Cover of A Rabbit's Foot theatre programme, about 1908
Black Vaudeville is a term that specifically describes Vaudeville-era African American entertainers and the milieus of dance, music, and theatrical performances they created. Spanning the years between the 1880s and early 1930s, these acts not only brought elements and influences unique to American black culture directly to African Americans but ultimately spread them beyond to both white American society and Europe.
Vaudeville had what were known as "circuits", venues that booked touring entertainers. Racism made it difficult for a black performer to be accepted into the white circuits of the day, though some performers had crossover appeal. The Theater Owners Booking Association (TOBA) was created for Black performers to get steady bookings in theaters that served Black audiences. Eventually, TOBA was replaced in the 1930s by "chitlin' circuits", which emerged to link black performers and entertainment opportunities.
Background
American Vaudeville began in the early 1880s, at the end of Reconstruction, and ended with the rise of talking cinema and the Great Depression in the early 1930s.[1][2] Each vaudeville show contained a number of different acts, which might feature singing, dancing, comedy, and novelty acts. With its roots in variety and Minstrel Shows of the mid-19th century, it was common in Vaudeville for white performers to perform racist stereotypes of Black Americans, using Blackface, minstrel songs, and coon songs, in their acts.[3]
Talented Black Americans saw working in Vaudeville as a more profitable and satisfying alternative than the laboring and domestic jobs that were available to them in the 19th century.[1] Though some early Black performers worked within the stereotypes, using Blackface and writing coon songs themselves,[4] others challenged these stereotypes with irony and humor,[5] or performed and produced acts that were more authentic to their talents and experience.[3] Playing to both white and black audiences, as well as 'mixed' audiences with segregated seating, they were paid less than their white counterparts by national booking agencies and encountered discrimination in lodging and booking. Shows for white audiences were limited to just one Black act per show[6] though a white actors strike in 1901 opened doors for African-American performers.[7] Some Black performers opted for working only for Black audiences,;[8] others formed their own touring companies,[9] labor organizations,[10] booking agencies and theater circuits.[11]
Before 1912, when Sherman H. Dudley put together the Colored Consolidated Vaudeville Exchange, vaudeville's major circuits usually included only the managers of theaters serving white audiences.[12] But early Black entrepreneurs like Pat Chappelle organized travelling shows and smaller circuits for black and white audiences and helped pave the way for African-American performers.
Chappelle (1869–1911) was a black showman from Jacksonville, Florida. He learned the show business ropes from his uncle Julius C. Chappelle, who allowed him to meet Franklin Keith and Edward F. Albee, producers of vaudeville. Pat ended up working for Keith and Albee as a piano player. During his vaudeville debut, he met Edward Elder Cooper who was a journalist interested in black entertainment and the first to write a journal about the African-American race in 1891.
Pat Chapelle's Imperial Colored Minstrels Ad, 1899, Memphis Tennessee. Vaudeville had its roots in Minstrel Shows; Pat Chapelle toured the South with his show and paved the way for Black performers and entrepreneurs in Vaudeville
In 1898, Chappelle organised his first traveling show, the Imperial Colored Minstrels (or Famous Imperial Minstrels),[13] which featured comedian Arthur "Happy" Howe and toured successfully around the South.[14][15] Chappelle also opened a pool hall in the commercial district of Jacksonville. Remodeled as the Excelsior Hall, it became the first black-owned theater in the South, reportedly seating 500 people.[16][17]
In 1899, following a dispute with the white landlord of the Excelsior Hall, J. E. T. Bowden, who was also the Mayor of Jacksonville, Chappelle closed the theatre and moved to Tampa, where he – with fellow African-American entrepreneur R. S. Donaldson – opened a new vaudeville house, the Buckingham, in the Fort Brooke neighborhood. The Buckingham Theatre opened in September 1899, and within a few months was reported to be "crowded to the doors every night with Cubans, Spaniards, Negroes and white people".[16] In December 1899 Chappelle and Donaldson opened a second theatre, the Mascotte, closer to the center of Tampa.[16][13] A different reporter said, “These theaters have proven themselves to be miniature gold mines.”
