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| Violet Prager Spitzer |
Saturday, September 24, 2016
Tuesday, September 6, 2016
Clifford Spitzer's Atherton House
After leaving Hawaii in 1942, the Spitzer family lived in Manhattan, New York for a couple of years. Then, from September 1944 to around 1960, Clifford Spitzer and his family lived in Atherton, California. During this period one daughter went to Stanford University and one went to the University of California at Berkeley.
Here is the brochure advertising the house for sale when the Spitzers decided to move. There are a lot of great tidbits in this brochure, including the selling price and photos of the inside of the home. In the dining room photo, there is a large oil painting of the oldest daughter. Two Cadillac automobiles were housed in the garage.
Recent photos of the house:
Saturday, August 6, 2016
Clifford Spitzer's Leisure Time Pursuits
Besides being an artist, Clifford Spitzer enjoyed several other leisure activities.
At the age of 25, he taught Advanced Spanish at the Honolulu Y.M.C.A.
Clifford and Violet Spitzer traveled to Europe Aug 15, 1922 to Oct. 27, 1922. Here's their passport:
Clifford and Violet went back to Europe in 1926, taking Clifford's mother, Eda Spitzer, with them.
Not sure where the following photo was taken or when. It looks like they might be in Europe.
The following photo was taken on the ship Conte Rosso that sailed from Naples, Italy, to New York, in October 1926.
The Spitzer daughters pose on a ship that sails between Honolulu and San Francisco, California.
The Spitzer family in Los Angeles.
The Spitzer family travels to New Zealand on July 27 1936, returning on August 31, 1936.
Deep sea fishing for Clifford in Acapulco, Mexico.
Violet takes her younger daughter to Europe in 1951, departing New York on July 28 and returning on September 26.
At the age of 25, he taught Advanced Spanish at the Honolulu Y.M.C.A.
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| January 1915 article |
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| January 1915 article |
Clifford and Violet Spitzer traveled to Europe Aug 15, 1922 to Oct. 27, 1922. Here's their passport:
Clifford and Violet went back to Europe in 1926, taking Clifford's mother, Eda Spitzer, with them.
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| Violet, Clifford, and Eda in Venice, Italy, 1926. |
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| Eda, Clifford, and Violet in Germany |
Not sure where the following photo was taken or when. It looks like they might be in Europe.
The following photo was taken on the ship Conte Rosso that sailed from Naples, Italy, to New York, in October 1926.
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| Clifford and Violet sail from Naples, Italy, in October 1926. |
The Spitzer daughters pose on a ship that sails between Honolulu and San Francisco, California.
The Spitzer family in Los Angeles.
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| Spitzer family in Los Angeles. |
The Spitzer family travels to New Zealand on July 27 1936, returning on August 31, 1936.
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| Spitzer daughters in New Zealand |
Deep sea fishing for Clifford in Acapulco, Mexico.
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| Clifford Spitzer fishing in Acapulco, Mexico. |
1949 trip to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil for Clifford and Violet.
Violet takes her younger daughter to Europe in 1951, departing New York on July 28 and returning on September 26.
References:
Brazil visa from familysearch.org.
Honolulu star-bulletin. (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii) 1912-current, January 04, 1915, 3:30 Edition, NEWS SECTION, Page TWELVE, Image 12. Image provided by University of Hawaii at Manoa; Honolulu, HI. Persistent link: http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn82014682/1915-01-04/ed-2/seq-12/
Passport from ancestry.com.
Brazil visa from familysearch.org.
Honolulu star-bulletin. (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii) 1912-current, January 04, 1915, 3:30 Edition, NEWS SECTION, Page TWELVE, Image 12. Image provided by University of Hawaii at Manoa; Honolulu, HI. Persistent link: http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn82014682/1915-01-04/ed-2/seq-12/
Passport from ancestry.com.
Sunday, July 24, 2016
Clifford Spitzer, Artist
A couple of questions come to mind. How many more paintings are there that I don't know about? One more version of the city scene exists but is not shown here. More importantly, who inherited his artistic talent?
