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Seeking “The Scarlet Pimpernel”
“They seek him here, they seek him there/ Those Frenchies seek him everywhere/ Is he in heaven or is he in hell? That damned elusive Pimpernel.” Baroness Orczy (Emma Magdalena Rozália Mária Jozefa...
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Join Me for Groucho’s Birthday!
Folks in the New York area! Please join me, Wednesday, October 2, 7pm for a simultaneous celebration of Groucho Marx’s birthday and the release of my new book The Marx Brothers Miscellany. The other...
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“Sam and Friends”: The Definitive Book About Early Jim Henson
We plugged this book a couple of days ago; time to lean into that a little more for Jim Henson’s birthday! This is our seventh post about the Muppet mogul and/or his felt companions, and it’s a bit...
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For World Gorilla Day: The Gorillas of Travalanche
September 23 is World Gorilla Day, and to mark it, we add to our growing store of posts bundling our many posts related to particular animals. The gorillas of animals on stage and screen aren’t always...
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50 Years Ago: “The Mutations” a.k.a. “Freakmaker”
September 25, 1974 was the release date of the horror film The Mutations a.k.a. Freakmaker. The Mutations is the farthest thing from a classic, even (arguably) a horror classic, but it has its selling...
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Leah Hing: First Female Chinese-American Pilot — and Vaudevillian
Leah Hing (1907-2001) was the first female Chinese-American pilot. The Oregon aviatrix got her pilot’s license in 1934, and she definitely stunted with flying circuses, but the real reason I wanted to...
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For National Comic Book Day: A Finding Aid for the Comic Books of Travalanche
Happy National Comic Book Day! We sieze the occasion to present you with a handy finding aid for all the comic book series we have written about on Travalanche. (Did your grandmother used to call them...
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A Shot at Shug Fisher
Counterintuitive but true: if you were to cross Shug Fisher (George Clinton Fisher, 1907-1984) with Fuzzy Knight, the result would not be Suge Knight. Fisher was a rustic character actor, comedian,...
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70 Years of The Tonight Show: From Steve Allen to Jimmy Fallon
September 27, 1954 marked the premiere of NBC’s The Tonight Show. That is a startling statistic. Several related superlatives amplify the impressiveness: it is the world’s longest running talk show,...
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William S. Paley and the Birth of CBS
Having paid tribute to David Sarnoff and the founding of the NBC empire, in the name of equal time today we give a respectful nod to William S. Paley, honcho of CBS (1901-1990). Paley’s millionaire...
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Celebrate Silent Movie Day 2024!
Tomorrow, September 29 (2024, for those of you who don’t look at the dates of things, after all this post won’t always be new) is National Silent Movie Day! Lots of exciting things are happening so I...
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Craps: In Which I Take a Dump on Andrew Dice Clay
Good looking guy, huh? Maybe that’s the problem. I briefly considered holding this piece until Andrew Dice Clay (Andrew Clay Silverstein, b. 1957) passed away so I could call it “The Diceman Goeth”,...
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The Truman Capote Centennial
Born 100 years today, Truman Streckfus Persons (1924-1984), better known to most as Truman Capote. Mid 20th century fiction is far from my main jam, but writers of that era did leave footprints in...
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For International Podcast Day: The Podcasts of Travalanche
Happy International Podcast Day! In honor of the day, I’ve done a little round-up of some of my more recent (i.e., post-Covid) podcast appearances for your delectation. And of course the Chain of...
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Jimmy Carter at 100: Reflections on the First Post-Modern President
What, me worry? Today marks the 100th birthday of former American President Jimmy Carter (b. 1924). Apart from Gerald Ford, who scarcely counts, Carter is the first President whose tenure I remember...
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Time to Rent “EVil Sublet”!
’tis the season for spooky, and I’m way into it this year, so expect plenty of horror and horror/comedy content here throughout the Halloween month. First out of the gate is a thing I have been...
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A Century of Surrealism!
100 years ago this day and this month: the birth of Surrealism (a few years longer if you count Apollinaire’s coinage of the term in 1917). Yvan Goll published an obscure Surrealist Manifesto on...
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The Brief on Bud Abbott
Thanks, Bob Greenberg for the very good idea to do a solo post on Bud Abbott (William Alexander Abbott, 1897-1974). The reasons for doing one (and doing one now) are multiple: 1) the many posts I’ve...
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Happy Birthday, Joey Arias
October 3 is the birthday of the grea drag star, singer, performance artist, and actor Joey Arias. Born in Fayetteville, N.C. (recently hard hit by Hurricane Helene) Arias moved to L.A. with his...
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Experience “Rose’s Royal Midgets” in Baltimore!
Ecstatic to report that I am finally realizing my long-cherished goal of doing a book event at Atomic Books in Baltimore this October 26, 2024, at 7pm. I first visited that cool emporium about 15...
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