His next project was a touring show called A Rabbit's Foot. The difference between this tour and previous ones were the cast was sixty people, and all performers would be comfortable. If a black performer was able to tour in a white circuit, they would not be allowed to sleep in the hotels when they stopped to rest, because the hotels would not allow it. They slept on the bus because it was better than the floor.[18] On Chappelle's tour, the Freeman described their travel accommodations as “their own train of new dining and sleeping cars, which ‘tis said, when finished, will be a ‘palace on wheels.” Like his Famous Imperial Minstrel show, A Rabbit's Foot contained minstrel and a variety of acts while maintaining the expected vaudeville staging flare. Chappelle offered a show for everyone.[19]
Blues singerMa Rainey got her start with Pat Chapelle's Company, A Rabbit's Foot
In mid-1900, Chappelle decided to put the show into theatres rather than under tents, first in Paterson, New Jersey, and then in Brooklyn, New York. In October 1901, the company launched its second season, with a roster of performers again led by comedian Arthur "Happy" Howe, and toured in Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia and Florida. The show grew in popularity throughout the early years of the century, and played in both theatres and tents.[16][13] Trading as Chappelle Bros.,[15] Pat Chappelle and his brothers, James E. Chappelle and Lewis W. Chappelle, rapidly organised a small vaudeville circuit, including theatre venues in Savannah, Georgia, as well as Jacksonville and Tampa. By 1902 it was said that the Chappelle Bros. Circuit had full control of the African-American vaudeville business in that part of the country, "able to give from 12 to 14 weeks [of employment] to at least 75 performers and musicians" each season.[14]
Chappelle stated that he had "accomplished what no other Negro has done - he has successfully run a Negro show without the help of a single white man."[16] As his business grew, he was able to own and manage multiple tent shows, and the Rabbit's Foot Company would travel to as many as sixteen states in a season. The show included minstrel performances, dancers, circus acts, comedy, musical ensemble pieces, drama and classic opera,[20] and was known as one of the few "authentic negro" vaudeville shows around. It traveled most successfully in the southeast and southwest, and also to Manhattan and Coney Island.[21]
By 1904, the Rabbit's Foot show had expanded to fill three Pullman railroad carriages, and advertiseded as "the leading Negro show in America".[22] For the 1904–05 season, the company included week-long stands in Washington, D.C., and Baltimore, Maryland. Two of its most popular performers were singing comedian Charles "Cuba" Santana and trombonist Amos Gilliard.[16] Another performer, William Rainey, brought his young bride Gertrude (later known as "Ma" Rainey) to join the company in 1906.[16] That year, Chappelle launched a second traveling tent company, the Funny Folks Comedy Company, with performers alternating between the two companies. The business continued to expand, though in August 1908, one of the Pullman Company railroad carriages used by the show burned to the ground in Shelby, North Carolina, while several of the entertainers were asleep. Chappelle quickly ordered a new carriage and eighty-foot round tent so the show could go on the following week.[17]
Tim Moore, who became famous as Kingfish in Amos 'n' Andy, worked in Vaudeville
Pat Chappelle died from an unspecified illness in October 1911, aged 42, and the Rabbit's Foot Company was bought in 1912 by Fred Swift Wolcott (1882-1967), a white farmer originally from Michigan, who had owned a small carnival company, F. S. Wolcott Carnivals. Wolcott maintained the Rabbit's Foot company as a touring show,[23] initially as both owner and manager, and attracted new talent including blues singer Ida Cox who joined the company in 1913. "Ma" Rainey also brought the young Bessie Smith into the troupe, and worked with her until Smith left in 1915. The show's touring base moved to Wolcott's 1,000-acre Glen Sade Plantation outside Port Gibson, Mississippi in 1918, with offices in the center of town. Wolcott began to refer to the show as a "minstrel show" – a term Chappelle had eschewed – though one member of his company, trombonist Leon "Pee Wee" Whittaker, described him as "a good man" who looked after his performers.[16] Each spring, musicians from around the country assembled in Port Gibson to create a musical, comedy, and variety show to perform under canvas. In his book The Story of the Blues, Paul Oliver wrote:[24]
The 'Foots' traveled in two cars and had an 80' x 110' tent which was raised by the roustabouts and canvassmen, while a brass band would parade in town to advertise the coming of the show...The stage would be of boards on a folding frame and Coleman lanterns – gasoline mantle lamps – acted as footlights. There were no microphones; the weaker voiced singers used a megaphone, but most of the featured women blues singers scorned such aids to volume...