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| 1948 |
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| 1952 |
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| 1961 |
Thursday, July 14, 2016
Memories of the Pearl Harbor Attack
At 8:40 am on Sunday, December 7, 1941, the morning of the surprise Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Clifford and Violet Spitzer and their daughters were preparing to go horseback riding. Just off the Oahu coast, they spotted dozens of fighter planes flying toward Honolulu. The family assumed the planes were involved in some kind of practice drill. They couldn't see any Japanese symbols on the planes.
The first wave of Japanese planes flew along the west coast at 7:55 am, followed by the second wave along the east coast at 8:40 am. A total of 353 Japanese planes was involved in the attack that lasted until 9:45 am. Eight U.S. battleships were either sunk or damaged. Luckily, the U.S. aircraft carriers, the primary target of the attack, were not in port.
A total of 2,335 U.S. servicemen were killed and 1,143 wounded. Civilian casualties totaled 68, with 35 wounded. Only 28 Japanese planes were shot down and 5 submarines sunk. The United States declared war on Japan the next day when FDR gave his famous "Day of Infamy" speech to Congress.
During the attack, the Spitzer family was at their weekend and summer vacation house on the northeast side of the island of Oahu at Punalu'u, a small fishing village on the beach. They didn't witness or hear the dropping of the bombs or its smokey aftermath. What they noticed, however, was their dog acting very frightened. It wasn't until after the horseback ride that the family learned of the attack from someone and immediately began listening to the radio.
Blackouts began the evening after the attack. A Japanese gardener lived next door in Punalu'u, and the older daughter, who was age 14 at the time, saw him that evening repeatedly opening and closing his doors. She wondered if it was some kind of signal.
Video of present-day Punalu'u coastline:
The next day, the family drove back to their home in Honolulu, noticing again the communication or telephone wires strung along the side the road that they had seen on their way to Punalu'u at the beginning of the weekend.
The U.S. military took over various school buildings, such as the University of Hawaii. Nearby, the daughters' private K-12 school, Punahou School, on the former Oahu College campus, was commandeered by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
About a week or so after the schools closed, families with large homes welcomed students and teachers to hold classes in their homes until other classrooms were ready at the University of Hawaii campus. Absent from classes were children of fathers who had been upper level managers at the Bank of Sumitomo. In fact, their absence had been noticed a few days prior to the attack when the families disappeared.
One of the girls who disappeared had been a close friend of the older Spitzer daughter and they had always walked to school together. After the war, she wrote that her family had gone back to Japan and could the Spitzer family please send her some shoes. She eventually married a Japanese American who was stationed in Japan after the war. They settled in Chicago and always kept in touch through the years.
The Spitzer daughters never visited the harbor after the attack. Their older cousin, Norman Spitzer, who was 22 years old, went to Pearl Harbor right away and enlisted for armed service.
Clifford Spitzer was worried about another attack on Hawaii. He had some bags of cement he was going to use to build a chicken coop but decided instead to have a bomb shelter built. The daughters didn't feel fearful, although had they personally witnessed the attack that might have changed. They were too young to be affected by the curfews, but they didn't like the blackouts or having to go to their bomb shelter.
The two Japanese girls, Muriel and Mildred, who were servants of the Spitzer family, stayed with the family for many years as the daughters grew up. Muriel was in charge of following the girls around. Muriel and Mildred lived in the small cottage next to the main house until they married but still continued to work for the family.
After the Pearl Harbor attack and close to the Battle of Midway (June 4-7, 1942), dependents of Navy and Army personnel were being sent back to the mainland. For that reason, and because Clifford Spitzer worried he wouldn't be able to go on buying trips to New York or California, Clifford and Violet Spitzer decided to leave Hawaii. Once they secured air flights to leave, they were forbidden to tell anyone they were leaving. A mass exodus was undesirable.
The day before their exit flights, Waikiki was evacuated. Clifford's sister, Valle (Valentine Spitzer Lewis), and her daughter, Rhoda Lewis, a deputy attorney aged 35, had to leave their home at the Niumalu Hotel in Waikiki. They came to stay with the Spitzer family. The family didn't tell them they were leaving Hawaii and didn't say goodbye.
