Bonnie Maginn – ‘Dashing Bonnie Maginn’ – New York City, 1898

Bonnie Maginn (Bonalin Maginn, active before 1898 – 1906, still living 1931), American burlesque actress, singer and dancer
(cabinet photo: B.J. Falk, New York City, 1898)

‘MAGINN, Miss Bonnie:
‘Actress and dancer, was born in Chicago and made her first appearance there at the Grand Opera House, under the management of David Henderson, when she was a mere child, in ”The Mikado.” She then joined Weber and Fields in New York, with whom she remained nearly six years. In 1903 she played in ”Mr. Bluebeard,” under Klaw & Erlanger, and then joined Frank Daniels in ”The Office Boy.” In 1904 she again joined Joe Weber’s company and remained with him two and a half seasons. She then went into vaudeville.’
(Walter Browne and E. De Roy Koch, editors, Who’s Who on The Stage 1908, New & York, 1908, p. 297)

‘DASHING BONNIE MAGINN.
‘There are few prettier or sprightlier soubrettes on the stage than Bonnie Maginn, who for several years has been one of the idols of Broadway. She made a bit hit as Ines Dasher in ”Mr. Blue Beard” and in the Weber burlesques shared honors with such veterans of comedy as Joe Webr, Edward Connelly and even the redoubtable Marie Dressler. Miss Maginn has a good voice – is a better singer in fact than many of the higher salaried soubrettes – and as a fun maker she has few rivals.’
(Centralia Daily Chronicle, Centralia, Washington, Saturday, 15 August 1908, p. 4b)

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Maude Raymond

Maude Raymond (Mrs Gus Rogers [Solomon], fl. late 19th/early 20th Century),
American actress and singer
(photo: White, New York, circa 1910)

Max Rogers and Maude Raymond star in The Young Turk, New York Theatre, New York, 31 January 1910
‘The Young Turk continues to be one of the theatrical magnets of Broadway that draw the crowds in quest of divertisement and recreation. Max Rogers, Maude Raymond and their supporting company have settled well and comfortably into their parts, while the elaborate production supplied by Klaw & Erlanger is a pleasing pictorial background for the comedy and music of the piece.’
(The Newark Advocate, Newark, Ohio, Saturday, 26 February 1910, p. 6d)

The Rogers Brothers in Harvard, produced at the Knickerbocker Theatre, New York City, on 1 September 1902

a scene from the musical farce, The Rogers Brothers in Harvard,
produced at the Knickerbocker Theatre, New York City, on 1 September 1902,
with, left to right, Gus Rogers, Clara Palmer, Hattie Williams and Max Rogers
(photo: unknown, New York, 1902)

‘The Rogers Brothers in Harvard at the Knickerbocker …
‘The career of the Rogers Brothers in Harvard, as represented at the Knickerbocker Theatres, takes place with the dignified Colonial proportions of Harvard Hall on the left of the stage, and on the right the ivy-covered walls of Massachusetts Hall, memorable as having been converted into a hospital during the Revolution. Between these is the neo-Colonial gate, over which broods no less a spirit than that of Charles Eliot Norton.
‘Upon the quiet walks between, and in the shade of the academic elms above, two old rakes of guardians and two young dogs of wards, two French milliners and two young women to whom virtue is too easy, are entangled in a plot resembling a double quadrille, in which the dry is always, “Change partners!”
‘The Rogers Brothers meanwhile appear now and again with song, dance, and jocularity, sometimes in the character of professors, sometimes in that of members of the ‘Varsity eleven, thus effacing with one masterful stroke a long standing difference between the faculty and athletics. The most superficial observer must note that Mr. James J. McNally and his fellow-artists in the service of the Rogers Brothers have caught the very breath of Harvard reality.
‘The first of the scenes of the play is in the garden at Claremont, with Grant’s tomb looming on the back-drop; and the third is in the entertainment hall of the Eden Musee. All three, and especially the Harvard yard, are done with admirable scenic effect, and all the trappings of the show are in luxurious good taste. Especially to be noted is the ballet.
‘Its gowns are of excellent variety and richness; it is at once well trained and spirited, and the young women who compose it are far above what one is accustomed to in seemliness and good looks. Take it all in all it is as much above the average of this sort of thing as it is above the other features of the performance.
‘Of the book of the play, and of the many principals in the cast, the best that can be said is that they are repeatedly applauded and seemed to give genuine pleasure. To a critical mind the jokes were mainly old and the songs mainly flat.
‘A topical song of William Gould’s had two amusing stanzas, and Hattie Williams’s “I’m a Lady,” by Ed Gardiner, has the true touch of satire; but for the rest it was vaudeville merely, and not more than passable at that.
‘As for the Rogers Brothers it is to be recorded that they – or is it Messrs Klaw & Erlanger? – have spared no expense, at least as regards scenery and costume, to make a pleasant evening.
‘They worked hard, moreover, and refused many recalls in order that the rest of the cast might have a fair chance; and even if, on a rigid judgment, they lacked genuine merriment, they were beyond question the cause of merriment in an indulgent audience.
‘Their performances, as they would be the first to admit, are the result of an inspiration from Weber & Fields. One great service they render, and that is to show beyond peradventure of a doubt that the originators of this sort of thing are, in their excellent line of nonsense, indisputably men of genius, and that Mr. Edgar L. Smith, or whoever gets up the business for the house down Broadway, has the touchstone of true burlesque and satire.
‘In such matters the great public is, happily for itself perhaps, not very knowing, and in consequence having once learned to laugh at this particular kind of broken English, it laughs on any and all occasions. Yet those who have a palate for the real vintage will do well to pass by the doctored dilution proffered by the Rogers brothers.’
(The New York Times, Tuesday, 2 September 1902, p.9e)

