Sometimes the newspaper gets it wrong. But even when it does, it can still hand us some wonderful information.
On Sunday, February 8, 1920, The Detroit News ran a small feature on page 61 under the headline “Actress, Detroit Girl, Here This Month.” It included a striking profile photograph of Donna. The original newspaper image was very dark, but a little gentle editing brought out a lovely portrait.
The caption reads:
Miss Donna Montran, a former Detroit girl, will appear here some time this month in Chin Chin. She is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. H. Knight, 628 Lawndale avenue.
Calling her a “Detroit girl” was fair enough. Although Donna grew up in Albion, Michigan, she lived at various times in Detroit, Rochester and several other places, and more than one city was happy to claim her.
Where was Chin Chin in February 1920?
In early February 1920, Donna and the Chin Chin company were touring Wisconsin and Indiana. They crossed into Michigan later in the month and spent the rest of February touring the state:
- February 21–22: Grand Rapids, MI, at the Powers Theater
- February 23: Muskegon, MI, at the Regent Theater
- February 24: Unknown
- February 25: Bay City, MI, at the Washington Theater
- February 26: Saginaw, MI, at the Auditorium Theatre, where Donna was singled out for her role in the show
- February 27: Unknown
- February 28: Ann Arbor, MI, at the Whitney Theater
- February 29: Sunday, with no performance (1920 was a leap year)
From Michigan, the show moved on to a run of engagements in New York.
Did Donna play Detroit?
When Chin Chin played larger cities, it usually stayed at least two days and often longer. Grand Rapids, the largest Michigan city on the route, got two days. After that the company made one-night stands in smaller cities, with only February 24 and 27 unaccounted for. Neither open day leaves room for a Detroit engagement of the usual length. So although The Detroit News announced that Donna would appear “some time this month,” I don’t believe she ever did.
What the paper got right
The caption’s real gift is the family detail. “Mr. and Mrs. H. Knight” were Donna’s mother, Ida Mae Barber, and her stepfather, Harvey Watson Knight. The 1920 census confirms that they were living at 628 Lawndale Avenue in Detroit’s Ward 20. So a brief notice that got the engagement wrong still places Donna’s mother and stepfather at a specific address at a specific time, and gives us a beautiful portrait of Donna besides.
Sources
- “Actress, Detroit Girl, Here This Month.” The Detroit News (Detroit, Michigan), Sunday, February 8, 1920, p. 61.
- “United States Census, 1920,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MZWK-739 : accessed 12 May 2019), Harvey Knight, Detroit Ward 20, Wayne, Michigan, United States; citing ED 613, sheet 19B, line 89, family 434, NARA microfilm publication T625 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1992), roll 812; FHL microfilm 1,820,812.
- Donna Montran, Vaudeville page, dontaylorgenealogy.com (Chin Chin 1919–20 tour route).
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