Violet Spitzer and the daughters left during the Battle of Midway and Clifford Spitzer followed three weeks later. While waiting for Clifford, the family lived in an apartment on Nob Hill in San Francisco. The older daughter remembers walking down the hill to Munson School of Shorthand and Typewriting to improve her typing and take a shorthand class.
The older Spitzer daughter hated leaving Hawaii. Before they left, her father promised after the war he would send both daughters back to Hawaii for a summer, which he did in 1946. To them, Hawaii was more beautiful then than it is now. There were fewer people living there and fewer buildings.
After Clifford Spitzer joined the family in San Francisco, they moved to New York City where he acted as a buyer for the Hub Clothing House he had just sold and also for some other Honolulu clothing businesses. They got an apartment on the upper east side on Park Avenue. Before Clifford left Honolulu, he gave the Punalu'u vacation cottage, originally purchased for about $1,500, to his employees.
References:
Photo of Manoa Valley, http://web.punahou.edu/timelinejs/images_large/547LG_12_1930_0009.jpg
Photo of Punalu'u, http://www.hawaiigaga.com/oahu/beaches/punaluu-beach-park.aspx
Video of Punalu'u, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pY8mh2fBZXk
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| Spitzer daughters a few years before Pearl Harbor |
The first wave of Japanese planes flew along the west coast at 7:55 am, followed by the second wave along the east coast at 8:40 am. A total of 353 Japanese planes was involved in the attack that lasted until 9:45 am. Eight U.S. battleships were either sunk or damaged. Luckily, the U.S. aircraft carriers, the primary target of the attack, were not in port.
A total of 2,335 U.S. servicemen were killed and 1,143 wounded. Civilian casualties totaled 68, with 35 wounded. Only 28 Japanese planes were shot down and 5 submarines sunk. The United States declared war on Japan the next day when FDR gave his famous "Day of Infamy" speech to Congress.
During the attack, the Spitzer family was at their weekend and summer vacation house on the northeast side of the island of Oahu at Punalu'u, a small fishing village on the beach. They didn't witness or hear the dropping of the bombs or its smokey aftermath. What they noticed, however, was their dog acting very frightened. It wasn't until after the horseback ride that the family learned of the attack from someone and immediately began listening to the radio.
Blackouts began the evening after the attack. A Japanese gardener lived next door in Punalu'u, and the older daughter, who was age 14 at the time, saw him that evening repeatedly opening and closing his doors. She wondered if it was some kind of signal.
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| Punalu'u coastline |
Video of present-day Punalu'u coastline:
The next day, the family drove back to their home in Honolulu, noticing again the communication or telephone wires strung along the side the road that they had seen on their way to Punalu'u at the beginning of the weekend.
The U.S. military took over various school buildings, such as the University of Hawaii. Nearby, the daughters' private K-12 school, Punahou School, on the former Oahu College campus, was commandeered by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
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| 1930's aerial photo of Manoa Valley with Punahou School in the center a few blocks behind the church. |
About a week or so after the schools closed, families with large homes welcomed students and teachers to hold classes in their homes until other classrooms were ready at the University of Hawaii campus. Absent from classes were children of fathers who had been upper level managers at the Bank of Sumitomo. In fact, their absence had been noticed a few days prior to the attack when the families disappeared.
One of the girls who disappeared had been a close friend of the older Spitzer daughter and they had always walked to school together. After the war, she wrote that her family had gone back to Japan and could the Spitzer family please send her some shoes. She eventually married a Japanese American who was stationed in Japan after the war. They settled in Chicago and always kept in touch through the years.
The Spitzer daughters never visited the harbor after the attack. Their older cousin, Norman Spitzer, who was 22 years old, went to Pearl Harbor right away and enlisted for armed service.
Clifford Spitzer was worried about another attack on Hawaii. He had some bags of cement he was going to use to build a chicken coop but decided instead to have a bomb shelter built. The daughters didn't feel fearful, although had they personally witnessed the attack that might have changed. They were too young to be affected by the curfews, but they didn't like the blackouts or having to go to their bomb shelter.
