McKnight, Beeban Annadale, 1897-1996

Date: [Circa 1919-1923]

By: Lints, William, active 1920s

Reference: PA1-o-320

Description: Album of photographs relating to William Lints' Reveille Company, presented to Beeban Annadale McKnight after her marriage to John McKnight. Beeban Annadale MacDonald performed with the company for five years before her marriage in 1923. Many of the photographs are of her at various sites on the tours around New Zealand. Others include one of Gladys Moncrieff and one of Mae Baird, both selling Reveille programmes in Christchurch. William Lints himself appears in a number of the photographs. Inscriptions: Album page - Reminiscences of Our Reveille, from the producer, to Mrs John McKnight. 1923. Quantity: 1 album(s) Album(s). Physical Description: Photograph album with soft brown card cover; 14 x 19 cm

Date: 1988

From: Guerin, Louise :Portrait photographs of New Zealand women, taken as part of The Matriarch's Oral History Project

Reference: PAColl-1990-01

Description: Beeban McKnight, photographed at Beverly Hills, Ohingaiti, in 1998, by Louise Guerin, as part of "The Matriarchs" oral history project and book. Quantity: 1 b&w original photographic print(s). Physical Description: Silver gelatin print 170 x 220 mm

Date: 1922

From: [Theatre ephemera and programmes for music-hall, comedy and variety productions in New Zealand, in 1922].

By: A J Burrows (Firm)

Reference: Eph-A-VARIETY-1922-02

Description: Programme for a production by stage manager William Lints (photographed) and chaperone Mrs F W Bliss. The orchestra included: Mr L Buchan (cornet), Miss Gardiner (piano), Mr T Billing (violin), Mr W Schofield (double bass), Mr W M'Inman (cello). There are photographs of a performer Miss Beeban MacDonald, and groups of chorus performers whose names are listed in the text. Some pages are devoted to advertising, for: Para Rubber Company, Buick model for 1922-23 (Willis Bros Motors), Goddard & Son (tailors), E Jones (saddler), A J Hart's (cake decorators), C H Stephenson (milking machines), the S.P.Q.R. store, George Smith's Theatre fruit and Confectionery Store, "Digestol" cures from W J Woods (chemist), F W Firkin (hairdresser), Bycroft's biscuits, G W Burmester & Sons (bakers), C L Innes & Co Ltd (selling Wai-Aroha drink), T Montague (hairdresser), Dick Lewis (grocer), Lewis R Eady & Sons (Hamilton), Grand Hotel Te Aroha, A E Pilbrow of "Aroha" Dining Rooms, Bygrave & Aislabie (butcher), 48 Spring rheumatism cure, P R Watson (photographer), L A Bowles (baker), A G Rushbrooke (coal and firewood), Clarke's Garage. Quantity: 1 Programme(s). Physical Description: Booklet of 30 pages, each 215 x 145 mm. Transfers: Photographs of the same provenance transferred to PAColl-8757..

Date: [1921-1982]

By: McKnight, Beeban Annadale, 1897-1996

Reference: MS-Papers-9791

Description: Programmes relating to William Lints' `Reveille' which toured New Zealand in the 1920s. Items related to the St James Theatre, Hunterville (1939-1957); outline of Beeban McKnight interviewed by Judith Fyfe (1982) Part of the Archive of New Zealand Music Relationship complexity - Outline of interview relates to tapes MST5-0811-0812 Quantity: 4 folder(s). 2 5" reel(s). 2 C60 cassette(s).

