Two days after closing its three-night stand at Rochester’s Lyceum Theatre, the touring company of “Chin Chin” moved on to Dunkirk, New York, for a single Monday-night performance at the Drohen Avenue Theatre on March 8, 1920.
Unlike the Rochester stop, which landed in Donna’s own hometown and drew a dedicated newspaper profile, Dunkirk was simply the next date on the route — a one-night engagement in a smaller mill and rail town on Lake Erie, about seventy-five miles west of Rochester. For the full background on the production, its Broadway pedigree, and Donna’s Rochester notice as the Goddess of the Lamp, see Donna Montran in Chin Chin at the Lyceum Theatre, Rochester, NY.
The Engagement
The Dunkirk Evening Observer began advertising the booking on March 5, 1920, running a notice for the Drohen Avenue Theatre’s regular picture-house program that closed with a call-out for the following Monday: “Monday the Big Road Show ‘CHIN CHIN,’ $1.00, $1.50 and $2.00.”[1] Ticket prices well above the theatre’s usual 13–25 cent admission for its film programs mark it as a special road-show event.
The following day, the Observer ran a dedicated announcement headlined “Chin Chin at the Drohen Avenue Theatre”:
It is with a great deal of pleasure, in fact pride, that Manager Drohen of the Drohen Avenue Theatre announces the coming of Charles Dillingham’s greatest musical comedy success “Chin Chin” on Monday, March 8. This play appeared first at the Globe Theatre in New York for two solid years, and is now on a transcontinental trip, touring the West for the first time. In the leading roles will be seen Walter Wills and Roy Binder, who come to us with the stamp of approval won in such productions as “The Wizard of Oz,” “The Red Mill,” “Hitchy Koo,” etc.
Dunkirk Evening Observer, March 6, 1920[2]
The same notice described “Chin Chin” as “a fantastic production rich in Oriental and Old English costuming, in seven sets, including the most startling surprises, ingenious trickery and grotesque dancing in plenty.”[2]
Reviews and Reception
The Observer followed up on March 9 with a review headlined “‘Chin Chin’ Makes Hit With Audience — Return Engagement of Big Musical Comedy at Drohen Avenue Drew Large Crowd,” confirming the show had last played Dunkirk two or three years earlier:
Charles Dillingham’s big musical comedy “Chin Chin” filled return engagement here last night, showing to a large and highly pleased audience. Although the show has not been here for two or three years, some of the members of the former cast were with the company, including Walter Wills and Roy Binder, who were the chief entertainers of the evening… The entire cast was good, the costuming magnificent, the play well staged and while there were no exceptional voices, the chorus was good looking and above the average.
Dunkirk Evening Observer, March 9, 1920[3]
The review singled out Irene McKay’s dancing as Fan Tan, the clown band, a ventriloquist act, and a “Paderewski at the piano” comedy bit as particular hits, and named “Good Bye Girls I’m Through” and “Temple Bells” as audience favorites among the songs.[3] Unlike the Rochester press, which had singled out Donna by name in her role, the surviving Dunkirk coverage does not mention her by name; her part as the Goddess of the Lamp in this engagement is documented in the family collection.[4]
The Drohen Avenue Theatre
The Drohen Avenue Theatre opened at 313 Central Avenue in Dunkirk on December 25, 1918, with 1,200 seats.[5] Confusingly for researchers, Dunkirk had two Drohen-affiliated houses running side by side in March 1920: the Drohen Avenue Theatre, which booked the touring “Chin Chin” production, and a separate, smaller Drohen Theatre a few blocks away, which was showing Mabel Normand in “Mickey” that same week.[1] The Drohen Avenue house was renamed the Capitol Theatre in 1923 and was operated by Warner Bros. Circuit Management Corp. by the 1940s. It was demolished in the early 1970s as part of Dunkirk’s urban renewal program; the site became a parking lot.[5]
Location Today
The theatre stood at 313 Central Avenue, Dunkirk, New York 14048. No trace of the building remains; the site is now a surface parking lot.[5]
Significance
The Dunkirk stop is a useful counterweight to the Rochester engagement in reconstructing Donna’s touring career: where Rochester was a rare hometown booking with press attention aimed squarely at her, Dunkirk was routine touring work, one of many one- and two-night stands the “Chin Chin” company played on its transcontinental route. That the company’s two leads, Walter Wills and Roy Binder, and presumably Donna along with them, traveled directly from a Saturday closing in Rochester to a Monday opening in Dunkirk gives a small, concrete sense of the pace of a 1920 touring schedule.
Sources
- “Drohen Avenue Theatre” (display ad). Dunkirk Evening Observer, March 5, 1920, p. 6. Accessed via Newspapers.com (image no. 56318268).
- “Chin Chin at the Drohen Avenue Theatre.” Dunkirk Evening Observer, March 6, 1920, p. 9. Accessed via NewspaperArchive.
- “‘Chin Chin’ Makes Hit With Audience — Return Engagement of Big Musical Comedy at Drohen Avenue Drew Large Crowd.” Dunkirk Evening Observer, March 9, 1920, p. 9. Accessed via NewspaperArchive..
- “Capitol Theatre.” Cinema Treasures. https://cinematreasures.org/theaters/3092
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