Don
Travaline

DON TRAVALINE was born Dominick A. Travaligni on June 25, 1892 in Pennsylvania, the son of Frank and Antoinetta, who anglicized the family name while living in Camden. The Travaline family lived at 1117 South 4th Street in South Camden, between Chestnut and Sycamore Streets. An accomplished musician, he was already a published songwriter by 1916, with works such as "I Want To Be An Alpha Boy", which celebrated Camden's Alpha Social Club,  and the Camden High March. He was still using the Travaligni surname when this was published, but by 1919, when brother Frank M. Travaline Jr. graduated from Camden High School, the name had been changed.

Don Travaline, an accomplished pianist, played in all sorts of venues. He played piano in silent movie theaters for Herbert Megowan, and worked many a vaudeville show at the Towers Theater on Broadway.

Brother Frank Travaline Jr. also was an accomplished musician, who, while at Camden High was a student of Lucy Dean Wilson. He studied law, graduating in 1926 from the University of Pennsylvania Law School, and had a long and distinguished career in law, politics, and the civic affairs of the city. He also kept his hand in musically, at least through the 1920s.

When the Census was taken in 1930 Don Travaline was living with his parents, brother Frank, and sister Nan at 1117 South 4th Street in South Camden, a duplex which they shared with the family of barber Fred Tamru. The Travaline family was still on South 4th Street as late as 1956, although both sons had moved out by the mid-1930s. Don Travaline was living at 1249 Kenwood Avenue in Parkside by 1936. He later moved to Fairview.

Don Travaline remained a Camden resident until his passing in March of 1968.

Camden Courier-Post - February 27, 1936

TRAVALINE REVIEWS RADIO MUSIC WORK
Preparation of Program Aids Proves Arduous Task, Pianist Says 

Radio listeners whose ears catch the clever and intimate arrangements of duets, trios, quartets and ensembles, seldom consider the amount of work entailed in preparing such musical feats, according to one of South Jersey's foremost musicians. 

Authority for the extent of such work is Don Travaline, regarded in professional ranks as South Jersey's leading pianist. Don is a lifelong resident of Camden and a graduate of Camden High School.

For more than three years he was director of the Musical Chef's program, a radio feature in the Philadelphia district.

Don's piano art includes unusual arrangements of the lyrical "Londonderry Air," "Liebestraum" and "Only the Lonely Heart," frequently heard in classic radio recitals.

Scores of singers heard on programs originating in the Philadelphia radio center are among pupils of the versatile Don, whose frequent appearances on vaudeville stages are remembered by thousands of South Jersey theatre goers.

Children's programs in which the musical arrangement is so vital, is a specialty of Don's, who also prepares comedy skits, medleys, monologues and operatic arrangements at his home, 1249 Kenwood Avenue. He also maintains offices in Philadelphia.

Among radio's well-known entertainers whose programs are partially developed by Don's art are the Four Pals, formerly with Ted Lewis on Broadway, and the Street Singer, also a former Philadelphia entertainer.