The company, by this time known as "F. S. Wolcott's Original Rabbit's Foot Company" or "F. S. Wolcott’s Original Rabbit's Foot Minstrels", continued to perform its annual tours through the 1920s and 1930s, playing small towns during the week and bigger cities at weekends. The show provided a basis for the careers of many leading African American musicians and entertainers, including Butterbeans and Susie, Tim Moore, Big Joe Williams, Louis Jordan, George Guesnon, Leon "Pee Wee" Whittaker, Brownie McGhee, and Rufus Thomas. Wolcott remained its general manager and owner until he sold the company in 1950, to Earl Hendren of Erwin, Tennessee, who in turn sold it in 1955 to Eddie Moran of Monroe, Louisiana, when it was still trading under Wolcott's name.[16] Records suggest that its last performance was in 1959.[25]
Dance
As vaudeville became more popular the competition for “the most flashy” act increased. As minstrelsy became less popular other types of movement were created and carried on to the Vaudeville stage. A performer named Benjamin Franklin had an act that was described by his minstrel troupe leader, “waltzes with a pail of water on his head and plays the French horn at the same time.”[26]
Dance was entertainment that was accepted in almost every act slot on the bill for a Vaudeville show. Tap, with origins in Africa and Europe, was a style that was often seen.[27]Hamboning had been a way for performers to create percussion sounding beats by tapping or slapping their chests and thighs. In the 1870s and 1880s, hamboning was mixed with clog-shoe dances and Irish jigs to create tap.[citation needed]
Vaudeville saw two types of tap: buck-and-wing and four-four time soft shoe. Buck-and-wing consisted of gliding, sliding, and stomping movements at high speeds. Wing was a portion in which on a jump, feet would continue to dance in mid air. Soft shoe was more relaxed and elegant. Metal plates were added to the bottom of tap shoes to create a stronger percussion sound. However, after just a few short dance routines the softwood Vaudeville stage would easily tatter. Theater owners replaced the section of the stage that was in front of the curtain with durable maple, which spared them from changing out the entire stage while allowing them to feature “in-one-number” acts performed with the curtain as a backdrop while the set was changed for the following act. This kept audiences entertained - and, importantly, put.
Anna Madah Hyers of the Hyers Sisters, who wrote and performed musical theaterLouis Armstrong was one of the many jazz greats who got their start in Vaudeville
The black musicians and composers of the vaudeville era influenced what is now known as American musical comedy, jazz, blues and Broadway musical theater. The popular music of the time was ragtime, a lively form developed from black folk music prominently featuring piano and banjo.[30] The fast tempo of Ragtime matched the pace of the Vaudevillian revue type show.
