Tag Archives: Vaudeville

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

Posted on August 7, 2026 by Don Taylor

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

Posted on August 4, 2026 by Don Taylor

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.

Posted on August 1, 2026 by Don Taylor

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)

Posted on July 27, 2026 by Don Taylor

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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Russell Erwin Kees (1927–2016)

Posted on July 24, 2026 by Don Taylor

Ancestor SketchFamily line: Brown-MontranBy Don Taylor Identity Question How did Russell Erwin Kees — born Russell Erwin Clark Amsterdam to Madonna Mae Montran and Samson Clark Amsterdam, and later known by an unofficial surname taken from his mother’s partner (a … Continue reading →

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