Mattie Edwards as she appeared in In Dahomey, Shaftesbury Theatre, London, 1903

Mattie Edwards (1866-1944), American stage and screen actress,
as she appeared as the Dahomian Queen in the prologue of
In Dahomey, Shaftesbury Theatre, London, 16 May 1903.
(photo: Cavendish Morton, London, 1903)

The Duluth Theatre, Minnesota, week beginning Monday, 28 February 1887
‘The Duluth Theatre had big houses for the past week. The performance given at this place is as good as at any similar house north of Chicago. Manager Jackson will not spare any expense to get good cards. The laugh-makers for the week were Mattie Edwards, Kittie Gerry, Sestor Bros., Ella Leon, Jerry Cavana, Frankie Hall, Powers and White, and the Hill children, who were very good for ones so young – about six years… ‘
(The New York Clipper, New York, Saturday, 5 March 1887, p. 807b)

Mattie Edwards, late of the In Dahomey company, appears in Klaw & Erlanger’s gigantic production of Edmund Day’s drama, The Round-Up, Majestic, Fort Wayne, March 1912
‘The Round-Up Coming.
‘Klaw & Erlanger’s Big Production at the Majestic, March 15-16.
‘The Round-Up, Klaw & Erlanger’s stupendous production of Edmund Day’s famous drama, will be seen for the first time in this city at the Majestic theater March 15 and 16. This play, with its heart interest and thrills and extraordinary sensationalism in the most realistic battle scene ever presented, has a popular appeal that has resulted in an unbroken succession of crowded audiences wherever seen.
‘The production is one of the largest that Klaw & Erlanger have ever made, and they have omitted no deal in scenery or equipment that could contribute in any way to the completeness of this great atmospheric picture. The company is large and very able, and in addition to the leading players, there is an auxiliary interest in the form of genuine western cavalrymen, cowboys, Mexican vaqueros, Apache Indians and twenty cow ponies from Arizona cattle ranges. The locale of the scenes is Southwestern Arizona before the advent of the wire fences and during the period when General Creek was chasing Conchise and his braves in the reservation at Fort Grant. The story, although written about a western theme, and strongly dramatic, is not of the “wild and woolly” character that one almost instinctively associated with the term western play. The personalities of the story are, of course, the rough and homely type of the ranges, but the story is one of such supreme heart interest and so true to human nature generally that it perhaps could be translated to another locale and interpreted by different types of character, with fully as great effectiveness as in the setting in which it is now presented. The broad art of the scene painted and the marvels of stagecraft have never produced such scenes as those represented in the Round-Up. The eye looks upon the great distance of arid desert and up to the towering gigantic canyons with wonderment that paint and brush, stage mechanism and light effects can have such magic use as to present such vividly real scenes. The “battle scene” – the real thing in shot and shell and gatling gun, and it is worked up to a climax of overwhelming excitement. In this scene twenty mounted Indians rise along the tortuous path at the edge of a precipice and the attack upon the two wanderers of the desert by this band of Apache Indians and their routing by a detachment of United States cavalry, headed by “Slim” Hoover, the sheriff. The scene of the last act at Sweetwater, presenting a cattle round-up, is a typical scene of western bravado and cowboy horsemanship, with a dozen bucking broncos. The magnitude of this production is such that it can only be played in a few cities and in only the largest theaters.
‘The cast includes Hanley Holmes, Harold Hartsett, William Conklin, Mitchell Harris, Harry Cowan, W.H. Sullivan, M.E. Heisey, Frank Vail, James Ashburn, Jacques Martin, W.N. Bailey, Edward Settle, Charles Aldridge, “Texas” Cooper, Genla Henius, Inez Macauley and Mattie Edwards. There will be an auxiliary organization of 150 people, including soldiers, scouts, cow-punchers, Mexican vaqueros, Arizona girls, Apache Indians and twenty horses.’
(The Fort Wayne Sentinel, Fort Wayne, Saturday, 2 March 1912, p.12b-d)

The Six Brothers Luck (fl. late 19th/early 20^th Century), British music hall entertainers, burlesque and sketch artists

‘THE SIX BROTHERS LUCK Burlesque and Sketch Artistes, In their enormously successful, Up-to-date Farcical Stketch, ”THE DEMON OF THE CELLAR and many other eccentric Variety Acts. QUAINTNESS, HUMOUR, ORIGINALITY. ECCENTRICITY, NOVELTY, REFINEMENT. Sole Agents – GEORGE WARE & SON.’ (photo: unknown; advertisement from Charles Douglas Stuart and A.J. Park, The Variety Stage, T. Fisher Unwin, London, 1895)

