Tuesday, December 2, 2025
Today we treat of some interesting programmatic experiments implemented by R.K.O. in the ’40s and early ’50s I really wish I’d known about when I was writing my books No Applause and C…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 12:06PMTonight (December 2, 2025) at 6pm, New York’s Film Forum will be presenting an unusual sort of event (for them) — a compilation of great clips from the television programs Your Show of S…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 08:48AMMonday, December 1, 2025
Today’s new Travalanche post for December 1, 2025 is about Jerry Murad and the Harmonicats. Earlier Travalanche posts for December 1 (in no particular order) include ones on: World AIDS Da…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 11:02AMThe Harmonicats were a splinter group off of Borrah Minnevich’s Harmonica Rascals formed in 1941 by Jerry Murad (1918-1996) and Al Fiore (1922-1996). Murad and Fiore had been playing Chica…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 11:02AMSunday, November 30, 2025
Woody Allen turns 90 today, and his great collaborators Diane Keaton and Marshall Brickman have recently passed way. The moment seems worth observing. Allen may or may not have directed his …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 03:24PMToday’s new Travalanche posts for November 30, 2025 are about the new Stiller and Meara documentary, the early films of Woody Allen, and a wonderful anti-fascist film penned by Donald Ogde…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 03:24PMBen Stiller and I are exactly the same age (3 weeks different) so I happen to know that today he reaches a fraught birthday threshold. Sans doute, it’s no coincidence that he just released…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 01:12PMNovember 30 was the birthday of Donald Ogden Stewart (1894-1980). As we share a given name (I’m Donald Travis Stewart, according to my birth certificate), I have long been aware of this Al…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:02AMSaturday, November 29, 2025
Today’s new Travalanche posts for November 29, 2025 are about Otis Turner, director of the first Oz plays; and Broadway and vaudeville performer Lillian Fitzgerald and her several notable …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 02:42PMNovember 29 was the D.O.B. of theatrical and cinematic Jack-of-All-Trades Otis Turner (1862-1918). What a name! Suggesting on the one hand a mash-up of James Otis and Turn: Washington’s Sp…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 01:42PMI was first put wise to the existence of Lillian Fitzgerald (1882-1947) and her industrious theatrical family through Kevin Fitzpatrick of the Lambs Club. Fitzgerald’s son-in-law, whom we�…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 11:24AMFriday, November 28, 2025
Today’s new Travalanche posts for November 28, 2025 include a celebration of the Grand Ole Opry Centennial, and a post on the late Anna Nicole Smith. Earlier Travalanche posts for November…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 12:54PMI had long planned to mark this date anyway, but our ardor to do so was redoubled by our recent time in Nashville and the series of posts we ended here just a week ago. That revered American…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:36AMNo, this chronicler is not “above” paying some attention to the life and career of the late Anna Nicole Smith (Vickie Lynn Hogan, 1967-2007). Indeed, we have an entire section of nearly …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 08:31AMThursday, November 27, 2025
Happy Thanksgiving! Please peruse the Thanksgiving section of Travalanche for numerous posts related to the history of the holiday. Today’s new Travalanche posts for November 27, 2025 are …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:42AMI have several November 27 birthdays flagged for future posts, but this year the date falls on Thanksgiving, and I do like to keep to a theme. As you can probably glean, your correspondent i…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:42AMThis one goes out to my old colleague Robert Engel, who used to work at Clermont, the museum at the historic upstate estate of Robert Livingston (1746-1813). Engels’ is a face and name I w…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 06:24AMWednesday, November 26, 2025
As we come upon Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday, and every other Shopping Day through Christmas and Beyond, may we suggest the following Trav S.D. products? From newes…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 02:02PMToday’s new Travalanche posts for November 26, 2025 are about Robert Goulet and an upcoming screening of the Dogville comedy shorts. Earlier Travalanche posts for November 26 (in no partic…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 02:02PMThis one is strictly for New Yorkers, dog lovers, and vintage slapstick aficionados — preferably all three, but any combination of two will do. That Slapstick Show is returning to QED in Q…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:42AMA frequent theme of this blog is the army of performers one encountered on television variety shows in the 1970s whose presence was a little inexplicable. Invariably, when you look into them…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:24AMTuesday, November 25, 2025
Note! This is a different fellow from radio, television, and film actor John Larkin (1912-1965), who was associated with Perry Mason and The Edge of Night. That’s a larkin for another sunr…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 04:12PMToday’s new Travalanche posts for November 25, 2025 are about Evacuation Day, three new screen projects with a Rhode Island connection, and stage and screen actor John Larkin. Earlier Trav…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 04:12PMYour correspondent is never more provincial than when attention is paid to his tiny home state. It’s reached the point that not only is there an entire Rhode Island section on Travalanche,…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 02:06PMHappy Evacuation Day! You may be surprised to learn that its has nothing to do with promoting colon health. November 25, 1783 was the day that the British finally departed from New York City…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:42AMMonday, November 24, 2025
Today’s new Travalanche post for November 24, 2025 is about that unlikely television star William F. Buckley, who was born 100 years ago today. Earlier Travalanche posts for November 24 (i…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 02:18PMAuthor, editor, and television presenter William F. Buckley (1925-2008) was born 100 years ago today. Having now done posts on Gore Vidal, Norman Mailer, James Baldwin, and Truman Capote, of…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 11:06AMSunday, November 23, 2025
This concludes our multi-part series on my 60th birthday road trip to visit dead relatives. As you see from this photo, only one of them rose up to greet us. Below is an organized re-cap of …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 03:24PMToday’s new Travalanche posts for November 23, 2025 are David Rappaport (Time Bandits), the final installment of my Southern travel series, and a recap of the entire series. Earlier Traval…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 03:24PMThe few stalwarts still reading this series on my sexagenarian southern sojourn will be relieved to know that we’re sewing the whole thing up today. Just a few straggling memories of our l…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 02:18PMLike most Americans, I’ll wager, I first encountered little person/ actor David Rappaport (1951-1990) in his role as Randall in Terry Gilliam’s Time Bandits (1981). As leader of the grou…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:06AM 
