August 16, 1925 was the release date of the Tod Browning’s The Unholy Three. Browning had been directing in Hollywood for over a decade when he got a greenlight to direct his second pictur…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:18AMAugust 14 was the birthday of Tin Pan Alley lyricist Ned Washington (Edward Michael Washington, 1901-1976). A Scranton native, Washington broke into vaudeville around 1922 both as an emcee a…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 06:18AMThe new Travalanche posts for today (August 15, 2025) are ones on: The 80th Anniversary of V-J Day The 60th Anniversary the Beatles at Shea Stadium Hawaiian Statehood Day The 100th Birthday …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 02:12PMI usually strive mightily not to be so basic in my choice of images, both because that’s how I roll, and because ya get fewer clicks if the pic you use is everywhere else. But this famous …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 01:06PM60 years ago today, the historic Beatles’ first concert at Shea Stadium (August 15, 1965). Did they intend for it to be scheduled on the 20th anniversary of V-J Day? I can’t imagine that…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 01:06PMThe third Friday in August is celebrated annually as Hawaiian Statehood Day. This year it just so happens to fall on the 80th anniversary of V-J Day, reminding us that the war with Japan beg…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 12:06PMFor a long time throughout my youth, the entertainer Don Ho (1930-2007) was the unelected, unofficial mascot for Hawaii in American pop culture. The Don Ho phenomenon was not unlike that of …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:48AMWell, I obviously learned about this interesting man when researching his near-namesake Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875-1912) was so named not as the result of a coinc…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 08:48AMBorn 100 years ago today, the great jazz pianist Oscar Peterson (1925-2007), a.k.a. “O.P.” There was much to set Peterson apart from his contemporaries in the jazz field of his day. Firs…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 06:36AMToday we announce a new Travalanche feature that will hopefully help you maximize the value of this increasingly unwieldy site. Travalanche is about 17 years old now if my math is correct, w…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 01:18PMAugust 14 was the birthday of the popular Jazz Age cartoonist, illustrator and caricaturist Ralph Barton (Ralph Waldo Emerson Barton, 1891-1931). Though I’m sure I’d encountered his work…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:03AMI am tardy in appreciating playwright/screenwriter/director Tom Eyen (1940-1991), but am gratified to redress the lapse today. For some reason, Eyen is seldom included in capsule narratives …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:03AMNot to be confused with Gene Rayburn, Gene Sheldon, Gene Austin, or Gene Pitney, though I see how that could happen. Gene Raymond (Raymond Guion,1908-1998) was a sort of middling movie star …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 05:42PMThere are many red herrings to put young people off the scent of the real significance of singer, actor, and tv personality Jimmy Dean (1928-2010). The smell of sausage may be the initial di…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 01:12PMAugust 13 was the birthday British puppeteer and comedian Rod Hull (1935-1999). Hull and his obnoxious Emu puppet tried their luck in the States from time to time, so I have vague childhood …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 11:06AMJust a few word in acknowledgment of the existence of writer and director Melvin Frank (1913-1988). We’ve had half a dozen occasions on which to mention the man, usually in relation to his…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 11:06AMToday would have been the 87th birthday of Dave “Baby” Cortez (David Cortez Clowney, 1938-2022). Cortez passed away back in 2022, but was reclusive, so the news wasn’t reported or publ…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:48AMI don’t know why, but it always seems that little items of clown and circus news seem to float my way and accrue, so I tend to bundle the items into little bulletins. We’ve done it a few…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 01:36PMAugust 12 was the birthday of Al Goodman (1890-1972), a musical director for Broadway, radio, and television, especially associated with the shows of Al Jolson and Bert Lahr. Goodman was the…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 12:24PMThis is the promised part two of a pair of posts on my return to the city of my birth, Westerly, Rhode Island (part one being the review of Frank Ferrante’s Groucho show at Wilcox Park). I…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:18AM“I seen my opportunities, and I took ’em.” — Tammany Hall politician George Washington Plunkitt. This past weekend was sock-o for a zillion reasons, but the catalyst for it all was t…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 04:54PMIf you’re my age, and even a little older, you grew up knowing only a couple of things about Eddie Fisher (1928-2010): 1) he had caused a stir by leaving Debbie Reynolds for Elizabeth Tayl…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 04:36AMToday’s post is a bit of a bunt, as I am on the road today for reasons I will report back on later. As I frequently do, I will likely backdate some more content to make the day’s output …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 03:42AMMy old friend and sometime editor Scott Stiffler made an announcement this week that ought to be of interest to many of our readers. In just about two months (October 7) he is launching an a…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 12:32PMI was already interested in actor Adam Roarke (Richard Jordan Gerler, 1937-1996) on his own account, but learning about his show biz parents absolutely sealed the deal for his inclusion in t…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:24AMI’ve wanted to crow my enthusiasm for Verna Bloom (1938-2019) here for some time. Hers wasn’t a household name, but she gave so many incredible performances in enough important American …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 02:03PMWe continue our series of posts observing the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution with this acknowledgment of the natal day of General Nathanael Greene (1742-1786). Greene was reput…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:48AMAugust 7 was the birthday of opera singer and actress Ida Grace Brooks Hunt (1878-1929) — and if that isn’t a Gilded Age millionaire sounding name I’ll eat my top hat. Hunt’s main cl…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:48AMI surely became aware of Irene Purcell (1896-1972) because she appears in The Passionate Plumber (1932) with Buster Keaton, Jimmy Durante, and Polly Moran. Purcell’s movie career only last…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:48AMA few words on jazz singer, activist, and occasional actress Abbey Lincoln (Anna Marie Wooldridge, 1930-2010). First, what a crazy-good stage name, right? I just like the sound of it, period…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 05:24PMIn honor of Lucille Ball’s birthday, a handy dandy finding aid for the many Travalanche posts relevant to the ribald red-head: My original 2013 biographical post on Lucy’s career and her…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 05:24PM
