Florence Bindley

Florence Bindley (July 24, 1868 – May 14, 1951) was an American musical theatre, vaudeville, and music hall performer.

Florence Bindley, from a 1904 publication.

Early life

Florence J. Elmer was from Newark, New Jersey, but was raised partly in England. She started on stage at age 3, as "Baby Bindley",[1] dancing and playing novelty instruments made by her father. At age 6, she performed for Queen Victoria.[2]

Career
Poster for Florence Bindley in the Broadway production of The Street Singer by Hal Reid (1904)

Bindley appeared on Broadway and in variety shows, including Heroine in Rags (1887),[3] The Pay Train (1892),[4][5] Captain's Mate (1894),[6] A Midnight Marriage (1904),[7] The Street Singer (1904),[8] The Belle of the West (1905),[9] The Girl and the Gambler (1906),[10] In the Nick of Time (1908), and Major Meg (1916),[11] which included a display of "her famous zylophone specialty."[12] "She is at all times charming, magnetic, and possesses a beautiful singing voice," commented the Pittsburgh Press in 1904, "together with marked emotional and comedy ability."[13] She was billed as "The Girl with the Diamond Dress,"[2] for an unusual costume she wore, first on the vaudeville stage and later in The Street Singer.[14] A later vaudeville act of Bindley's, "An Afternoon at Home" (1909), featured musical monologues, singing and dancing.[15]

Personal life

Florence Elmer married twice. Her first marriage, to her cousin Edward Everett Bindley, ended in divorce in 1890.[16] She remarried to silent film actor Darwin Karr by 1910.[2] She was widowed when he died in 1945. Florence Bindley died in 1951, aged 82 years, in Los Angeles, California.

References
  1. "Baby Bindley" Chicago Tribune (December 5, 1875): 10.
  2. "Began Stage Career at Three" Salt Lake Tribune (January 30, 1910): 10. via Newspapers.comopen access
  3. "Heroine in Rags" Emporia Daily News (January 17, 1887): 1. via Newspapers.comopen access
  4. "The Chicago Playhouses" New York Times (April 24, 1892): 13.
  5. Stewart H. Holbrook, The Story of American Railroads: From the Iron Horse to the Diesel Locomotive (Dover 2016): 424. ISBN 9780486799223
  6. "Florence Bindley in The Captain's Mate — Avenue Theatre" Courier Journal (January 5, 1896): 15. via Newspapers.comopen access
  7. "Music and Drama" Tammany Times (January 23, 1904): 3.
  8. Gerald Martin Bordman, Richard Norton, American Musical Theatre: A Chronicle (Oxford University Press 2010): 237. ISBN 9780199729708
  9. John Franceschina, Harry B. Smith: Dean of American Librettists (Routledge 2004): 167. ISBN 9781135949082
  10. Donald J. Stubblebine, Early Broadway Sheet Music (McFarland 2010): 81. ISBN 9781476605609
  11. "Florence Bindley in Major Meg at Lyric" Morning Call (October 5, 1916): 10. via Newspapers.comopen access
  12. "Florence Bindley Coming to Lyric Thursday" Morning Call (October 3, 1916): 10. via Newspapers.comopen access
  13. "Theatrical" Pittsburgh Press (November 10, 1904): 9.
  14. Edward Epstein, "Louisville, Ky." Theatre Magazine (April 1905): xii.
  15. "Dainty Florence Bindley Amuses Orpheum Patrons" Oakland Tribune (December 22, 1909): 7. via Newspapers.comopen access
  16. "'Baby' Seeks Divorce" The Times (October 30, 1890): 2. via Newspapers.comopen access
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