The Travagraph

June 6 is not only D-Day, it also happens to be National Caves and Karst Day. For which I have been saving this little post about my most recent adventure in one. As a New Englander, caves are completely exotic to me. To my recollection my only previous experience in one was at the top of a mountain in Utah about 30 years ago. But as it happens, the state with the greatest number of documented…

Today’s new Travalanche post for June 5, 2026 is about the new audio recording featuring Harpo Marx TALKING! Also, Happy Hot Air Balloon Day. I have several related posts with which to observe it: On Hot Air Balloons Some Movies Featuring Hot Air Balloons Graf Zeppelin Goodyear and Its Blimps and…if you’re in a dark frame of mind…The Hindenburg. Earlier Travalanche posts for June 5 (in no…

The big day has arrived! As we reported here two years ago, an audio recording starring the famously silent Harpo Marx is hitting stores today. Just six months before he died, Harpo narrated a live performance of Peter and the Wolf and some other pieces with the Riverside Symphony. The performance was recorded, although not intended for a commercial release. Audio collector and preservationist…

Today’s new Travalanche posts for June 4, 2026 are about the 1976 movie Ode to Billy Joe, the variety program Cavalcade of Stars, and Eddie LeVeque (The “Last Keystone Kop”). Earlier Travalanche posts for June 4 (in no particular order) include ones on: Rosalind Russell Russell Hicks (The Bank Dick, etc) Bruce Dern Gordie Tapp (Hee Haw) Clara Blandick (The Wizard of Oz) Dennis Weaver and…

June 4, 1976 was the release date of the motion picture Ode to Billy Joe. Which is funny, for as all fans of the song it’s based on know, the events of the narrative take place on “the third of June”. Was that an error? Did they not think about it at all? A day late and a dollar short? Anyway, it’s nothing to jump off a bridge over. We have already done an enthusiastic post on the 1967 hit song…

June 4 was the birthday of a certain shadowy figure named Edward “Eddie” LeVeque (1896-1989). LeVeque was a Hollywood bit player during the 1950s and ’60s as well as a pal of Mack Sennett’s during his final years. He was in fact, one of the pallbearers at Sennett’s funeral in 1960. From that day until his death nearly three decades later, LeVeque dined out on a reputation as a former Keystone…

June 4, 1949 was the premiere date of the Golden Age tv variety program Cavalcade of Stars (1949-52). Cavalcade of Stars was, along with Captain Video and His Video Rangers, one of the two tent-pole programs on the Dumont Television Network. The two shows brought in half of the network’s advertising income, one of the many symptoms of how troubled the company’s short existence was. Though it was…

Today’s new Travalanche posts for June 3, 2026 are about poet Allen Ginsberg and comedian Ted Ziegler, both born 100 years ago today. For World Bicycle Day, a guide to bicycle related posts on Travalanche. Earlier Travalanche posts for June 3 (in no particular order) include ones on: Alla Nazimova Chuck Barris and The Gong Show Josephine Baker Lili St Cyr Paulette Goddard Leo…

A minor figure to be sure, but one who made his mark in television, and some of you lot may actually remember him: Ted Ziegler (1926-1999), born 100 years ago today. Ziegler enjoyed a nice stretch as a sketch comedian on American television throughout the 1970s. He was a regular cast member on The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour, The Sonny Comedy Revue, The Sonny and Cher Show, and The Hudson…

Allen Ginsberg (1926-1997) was born 100 years ago today and that’s a mind-blower. In some other dimension, one pictures him at this age, perhaps as a denizen of Shangri-La, high atop a Himalayan peak, seated in a lotus position, visited by the occasional pilgrim or seeker, looking at 100 like he did at 40. If one chants enough, or takes enough peyote, maybe it can become so. Part of me wants to…

Today’s new Travalanche posts for June 2, 2026 are about Howard Johnson (Tin Pan Alley songwriter, not restaurateur/ hotelier) and the Marquis de Sade. Earlier Travalanche posts for June 2 (in no particular order) include ones on: Kevin Brownlow Dana Carvey Leopoldo Fregoli Valaida Snow Charlie Watts Johnny Weissmuller June MacCloy Jerry Mathers and Leave it to Beaver Max…

No wait, hear me out! Okay, I don’t precisely celebrate the life and legacy of the Marquis de Sade (Donatien Alphonse François de Sade, 1740-1814) taken as a whole, but neither do I condemn his existence, whole cloth, either. de Sade is one of those historical figures who is widely known for a notorious reputation, yet little known beyond that. The popular idea of him, I’ll wager, places him a…

There are two famous Howard Johnsons, both of them associated with ice cream. The better known of the two is of course the founder of the popular restaurant and hotel chain. We may well take that up as a topic in future. Anyway, that Howard Johnson launched his business in 1925, and ice cream was one of the key offerings at his eateries. As to the other Howard Johnson, today’s Howard Johnson…

Today’s new Travalanche post for June 1, 2026 is about Tennessee. That’s it. Just Tennessee. Also, June is Pride Month. Check out over 300 LGBTQ-related posts here. And go here to obverse Accordion Awareness Month. Earlier Travalanche posts for June 1 (in no particular order) include ones on: Marilyn Monroe (today is the 100th anniversary of her birth) The Travalanche Guide to Games Shows…

Look, kids: I did your school report, so AI won’t have to! I don’t know what motivates me to do posts like this, apart from the fact that I’m a nerd at bottom, and by that I mean less that I am socially awkward than that I get enthusiastic about certain topics to a degree that will register to many as embarrassingly excessive. And that’s a nerd. This particular series of posts will probably…

Today’s new Travalanche posts for May 31, 2026 are about Madge Blake (Aunt Harriet from Batman) and Dave O’Brien (Reefer Madness). Earlier Travalanche posts for May 31 (in no particular order) include ones on: The Coney Island Smile Face The History of Madison Square Garden Fred Allen Walt Whitman Don Ameche Jim Hutton and Ellery Queen The Westerns of Clint Eastwood Peter Yarrow (Peter,…

Madge Blake (Madge Cummings, 1899-1969) was one of those Grandma Moses actors. She didn’t take the plunge into acting professionally until she was 50 years old, but she flourished. She specialized in playing silly, parochial older women, a kind of heir to Spring Byington. Her best known roles were the parts of Larry Mondello’s mother on Leave it to Beaver (1958-60) and Bruce Wayne’s Aunt Harriet…