Actress, Business Woman. She is remembered as “The foremost comedienne in Vaudeville” working with her first husband, Charles Dickson in two dozen one-act stage productions. She was the daughter of Jewish immigrants, Adolph Burkhart from Russia and his wife Rosalie Cirker from Germany. After graduation from local schools, she trained to be a school teacher in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area, but was led to the stage. After she married her second husband, George Goldsmith in 1903, the couple relocated to California where she continued dramatic readings for small community groups. She retired from the stage to be a mother to their daughter as her husband was a millionaire businessman. She produced several theatrical events to aide in various charities including the 1906 San Francisco earthquake victims. A May 29, 1907 newspaper article tells of her coming out of retirement for one of these events. In June of 1919, she was the founder and first president of the Philanthropic and Civic Club, a community service organization that grew from 23 members to 650 in a few years. She was listed in the “Who's Who Among Women in California” in 1922 for her work with the indigent especially fatherless children. She was also active in the Los Angles chapter of the National Council of Jewish Women serving as president from 1924 to 1930. She had a talent of making good real estate deals by buying properties in disrepair, remodeling, and then selling. Many organizations acquired properties from her to be used as clubhouses. She began and contributed to the Lillian Burkhart Fund, which awarded college scholarships for disadvantaged students. She lectured against prohibition. During World War I, the United States Justice Department questioned and monitored her after she gave a lecture “What the World is Thinking and Feeling” as it was perceived that she may have been influencing other club-women against the American war effort. Others thought the questioning was done since her mother was German. There have been numerous articles published about her life including Katy Lain's 15-page 2007 “Lillian Burkhart Goldsmith: Shaping the City” in the “Southern California Quarterly”.