Donna Darling Collection – Part 51

Treasure Chest Thursday
Vaudeville

By Don Taylor

For this week’s Treasure Chest Tuesday, I’m looking at three clippings from the Donna Darling Collection.

The first article is a short paragraph about “Dancing Girls at Orpheum”

DANCING GIRLS AT ORPHEUM

Donna Darling and her dancing girls headline the Orpheum bill for the first half of the week. “Songs and Steps” is the title of Donna’s act.

The Golden Bird, a trained canary….

Interesting. I had never heard of that act, and there are so many Orpheum theatres, it is impossible to know where, or even when, this show was playing.

Next, is an ad for the Orpheum Theatre with The Golden Bird headlining the ad with Donna Darling and Girls being the finale act. Donna’s show is billed as “The Musical Comedy Beauty Assisted by a Bevy of Bewitching Enchantresses in Songs and Steps.” I’ve seen “Donna Darling and Girls” before. She began that show sometime between August and September 1924. The movie Another Scandal was released in June 1924, so the show had to have been after that.

Finally, a third article for the show provides all of the remaining desired information. It was the Orpheum Theatre, Oklahoma City, Okla., for the week of September 6^th (Sunday through Wednesday). The program played Sunday thru Wednesday – September 6^th thru September 9^th 1925.

Key features:

• The venue was the Orpheum Theatre in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. It is “The World’s Best Vaudeville”
• The show was the “Donna Darling and Girls, The Musical Comedy Beauty in Songs in “Songs and Steps”
• Also on the Bill
  • Fox News “Modern Whaling” an Educational.
  • “Another Scandal” featuring Lois Wilson and an all star cast.
  • Althea Lucas and Co. in “An Artistic Triumph.”
  • Chad and Monte Huber, Late of So Long Letty” co. in “Dance Divertisements.”
  • THE GOLDEN BIRD, The Canary of Almost Human Intelligence, presented by LORRAINE EVON, The Charming Violinist.
  • Pat Barrett and Nora Cunneen in “Looking for Fun.”

Conclusion

My schedule of Donna’s shows had a huge gap before this clipping. She played July 26^th in Decatur Illinois and September 20^th in Sedalia, Missouri. Now, it appears that she did a Great Plains tour that summer.

September 6^th thru September 9^th 1925 – Orpheum Theatre, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma – Donna Darling and Girls.

Sources

Donna Darling Collection – Image DSCN1415.