In March 1920, my grandmother — billed under her own family name, Donna Montran — appeared in the touring company of “Chin Chin” when the show played a three-day engagement at Rochester’s Lyceum Theatre. Unlike most of her documented bookings, this one landed in her own hometown, and the local papers took notice: the Rochester Herald ran a feature portrait of her under the headline “Rochester Girl with Musical Extravaganza.”
The Engagement
The Lyceum booked its touring attractions on a split-week policy, and “Chin Chin” was slotted into the back half of the week: Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, March 4, 5, and 6, 1920. An advance notice in the Times-Union on March 1 announced that the show “returns to the Lyceum on Thursday,”[2] and the Democrat and Chronicle’s theatrical column the same day listed it for “Thursday, Friday and Saturday.”[3] A second Times-Union item on March 3 pinned the run down further, previewing the show for “tomorrow, Friday and Saturday”[4] — that is, March 4 through 6.
The Democrat and Chronicle’s “In the Theaters” column confirmed on March 4 that the engagement opened “to-night,” describing it as a “half-week engagement.”[5] A review printed the following morning opened by noting that “the audience last night in the Lyceum, where it opened a week-end engagement, seemed to find much appeal”[6] — confirming the show opened Thursday evening, March 4, and was still running when the review appeared.
The Production and Cast
“Chin Chin” was already an established Broadway property by 1920. The musical fantasy — a comic retelling of the Aladdin story — opened at New York’s Globe Theatre on October 20, 1914, and ran 295 performances with Dave Montgomery and Fred Stone starring as the twin genii, Chin Hop Hi and Chin Hop Lo.[7] The book was by Anne Caldwell and R.H. Burnside, the lyrics by Caldwell and James O’Dea, the music by Ivan Caryll, and the staging by Burnside. Producer Charles Dillingham sent the show out on tour after its Broadway run, and by 1920 it was still drawing audiences under his management.[8]
The touring company that reached Rochester had a new comedy pair in the leading roles: Walter Wills as Chin Hop Hi and Roy Binder as Chin Hop Lo, succeeding Montgomery and Stone.[9] The supporting company, as documented in the Rochester press, included:
- Irene McKay as Fan Tan
- Carrie Dale as the Widow Twankey
- Starr Dunham as Aladdin
- Joseph Robinson as Abanazar
- Ethel Lawrence as the American heroine
- Donna Montran as the Goddess of the Lamp
Reviews and Reception
The Democrat and Chronicle’s “In the Theaters” column reviewed the production on March 5, 1920, the morning after opening night. The reviewer was complimentary of the show’s durability and of the new leads:
Walter Wills is a clever supple acrobatic comedian. His work is a little broader than Stone’s, but he follows the latter’s performance of Chin Hop Hi, one of the slaves of the lamp, with pleasing effects. His eccentric dancing, especially with little Irene McKay, a piquant miss, in the role of Fan Tan, wins “hands.” The Montgomery role, Chin Hop Lo, is well done by Roy Binder, and he and Mr. Wills work well together. Their comedy duets are amusing… Carrie Dale added to the comedy as the Widow Twankey, and Donna Montran and Ethel Lawrence sang and performed well as the Goddess of the lamp and the American heroine, respectively.
Democrat and Chronicle, March 5, 1920[6]
The Rochester Herald followed the next day, March 6, with a standalone feature on the hometown angle, running Donna’s photograph under the headline “Rochester Girl with Musical Extravaganza” and this caption:
DONNA MONTRAN, a Rochester girl, is prominent in the cast of “Chin Chin,” the musical extravaganza that is playing at the Lyceum. Miss Montran is given the role of the Goddess of the Lamp, and with her beauty and pleasing voice is a much noticed feature of the production.
Rochester Herald, March 6, 1920[1]
Lyceum Theatre Profile
By 1920, the Lyceum was Rochester’s principal “legitimate” house — the Julius Cahn-Gus Hill Theatrical Guide’s 1921 edition lists it as playing “legitimate attractions” and represented in New York City by the powerful Erlanger booking syndicate.[10] Fred Reinish led the resident orchestra and John Tierney served as stage carpenter, under the management of M. E. Wollf. Seating capacity was recorded at 1,819 in the same trade guide (a modern source gives 2,000).[10][11] The stage was substantial for a house of its era: a 40-by-40-foot proscenium opening, 80 feet wall to wall, 27 feet to the rigging loft, and 59 feet from footlights to the back wall.
