Kitty Doner
{{Short description|American vaudeville performer and male impersonator (1895–1988)}}
{{Infobox musical artist
| name = Kitty Doner
| image = KittyDoner1916.tif
| caption = Kitty Doner, from a 1916 publication
| image_size = 200px
| birth_name = Catherine Donohoe
| alias =
| birth_date = {{birth date|1895|09|06}}
| birth_place = Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
| death_date = {{death date and age|1988|08|26|1895|09|06}}
| death_place = Los Angeles, California, U.S.
| origin =
| instrument =
| genre = Music hall
| occupation =
| years_active = 1898–1952
| label =
| associated_acts =
| website =
| current_members =
| past_members =
}}
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
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.Frank Cullen, Florence Hackman, Donald McNeilly, [https://books.google.com/books?id=XFnfnKg6BcAC&dq=Kitty+Doner&pg=PA319 Vaudeville Old & New: An Encyclopedia of Variety Performances in America] (Psychology Press 2007): 319–320. {{ISBN|9780415938532}}Gilliam M. Rodger, [https://books.google.com/books?id=T9FHDwAAQBAJ&dq=Kitty+Doner&pg=PT186 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. {{ProQuest| }}
Career
Kitty Doner was considered the best American male impersonator of her day, compared favorably to British acts such as Vesta Tilley and Ella Shields.Anthony Slide, [https://books.google.com/books?id=Hu3nNSmRjZ0C&dq=Kitty+Doner&pg=PA133 The Encyclopedia of Vaudeville] (University Press of Mississippi 2012): 133–136. {{ISBN|9781617032509}} She was petite, and her characters were often youthful.[https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1914/10/18/105459574.pdf "Born to Dance – And She's Doing It"] New York Times (October 18, 1914). 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.[https://www.newspapers.com/clip/18176163/kitty_doner_1929/ "Kitty Doner Comes Back to Colonial"] The Morning Call (February 3, 1929): 11. via Newspapers.com{{open access}} In 1921, she performed at a benefit for the Women's Auxiliary of the National Disabled Soldiers League at the Apollo Theater."Stars to Aid Soldiers" New York Times (May 7, 1921): 8. {{ProQuest| }} That same year, she also performed at a benefit for the American Committee for Relief in Ireland, at the Metropolitan Opera House."Stage Stars Raise $57,000 for Irish" New York Times (April 4, 1921): 2. {{ProQuest| }}
Her Broadway credits included The Passing Show of 1913, Dancing Around (1914, with Al Jolson),[https://www.newspapers.com/clip/18175863/kitty_doner_1915/ "Kitty Doner as a Stage Door Johnnie is a Start in Jolson's 'Dancing Around'"] Star Tribune (September 5, 1915): 32. via Newspapers.com{{open access}} Robinson Crusoe Jr. (1916, again with Jolson),[https://books.google.com/books?id=InvNAAAAMAAJ&dq=Kitty%20Doner&pg=PA545 "Clothes and the Girl"] Green Book Magazine (September 1916): 545. Sinbad (1918, again with Jolson), and The Dancing Girl (1923, appearing with her brother and sister). Doner's act was preserved in an early sound short film, A Bit of Scotch (1928).Edwin M. Bradley, [https://books.google.com/books?id=M7vwCQAAQBAJ&dq=Kitty+Doner&pg=PA369 The First Hollywood Sound Shorts, 1926–1931] (McFarland 2009): 369. {{ISBN|9781476606842}}
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."Pauline Koner, [https://books.google.com/books?id=2JI2dtuVjFcC&dq=Kitty+Doner&pg=PA139 Solitary Song] (Duke University Press 1989): 139–148. {{ISBN|9780822308782}} Her last work before retirement was auditioning acts for Ted Mack's Amateur Hour in the early 1950s.
Personal life
Kitty Doner died in 1988, aged 92 years, in Los Angeles, California.[https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1988-09-03-mn-2872-story.html "Kitty Doner, Male Impersonator in Vaudeville"] Los Angeles Times (September 3, 1988). There is a collection of Doner's papers, including an unpublished autobiography, photographs and scrapbooks, archived at the University of California Santa Barbara Library.[http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/c87d2zhw/ Guide to the Kitty Doner Papers], University of California Santa Barbara Library, Special Collections.
References
{{reflist}}
External links
{{commons category|Kitty Doner}}
- {{IMDB name|0232443}}
- {{IBDB name|38249}}
- {{Playbill person|kitty-doner-vault-0000047217}}
- [https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/00650691/A 1923 photograph of Kitty Doner], from the New York World-Telegram and the Sun Newspaper Photograph Collection, Library of Congress.
- [http://digitalcollections.lib.washington.edu/cdm/ref/collection/social/id/1886 A 1921 photograph of Kitty Doner], from the University of Washington Libraries Digital Collections.
- [http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/thedailymirror/2010/04/mystery-photo.html Several photographs of Kitty Doner] from the Los Angeles Times files, part of the "Mystery Photo" feature, Los Angeles Times blog (April 9, 2010).
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Doner, Kitty}}
Category:American vaudeville performers
Category:Actresses from Chicago
Category:American people of English descent