Florence Bindley

Florence Bindley (July 24, 1868 – May 14, 1951) was an American performer whose career spanned musical theatre, vaudeville, and music hall. Born Florence J. Elmer in Newark, New Jersey, she was raised partly in England and began performing at the age of three, billed as "Baby Bindley." Her earliest stage work involved dancing and playing novelty instruments constructed by her father. By the age of six, she had performed for Queen Victoria.

Bindley's Broadway career extended from 1894 to 1908 and encompassed both plays and musicals. Her stage credits included Captain's Mate (1894), A Midnight Marriage (1904), The Street Singer (1904), The Belle of the West (1905), The Girl and the Gambler (1906), and In the Nick of Time (1908). Earlier variety appearances included Heroine in Rags (1887) and The Pay Train (1892), and she later appeared in Major Meg (1916), a production that featured what was described as her famous xylophone specialty.

One of Bindley's signature distinctions in vaudeville was the billing "The Girl with the Diamond Dress," a designation tied to an unusual costume she wore first on the variety stage and subsequently in The Street Singer. In 1909, she developed a vaudeville act titled "An Afternoon at Home," which combined musical monologues, singing, and dancing. The Pittsburgh Press noted in 1904 that she possessed a beautiful singing voice alongside marked emotional and comedy ability.

Florence Elmer married twice. Her first marriage, to her cousin Edward Everett Bindley, ended in divorce in 1890, after which she adopted the Bindley surname professionally. She later married silent film actor Darwin Karr, who died in 1945. Bindley died on May 14, 1951, in Los Angeles, California, at the age of 82.