Category Archives: Vaudeville

The vaudeville career of Madonna Montran, aka Donna Montran, aka Donna Darling.

 

Donna & Sammy — Worcester, Massachusetts (Dec. 1928)

In December 1928, my grandmother Donna Darling and her stage partner Sammy Clark appeared in Paul Specht’s “Syncopation” revue at the Plymouth Theatre in Worcester, Massachusetts, sharing the bill with Dolores Del Rio’s “Ramona.” Four consecutive issues of the Worcester Evening Gazette followed the engagement from its Monday opening to its Saturday close, offering an unusually complete week-by-week record of the act. Continue reading

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Donna Montran in Chin Chin at the Drohen Avenue Theatre, Dunkirk, NY – March 8, 1920

On March 8, 1920, my grandmother, Donna Montran, again played when the touring company of “Chin Chin” stopped for a single night at the Drohen Avenue Theatre in Dunkirk, NY — two days after closing its Rochester engagement. Continue reading

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Donna Montran in Chin Chin at the Lyceum Theatre, Rochester, NY – March 4–6, 1920

In March 1920, Donna Montran played the Goddess of the Lamp in the touring production of Chin Chin at Rochester’s Lyceum Theatre — a rare hometown engagement documented by both a Democrat and Chronicle review and a dedicated Rochester Herald feature. Continue reading

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Donna in the News – Hagerstown, MD, November 1920.

Billed as “Donna Montram,” Tom Rooney’s “Beach Promenade” bathing beauty revue topped the bill at the Maryland Theatre in Hagerstown, Maryland in November 1920. Donna sharing the stage with trained baboons and a Man o’ War newsreel. Continue reading

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Donna Darling at Lafayette Square (Buffalo, 1925)

A Polish-language newspaper advertisement from August 1, 1925, places Donna Darling and her Bathing Girl Revue at the Lafayette Square Theatre in Buffalo, New York. Sharing the bill with Irene Rich’s film My Wife and I and featuring Max Sennett’s “Original Beauties.” This discovery adds another documented engagement to Donna Darling’s touring career. Continue reading

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