The two Japanese girls, Muriel and Mildred, who were servants of the Spitzer family, stayed with the family for many years as the daughters grew up. Muriel was in charge of following the girls around. Muriel and Mildred lived in the small cottage next to the main house until they married but still continued to work for the family.
After the Pearl Harbor attack and close to the Battle of Midway (June 4-7, 1942), dependents of Navy and Army personnel were being sent back to the mainland. For that reason, and because Clifford Spitzer worried he wouldn't be able to go on buying trips to New York or California, Clifford and Violet Spitzer decided to leave Hawaii. Once they secured air flights to leave, they were forbidden to tell anyone they were leaving. A mass exodus was undesirable.
The day before their exit flights, Waikiki was evacuated. Clifford's sister, Valle (Valentine Spitzer Lewis), and her daughter, Rhoda Lewis, a deputy attorney aged 35, had to leave their home at the Niumalu Hotel in Waikiki. They came to stay with the Spitzer family. The family didn't tell them they were leaving Hawaii and didn't say goodbye.
Violet Spitzer and the daughters left during the Battle of Midway and Clifford Spitzer followed three weeks later. While waiting for Clifford, the family lived in an apartment on Nob Hill in San Francisco. The older daughter remembers walking down the hill to Munson School of Shorthand and Typewriting to improve her typing and take a shorthand class.
The older Spitzer daughter hated leaving Hawaii. Before they left, her father promised after the war he would send both daughters back to Hawaii for a summer, which he did in 1946. To them, Hawaii was more beautiful then than it is now. There were fewer people living there and fewer buildings.
After Clifford Spitzer joined the family in San Francisco, they moved to New York City where he acted as a buyer for the Hub Clothing House he had just sold and also for some other Honolulu clothing businesses. They got an apartment on the upper east side on Park Avenue. Before Clifford left Honolulu, he gave the Punalu'u vacation cottage, originally purchased for about $1,500, to his employees.
References:
Photo of Manoa Valley, http://web.punahou.edu/timelinejs/images_large/547LG_12_1930_0009.jpg
Photo of Punalu'u, http://www.hawaiigaga.com/oahu/beaches/punaluu-beach-park.aspx
Video of Punalu'u, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pY8mh2fBZXk
Friday, July 8, 2016
Clifford and Violet Spitzer's Honolulu Property
While visiting Honolulu in 1993, my family and I drove our rental car to the neighborhood of Manoa Valley in search of property once owned by Clifford and Violet Spitzer. Armed with the address of 2424 Sonoma Street, we followed family instructions and looked for 100 stairs that ascend a hill from the street level (if the stairs still exist). Sonoma Street is chopped in pieces, and we find the section we are looking for off the cross street of Aleo, historically Adolf Street. Instead of stairs, we find a driveway going up the hill.
The house was gone at the top of the driveway, but there were sensational views from the lot that was higher in elevation than any nearby property. An old lava stone retaining wall shored up the back of the property with a new reinforced concrete retaining wall propping up the land at the front.
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| The lot where Clifford and Violet Spitzer's house once stood. |
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| Another lot photo. |
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| View from the lot. |
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| Zoom view from the lot. |
We checked our notes of childhood memories provided by a daughter of Clifford and Violet. The property formerly had three levels. The garage and a turnaround driveway were at street level. Part way to the house level via the 100 stairs was a play area for the two daughters of Clifford and Violet. A playhouse, swing, sandbox, terrace, and breadfruit tree filled up that middle level. Those were gone in 1993, and now a house existed on the middle level with the address 2428 Sonoma Street. On the lower and upper levels of the property, the mango trees were gone.
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| Clifford and daughter |
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| Clifford and daughter |
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| Daughters of Clifford and Violet |
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| Daughters of Clifford and Violet Spitzer |
We talked to the residents at 2428 Sonoma Street, who had lived there four years. They said the driveway was about 15-20 years old. They were buying the top lot and had plans drawn up to build a house and pool. They had recently cleared the overgrowth from the lot. The owners they were buying from were siblings who had inherited the property from their parents. The parents had rented out the property in the 1960's and 1970's. In the early 1970's, a fire destroyed the house and the owners decided not to rebuild.
