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Two Fab New Books For YOU
Little birds that tweet have told me of two new books that are coincidentally both being released today, which readers of this blog in particular should be interested in. As we told you back in March,...
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A Saturday Night Live Finding Aid
My original intention was to create this new finding aid for Saturday Night Live related posts for the REAL 50th anniversary next year (2025 — the show launched in ’75), but they’re already billing...
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On the Making of Wild Bill Elliott, Red Ryder and More
October 16 was the birthday of a future B movie star whose birth name was Gordon Nance (1904-1965). Nance grew up on a cattle Missouri ranch. He grew up riding, roping, and participating in rodeo...
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The Horror of Margot Kidder
Margot Kidder (1948-2018) gave up the ghost just a few years ago, but if I saw more than just a headline, I don’t recall it. The country was neck deep in the shit storm of the 45th Presidency at the...
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Another Kind of “Feejee Mermaid”
Multiple lures attracted us to Feejee Mermaid, the inaugural production of Drops in the Vase, now in previews at the Flea: the title, obviously, but also the past work of the principal artists, all of...
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60 Years of Simon and Garfunkel
Did you take this at 3.A.M.? You look pretty fresh. You sure it’s not 10 A.M.? October 19, 1964 was the date on which Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M., the first record album by the duo Simon and Garfunkel...
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Will Rogers Jr: Also a Great American
William Vann Rogers (1911-1993) was one of those rare juniors who outgrew the shadow of a great father and became his own man, becoming mighty valuable himself. In Rogers case he managed to do so...
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The Story of the Can-Can
October 21, 1858 marked the world premiere of Offenbach’s opera Orphée aux enfers (Orpheus in the Underworld). Its culminating piece of music, the “galop infernal” was to become the conventional and...
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A Century of Chef Boyardee
“Spaghetti Dinner for 3”! Romantic meals for throuples! Far be it from me to besmirch the fine name of Boyardee, but we know what we know. I’m not here to endorse this unpalatable family of products....
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Deconstructing “Dumbo” (1941)
Believe it or not, this is my first post dedicated to single Walt Disney feature. I’ve given many of them attention on Travalanche, but usually in the context of broader topics. I’m going to post a...
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Peace Out: On Some Quakers in Popular Culture
Quaker Founder George Fox (1624-1691) was born 400 years ago this year; William Penn (1644-1718) was born 20 years later, on this day. I am descended from Quakers on both sides of my family. Religious...
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The Adventures of Admiral Byrd (and His Son)
During its 1933-34 season, CBS Radio listeners were treated to one of the most remarkable broadcast programs of all time: The Adventures of Admiral Byrd, a weekly 15 minute dispatch by Rear Admiral...
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The Love Boat Sails Again
Yes, that is Lillian Gish We have multiple reasons for today’s addendum to our previous 2018 post on The Love Boat. One is that, once again, it is Lauren Tewes’ birthday. She gets the honors because...
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The Show Biz Legacy of C.W. Post
Looks like he could use a banana on his cereal. You’ll have noticed that in recent months we have drifted into doing more posts about American corporations and brands. I just want to assure you that...
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The Performances of Dylan Thomas
In 2019 and 2020 it looked very much like New York’s White Horse Tavern was going to close, and as so many joints shuttered for good during the Covid pandemic, it seemed destined to be another...
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Happy National Immigrants Day
Thank you, Donald Trump, for reminding everyone who you really are last night, by returning to the symbolically freighted site of the 1939 Nazi Rally (Madison Square Garden) in order to relive it with...
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80 Years Ago: Harold Lloyd and Old Gold Comedy Theater
Here’s an even more obscure pocket of an already forgotten cul-de-sac of show business history! While there was nearly a decade between Harold Lloyd’s last starring comedy Professor Beware (1938), and...
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A Fanny Brice Finding Aid
In celebration of Fanny Brice’s birthday, we inaugurate this new finding aid to help you navigate posts related to the great star of stage, screen, and radio. We hope you find it useful! My Main Fanny...
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The Maniacal McMahons: Four Generations of a Wrestling Dynasty
October 29 was the birthday of a now obscure sports promoter named Jess McMahon (Roderick James McMahon Sr, 1882-1954). In the final analysis I revile the influence his family has had on this country,...
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Now Boarding the Jefferson Airplane
There are performing artists of older vintage I could treat of today, but none of them get me as jazzed as Grace Slick (b. 1939), nor are any of them as witchy. I love that she was born on Hallowe’en...
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