Donna Darling Collection – Part 63

Temple Theatre, Orpheum Vaudeville & a Photo

Treasure Chest Thursday
By Don Taylor

For this week’s Treasure Chest Tuesday, I’m looking at a page (DSCN1427) from the Donna Darling Collection. This page includes four clippings and a photo.

Fox Washington – Detroit

Two of the clippings relate to Donna’s playing at the Fox Washington in Detroit. I wrote about that show previously in Part 36 of this series.

Temple Theatre – Unknown

Next, there is a clipping “Temple,” featuring Richard Talmadge in “The Wall Street Whiz.” For the first time, I wasn’t able to find the movie on IMDB. I was able to find it on Wikipedia, where I learned the film was released on September 29, 1925[i]. I also learned that the film was renamed “The New Butler.” It is unclear if when it was released on September 29 if it was titled “The Wall Street Whiz” or if it was titled “The New Butler.” Based upon the movie, it appears that she and Sammy played at the Temple in 1925 or 1926.

I have never seen “Darling Clarke Review” before. I have seen “Donna Clark Revue” (without the “e” in Clarke). The earliest date I’ve seen show name is May 3, 1926. As such, I’m sure she played at the Temple Theatre sometime in 1926.

Cinema Treasures indicates that there were 27 theaters named Temple in the US, with most of them between Chicago and New York and Bay City, Michigan, and Newport, Kentucky.[ii] That show, with five people, played from New York to Wisconsin. Eighteen of them are in the states Donna & Sammy played in during that time (NY, PA, OH, MI, IN IL, & WI.) and could be this particular Temple Theater. Until I can find another source (Newspaper) showing Donna playing at the Temple Theatre with the same other shows, I won’t be able to identify this clipping.

New Item: 1926 – May or later – Temple Theatre, Unknown City/State. DDC-63

Orpheum Vaudeville—2 Days

This clipping possibly provides a clue to a key event in Donna’s life. It shows “Donna Darling Revue” playing the same time and place as “Sammy Clark & Girlie.”  Could this be the show/place that Donna and Sammy met or maybe decided to join shows? Either way, it could be a key point. That said, “Orpheum Vaudeville” doesn’t necessarily mean Orpheum Theater. It might have been any theater that was on the Orpheum Vaudeville Circuit.

Sammy had his own show in July 1925 and Sammy and Donna were one show by July 1926. The key will be to find a venue where Donna, Sammy, and Paul Braden played the same theater.

I took a look at the venues that Paul Braden played at. I found none on Newspapers.com; however, I found two on GenealogyBank.Com. They were:

1. 1. 1. In November 1925, Paul was appearing as the “Humorous Card Wizard” in Bismarck, ND.
      2. In January 1926, Paul Braden was billed as a “humorous card wizard” and had a comedy show in Portland, Oregon.

   
   Then I looked at NewspaperArchive.Com and found five more venues that Paul Braden played between August 1925 and 1926.

   1. 1. 1. 1. In December 1925, Paul Braden played the Liberty Theatre in Sedalia, Missouri.
            2. In January 1926, Paul Braden played the Nile Theatre in Bakersfield, California.
            3. In February 1926, Paul Braden played “The West Coast Walker” in Santa Ana, California.
            4. In March 1926, Paul Braden played the Orpheum Theatre in Salt Lake City, UT.
            5. In August 1926, Paul Braden played the Jefferson Theatre in Jefferson City, MO.

   I found no results for “Paul Braden” on Elephind.com (which includes Chronicling America) from 1920 to 1929.

   So, once again, I am unable to identify the clipping as anything more than “Aug 1925 to Aug 1926 – Unknown Theatre in Orpheum Vaudeville Circuit, Unknown City/State with Paul Braden – DDC-63.”

   “Backs of Three Men”

   Finally, there was a photo of “Three Men leaning overboard.” I’m quite sure the middle person in this photo is Sammy and I believe the three of them are joking that they are throwing-up over the side of the boat. I am yet to identify the two other men in the photo, but I’m sure I’ve seen the three of them (same suits) in other photos. I think that Donna’s fun-loving nature is exhibited by her keeping the photo and putting it in an album.

   

   Follow-up

   Search in greater depth for venues that Paul Braden played in 1925 & 1926.

   Sources

   [i] Wikipedia – “The Wall Street Whiz” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wall_Street_Whiz accessed 15 Apr 2020.

   [ii] Cinema Treasures – Search for “Temple Theater” with ALL displayed. https://cinematreasures.org/theaters?q=Temple%20Theater&status=all accessed 15 Aug 2020.