‘Negotiations were completed yesterday for the appearance on the Klaw & Erlanger circuit of the six brothers Luck, English comedians. There are twenty-five persons in the company, and the six brothers Luck are the principal comedians; Ernest Luck, the star comedian of the organizations, is manager for Miss Hetty King [Mrs Ernie Lotinga, whose husband was a member of the Six Brothers Luck], who is now appearing at the New York Theatre.’ (The New York Times, New York, Tuesday, 8 October 1907, p. 5d)

‘Six Brothers Luck, ”The Demon in the Cellar” (Pantomime). 20 Mins.; Full Stage (Special Set). New York.

‘The Six Brothers Luck are the latest Klaw & Erlanger European importation. They opened Monday afternoon in ”A Night in an English Cafe,” but changed to ”The Demon in the Cellar” for the evening show, the first named offering having signally failed to please. ”The Demon in the Cellar” is a pretty crude collection of rough knockabout comedy material, made universally familiar on our shores by the Hanlon Brothers’ ”Fantasma” and countless other pieces of the same sort. The Lucks have nothing to add to this style of humor as we know it on this side of the water. The inflated bladder, seltzer syphon and slapstick have been relegated to obscurity and long since thrown out of burlesque over here, and only our visiting British cousins have the courage to bring them forth again. The sketch tells the story of a wicked uncle, who seeks to cheat his nephew of a fortune by means of a false will. The nephew dons a horned mask and red tights and haunts the old man into confession. The comedy comes from the clowning of a French waiter and an English soldier (Shaun Glenville Luck), who comes a-courting the uncle’s house-maid, and are terrified by the appearance of the horned apparition. Shaun Glenville Luck makes a capital grotesque comedian and might, under more kindly circumstances, be really funny, but the seltzer-bottle-bladder-slapstick mess that makes up ”The Demon in the Cellar” leaves him stranded. The audience hopes for a minute that the introduction of acrobatics of some sort might enliven the proceedings, but they hoped in vain. It was just childish horseplay and buffoonery, almost without a redeeming virtue. (Rush, ‘New Acts of the Week,’ Variety, New York, 2 November 1907, p. 10b)

The Six Brothers Luck (fl. late 19th/early 20^th Century), British music hall entertainers, burlesque and sketch artists

‘THE SIX BROTHERS LUCK Burlesque and Sketch Artistes, In their enormously successful, Up-to-date Farcical Stketch, “THE DEMON OF THE CELLAR and many other eccentric Variety Acts. QUAINTNESS, HUMOUR, ORIGINALITY. ECCENTRICITY, NOVELTY, REFINEMENT. Sole Agents – GEORGE WARE & SON.’ (photo: unknown; advertisement from Charles Douglas Stuart and A.J. Park, The Variety Stage, T. Fisher Unwin, London, 1895)

‘Negotiations were completed yesterday for the appearance on the Klaw & Erlanger circuit of the six brothers Luck, English comedians. There are twenty-five persons in the company, and the six brothers Luck are the principal comedians; Ernest Luck, the star comedian of the organizations, is manager for Miss Hetty King [Mrs Ernie Lotinga, whose husband was a member of the Six Brothers Luck], who is now appearing at the New York Theatre.’ (The New York Times, New York, Tuesday, 8 October 1907, p. 5d)

‘Six Brothers Luck, ’’The Demon in the Cellar” (Pantomime). 20 Mins.; Full Stage (Special Set). New York.

‘The Six Brothers Luck are the latest Klaw & Erlanger European importation. They opened Monday afternoon in “A Night in an English Cafe,” but changed to “The Demon in the Cellar” for the evening show, the first named offering having signally failed to please. “The Demon in the Cellar” is a pretty crude collection of rough knockabout comedy material, made universally familiar on our shores by the Hanlon Brothers’ “Fantasma” and countless other pieces of the same sort. The Lucks have nothing to add to this style of humor as we know it on this side of the water. The inflated bladder, seltzer syphon and slapstick have been relegated to obscurity and long since thrown out of burlesque over here, and only our visiting British cousins have the courage to bring them forth again. The sketch tells the story of a wicked uncle, who seeks to cheat his nephew of a fortune by means of a false will. The nephew dons a horned mask and red tights and haunts the old man into confession. The comedy comes from the clowning of a French waiter and an English soldier (Shaun Glenville Luck), who comes a-courting the uncle’s house-maid, and are terrified by the appearance of the horned apparition. Shaun Glenville Luck makes a capital grotesque comedian and might, under more kindly circumstances, be really funny, but the seltzer-bottle-bladder-slapstick mess that makes up “The Demon in the Cellar” leaves him stranded. The audience hopes for a minute that the introduction of acrobatics of some sort might enliven the proceedings, but they hoped in vain. It was just childish horseplay and buffoonery, almost without a redeeming virtue. (Rush, ‘New Acts of the Week,’ Variety, New York, 2 November 1907, p. 10b)