In 1993, there was another house on the property at 2418 Sonoma Street where the garage used to be. We learned it was once a duplex that was remodeled into a single home with a cottage built behind it.
The original one-story, wood-shingled house owned by Clifford and Violet was built in the 1920's and designed by Clifford's brother-in-law, Herbert Cohen, who later changed his name to Herbert Cayton. At some point in time, a second story was added. A separate cottage and laundry room sat to the left side of the house, and a metal picket fence secured the front of the upper level.
In the 1930 census return, two Japanese girls named Muriel and Mildred, both aged 20, lived with the family as servants. No servants were shown as living with them in 1940 census.
Six months after the attack at Pearl Harbor (December 7, 1941) and during the Battle of Midway (June 4-7, 1942), Violet and her daughters left Hawaii. No passenger records exist for the first half of June, 1942, but I found Clifford Spitzer's departure on a Pan Am flight on June 25, 1942.
One daughter says they sold the Honolulu house for around $35,000 (inflation calculation shows $486,000 as its value today). The other daughter thinks it might be closer to half that amount. Clifford Spitzer sold the Hub Clothing House and became its buyer. The family moved to New York City.
What happened to the property? The video below shows a lovely house with a pool for sale that was sold in 2013 for $2,425,000.
Video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Q2DFDva5yg.
Saturday, July 2, 2016
Violet Spitzer Historical Photo
There's a story to the two photos below, one of which is a crop from the other.
While on vacation in 2002, I noticed some historical photos displayed on a wall at one of the hotels in Kona, Hawaii. The caption on one photo read, "Lei sellers offer their wares to passerby, c 1930, Hawaii State Archives."
I wasn't sure, but I thought I recognized the woman in the photo as Violet Prager Spitzer, wife of Clifford Spitzer. I snapped a few photos to show Violet's daughter, and, yes, she recognized her mother and even remembered the outfit she was wearing. What a stylish lady Violet was in her white short-sleeved suit with matching hat and gloves.
While on vacation in 2002, I noticed some historical photos displayed on a wall at one of the hotels in Kona, Hawaii. The caption on one photo read, "Lei sellers offer their wares to passerby, c 1930, Hawaii State Archives."
I wasn't sure, but I thought I recognized the woman in the photo as Violet Prager Spitzer, wife of Clifford Spitzer. I snapped a few photos to show Violet's daughter, and, yes, she recognized her mother and even remembered the outfit she was wearing. What a stylish lady Violet was in her white short-sleeved suit with matching hat and gloves.
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| Lei sellers offer their wares to passerby, c 1930, Hawaii State Archives. |
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| Close-up crop of the above photo. |
Saturday, June 25, 2016
Clifford Spitzer's Bride
A newspaper article reveals an unusual story regarding Clifford Spitzer's wedding.
Who was Violet Prager and what was she doing in Hawaii? Violet Prager was born Anna Prager in Manhattan, one of 13 children to Ignatz Prager and Henrietta Solomon Prager. The family story is that she was a Ziegfeld Follies girl, of which her family disapproved, and while performing in Honolulu, she met her future husband.
A brief excerpt from an article appearing in the New York Times in 1996 gives us some information about the Ziegfeld Follies:
While I was unable to verify that Violet Prager was a Ziegfeld girl, I did find her name in a list of cast members for a couple of musicals in New York City.
"Mlle. Prager" appeared as a cast member in Marie Dressler's "All Star Gambol" at the Weber and Fields' Music Hall, 216 W. 44th St., New York City. It was described as a revue in two acts and eleven scenes and ran for a total of eight performances March 10-15, 1913. (Internet Broadway Database)
"Violet Prager" was in the chorus of Ned Wayburn's Town Topics at the Century Theatre, Central Park West at W. 62nd St., New York City. The show was a musical comedy revue starring Will Rogers. It ran for 68 performances September 23 to November 20, 1915. (Internet Broadway Database). Also described as a chorus-girl frolic, "Town Topics" was a lengthy show, running 2 hours and 40 minutes.