History of the Theatre
The Lyceum was owned by Abe E. Wollf and members of his family and opened its doors in 1888 at 36 Clinton Avenue in downtown Rochester — more than three decades before Donna Montran’s appearance there.[11] Over the course of its history it hosted many of the most celebrated names of the American stage, among them Edwin Booth, Otis Skinner, Sarah Bernhardt, Helen Hayes, and members of the Barrymore family.[11] The filmmaker George Cukor got his start there as well, running a resident stock company and directing plays at the Lyceum for seven years before he was called to New York.[12]
Pressed by competition from newer and larger venues, the Lyceum closed in 1934. The building was later demolished, and the site was eventually replaced by a series of parking lots.[11]
Location Today
The Lyceum Theatre stood at 36 Clinton Avenue, Rochester, New York 14604, in the city’s Central Business District. No trace of the building remains; the site was absorbed into the surface parking that replaced it after demolition.[11]
Theatre Specifications
The following specifications reflect the Lyceum Theatre as recorded in the 1921 Julius Cahn-Gus Hill Theatrical Guide, the trade reference nearest in time to Donna Montran’s 1920 engagement.[10]
- Seating capacity: 1,819 (per 1921 trade guide); 2,000 per modern sources
- Manager: M. E. Wollf
- Represented in New York City by: A. L. Erlanger
- Orchestra leader: Fred Reinish
- Stage carpenter: John Tierney
- Proscenium opening: 40 x 40 ft.
- Stage width (wall to wall): 80 ft.
- Height to rigging loft: 27 ft.
- Depth, footlights to back wall: 59 ft.
- Distance between fly galleries: 50 ft.
- Address: 36 Clinton Avenue, Rochester, NY 14604
- Year opened: 1888
- Year closed: 1934
Significance
Donna Montran’s appearance in “Chin Chin” at the Lyceum in March 1920 stands apart from most of her documented engagements for one simple reason: it happened in her own hometown (although it appears she only lived there for a year or two). Touring in a nationally known Broadway property, in the role of the Goddess of the Lamp, she returned to Rochester not as a passing act on a vaudeville bill but as a hometown girl the local papers were proud to claim — earning her a dedicated feature in the Rochester Herald alongside the standard theatrical notices and reviews.
The engagement also places her, however briefly, in a long line of major theatrical names who played the Lyceum’s stage over nearly half a century — from Edwin Booth and Sarah Bernhardt in the theatre’s early years to a nationally touring Broadway musical in its later ones. It is a useful, well-documented marker in the ongoing reconstruction of her career.
Sources
- “Rochester Girl with Musical Extravaganza.” Rochester Herald, March 6, 1920, p. 11. Physical clipping, Donna Montran Collection.
- “Chin Chin.” The Times-Union (Rochester, New York), March 1, 1920. Physical clipping, Donna Montran Collection.
- “Chin Chin.” Democrat and Chronicle (Rochester, New York), March 1, 1920, p. 14. Accessed via Newspapers.com (image no. 135451482).
- “Lyceum Theater.” The Times-Union (Rochester, New York), March 3, 1920, p. 28. Accessed via Newspapers.com (image no. 1279345711).
- “In the Theaters.” Democrat and Chronicle (Rochester, New York), March 4, 1920, p. 11. Accessed via Newspapers.com (image no. 135451621).
- “In the Theaters — Lyceum Theater.” Democrat and Chronicle (Rochester, New York), March 5, 1920, p. 20. Physical clipping, Donna Montran Collection.
- “Chin Chin (Original, Musical, Fantasy, Broadway).” Internet Broadway Database (IBDB). Opened October 20, 1914, Globe Theatre, 295 performances. https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/chin-chin-8070
- “Chin-Chin, Or A Modern Aladdin.” Operetta Research Center. http://operetta-research-center.org/chin-chin-modern-aladdin-musical-fantasy-music-ivan-caryll/
- Cast attribution for Walter Wills and Roy Binder as successors to Montgomery and Stone per the Times-Union, March 3, 1920, and Democrat and Chronicle, March 4, 1920 (sources 4 and 5 above).
- Julius Cahn-Gus Hill Theatrical Guide and Moving Picture Directory, v. 20 (1921), p. 108, “Lyceum Theatre, Rochester, N.Y.” Digitized by Google, from Cornell University. https://hdl.handle.net/2027/coo.31924063709764
- “Lyceum Theater.” Cinema Treasures. https://cinematreasures.org/theaters/52670
- Comment by jverschakelen, April 14, 2026, on the Cinema Treasures Lyceum Theater page, citing George Cukor: Interviews (University Press of Mississippi, 2001), p. viii.