Center for Archival Collections Kinsey Komedy Kompany
MS-23 mf Biographical Sketch Scope and Content Series Description ... Order of Microfilming Introduction The Kinsey Komedy Kompany Scrapbook Collection was loaned to the Center for Archival Collections by Dan McGinnis, Librarian at the Kaubisch Memorial Public Library, Fostoria, Ohio, for microfilming in May 1972. This collection consists of scrapbooks compiled from newspaper clippings, playbills, posters, programs, tickets, business cards, and correspondence, all of which document the travels and performances of this repertory troupe. Inclusive dates for this four volume collection are from 1902 to 1963, although many items are not dated. No restrictions have been placed on the use of this one roll microfilm edition. The register was compiled by Kathleen M. McGoff, graduate student, Bowling Green State University, and completed by Ann Bowers, Manuscript Curator, Center for Archival Collections.
Biographical Sketch The Kinsey Komedy Kompany and the Madge Kinsey Players were traveling repertory troupes in which four generations of Kinseys performed before audiences in New York, Michigan, West Virginia, Indiana, Pennsylvania, and especially in their home base, Ohio. The Kinsey Komedy Kompany, formed by Morris L. Kinsey in Iowa in 1881, moved to Ohio in 1896 after Kinsey married Elizabeth (Beth) Hughes, originally from Shreve, Ohio. Also in that year their first daughter, Madge April, was born. The now nine-member Kinsey family continued to run a successful family business playing to packed tents and theaters in the Ohio area during the Depression years. In 1935, the troupe split with Madge fulfilling her dream of heading her own company by forming the Madge Kinsey Players, with her family, Harry, Bette, and Jean forming the nucleus of the performers. The Kinsey Komedy Kompany continued under the management of Beth and Frank Miller until their retirement in Fostoria, Ohio in 1941. They both died shortly thereafter in 1944. Also in 1941, with the death of her husband, Jim, the retirement of her parents, and the ending of the Kinsey Komedy Kompany, Kathryn Kinsey Travis and her daughter Patsy, joined the Madge Kinsey Players. | |
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