Kitty Doner
Kitty Doner | |
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 Kitty Doner, from a 1916 publication | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Catherine Donohoe |
| Born | September 6, 1895 Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
| Died | August 26, 1988 (aged 92) Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Genres | Music hall |
| Years active | 1898–1952 |
Kitty Doner (born Catherine Donohoe, September 6, 1895 – August 26, 1988) was an American vaudeville performer. She was a male impersonator, actress, and dancer, specializing in boy roles, and later in life worked as a choreographer and television producer.
Early life
[edit]Catherine Donohoe was born in Chicago, Illinois. Her parents Joe Doner and Nellie Doner, both born in England, were also vaudeville performers, as were her siblings Ted and Rose.[1][2][3]
Career
[edit]Kitty Doner was considered the best American male impersonator of her day, compared favorably to British acts such as Vesta Tilley and Ella Shields.[4] She was petite, and her characters were often youthful.[5] She was known for changing from masculine to feminine clothing on stage, in view of the audience, to demonstrate how much of her impersonation was skill rather than elaborate costume.[6] In 1921, she performed at a benefit for the Women's Auxiliary of the National Disabled Soldiers League at the Apollo Theater.[7] That same year, she also performed at a benefit for the American Committee for Relief in Ireland, at the Metropolitan Opera House.[8]
Her Broadway credits included The Passing Show of 1913, Dancing Around (1914, with Al Jolson),[9] Robinson Crusoe Jr. (1916, again with Jolson),[10] Sinbad (1918, again with Jolson), and The Dancing Girl (1923, appearing with her brother and sister).[2] Doner's act was preserved in an early sound short film, A Bit of Scotch (1928).[11]
In 1945 she co-produced a now-lost musical television series for CBS, Choreotones, with dancer Pauline Koner. After that, the pair produced some shows for "Holiday on Ice". Koner remembered, "With a famous show biz career behind her, Kitty was still looking for new trends. Her taste was impeccable. A lively force behind the scenes, she was always scouting material and interesting talent."[12] Her last work before retirement was auditioning acts for Ted Mack's Amateur Hour in the early 1950s.[4]
Personal life
[edit]Kitty Doner died in 1988, aged 92 years, in Los Angeles, California.[13] There is a collection of Doner's papers, including an unpublished autobiography, photographs and scrapbooks, archived at the University of California Santa Barbara Library.[14]
References
[edit]- ^ Frank Cullen, Florence Hackman, Donald McNeilly, Vaudeville Old & New: An Encyclopedia of Variety Performances in America (Psychology Press 2007): 319-320. ISBN 9780415938532
- ^ a b Gilliam M. Rodger, Just One of the Boys: Female to Male Cross-Dressing on the American Variety Stage (University of Illinois Press 2018). ISBN 9780252050169
- ^ "Ted Doner Coming Back" New York Times (July 18, 1929): 14. via ProQuest
- ^ a b Anthony Slide, The Encyclopedia of Vaudeville (University Press of Mississippi 2012): 133-136. ISBN 9781617032509
- ^ "Born to Dance – And She's Doing It" New York Times (October 18, 1914).
- ^ "Kitty Doner Comes Back to Colonial" The Morning Call (February 3, 1929): 11. via Newspapers.com
- ^ "Stars to Aid Soldiers" New York Times (May 7, 1921): 8. via ProQuest
- ^ "Stage Stars Raise $57,000 for Irish" New York Times (April 4, 1921): 2. via ProQuest
- ^ "Kitty Doner as a Stage Door Johnnie is a Start in Jolson's 'Dancing Around'" Star Tribune (September 5, 1915): 32. via Newspapers.com
- ^ "Clothes and the Girl" Green Book Magazine (September 1916): 545.
- ^ Edwin M. Bradley, The First Hollywood Sound Shorts, 1926-1931 (McFarland 2009): 369. ISBN 9781476606842
- ^ Pauline Koner, Solitary Song (Duke University Press 1989): 139-148. ISBN 9780822308782
- ^ "Kitty Doner, Male Impersonator in Vaudeville" Los Angeles Times (September 3, 1988).
- ^ Guide to the Kitty Doner Papers, University of California Santa Barbara Library, Special Collections.
External links
[edit]
- Kitty Doner at IMDb
- Kitty Doner at the Internet Broadway Database
- Kitty Doner at Playbill Vault
- 1923 photograph of Kitty Doner, from the New York World-Telegram and the Sun Newspaper Photograph Collection, Library of Congress.
- A 1921 photograph of Kitty Doner, from the University of Washington Libraries Digital Collections.
- Several photographs of Kitty Doner from the Los Angeles Times files, part of the "Mystery Photo" feature, Los Angeles Times blog (April 9, 2010).
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