Thomas Greene Bethune or ("Blind Tom") composed 100 pieces and could play over 7,000. He was exploited by a slave owner John Benthune. For example, John let Tom perform to make himself money. “Blind Tom” made $100,000 in 1866 and only received $3,000 of this. John William Boone was a fellow blind pianist, a professional at the age of fourteen, known as “Blind Boone”. John and Tom shared a piano ragtime style of "jig piano". This consisted of the left hand playing the beat of the tuba while the right hand played the fiddle and banjo melodies. This music portrayed slaves dances, including beats at times created by the only instrument they had, their bodies.[31]
The Hyers Sisters, who began performing in the late 1870s, and Sissieretta Jones, who gave up classic opera to lead a Vaudeville touring company, were pioneers of Black Musical Theater. The jazz pianist and composer Eubie Blake got his start in 1920s Vaudeville,[33] as did Louis Armstrong and other jazz musicians.[34][35] Notable Black female blues singers who started on the Vaudeville stage included Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith, Clara Smith, Mamie Smith, Mamie Brown, Ida Cox, and Edmonia Henderson.[36] Another venue for up-and-coming musicians and performers was the circus sideshow.[37]
Comedy
Williams (left) & Walker, on the 1903 cover to the sheet music for "I'm a Jonah Man" (from the musical In Dahomey)
In 1903, the comedic theatrical company The Smart Set, with performer Ernest Hogan and writer/performer Billy McClain, broke with earlier minstrel stereotypes and presented African-Americans as more fashionable and sophisticated, touring throughout the North and South. Though they received good reviews, some Southern white theater owners refused to book them because they did not adhere to common stereotypes. Sherman H. Dudley later took over as producer and lead comedian of this company, followed by Salem Tutt Whitney, who created the Southern Smart Set in the 1910s. Producer Alexander Tolliver also used the name Smart Set in his freewheeling Big Tent variety show, which drew heavily upon developing blues and jazz tunes, and included novelty acts and acrobats. Tolliver's show, with an all black crew, started in 1914 and continued to be popular to black and white audiences until 1930.[16]
As the live entertainment industry grew, actors, singers, comedians, musicians, dancers, and acrobats began to retain agents to book their acts.[18] Booking associations sprung up, serving a middle man role between agents and theater owners. Theaters like the Pekin Theater in Chicago and the Lafayette Theater in New York City were created and managed by Black entrepreneurs for black performers and audiences. The dominant black vaudeville theater circuit of the day was the Theater Owners Booking Association (TOBA), known among colored performers of the time as “Tough On Black Actors”.[42] TOBA's management was interracial; Black entrepreneur Sherman H. Dudley laid the groundwork for TOBA in 1912 with his circuit of Black owned theaters, continued managing his part of the TOBA theater circuit and had a position on TOBA's board of directors.[10][12]
T.O.B.A dissolved in 1930; by then "chitlin' circuits" for black entertainers had begun. The name stemmed from a regional South dish associated with blacks and their slave heritage, “chitlins”, deep fried pig's knuckles and intestines. Chitlin' circuit touring groups would often be forced to perform in venues such as school auditoriums because theaters were not always available to them due to segregation. ”[42] They would also travel directly to black neighborhoods to bring them entertainment. The content of the touring shows was melodramatic and farcical, designed to be enjoyed in the moment.[42]
Notable people in Black Vaudeville
Sherman Dudley started one of the first Black Vaudeville theater circuits
Sherman H. Dudley (1872–1940), performer and entrepreneur who created the first Black owned Vaudeville circuit and the Colored Actors Union[11][10]
The Griffin Sisters (1870s–1918), performers and entrepreneurs who created one of the first Black women-owned Vaudeville circuits[8]
Florence Hines, (1868-1924) singer/dancer known as "the queen of male impersonators"
The Hyers Sisters (1857–1901), first Black women Vaudeville performers in 1876, toured U.S. with comic operas addressing slavery and freedom
John William Isham (1866–1902), creator of The Octoroons, one of the first vaudeville shows with all Black performers and chorus line[43]
Moms Mabley (1897–1975), 20th century comedian who got her start in Vaudeville
Sisserietta Jones (1868–1932), world-renowned opera singer who performed with Black Patti's Troubadours.
P.G. Lowry (1869-1942), bandleader and entrepreneur who created musical events for circus sideshows
Vaudeville is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment which began in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic composition or light poetry, interspersed with songs or ballets. It became popular in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s, while changing over time.
The minstrel show, also called minstrelsy, was an American form of theater developed in the early 19th century. The shows were performed by mostly white actors wearing blackface makeup for the purpose of comically portraying racial stereotypes of African Americans. There were also some African-American performers and black-only minstrel groups that formed and toured. Minstrel shows stereotyped blacks as dimwitted, lazy, buffoonish, cowardly, superstitious, and happy-go-lucky. Each show consisted of comic skits, variety acts, dancing, and music performances that depicted people specifically of African descent.
Ida M. Cox was an American singer and vaudeville performer, best known for her blues performances and recordings. She was billed as "The Uncrowned Queen of the Blues".
