#euniceframe

[yatescountyhistorycenter]

A song for Eunice Frame

By Jonathan Monfiletto

Awhile back, we posted a photograph of Eunice Frame on the Yates County History Center’s Facebook page. It is actually Eunice’s graduation picture from June 1892, when she graduated from Penn Yan Academy.

Eunice served as the organist for the Penn Yan United Methodist Church. She also played piano for the movies at Sampson Theatre in the 1920s during the silent movie era. She lived at 555 Liberty St., in the house her father built where the Frame family had lived for 50 years.

A follower of the Facebook page posed the question, do we know more about Eunice Frame? The short answer is, yes; the long answer is, the story of Eunice and the Frame family is actually quite fascinating.

Eunice was born in 1874 and died in 1938 at the age of 64 years old. According to her obituary in the Chronicle-Express, Eunice was – along with Augusta King – one of the first Black people to graduate from Penn Yan Academy. Then, she was the first pianist to perform for the movies in Penn Yan until “talkies” made this kind of work obsolete.

Her obituary describes her as a “prominent musician,” and she must have been a respected citizen as well: Hundreds of children, according to the obituary, were allowed to go to the movies only after their concerned parents were assured their children would sit in the front seats near Eunice, presumably so she could keep an eye on them.

When dancing schools were popular in homes, Eunice played music for these events. She also directed small community and church orchestras, playing both piano and organ. In a “When I Was a Boy in Penn Yan” column in the Chronicle-Express, C.T. Burrill recalled Eunice and her parents and siblings putting on singing jubilees in the Cornwell Opera House, “usually crowded with lovers of spirituals.”

Sisters Bertha and Addie would sing soprano and contralto, brother Pearl would sing tenor, and father Isaac would sing bass. Eunice would play piano and sing in the chorus. The entire family would open the show on stage with a lively song, and then each voice would have a solo. The family included parents Isaac and Frances, daughters Addie, Bertha, Bessie, Alice, Cora, Eunice, and Katherine, and son Pearl.

Another daughter, Emily, who apparently died in infancy, is listed in our cemetery records.

Burrill recalled Eunice playing in several dances in which he also performed; the last time they worked together, he wrote, was in the Sampson Theatre one Memorial Day for afternoon and evening movies. Burrill “put life in the silent pictures” by creating sound effects with different gadgets in the days before sound in movies. “Miss Frame was a wonderful pianist,” he wrote.

Eunice herself has an interesting story, but so do her parents and her oldest sister. Frances Frame, according to her 1902 obituary, was born into slavery – as was her husband, Isaac – and belonged to Richard Williams of Charleston, West Virginia. In June 1862, the Frames escaped from slavery with their baby daughter, Addie; Isaac served as a nurse to General Hamilton during the time of the Civil War. Frances was 22 years old and Isaac was 30 when they settled in Penn Yan.

According to our cemetery records, Frances was the daughter of Peter and Mary Moore Beal and Isaac was the son of John and Mary Bank Frame. The couple is buried in Lakeview Cemetery; six of their children are buried with them in the family lot.

Then there’s an interesting story about Eunice’s death – or perhaps life, as she may still exist at the theater where she played music for so many years. According to a 2006 Finger Lakes Times article, an architect overseeing the renovation of the Sampson Theatre took some snapshots of the interior to get an idea of the theater’s look. A wispy image showed up in an otherwise clear photo.

When a board member showed the photo to a psychic, the psychic responded – without prompting – that she saw two figures, a middle-aged Black woman who loves the theater and an elderly man also interested in the theater. It is believed these figures are Eunice Frame and Dr. Frank Sampson, who built the theater in 1910. Eunice is reportedly excited about what was going on with the theater at the time.

So, when the curtain opens on the Sampson Theatre again, Eunice just might be there ready to play her piano.