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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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