Abriea "Abbie" Mitchell Cook, also billed as Abbey Mitchell, was an American soprano opera singer. She performed the role of Clara in the premiere production of George Gershwin's Porgy and Bess in 1935, and was also the first to record "Summertime" from that musical.
Salem Tutt Whitney and J. Homer Tutt, known collectively as the Tutt Brothers, were American vaudeville producers, writers, and performers of the late 19th and early 20th century. They were also known as Whitney & Tutt, Tutt & Whitney and the Whitney Brothers. They were prominent in black vaudeville and created over forty revues for black audiences.
John William Isham was an American vaudeville impresario who was known for his Octoroons and Oriental America shows. These had their roots in traditional minstrel shows but included chorus girls, sketches and operas. They were part of the transition to the American burlesque shows of the early 20th century.
Irvin Colloden Miller was an American actor, playwright, and vaudeville show writer and producer. He was responsible for successful theater shows including Broadway Rastus (1921), Liza (1922), Dinah (1923), which introduced the wildly popular black bottom dance, and Desires of 1927 starring Adelaide Hall. For thirty years he directed the popular review, Brown Skin Models, influenced by the Ziegfeld Follies but exclusively using black performers. "In the 1920s and 1930s, he was arguably the most well-established and successful producer of black musical comedy."
Hilda Perleno was an American blues and jazz singer, known for her Broadway appearances in the 1920s and 1930s.
Jump for Joy is a 1941 musical revue by Duke Ellington that opened on July 10, 1941, at the Mayan Theater of Los Angeles; and ran for nine weeks.
Jean Starr was an actress, dancer, and trumpeter who became a Chicago society figure after marrying Chicago numbers racket tycoon and Jones brothers, McKissack "Mack" McHenry Jones, and becoming Jean Starr Jones.
Hattie McIntosh was a vaudeville performer who toured with successful shows and her husband, fellow performer Tom McIntosh (comedian).
Emmett Anthony was an American vaudeville comedian who appeared on stage in various revues and shows. In December 1915 he arrived in New Orleans on the S.S. Brunswick to perform at the Iroquis Theater. He was also in the film Son of Satan and was part of Blackville Corporation's 1915 touring revival, The Mayor of Jimtown touring show in 1923, and Harlem Darlings revue in 1929. He featured as a regular at the Crescent Theatre in 1913. He was in Liza in 1923. He received a favorable assessment for his part in Put and Take.
Marion A. Brooks was an actor, playwright, and theater businessman. He partnered on the Bijou theater company at the newly established Bijou Theater in Montgomery, Alabama with players from Chicago. After it folded, he returned to work at the Pekin Theatre in Chicago.
Blondie Robinson, also sometimes written as Blondi Robinson, was an African American renowned vaudeville comedic act performer.
The McCarver Brothers, Howard McCarver and William McCarver, performed in minstrel and vaudeville shows from the late 19th century into the 20th. William McCarver was lauded for his make-up, contortion, singing, and dancing in his comedy duo performances.
The Darktown Follies were a series of musical revues staged in Harlem at the Lafayette Theatre from 1913 through 1916. All of the revue's creators were black, and it was one of the earliest musical revues to feature an all-black cast. Most of the music and lyrics written for the various reviews were created by J. Leubrie Hill and Will Vodery. Hill was also a major contributor to the musical books written for the revues, along with the writer Alex C. Rogers. Part of the age leading up to the Harlem Renaissance, the revue attracted diverse audiences from all over the city of New York. The theatre impresario Florenz Ziegfeld Jr. attended performances, and purchased some of the content of the Darktown Follies for use in his Broadway musical revue, Ziegfeld Follies.
Willis J. Accooe was an American performing musician and composer, mainly of musicals. He was "an important songwriter during the birth of the black musical" according to the Library of Congress website.
Lucky Sambo was a 1925 musical comedy staged on Broadway. It originally toured as Aces and Queens in 1923 and 1924. It was by Porter Grainger and Freddy Johnson. It played at the Colonial Theatre.
Joe Byrd was an American vaudeville comedian. He was from Jacksonville, Florida.
George Washington Bullion was a popular and long running three act musical comedy by the Tutt Brothers, Salem Tutt Whitney and J. Homer Tutt that debuted in 1910. Trevor L. Corwell, a white English impresario helped book the show. The storyline featured a black tobacco plantation owner aspiring to join high society. The Tutt brothers’ shows George Washington Bullion Abroad and How Newtown Prepared followed up on the characters in 1915 and 1916. Both shows had the characters of Washington and fellow veterans leaving to fight in foreign wars.
Sidney Easton was an African-American actor, stage performer, playwright, composer, vocalist, and pianist. He worked as a performer in minstrel shows, carnivals, burlesque, and vaudeville. Starting in the 1930s he appeared in films.
Sandy Burns was a comedian. He toured on the T.O.B.A. circuit.
Don't Play Us Cheap is a musical with music, lyrics, and a musical book by Melvin Van Peebles. The musical is based on Van Peebles' 1967 French-language novel La fête à Harlem (1967). Set in Harlem, the musical premiered in November 1970 at San Francisco State College.