Robert Allen Cole Jr. was an American composer, actor, and playwright who produced and directed stage shows. In collaboration with Billy Johnson, he wrote and produced A Trip to Coontown (1898), the first musical entirely created and owned by black showmen. The popular song La Hoola Boola (1898) was a result of their collaboration. Cole later partnered with brothers J. Rosamond Johnson, a pianist and singer, and James Weldon Johnson, a pianist, guitarist and lawyer, creating more than 200 songs.
Theatre Owners Booking Association, or T.O.B.A., was the vaudeville circuit for African American performers in the 1920s. The theaters mostly had white owners, though about a third of them had Black owners, including the recently restored Morton Theater in Athens, Georgia, originally operated by "Pinky" Monroe Morton, and Douglass Theatre in Macon, Georgia owned and operated by Charles Henry Douglass. Theater owners booked jazz and blues musicians and singers, comedians, and other performers, including the classically trained, such as operatic soprano Sissieretta Jones, known as "The Black Patti", for black audiences.
The Chitlin' Circuit was a collection of performance venues — "any place white people don’t go to see black people" — found throughout the eastern, southern, and upper Midwest areas of the United States. They provided commercial and cultural acceptance for African-American musicians, comedians, and other entertainers following the era of venues run by the "white-owned-and-operated Theatre Owners Booking Association (TOBA)...formed in 1921." The Chitlin Circuit sustained black musicians and dancers during the era of racial segregation in the United States from the 1930s through the '60s.
Butterbeans and Susie were an American comedy duo comprising Jodie Edwards and Susie Edwards. They married in 1917, and performed together until the early 1960s. Their act, a combination of marital quarrels, comic dances, and racy singing, proved popular on the Theatre Owners Booking Association (TOBA) tour. They later moved to vaudeville and appeared for a time with the blackface minstrel troupe the Rabbit's Foot Company.
John Walcott Cooper Jr. was an American ventriloquist, entertainer, and singer with the Southern Jubilee Singers. He was known as the "Black Napoleon of Ventriloquism" and also performed under the pseudonym Hezekiah Jones. Over the course of his lifetime Cooper was a member of the Negro Actors Guild of America, the Colored Vaudeville Benevolent Association, and the International Brotherhood of Ventriloquists.
The Tivoli Circuit was a successful and popular Australian vaudeville entertainment circuit featuring revue, opera, ballet, dance, singing, musical comedy, old time black and white minstrel and even Shakespeare which flourished from 1893 to the 1950s, and featured local and international performers from the United States and the United Kingdom.
Sherman Houston Dudley was an African-American vaudeville performer and theatre entrepreneur. He gained notability in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century as an individual performer, a composer of ragtime songs, and as a member and later owner of various minstrel shows including the Smart Set Company. Dudley is also notable as one of the first African Americans to combine business with theater, by starting a black theater circuit, in which theaters were owned or operated by African Americans and provided entertainment by and for African Americans. He created the first black operated vaudeville circuit and led the way for what became the Theatre Owners Booking Association (T.O.B.A.).
The Rabbit's Foot Company, also known as the Rabbit('s) Foot Minstrels and colloquially as "The Foots", was a long-running minstrel and variety troupe that toured as a tent show in the American South between 1900 and the late 1950s. It was established by Pat Chappelle, an African-American entrepreneur in Tampa, Florida.
Fred Swift Wolcott was an American entertainment businessman and cotton planter who was the owner and manager of the Original Rabbit's Foot Company from 1912 to 1950. He bought the business after the death of its founder Pat Chappelle, and operated the company from Port Gibson, Mississippi, close to his 1,000-acre plantation.
George Walker was an American vaudevillian, actor, and producer. In 1893, in San Francisco, Walker at the age of 20 met Bert Williams, who was a year younger. The two young men became performing partners. Walker and Williams appeared in The Gold Bug (1895), Clorindy (1898), The Policy Player (1899), Sons of Ham (1900), In Dahomey (1903), Abyssinia (1906), and Bandanna Land (1907). Walker married dancer Ada Overton, who later also was a choreographer.