"Town Topics" closed briefly because of budget disagreements arising from lavish spending. Following its run in New York City after the re-opening, "Town Topics" went on the road, playing in Philadelphia, Boston, Detroit, Cincinnati, St. Louis, Chicago, Indianapolis, and Pittsburgh, through April, 1916.
What company was Violet Prager traveling with when she performed in Honolulu in the latter part of 1916? Answering this question was a real breakthrough.
Violet Prager was part of the Ingersoll Musical Comedy Co., giving their first performance in Honolulu on October 28, 2016, with the play, "Trouble's Troubles." Notice Violet's name under the poor quality photo on the left side of the advertisement. This was the only reference I found with Violet's name despite their many performances.
The following newspaper article gives the plot of the play, "Trouble's Troubles."
The following review claims that one of the shows, Baby Mine, "sparkles with good, clean humor, not depending upon slapstick stuff or vulgarity for its laughs."
After combing through the newspaper archives, I made a list of the names of the various shows the Ingersoll company performed in Honolulu. Some shows ran for two or three days and most were 120 minutes long. The following dates are when the advertisements appeared.
After the final performance in Honolulu, the troupe went on to perform in Maui and then Hilo. Where did the troupe go next?
By tracing the whereabouts of the musical troupe, I found the above performance in Ukiah, followed by a few weeks in Eureka, a return trip to Ukiah, and then on to Oakland's Macdonough Theater for 20 weeks. I wonder where they went in the Orient as the above article indicates? China and Manila were mentioned with Honolulu in another article as places where one of the stars of the group had performed, but I wasn't sure if those performances were part of the Ingersoll company. Before going to Honolulu, the troupe performed in Sacramento for the summer of 1916 and then in San Bernardino in September, 1916.
The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. (Brooklyn, New York), "Marie Dressler is Having her Joke." March 11, 1913, page 12. https://www.newspapers.com/image/54220344/?terms=all%2Bstar%2Bgambol.
Honolulu Star-Bulletin. (Honolulu [Oahu] Hawaii) 1912-current, June 16, 1917, 3:30 Edition, Image 2. Image provided by University of Hawaii at Manoa; Honolulu, HI. Persistent link: http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov /lccn/sn82014682/1917-06-16/ed-1/seq-2/
Honolulu Star-Bulletin. (Honolulu [Oahu] Hawaii) 1912-current, October 30, 1916, 2:30 Edition, Page SEVEN, Image 7. Image provided by University of Hawaii at Manoa; Honolulu, HI. Persistent link: http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn82014682/1916-10-30/ed-1/seq-7/
Honolulu Star-Bulletin. (Honolulu [Oahu] Hawaii) 1912-current, December 11, 1916, 2:30 Edition, Page EIGHT, Image 8. Image provided by University of Hawaii at Manoa; Honolulu, HI. Persistent link: http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn82014682/1916-12-11/ed-1/seq-8/
Internet Broadway Database, https://www.ibdb.com/
New York Times, (New York, New York), "Century Theatre Turns Music Hall." September 24, 1915, page 11. https://www.newspapers.com/image/20451984/?terms=%22Town%2BTopics%22
New York Times, (New York, New York), "Former Ziegfield Follies Girl Recalls the Glory Days" by Douglas Martin. October 18, 1996. http://www.nytimes.com/1996/10/18/nyregion/former-ziegfeld-follies-girl-recalls-the-glory-days.html?pagewanted=all
New York Tribune, (New York, New York), "Advance Gyrations from Ned Wayburn's New Daily, 'Town Topics': Registered During Undress Rehearsals by Lambert Guenther", page 19, September 5, 1915. https://www.newspapers.com/image/145228489/?terms=Ned%2BWayburn%27s
Photo from Ned Wayburn's Town Topics. http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47e3-5e46-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99
Playbill cover for Ned Wayburn's Town Topics. https://archive.org/stream/nedwayburnstownt00orlob#page/n0/mode/2up
Ukiah Press Democrat, (Ukiah, California) page 6. https://www.newspapers.com/image/2355434/?terms=Ingersoll
The Washington Times, (Washington, D.C.), "Wayburn's Revue Has 27 Scenes", page 8. https://www.newspapers.com/image/79956618/?terms=%22Town%2BTopics%22
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| Wedding announcement, June 16, 1917, Honolulu-Star Bulletin |
Who was Violet Prager and what was she doing in Hawaii? Violet Prager was born Anna Prager in Manhattan, one of 13 children to Ignatz Prager and Henrietta Solomon Prager. The family story is that she was a Ziegfeld Follies girl, of which her family disapproved, and while performing in Honolulu, she met her future husband.
