11,669 stories by "Trav S.D."
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…
Today’s new Travalanche posts for August 4, 2026 is about the mother of the author of this blog, who was born 100 years ago today. Earlier Travalanche posts for August 4 (in no particular …
You’ve probably noticed I don’t do fluff. Thousands of biographies on Travalanche, but no hagiographies. If you want cheerleading and fanboy shit, surely you’ve learned to bark up anot…
Today’s new Travalanche posts for August 3, 2026 are about Tony Bennett’s TV work (for his 100th birthday) and Carolyn Castiglia’s new show! Earlier Travalanche posts for August 3 (in …
I’m pretty sure I’ve been following the work of solo performer/ stand-up comedian Carolyn Castiglia for over 20 years now. Somehow she has managed to look just as young, and to remain ju…
Born 100 years ago today, Anthony Dominic Benedetto of Astoria, Queens, otherwise known as Tony Bennett (1926-2023). Having been in Tony’s employ early in my career, I have long since done…
Today’s new Travalanche post for August 2, 2026 is about ill-fated sculptor Michael Richards. Also For National Psychic Day: A Celebration of Fortune Tellers For Sisters Day: A Boatload of…
Like a nesting doll inside a nesting doll, America’s 250th anniversary year contains another one within it — the 25th of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. I’ll be marking it…
Back when this was a much less ambitious blog I did a perfunctory post on the sitcom Lotsa Luck (1973-1974) and in all the years since that has served as my entry on Dom DeLuise (1933-2009).…
Today’s new Travalanche posts for August 1, 2026 are about Dom DeLuise and Carol Arthur, and Theater for the New City’s new street theater show. Also For Clown Week, peruse the clown sec…