Charles Henry Douglass was an American businessman in Macon, Georgia. He operated the Douglass Theatre. He was a very wealthy man in his time and was a great community leader for equality. He was very reputable in the arts, for he was a part of Theatre Owners Booking Association (T.O.B.A.) and managed the Florida Minstrels and Comedy Company. He opened the Douglass Theatre in Macon, Georgia, and continued to be a prominent leader within his community. He ran his theatre until 1940 when he died. Throughout his life, Douglass made several contributions to his community and city. Ben Stein was reported to be the owner and manager of the theater in 1928. "Indeed, thanks to the vision of Charles Henry Douglass, the Douglass Theatre in Macon became a preeminent entertainment venue for African American Georgians outside of Atlanta. Today, with the restored Douglass Theatre again in operation, the inspiring legacy of Charles H. Douglass lives on in Macon".
Patrick Henry Chappelle, was an American theatre owner and entrepreneur, who established and ran The Rabbit's Foot Company, a leading traveling vaudeville show in the first part of the twentieth century. He became known as one of the biggest employers of African Americans in the entertainment industry, with multiple tent traveling shows and partnerships in strings of theaters and saloons. Chappelle was described at that time as the "Pioneer of Negro Vaudeville" and "the black P. T. Barnum," and was the only African American to fully operate a traveling show solely composed of African-American entertainers.
Tom McIntosh was an African-American comedian who starred in many minstrel shows in the US from the 1870s to the 1900s. He was considered one of the funniest performers in this genre.
The Whitman Sisters were four African-American sisters who were stars of Black Vaudeville. They ran their own performing touring company for over forty years from 1900 to 1943, becoming the longest-running and best-paid act on the T.O.B.A. circuit. They comprised Mabel (May) (b. Ohio; 1880–1942), Essie (Essie Barbara Whitman; b. Osceola, Arkansas, July 4, 1882 – May 7, 1963), Alberta "Bert" (b. Kansas; 1887–1964) and Alice (b. Georgia; 1900–December 29, 1968).
Modern stand-up comedy began around the turn of the century, evolving from a variety of sources including minstrel shows and vaudeville. Early stand-up comedians spoke directly to the audience as themselves without props or costumes, which distinguished these acts from vaudeville performances. These comics stood in front of the curtain during their shows, like early 20th century "front cloth" stand-up comics in Britain and Ireland whose numbers allowed the stage behind them to be re-set for another act.
The Griffin Sisters, Emma (1874–1918) and Mabel (1877–1918) Griffin, were American vaudeville performers in the late 1800s and early 1900s who became entrepreneurs and social activists and opened one of the first booking agencies owned by Black women. They publicly spoke out by demanding higher wages and better working conditions for Black performers at a time when discrimination and racism were both common in the entertainment industry.
References
1 2 "Black Vaudeville". Hennepin Theater Trust. 13 November 2022. Retrieved January 28, 2024.
↑ "Vaudeville". Britannica.com. Encyclopedia Brittanica. 28 December 2023. Retrieved January 28, 2024.
1 2 3 Pollak, Max M. “A Short History of Tap: From Picks and Chitlins all the way to ‘Bring in ’Da Noise’.” Ballett International, Tanz akuell. 7 (2001-07): 25-27. Seelze. UCSB Main Library. October 25, 2011
↑ "Rabbit's Foot Comedy Company; T. G. Williams; William Mosely; Ross Jackson; Sam Catlett; Mr. Chappelle" News/Opinion, The Freeman page 6. October 7, 1905. Indianapolis, Indiana
↑ "The Stage." News/Opinion, The Freeman, p. 5, June 9, 1900. Indianapolis, Indiana
↑ Walker, Aida Overton (27 November 2018). "How to Cakewalk". Syncopated Times. Retrieved January 31, 2024.
↑ Blesh, Rudi; Janis, Harriet. They all Played Ragtime: The True Story of American Music. London and Beccles, Great Britain: William Clowes and Sons Ltd, 1958
↑ Taylor, Fredrick J. “Black Music and Musicians in the Nineteenth Century.” The Western Journal of Black Studies. 29.3 (2005), p. 165. Academic OneFile. Web. 26 October 2011
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