Bloemfontein Flood Benefit

The Bloemfontein Flood Benefit refers to a matinee benefit programme "tendered to the sufferers in a disaster (flood) at Bloemfontein", put on in Cape Town in 1904

Organized by Grant Fallowes and featuring a large number of distinguished performers from various companies, the matinee took place on 28 January, 1904 in the Opera House, Cape Town, and opened with an act from Brother Officers (Trevor) by the Frawley Company, followed by various vaudeville style turns (acrobatics, songs, dances, etc) by members of Tivoli Theatre company and Frank Fillis' Circus, and concluded with the second act of In the Soup (Lumley), as performed James Welch and his company. The performers included Peggy Pryde, W.C. Fields, Miss Charini, Mrs Griffith Vincent, Kate Drew, Percy Ould, The Hayday Troupe, Les Salvaggis and The Pichell Troupe.

Sources

D.C. Boonzaier, 1923. "My playgoing days – 30 years in the history of the Cape Town stage", in SA Review, 9 March and 24 August 1932. (Reprinted in Bosman 1980: pp. 374-439.)

F.C.L. Bosman. 1980. Drama en Toneel in Suid-Afrika, Deel II, 1856-1912. Pretoria: J.L. van Schaik: p.418

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