Lillian Burkhart Goldsmith
Lillian Burkhart Goldsmith (February 8, 1871 — February 25, 1958) was an American vaudeville performer, clubwoman, and businesswoman, based in Los Angeles.
Early life
Lillian Burkhart was born in Allegheny, Pennsylvania, the daughter of Adolph Burkhart and Rosalie Cirker Burkhart. Her parents were both Jewish immigrants: her father was born in Russia, and her mother was born in Germany. Lillian trained as a teacher in the Pittsburgh area.[1]
Career
In her early years, Lillian Burkhart produced and performed in more than two dozen one-act sketches, and was remembered as "the foremost comedienne in vaudeville".[2][3][4] After she married her second husband and moved to California, she continued giving recitations and dramatic readings,[5] often for community groups,[6] and she produced "municipal pageants" and theatrical events, including a benefit show for the victims of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, and the Los Angeles pageant marking Shakespeare's tercentenary.[7][8][9][10]
In Los Angeles she was an officer of the Ebell Club, the founder and first president of the Philanthropy and Civics Club (beginning in 1919),[11] and the president of the Los Angeles chapter of the National Council of Jewish Women (from 1924 to 1930).[12] She developed a successful career of buying and improving property in the growing city,[13] and funded the building of clubhouses for several of philanthropic organizations.[1] She established the first Girl Scout Council in Los Angeles, and was its first commissioner.[14] She began and funded the Lillian Burkhart Fund, which supported college scholarships for disadvantaged students.[15]
Lillian Burkhart Goldsmith lectured against prohibition.[16] She was monitored and questioned by the U. S. Justice Department during World War I, because her mother was German and because she gave a lecture, "What the World is Thinking and Feeling", which was perceived as possibly influencing clubwomen against the American war effort.[17]
Personal life
Lillian Burkhart was married to a fellow vaudeville performer, Charles Dickson, in 1891; the couple appeared in shows together.[18][19] She married George Goldsmith in 1903. They had a daughter, Rosalie Faith Goldsmith, born in 1904. Lillian was widowed in 1928,[14] and died in 1958, aged 87 years.[20]
References
- 1 2 Katy Lain, "Lillian Burkhart Goldsmith: Shaping the City" Southern California Quarterly 89(3)(Fall 2007): 285-306.
- ↑ "Lillian Burkhart, Who Came Back and Who Also Was 'Born Again'" Los Angeles Times (June 21, 1911): II14.
- ↑ "Lillian Burkhardt's Art; The Favorite Actress of the Vaudeville Stage Wins a Warm Welcome In a Bright Little Comedy" Los Angeles Herald (December 3, 1901): 9; via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
- ↑ "Vaudeville Stage: A Gifted Comedienne" New York Dramatic Mirror (March 13, 1897): 18.
- ↑ "Shakespeare Club Hears Fairy Stories: Mrs. Lillian Burkhart Goldsmith Entertains Club in Charming Way Yesterday" Pasadena Star (April 15, 1914): 9.
- ↑ "Lillian Burkhart Goldsmith to Entertain at Informal Gatherings Next Month" Los Angeles Herald (September 25, 2011): 5; via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
- ↑ Paul Henry Dowling, "The Masque of the Nativity: A Triumph of Municipal Pageantry" The American City 15(December 1916): 655-657.
- ↑ "Of Thee We Sing, Hannah!" Long Beach Independent (January 25, 1948): 16. via Newspapers.com
- ↑ "Pretty Flower Girls Capture Much Coin" Los Angeles Herald (May 4, 1906): 8. via Newspapers.com
- ↑ "In Remembrance of Shakespeare: Los Angeles to Join in Nationwide Celebration; Lillian Burkhart Goldsmith Asked to Take Charge of the Pageant Commemorating the Tercentenary of the World's Greatest Dramatist in April" Los Angeles Times (January 26, 1916): I12.
- ↑ Louis Lyons and Josephine Wilson, eds., Who's Who Among the Women of California (Security Publishing Company 1922): 133.
- ↑ Myra Nye, "What Women are Doing: Lillian Burkhart Goldsmith" Los Angeles Times (August 16, 1925): D9.
- ↑ "Lillian Burkhart Goldsmith Tells How She Converted City Lot into Retreat for Herself and Daughter" Los Angeles Herald (November 26, 2010): 4; via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
- 1 2 Myra Nye, "Club Leader Carrying On: Mrs. Lillian Goldsmith Combats Grief" Los Angeles Times (June 24, 1928): C29.
- ↑ "Miss Burkhart Has a Mission" Minneapolis Star (November 25, 1922): 8. via Newspapers.com
- ↑ "'Wet' and 'Dry' Cross Swords" Los Angeles Times (October 9, 1914): II3.
- ↑ William H. Thomas, Unsafe for Democracy: WOrld War I and the U. S. Justice Department's Covert Campaign to Suppress Dissent (University of Wisconsin Press 2009): 51. ISBN 9780299228934
- ↑ Charles Musser, "The May Irwin Kiss: Performance and the Beginnings of Cinema" in Vanessa Toulmin and Simon Popple, eds., Visual Delights Two: Exhibition and Reception (John Libby Eurotext 2005): 107. ISBN 9780861966578
- ↑ Robert Grau, "The Growth of Vaudeville" Overland Monthly (October 1914): 392.
- ↑ "Mrs. Lillian Goldsmith, Civic Worker, Dies; Founder-Member of the Hollywood Bowl, She Was Also Active in Philanthropies" Los Angeles Times (February 26, 1958): A10.
External links
- Lillian Burkhart Goldsmith's gravesite, at Find a Grave.
- A photograph of Lillian Burkhart Goldsmith taken in 1956, when she was 85 years old; in the collection of the USC Digital Library.
- A silk fan donated by Lillian B. Goldsmith to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
- Another silk fan donated by Lillian B. Goldsmith to the Los Angeles County Community of Art.
- Katherine Lain, "Creating a class and its culture: Self-made women, architecture, and the development of elite suburbs and institutions in Los Angeles: 1889--1930" (M. A. thesis, California State University at Northridge 2010).