12,104 stories from Trav S.D.
To my mind, the history of Saturday Night Live is largely a chronicle of mismanaged talent and squandered opportunities. The list of comedy geniuses the show has hired, then didn't know what…
Time was when a Saturday showing of Three Stooges shorts was just Life on Earth. Nowaday it's sumpn I gotta tell ya about! Here are some good reasons to catch That Slapstick Show at QED toda…
It may be a rash boast, but I feel there must be few readers as constitutionally capable of appreciating the life and career of author/critic John Lahr (b. 1941) as this correspondent. My co…
Actor Joe Higgins (1925-1998) was born 100 years ago today. Higgins was a bit player best known for playing sheriffs in commercials, PSAs, and television shows, frequently with the tag line,…
1945 was the year of publication of one of my favorite children's books Stuart Little. This children's classic was only about 25 years old when I discovered it. It just so happens that my yo…
Johnny Marvin (1897-1944) was one of the great ukulele playing vaudeville stars of the '20s and early '30s. His name has fallen by the wayside in comparison with some others, so it is our pl…
Teacher Appreciation Day was two months ago, and I came this close to doing a long-planned piece on my Freshman English teacher, Judi Scott. For whatever reason I ducked it, not for the firs…
I first became aware of the great singer Ivie Anderson (1905-1949) " of course " from her turn in the Marx Brothers' movie A Day at the Races (1937). She's the lady who sings "All God's Chil…
Irish playwright Conor McPherson is always having a moment " he's been having a moment for the last 30+ years. But 2025, which is only half over, has been extraordinary with FOUR shows happe…
Jester Hairston (1901-2000) had two strong careers in two entirely different but overlapping cultural disciplines. Arguably his contributions to music were of greater significance, but we'll…
The second Tuesday in July is Cow Appreciation Day. Remember to tip your cows! (Just kidding, cow tipping is cruel). As we have done with many another critter, we observe the day with a litt…
Vaudeville makes strange bedfellows, and one of the unlooked for outcomes of the publication of my book No Applause 20 years ago, was encountering all sorts of people who assumed (on the bas…
Now that the Fourth of July holiday (along with the political trauma that preceded it) are out of the way, I am pleased to announce a project designed to ease your worried mind! Friday, Augu…
Cecil Lean (1878-1935) and his two wives (in succession, of course) were major stars of their day, headliners in vaudeville and musical comedy stars of Broadway and nationwide tours, yet one…
So…I love the ones who stay in the fray. I was delighted a couple of days ago when my old friend Lizzie West dropped a new track with a Fourth of July theme, for I've missed her, and she i…
Sure, we know July 6 is the birthday of Annette Kellerman, Bill Haley, Pat Paulsen, Merv Griffin, Sebastian Cabot, William Schallert, Janet Leigh, Sylvester Stallone, Vince McMahon, Joe Keat…
P.T. Barnum's birthday is always a big day for me, a kind of semi-holiday riding on the coat-tails of the Glorious Fourth, the day before. To a considerable extent, Barnum invented modern Am…
This is taken from a book project I've been working on for a number of years. I've tailored this section for the present moment and the 50th anniversary of the events described. Be warned, t…
On this, the morning after the passage of legislation that may well end the nation founded 249 years ago today, I definitely have some better warranted remarks waiting in the wings. But I am…
I seldom share media clips on Travalanche any more, both because I got frustrated with the links dying (I don't have the bandwidth for that kind of maintenance, this is a very large website …
There's a logic, if a tortured one, for my scheduling this post for today. Jaws turned 50 this year, and of course that movie has a big Fourth of July weekend scene. But I've already written…
July 2 was the birthday of Leonard Landy (1933-2017), one of the later and lesser Little Rascals. Landy appeared in 21 Our Gang shorts between 1938 and 1941, starting at the age of five and …
Julie Klausner is most definitely not a part of show business past " she's out there in the fray thrashing around right now, same as always. But, like us (that's the Royal "we"), she is a pa…
In the context of my current spate of posts celebrating the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution, I had an internal debate about whether of no I should include the painter John Singl…
Originally posted in 2011. Born today in 1825, George L. Fox comes way too early to have been in vaudeville as we usually think of it, but he is a crucial figure in American variety hist…
