Donna in Grand Rapids, MI, at the Powers Theatre – Feb 20-21, 1920

Hotel Herkimer abt 1912 Via Pinterest from eBay

No great birthday celebration for Donna for her twenty-seventh birthday.  She was working as the Chin Chin cast were opening at the Powers Theatre in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The cast, probably stayed at the Hotel Herkimer, a “refined home for professionals” a few blocks away.  The Herkimer was a regular accommodation place for vaudeville shows. This was a return engagement, so most of the cast knew where things were in town. “Chin Chin” spent two nights at the Powers Theatre. Articles, press releases and advertising were scant in the Grand Rapids [evening] “Press,” but this city of about 135,000 had three other newspapers, the morning “Herald,” the evening “News,” and a weekly, the “Chronicle.”  Pre-show newspaper articles in the “Press” indicated that they had new scenery and new costumes since the previous season’s showing in Grand Rapids.  Between the first and second nights, the paper called out Donna by name.

I hope she had a happy birthday celebration after the show.  

The Powers Theater

Construction of the original Powers’ Opera House began in 1873 and the theater opened on 12 May 1874.  The original theater had a seating capacity of about 1300. The main floor was above ground level. That building succumbed to a fire in 1892 that gutted the interior, The interior was rebuilt and new four-story with rounded bays was added to the east end of the building.  On September 13, 1901 the theater was again aflame. This time, the fire totaled the building which caused it to be rebuilt completely as the Powers’ Theater.  The rebuilt design put the main theater floor at ground level and increased capacity.

In 1914, the old facade was replaced with a new brick and terra cotta facade. The Powers’ Theatre was the largest theatre in Grand Rapids when Donna and Chin Chin played there in 1920. Grand Rapids had a population of about 135,000 and the theater had a capacity of 1,619, which means that more than 1% of the city’s population could attend a show there.  The stage was very large, sixty-six feet wide and forty feet deep. Backstage was also spacious with sixty-five feet up to the rigging loft. The 1913 Theatrical Guide indicates that it used 110 volt direct current for its illumination. Don’t know when it’s DC system was replaced with alternating current (AC).

The theater underwent several additional renovations and another fire, and renovation, in 1942. In 1944, it opened up as “Foto News” and ran newsreals.  The theater was remodeled again in 1948 and converted to become the Midtown Theater which it stayed as until 1972 when it closed.  It was rented for a few concerts and other activities for a few years, but when renovation costs got to be too much it was torn down in January of 1979.

Grand Rapids Press (Grand Rapids, MI), Feb 19, 1920 – Page 6,  via  Genealogy Bank
Grand Rapids Press (Grand Rapids, MI), Feb 23, 1920 – Page 6,  via via  Genealogy Bank

Website: Powers behind Grand Rapids – Powers Theatre 

Website: History Grand Rapids Org. – Early Grand Rapids Halls and Theaters by Albert Baxter.

The Cahn-Leighton Official Theatrical Guide – 1913-1914 

The Julius Chan-Gus Hill Theatrical Guide and Moving Picture Supplement 1922.