Donna and the Bathing Beauties: Uncovering My Grandmother’s Vaudeville Ties

A riverboat letter, a vaudeville memory, and two iconic photos help unravel my grandmother Donna’s ties to Mack Sennett’s Bathing Beauties — and her surprising connections to Helen Kane and Stuart Erwin. This piece combines family lore with fresh finds that bring Donna’s showbiz days back to life.

Family Connections in Show Business

I’ve long known that my grandmother, Donna, was one of Mack Sennett’s famous Bathing Beauties and that her connections in show business ran deep. For example, my uncle’s godparents were Helen Kane and Stuart Erwin — the latter best known as the star of The Stu Erwin Show.

Recently, I found a letter written by my uncle, Russell, nearly 20 years ago. Along with the letter were two printouts of photos and an article about Helen Kane.

---

Russell’s Letter

[Written on Delta Queen Steamboat Company stationery. Undated, but likely from 2007 when he and my mom took a riverboat cruise on the Mississippi.]

Hi Don —

I always knew about the Helen Kane godmother bit but was unsure about the “Erwin” origin, though I thought I had a small remembrance associated with Stu, Helen, and Donna at the Palace in New York. Found the enclosed literature — guess there really was a connection between my memories of these folks. Think I’ve cleared up another small question mark now. Sylvia and I sort of agree that Donna might be the 4th from the left in the color picture and 4th from the right in the black and white one. I sent another one to Sylvia that she said was almost certainly Donna on account of a special pair of boots she was wearing and used to talk about. I didn’t keep a copy of it, but maybe she can forward it to you.

Am still digging into vaudeville history literature trying to find out more. Was in Chicago a couple weeks ago — took some snaps of the tenement building we used to live in. (It gets torn down next spring.)

Best to y’all,
Russell

---

When Comedy Was King

One of the images was a lobby card from the 1960 documentary When Comedy Was King, which celebrated the great clowns of silent comedy and included the Mack Sennett Bathing Beauties.

---

Sennett Bathing Beauties

The second image Russell sent was another well-known photo of the Sennett Bathing Beauties, which is also available on Wikimedia Commons.

Mack Sennett Bathing Beauties, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — Donna is believed to be the fifth girl from the left.

---

The Helen Kane Connection

The article Russell included was from Vaudeville Times (Volume VI, Issue 2, Summer 2008), written by Frank Cullen, covering the life of Helen Kane. I know that Donna played at Proctor’s Palace Theatre in Yonkers in 1922. That same year, Helen Schroeder — who later became famous as Helen Kane — landed a job in New York in On the Balcony.

The article also notes that Helen Kane co-starred with Stuart Erwin in the 1930 film Dangerous Nan McGrew. Both Helen and Stuart were from New York City, and Donna lived in New York on and off between 1919 and 1930, spending much of that time touring. She married Sammy Amsterdam, also of New York, in 1926. Given this overlap, it’s very likely that Sammy and Donna knew both Helen Kane and Stuart Erwin personally. So, having them as Russell’s (born in 1927) godparents make sense. Hopefully, further research will confirm these connections.