New Orleans Calls Donna a “Musical Comedy Beauty” – November 1923

Donna Darling & Co.
In the News
by Don Taylor

New Orleans audiences got an eyeful — and an earful — when Donna Darling brought her song and dance act to the Palace Theatre during the second half of the week of November 15, 1923. The New Orleans States and Item wasted no time in singling her out from a packed vaudeville bill, calling her a “musical comedy beauty” and praising her “spectacular and charming skit” of song and dance numbers.

Donna appeared alongside some formidable company. The bill at the Palace that week featured former film villain Walter Law in his one-act playlet Just in Time, the comedy duo Bill Dooley and Viola Votruba in Vaudeville a la Carte (which earned two curtain calls), blackface comedians George and Paul Hickman, and conjurer Amac, billed as “the happy deceiver.” Reviewer Ed R. Liuzza, writing for the States and Item on November 16th, noted that the program contained “not a dull moment,” and Donna’s act held its own among the week’s highlights.

A preview notice from November 11th had already teased New Orleans readers with the billing of “Donna Darling and Boys, with her dancing fool, Murry Earle, and her beau brummel, Tod Watson, in a Song and Dance Romance” — describing it as well worth seeing.

The engagement ran through Sunday, November 18th, the final day’s advertisement confirming “Donna Darling & Boys” as a headline act before the Palace turned its bill over to a fresh roster the following Monday.

Disclaimer: This article was researched and written by the author. Claude (Anthropic) was used as a research and drafting aid, and Grammarly was used for editorial review and copy editing.