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| Violet Anna Prager |
"Former Ziegfeld Follies Girl Recalls the Glory Days
By DOUGLAS MARTIN
Published: October 18, 1996
Florenz Ziegfeld interviewed 15,000 beautiful women a year for a quarter of a century and a total of 3,000 were selected as Ziegfeld Girls, his idea of the most glorious specimens of American womanhood. Floating across the stage to Berlin's wistful, haunting tune, they were choreographed to convey desire -- lust being (slightly) too strong a word -- in chiffon and silk, feathers and lace.For those with the right stuff (36-26-38 was Mr. Ziegfeld's preference) and a willingness to strut it, the stage of the New Amsterdam Theater was the place to be in Jazz Age Manhattan. Diamond Jim Brady would lay down $750 to snap up 10 opening night seats for the legendary Ziegfeld Follies, and admirers would indicate their appreciation of particular showgirls by sending precious jewels to their dressing room, ensconced in bouquets of long-stemmed roses." --New York Times.
While I was unable to verify that Violet Prager was a Ziegfeld girl, I did find her name in a list of cast members for a couple of musicals in New York City.
"Mlle. Prager" appeared as a cast member in Marie Dressler's "All Star Gambol" at the Weber and Fields' Music Hall, 216 W. 44th St., New York City. It was described as a revue in two acts and eleven scenes and ran for a total of eight performances March 10-15, 1913. (Internet Broadway Database)
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| Review of "All-Star Gambol", The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Mar. 11, 1913 |
"Violet Prager" was in the chorus of Ned Wayburn's Town Topics at the Century Theatre, Central Park West at W. 62nd St., New York City. The show was a musical comedy revue starring Will Rogers. It ran for 68 performances September 23 to November 20, 1915. (Internet Broadway Database). Also described as a chorus-girl frolic, "Town Topics" was a lengthy show, running 2 hours and 40 minutes.
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| Playbill cover of Ned Wayburn's Town Topics |
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| Photo of Ned Wayburn's Town Topics cast in dressing room. |
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| Dancers rehearsing for "Town Topics"--New York Tribune, Sept. 5, 1915. |
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| Review of "Town Topics", The Washington Times, Sept. 24, 1915. |
"Town Topics" closed briefly because of budget disagreements arising from lavish spending. Following its run in New York City after the re-opening, "Town Topics" went on the road, playing in Philadelphia, Boston, Detroit, Cincinnati, St. Louis, Chicago, Indianapolis, and Pittsburgh, through April, 1916.
What company was Violet Prager traveling with when she performed in Honolulu in the latter part of 1916? Answering this question was a real breakthrough.
Violet Prager was part of the Ingersoll Musical Comedy Co., giving their first performance in Honolulu on October 28, 2016, with the play, "Trouble's Troubles." Notice Violet's name under the poor quality photo on the left side of the advertisement. This was the only reference I found with Violet's name despite their many performances.
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| "Trouble's Troubles" ad, October 30, 1916, Honolulu-Star Bulletin |
The following newspaper article gives the plot of the play, "Trouble's Troubles."
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| "Trouble's Troubles" article, October 30, 1916, Honolulu-Star Bulletin |
The following review claims that one of the shows, Baby Mine, "sparkles with good, clean humor, not depending upon slapstick stuff or vulgarity for its laughs."
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| "Baby Mine" article, Dec. 11, 1916, Honolulu-Star Bulletin |
After combing through the newspaper archives, I made a list of the names of the various shows the Ingersoll company performed in Honolulu. Some shows ran for two or three days and most were 120 minutes long. The following dates are when the advertisements appeared.
