Saturday, September 24, 2016

"Mrs. Binckley's Entertainment." Knoxville, Tennessee: May 13, 1879

Mrs. Binckley's Entertainment. [Mary Louisa Mitchell/Michel Binckley (1838-1930)]

The following is the Programme of the Entertainment to be given at Staub's Opera House, on Tuesday evening, May 13, 1879, under the direction of Mrs. M. L. Binckley.

1. Piano solo . . . . . Jas. R. Cocke
2. Scene from "Midsummer Night's Dream." [Fairy Queen and Attendants.]
3. Comic Character Song . . . . . Miss Bettie Bates.
4. Serenade and Tableau.
5. Dream of Dark and Bright Angels.
6. Comic Duett an Hundred Years Old . . . Miss Kirkpatrick: Mr. Rule
7. The Model Husband [Laughable Farce.]
CHARACTERS.
Mr. Simon Shanky . . . . . Mr. John Baxter.
Mr. Sampson Shanky . . . . . Mr. John Rule.
Mr. Fitz Blazington . . . . . Jasper Curtis.
Mrs. Shanky . . . . . Miss Binckley [Nellie Binckley].
Mrs. Mannington . . . . . Miss Hampton.
[Mother-in-law.]
8. Gipsy Chorus, Song and Dance.
9. Solo: "Merry Maid," . . . . . Miss Mattie McCambell.
Chorus Solo . . . . . Miss Bettie Bates.

From: Knoxville Daily Chronicle. (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, May 13, 1879, page 4. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Library of Congress. Link here.

Note: Staub's Opera House (pictured above), also known as Staub's Theatre and later as the Lyric Theatre, was built under direction of Peter Staub (1827-1904), Mayor of Knoxville, in 1872, and lasted until the 1950s. 
From Federal Census, 1880, there was some kind of small boarding school, probably conducted by Jane Mary Wood Johnston Mitchell/Michel (1811-1892).

Family 15 Hugh, High or Gay Street, Knoxville, Tennessee:
Michel, J.W. 68 Boarder Keeping house
Taliaferro, Susie, 35 Boarder
Taliaferro, Penuel [probably Bennet] 11 gd. son At school
Lilli J., 21 gd. daughter Teacher
Binkle[y] Nellie 19 gd daughter
White, Samuel 19 Boarder Student
White, J. H. 15 Boarder Student
Young, W. B. 19 Boarder Student
Watkins, O. [D.?] C. 21 Boarder Student
Hunt, J. W. 21 Boarder Student
Killough, Jesse 15 Boarder Student
Graham, Ann 37 Black servant / Cook
Graham, Teressa 8 Black / School

Which makes one wonder: where was Mary Louisa Mitchell/Michel Binckley at the time of the 1880 Census? John Milton Binckley, her husband, had died in Milwaukee on May 4, 1878. Given misspellings of names, more may be revealed at some point once figured out. There is an anomaly here, also: Lilian Johnston Taliaferro was only a child at the time, not 21. 

[Sue "Susie" Henry Michel Taliaferro (1845-1940)
Bennett Crawford Taliaferro (1868-1943)
Lilian Johnston Taliaferro (1877-1965)
Nellia (Nella) Fontaine Binckley (1860-1951)]

1 comment:

  1. 'The Model Husband' may have been written by Mary Elizabeth Braddon (1835-1915); first performed in 1868.

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