Donna in the News – Hagerstown, MD, November 1920.

“Ten of California’s Selected Peaches”: Donna Montran Brings the Bathing Beauties to Hagerstown — November 1920

In November of 1920, the Maryland Theatre in Hagerstown, Maryland, closed out its week with what the Herald-Mail called one of the greatest bills of vaudeville the city had seen. Topping the bill for the last half of the week — Thursday, Friday, and Saturday — was Tom Rooney’s touring revue, “A Beach Promenade,” featuring eight bathing beauties from the California coast and their headliner, billed in the paper as Donna Montram.

The Herald-Mail’s theatrical calendar had flagged the coming engagement days in advance, and when the show opened, the paper’s reviewer did not hold back: the offering had “captivated the audience” in a way the writer claimed happened perhaps once in a blue moon, praising the singing, dancing, and the sheer variety of bathing costumes representing seaside resorts from around the country.

Rooney’s beauties shared the bill with Galletti’s trained baboons in a comedy sketch called “Monkey’s Day at the Races,” comedian Bob Milligan, and a special film reel of the famous Man o’ War–Sir Barton match race. It was a full evening of entertainment, and Donna’s name sat right at the top of it.

A note on the name: the Herald-Mail printed her as “Donna Montram” throughout this engagement — instead of her actual stage name, Donna Montran. It’s a spelling that shows up severaltimes from this period with Tom Rooney, and I’ve preserved the paper’s version here since it’s what ran in print.

I love finding these little theatrical calendars — the kind of thing nobody kept on purpose, but which somehow survived. Seeing my grandmother’s name sitting right alongside Man o’ War in the same newspaper column made the whole week come alive for me. Hagerstown clearly gave her a warm welcome that November.

Sources (All via Newspapers.com):

• “Rooney’s Bathing Beauties Score Big Success at MD.” The Herald-Mail (Hagerstown, MD), November 12, 1920, p. 5.
• “Attractions at the Leading Theatres.” The Herald-Mail (Hagerstown, MD), November 9, 1920, p. 5.
• “Attractions at the Leading Theatres.” The Herald-Mail (Hagerstown, MD), November 12, 1920, p. 5.
• “Theatrical Calendar: Attractions at the Local Theatres This Week.” The Herald-Mail (Hagerstown, MD), November 8, 1920, p. 5.

Disclaimer: This article was researched and written by the author. Claude (Anthropic) was used as a research and drafting aid, and Grammarly was used for editorial review and copy editing.