- Oct 28, Trouble's Troubles
- Nov 3, Over the River
- Nov 6, Man, Maid, Mummy
- Nov 11, King of Patagonia
- Nov 14, A Family Affair
- Nov 15, A Knight for a Day
- Nov 16, Erminie or The Two Thieves
- Nov 21, A Crazy Idea
- Nov 23, Heine Schultz in Paris
- Nov 29, 45 Minutes from Broadway
- Dec 1, He Don't Look Good
- Dec 4, Jane
- Dec 7, Saint and Sinner
- Dec 11, Baby Mine
- Dec 15, Polly of the Follies
- Dec 20, Parle Francais
- Dec 21, A Crazy Idea
- Dec 22, Getting Rich
- Dec 27, So Long Letty
- Jan 1, A Pair of Shoes
After the final performance in Honolulu, the troupe went on to perform in Maui and then Hilo. Where did the troupe go next?
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| Newspaper article, Feb 9, 1917, Ukiah Dispatch Democrat |
By tracing the whereabouts of the musical troupe, I found the above performance in Ukiah, followed by a few weeks in Eureka, a return trip to Ukiah, and then on to Oakland's Macdonough Theater for 20 weeks. I wonder where they went in the Orient as the above article indicates? China and Manila were mentioned with Honolulu in another article as places where one of the stars of the group had performed, but I wasn't sure if those performances were part of the Ingersoll company. Before going to Honolulu, the troupe performed in Sacramento for the summer of 1916 and then in San Bernardino in September, 1916.
References
The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. (Brooklyn, New York), "Marie Dressler is Having her Joke." March 11, 1913, page 12. https://www.newspapers.com/image/54220344/?terms=all%2Bstar%2Bgambol.
Honolulu Star-Bulletin. (Honolulu [Oahu] Hawaii) 1912-current, June 16, 1917, 3:30 Edition, Image 2. Image provided by University of Hawaii at Manoa; Honolulu, HI. Persistent link: http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov /lccn/sn82014682/1917-06-16/ed-1/seq-2/
Honolulu Star-Bulletin. (Honolulu [Oahu] Hawaii) 1912-current, October 30, 1916, 2:30 Edition, Page SEVEN, Image 7. Image provided by University of Hawaii at Manoa; Honolulu, HI. Persistent link: http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn82014682/1916-10-30/ed-1/seq-7/
Honolulu Star-Bulletin. (Honolulu [Oahu] Hawaii) 1912-current, December 11, 1916, 2:30 Edition, Page EIGHT, Image 8. Image provided by University of Hawaii at Manoa; Honolulu, HI. Persistent link: http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn82014682/1916-12-11/ed-1/seq-8/
Internet Broadway Database, https://www.ibdb.com/
New York Times, (New York, New York), "Century Theatre Turns Music Hall." September 24, 1915, page 11. https://www.newspapers.com/image/20451984/?terms=%22Town%2BTopics%22
New York Times, (New York, New York), "Former Ziegfield Follies Girl Recalls the Glory Days" by Douglas Martin. October 18, 1996. http://www.nytimes.com/1996/10/18/nyregion/former-ziegfeld-follies-girl-recalls-the-glory-days.html?pagewanted=all
New York Tribune, (New York, New York), "Advance Gyrations from Ned Wayburn's New Daily, 'Town Topics': Registered During Undress Rehearsals by Lambert Guenther", page 19, September 5, 1915. https://www.newspapers.com/image/145228489/?terms=Ned%2BWayburn%27s
Photo from Ned Wayburn's Town Topics. http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47e3-5e46-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99
Playbill cover for Ned Wayburn's Town Topics. https://archive.org/stream/nedwayburnstownt00orlob#page/n0/mode/2up
Ukiah Press Democrat, (Ukiah, California) page 6. https://www.newspapers.com/image/2355434/?terms=Ingersoll
The Washington Times, (Washington, D.C.), "Wayburn's Revue Has 27 Scenes", page 8. https://www.newspapers.com/image/79956618/?terms=%22Town%2BTopics%22
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