The Ingenues

American all-female vaudeville band

The Ingenues
The Ingenues in Sydney, Australia August, 1928
Background information
Origin	Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Genres	Jazz
Years active	mid-1920s – mid-1930s
Labels	Vitaphone

Musical artist

The Ingenues were a vaudeville all-female jazz band.

Early career

The Ingenues toured the United States and other countries from 1925 to 1937. William Morris started the group.^[1] Managed by Edward Gorman Sherman (1880–1940), the orchestra performed with great popularity around the world in variety theater, vaudeville and picture houses, often billed as "The Girl Paul Whitemans of Syncopation." ^[2]

They performed many songs in the Ziegfeld Follies of 1927, Glorifying the American Girl, including the first act finale, "Melody Land," featuring 12 white baby grand pianos. Other Follies numbers featured violins, banjoes and saxophones from The Ingenues. The group performed popular songs, light classical works and novelties. They were celebrated for their versatility, as most members, including star soloist and "trick trombonist" Paula Jones, both novelty (accordions, harmonicas, banjos) and symphonic instruments.^[3]

The group toured Europe, South Africa, Asia, Australia and Brazil (where they also recorded for Columbia Records). The band appeared in film shorts including The Band Beautiful,^[4] Syncopating Sweeties ^[5] and Maids and Music. ^[6]

Maids and Music was produced independently by Milton Schwarzwald's Nu-Atlas Productions and released as a 16mm home movie by Pictoreels. Sequences from this and other Schwarzwald short subjects were also re-edited into Soundies; in the case of Maids and Music the Soundies excerpt was titled "Ray Fabing's Versatile Ingenues".

Members

According to Variety magazine in 1927, the players were: ^[7]

Mary Novak and Blanche Olson, piano
Mary Donohue, Alice Plies, Dorothy Donohue, and Genevieve Brown, saxes and reeds
Margaret Lichti, harp and banjo
Virginia Myers and Gladys Young, trumpet
Paula Jones, trombone and unaphone
Jean Baumgarth and Bebe Colby, violin and cello
Lucy Westgate, flute and cello
Frances Gorton, xylophone and accordion
Pauline Dove, drums
Billie Jenks, bass
Peggy O'Neill, entertainer

Other members over time included:^{[citation needed]}

Grace Brown
Ruth Carnahan
Juel Donahoe
Mary Donahoe
Velma Grimm
Margaret Henke
Alice Locklin
Margaret Neal
Marie Novak
Virginia Roberts
Mina Smith
Louise Sorenson
Lora Standish
Beth Vance

Later years

The band's last major tour was in 1932. While it is said that one of the group's last engagements was "at a Mount Morris High School in Freeport, Illinois," ^[8] the latest primary source documentation has the group appearing in Monticello, IN in July 1938. ^[9]

References

^ Smith, Angela (2014-04-10). Women Drummers: A History from Rock and Jazz to Blues and Country. Scarecrow Press. pp. 19–20. ISBN 978-0-8108-8835-7.
^ "The Ingenues Biography". The Internet Movie Database. Retrieved February 17, 2024.
^ McGee, Kristin (December 2008). "The Feminization of Mass Culture and the Novelty of All-Girl Bands: The Case of the Ingenues". Popular Music and Society. 31 (5): 629–662. doi:10.1080/03007760802188454. ISSN 0300-7766. S2CID 219728964.
^ "The Band Beautiful". The Internet Movie Database. Retrieved February 17, 2024.
^ "Syncopating Sweeties". The Internet Movie Database. Retrieved February 17, 2024.
^ "Maids and Music". The Internet Movie Database. Retrieved February 17, 2024.
^ "Ingenues Score in Dallas". Variety. New York, NY. 26 February 1927. Retrieved February 16, 2024.
^ "Women and Jazz". Dr. David C. Ring. Retrieved February 17, 2024.
^ "All Girls Band at Ideal Beach One Week Beg. Monday, June 6". The Monticello Herald. Monticello, IN. 2 June 1938. Retrieved February 16, 2024.