthur Forde (sometimes billed as Arthur Hanna Ford, 1871-1952) would prove to be the most minor. Originally from …
Those who visit New York's Broadway district may have had occasion to encounter the Al Hirschfeld Theatre (302 West 45th Street). As a vaudeville fan I was pretty irate in 2003 when the owne…
Cornfed comic actor Pat Buttram (1915-1994) was known primarily for three things: 1) playing Mr. Haney on the sitcoms Green Acres and Petticoat Junction; 2) highly recognizable voice-overs i…
Well, the great Sir Ian Holm (1931-2020) has shuffled off this moral coil. I am overdue to include this RADA/ Royal Shakespeare alum to my Hall of Hams; let this occasion prompt his inclusio…
We've had cause to mention Dick Foran (John Nicholas Foran, 1910-79) a few times on Travalanche. It's hard to drop a lasso around this actor " he's most commonly characterized as a B movie w…
For roughly half a century the Haag name was a force to be reckoned with in the realm of American traveling shows, especially in the Southeast. Founder Ernest Haag (1866-1935) was the son of…
This is a summation of notices I have posted regularly on social media over the past decade, but social media being what it is (and Facebook no longer allowing you to pin a permanent status)…
I am amused to note that Russell Simpson (1880-1959) shares a birthday (June 17) with Flora Finch and David "Stringbean" Akeman. Apparently something in the stars has decreed that this will …
Tonight on PBS: American Masters premiers Mae West: Dirty Blonde, executive produced by our glorious supporter Bette Midler. Bette was to play Mae in a bio-pic penned by Harvey Fierstein at …
The various members of the Michelena family were some of the first successful Latin stars in American show business. The paterfamilias Fernando Michelena (1858-1921) was a Venezuelan opera s…
Three cracks of the whip today in celebration of B movie star Alfred "Lash" La Rue (1917-1996). We'd like to be able to say that a character with his skills had come up through circuses, vau…
This post arose because I became interested in a Frank Montgomery who appears to be two different people, as well as a second (or third) one as the case may be, a contemporary who was defini…
Old School is in session! Saturday, June 20, 2pm I'll be giving a FREE half hour Zoom talk on the topic of the Black Vaudeville circuits. The vaudeville era, sadly, was a time of segregation…
Lulu, Queen of the Air was one of the star acts presented across America and Europe by The Great Farini in the late 19th Century. The not-so-well-kept secret: the lass was a lad. Lulu was or…
It is disappointing to learn that Doc Cheatham was not the name of a medicine show huckster " could there ever be a better one? But Doc (Adolphus Anthony Cheatham, 1905-1997) was a jazz musi…
Wild and crazy world it is for someone of my (unspecified) age, in which the names Basil Rathbone and Sherlock Holmes are no longer synonymous. Yes, many actors have played Arthur Conan Doyl…
