11,678 stories by "Trav S.D."
Today’s new Travalanche post for August 14, 2026 is about British actor and music hall entertainer Bransby Williams. Earlier Travalanche posts for August 14 (in no particular order) includ…
August 14 was the birthday of British music hall star Bransby Williams (Bransby William Pharez, 1870-1961). As a youth, Williams worked for tea merchants in Mincing Lane, and for a wallpaper…
Today’s new Travalanche posts for August 13, 2026 are about Dolly Van Doll and the inaugural show of my American Vaudeville Theatre, 30 years ago this month. Earlier Travalanche posts for …
I’m in the midst of a personal benchmark at the mo’ — I might have marked it here earlier in the month but I found myself feeling obliged to recognize several centennials: those of Ton…
The European nightclub performer known as Dolly Van Doll (1938-2025) passed away back in October; I opted to save her memorial here until her natal day — although, to be accurate and undou…
Today’s new Travalanche posts for August 12, 2026 are about country singer Buck Owens and Gladys Bentley, star of the Harlem Renaissance. For World Elephant Day, meet the Elephants of Trav…
We promise we are not entering some big new Hee Haw phase here on Travalanche — mostly because we have already posted on that show and most of its stars. But it just so happens that we had…
Gladys Bentley (1907-1960) is having a posthumous moment. I’d surely seen photos of her before in her iconic get-up, and maybe come across her name once or twice, but hadn’t been aware o…
Today’s new Travalanche posts for August 11, 2026 are about representations of Cleopatra on stage and screen; and two timely bits of Marx Brothers news. Happy Hip Hop Celebration Day. Earl…
Two new items of major Marx Brothers news to drop on you so hold on to your hats! The first, admittedly, is strictly for died-in-the-wool, hardcore, long time Marx Brothers fans. It concerns…
The death of Cleopatra VII (suicide by asp?) is believed to have occurred somewhere between August 10 and 12, in the year 30 B.C. I have split the difference in posting this thingamabob toda…
Today’s new Travalanche posts for August 10, 2026 are about Junior Samples (Hee Haw), Peter Robbins (the voice of Charlie Brown), and Leila Waddell (main squeeze of Aleister Crowley), Earl…
The tragic finish to this story occurred just a couple of years ago, but I missed the news when it broke, as I bet many of you did as well. This is the age of news saturation and sometimes i…
August 10 was the birthday of Leila Waddell (1880-1932), best known today as the favorite of notorious occultist Aleister Crowley, though were it not so, she’d certainly merit mention as a…
Born 100 years ago today Alvin Monroe Samples (1926-1983), a.k.a. “Junior” Samples. The entirety of Samples’ national fame rested on his employment on the country music and comedy vari…
Today’s new Travalanche post for August 9, 2026 is about P.L. Travers and Mary Poppins. Earlier Travalanche posts for August 9 (in no particular order) include ones on: The Bank (Charlie C…
Last year on this date, the birthday of P.L. Travers (Helen Lyndon Goff, 1899-1996), I bunted by sharing a 20 year old review I had written of the Broadway production of the West End stage a…
Today’s new Travalanche post for August 8, 2026 is about Dino De Laurentiis. Earlier Travalanche posts for August 8 (in no particular order) include ones on: Dustin Hoffman Connie Stevens …
August 8th was the birthday of the brilliant cinematic showman Dino De Laurentiis (1919-2010). I originally intended to backdate this post for the centennial of the producer’s birth as I s…
Happy birthday to the great character actor David Rasche (b. 1944). In recent years we’ve had the pleasure of enjoying his performances as a regular on shows like Veep (2013-2017) and Succ…
Today’s new Travalanche post for August 7, 2026 is about David Rasche and Sledge Hammer! Happy National Lighthouse Day (on lighthouse movies) Earlier Travalanche posts for August 7 (in no …
Today’s new Travalanche post for August 6, 2026 is about sitcom actor/director Peter Bonerz (The Bob Newhart Show). Also today is the 100th anniversary of the historic English channel swim…
Peter Bonerz (b. 1938) is of course the SECOND TV sitcom dentist named Jerry who later went on to be a prolific director of sitcoms. The first was Jerry Paris. Paris started on The Dick Van …
Today’s new Travalanche post for August 5, 2026 is about Don Juan, and the launch of Vitaphone. Earlier Travalanche posts for August 5 (in no particular order) include ones on: Little Orph…
August 5, 1926 was an important day in American popular cinema history. On that date Warner Brothers unveiled their first releases making use of their new Vitaphone sound on disk process. Co…
