General Notes

Madge April Kinsey Graf (1896 - 1975) of Loudonville, Ohio

MADGE APRIL KINSEY March 27, 1921 in Loudonville, Ashland County, Ohio, daughter of MORRIS LEWIS KINSEY and ELIZABETH "BETH" HUGHES. She was born April 20, 1896 in Sioux City, Clay County, Iowa, and died September 21, 1975 in Delray Beach, Palm Beach County, Florida. She married HARRY EDWIN GRAF, the son of CHARLES F GRAF and EMMA HENRIETTA KNAPP. He was born June 26, 1896 in Loudonville, Ashland County, Ohio, and died December 10, 1972 in Delray Beach, Palm Beach County, Florida.

MEMORY

Madge Kinsey Graf, the lighthearted, shrewd, reigning queen of the Kinsey clan, was billed as "Baby Madge, Phenomenal Child Artist" in her father's Kinsey Komedy Kompany in 1901. She hasn't missed a season since and she fully expects the Kinsey name to go trouping up and down the Ohio for at least two more generations. Source: http://www.fostoria.org/postcard/Kinsey/News/News5.htm

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 troupe made appearances in local opera houses in Ohio until 1901 when, with the purchase of tents, the troupe began traveling throughout the summers with tent appearances and maintaining more permanent opera house and theater bookings in the winter. In 1904, a second child, Kathryn Kidder, was born. In 1907 M. L. Kinsey died and ownership of the company transferred to Beth Kinsey. At this time the troupe was becoming well-known in Ohio and enjoying successful seasons. Beth married Frank Frederick Miller in 1910 who became manager of the troupe while Beth maintained sole ownership. This arrangement continued until the couple's retirement in 1941. In 1921, Madge Kinsey married Harry Graf and retired from the business for five years during which he had two daughters, Bette (1922) and Jean (1924). Ready to return to the glamour of the stage, Madge resumed her leading lady roles with the troupe in 1926. Madge's younger sister, Kathryn, married James Travis in 1929 and gave birth to a daughter, Patricia Ann, in 1931.

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.

The early 1940s saw a loss in bookings for this troupe and to keep active within the theater, the Madge Kinsey Players joined the Hilda Morgan Show in Houston, Texas, and played through the 1942-1943 winter season. In 1943 the troupe returned to Ohio and joined for the summer 1944 season,the Billy Bryant's Showboat Company--a show that was forced to close after a few weeks of playing in West Virginia. After a brief stay in New York City, the Madge Kinsey Players returned to Ohio (1946) and enjoyed a post-war boom, touring once again throughout Ohio. Additional family members were added when Bette married Jack Murdock (1946) and gave birth to fourth-generation Tek Murdock (1949), who made his stage debut at five months, and when Jean married Glenn (Pep) Graves (1947) and gave birth to Michelle (1949) and Michael (1950).

Unfortunately, the post-war boom for the Madge Kinsey Players was short-lived and the company gave its last performance in 1951. Madge and Harry moved to Florida where they worked with the Delray Beach Playhouse and managed a costume shop.

Further information on the two companies can be found in the scrapbooks and in a 1978 dissertation by Charles Harris Bell III, PhD candidate, Bowling Green State University, entitled: An Ohio Repertoire-Tent Show Family: The Kinsey Komedy Kompany and The Madge Kinsey Players, 1881-1951.

Source:
Bowling Green State University Library, Center for Archival Collections
http://www.bgsu.edu/colleges/library/cac/ms0023.html

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.

Other Sources for Kinsey Players:

http://www.wosu.org/tv/continental/kinsey.php
www.fostoria.org/postcard/Kinsey/News/News3.htm

Local Kinsey Players Entertained Thousands
In March 1939, the following news item appeared in the Fostoria Daily Review:
Source: http://www.fostoria.org/history/Century/years/1939.html

The Kinsey Tent Show
Information courtesy of Pat Beeson
These pages contain some of the memorabilia preserved by Pat (Kinsey-Travis) Beeson. Pat is the youngest decendent of the founder Morris Lewis Kinsey to perform in the tent show.
http://www.fostoria.org/postcard/Kinsey/
http://www.fostoria.org/postcard/Kinsey/family/familyindex.HTML

Ohio's "Crossroad's Queen" Still Barnstorming
Madge Kinsey Players have brought the stage to the Buckeye State's smaller towns for 44 years.
By William G. McKee
Photo: http://www.fostoria.org/postcard/Kinsey/News/NEWS1.htm

OBITUARY

Ohio Obituary Index, 1830s-2009, Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center
Miss Madge April Graf
http://index.rbhayes.org/hayes/index/record_detail.asp?id=306859
GRAF First Name: MADGE Middle Name: APRIL Spouse First Name: HARRY
Age at Time of Death: 79 State of Death: FL
Month of Death: 9 Day of Death: 21 Year of Death: 1975
Order From Kaubisch Memorial Library - Fostoria, OH
Source: Fostoria Review Times
Month: 9 Day: 26 Year: 1975 Page: 12 Column: 1

DEATH RECORDS

Florida Death Index, 1877-1998
Name: Madge April Graf
Death Date: 21 Sep 1975
County of Death: Palm Beach
State of Death: Florida
Age at Death: 79
Race: White
Birth Date: 20 Apr 1896

Social Security Death Index
Name: Madge Graf
SSN: 452-32-9476
Last Residence: 33444 Delray Beach, Palm Beach, Florida, United States of America
Born: 20 Apr 1896
Died: Sep 1975
State (Year) SSN issued: Texas (Before 1951)

BURIAL SITE

Loudonville Cemetery, Loudonville, Ashland County, Ohio

Find A Grave Memorial # 38083231
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=38083231