Friday, July 18, 2025
July 18 was the birthday of Red Skelton, Lupe Velez, Dave Chasen, Monty Banks, Jane Frazee, Screaming Jay Hawkins, Dion DiMucci, and the Unsinkable Molly Brown, among many others we’ve wri…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 08:18AMThursday, July 17, 2025
Here’s a post that links our ongoing series honoring the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution with our core content stream of vaudeville. It concerns a grandfather and a grandson, …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:24AMWednesday, July 16, 2025
We seldom talk about food on this blog, and in the opinion of my wife, today we won’t be doing that either. But the humble hot dog has such a close association with Coney Island, one of ou…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 02:48PMToday is World P.R. Day and believe it or not I have a post for that, too. These days P.R. has bad P.R. of all things, largely the fault of an industry which has done too much work on behalf…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 02:48PMTuesday, July 15, 2025
Born 100 years ago today, documentary filmmaker D.A. Pennebaker (Donn Alan Pennebaker, 1925-2019). Like most moderately well-educated Americans of my age, I have seen most of Pennebaker’s …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:06AMThe death of Hugh “Bud” Ernst (1910-1950) is often told, for it made all the papers, but we’ll add as much about his life as we can, for it was also interesting. Ernst was an aviator, …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 08:06AMSince we have written about so many other members of the Ed Wood stock company, we thought it only fitting to do something on James “Duke” Moore (1913-1976), whose only credits were in W…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 05:03AMMonday, July 14, 2025
Born this day in 1945 comic actress Leigh French. Born in Kentucky, a former member of The Committee (based in San Francisco and L.A.), French specialized in three types of characters: hillb…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 02:36PMI originally intended this post for last year, it being the 50th anniversary of the ascension of Gerald R. Ford (Leslie Lynch King, 1913-2006) to the U.S. Presidency. But I didn’t get to i…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 01:32PMNever would I have dreamt, once upon a time, that Travalanche would grow to such an extent that a second post on comedian Ken Murray (1903-1988) would be warranted. But at the moment I happe…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 11:18AMJuly 14 is…yes, Bastille Day and World Chimpanzee Day, I know, but it is also World Orca Day. We used to call them “killer whales” but people objected to the false, negative impression…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:06AMSunday, July 13, 2025
Of course, all life stories have a downer ending, insomuch as they, well, end. We regret that this is our third tale in one day with a premature finish however. In addition to Danitra Vance …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 02:42PMBy a happy accident I find myself about my second LaMaMa alum of the day, actor, playwright, and director Seth Allen (1971-1986). (The accident is that he and and Danitra Vance share a July …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 12:32PMTo 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 wh…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:18AMSaturday, July 12, 2025
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 to…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 11:42AMIt 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…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:32AMActor 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,…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 06:18AMFriday, July 11, 2025
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 m…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 12:18PMJohnny 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 ou…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:02AMThursday, July 10, 2025
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…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 12:18PMI 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 …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 06:54AMWednesday, July 9, 2025
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 h…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:32AMJester 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’…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 08:24AMTuesday, July 8, 2025
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…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 06:18AMVaudeville 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…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 03:06AMMonday, July 7, 2025
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…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 03:02PMCecil 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…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:36AMSunday, July 6, 2025
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…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 02:42PMSure, 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…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:24AMSaturday, July 5, 2025
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 …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:36AMFriday, July 4, 2025
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 warne…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 06:06PM 