Date: 3 Aug 1982-1 Mar 1983 - 03 Aug 1982 - 01 Mar 1983

From: The Matriarchs Oral History Project

By: McKnight, Beeban Annadale, 1897-1996

Reference: OHInt-0048/04

Description: Beeban McKnight was born in Dunedin in 1897. Discusses her father, wool merchant Arthur McDonald and her upbringing with her mother, grandmother and four siblings. Talks about the financial strain after her father's death and the opening up of their home to paying guests. Discusses being at the Catholic St. Dominic's Priory although her family were Anglican. Recalls a close-knit family headed by her mother and grandmother. Describes her piano lessons as the beginning of her theatrical career. Recalls the Pollards Opera Company about 1908 and getting her first part in a ballet. Talks about leaving school before the age of twelve, her first job at Stone Son and Company, moving to Gisborne, working in a music store and becoming the first woman employee at the Bank of New Zealand. Discusses being in the Gisborne Operatic Society, moving to Sydney at the age of eighteen, studying ballet under Minnie Hooper and becoming one of the J.C. Williamson chorus girls. Talks about moving back to New Zealand after World War I and travelling with Mr Lints' (Lintz) Reveille Company. Discusses her love of performing on stage and`low comedy' including females impersonating men. Recites some Cockney comedy. Recalls a show she put on in Ohingaiti with local performers `The Mountbanks'. Describes her marriage to John McKnight in 1923, her lack of domestic knowlege and difficulty with the role of farmer's wife. Recalls membership of the Miniature Rifle Club and Ladies Rifle Club in Ohingaiti. Talks about her career running a movie theatre which began during the Depression when she opened the `St. James' in the Hunterville Town Hall. Describes the Mangaweka theatre, travelling and showing films, being given an extra petrol ration during the War to enable this and getting hold of big film contracts. Recalls Noel Coward's `Cavalcade', romance and the movie theatre, censorship in old films and the burning down of the Mangaweka theatre in 1963. Venue - Wellington : 1982 Interviewer(s) - Judith Fyfe Venue - Ohingaiti and Wellington Arrangement: Tape numbers - OHC-004146-OHC-004149; LC-1810-LC-1813; LC-3223-LC-3225 Quantity: 4 C60 cassette(s). 1 transcript(s). 1 Electronic document(s). 4 Hours Duration. Finding Aids: Transcript(s) available OHA-1636 and OHDL-000575.

Date: [ca 1980-1999]

From: Alexander Turnbull Library. Archive of New Zealand Music :Papers

Reference: MS-Papers-9262-14

Description: Preliminary listings: Ernest Jenner (Acc 88-129); Glenda Keam; Mark Langford (MS-Group-0350); Claude Laurie; Henry Luscombe (MS-Group-0630); Amelia LeLievre (MS-Group-0636); Annea F Lockwood; Martin Lodge (MS-Group-0632); Alex Lindsay (MS-Group-0390/0391); Alice Forrester Mackay; Charles Martin (MS-Group-0581); Beeban McKnight; National Library Society; NZ Dept of education. Composer-in-Schools programme (MS-Group-0512); NZ Opera Society; Christopher G Norton (MS-Group-0388); Stanley Oliver. Quantity: 1 box(es). Physical Description: Typescript

Date: [ca 1987]-1990

By: Fyfe, Judith Mildred de Visme, 1944-

Reference: MS-Papers-4416

Description: The papers contain correspondence with publishers and contributors, some financial material and newspaper clippings concerning the book. The majority of this collection is made up of transcripts (corrected and uncorrected) of the oral history interviews undertaken by Fyfe, drafts, page mock ups and chapter introduction drafts. Publication - Matriarchs : A generation of New Zealand Women talk to Judith Fyfe; Penguin 1990 Source of title - supplied title Judith Fyfe has worked as a broadcaster in radio and television and as a scriptwriter for television drama. She was co-founder and executive director of the New Zealand Oral History Archive and in 1987 was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to carry out research into and lecture on oral history in the United States. `Matriarchs: A generation of New Zealand women talk to Judith Fyfe' is about `a group of women who have been chosen to represent aspects of their generation: ten women who are regarded as matriarchs or leaders within their family, community organisation or profession'. Fyfe's aim was to `select women from different levels of society - rural and urban, with different educational racial and cultural backgrounds - who were typical of their generation rather than exceptional.' This was a combined archival/publication project. The aim was both to collect extensive material for the purpose of creating a historical record and to provide subject matter for popular publication. Quantity: 27 folder(s). Physical Description: Mss., typescript, typed transcripts, printed material Transfers: Original interview recordings held in the Oral History Centre, Alexander Turnbull Library, OHColl-0048 - To Photographic Archive - Photographs and slides taken for use in the book transferred to PA..

Date: ca 1993

By: McKnight, Shirley, active 2002

Reference: PA12-2292

Description: Portrait of Beeban Annadale McKnight (1897-1996), clerical worker, bank teller, dancer, entertainer, cinema operator and community leader, taken ca 1993 at Beeban's home in Ohingaiti by Shirley McKnight. Quantity: 1 colour copy transparency/ies. Physical Description: Dye coupler colour transparency 10 x 12.5 cm