Black Vaudeville
Black Vaudeville is a term that specifically describes Vaudeville-era African American entertainers and the milieus of dance, music, and theatrical performances they created.
[5] 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 (See: Chattel Slavery).
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.
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.
[19][20] 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".
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.
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.
"[19] 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 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.
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.
[19] 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:[27]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.
[2] Dudley was first introduced to the entertainment industry as a traveling performer for medicine shows, with his initial routine being an advertisement for a "Kickapoo" cure.
[29] By the late 1890s, Dudley became an active member in the Texas entertainment scene by using his comedic talent developed in his medicine show performances to gain traction.
[2][30] Even though minstrel shows were aiding in the degradation of African Americans, most talented black singers, composers, writers and dancers joined for the opportunity at creating a stable income in entertainment.
Dudley was met with hesitation on his abilities to complete his plan, with The Freeman employee, Sylvester Russel saying:"Theaters are commercial enterprises and are therefore never totally patronized by either white or colored except in remote parts of the South, where the conditions are different and financially limited....
Still, Dudley was a key figure for Black entertainment in America, and his work led to the creation of countless jobs and opportunities for African American performers throughout the 20th century.
[38] 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.
[40] 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.
Black comedians responded to the prevailing comic Blackface stereotypes by exaggerating them to the point of absurdity, or adding their own, more nuanced authenticity and style.
Popular Black comics in Vaudeville included Bert Williams, George Walker, Bob Cole, Ernest Hogan, Billy Kersands, Irving Jones, Charlie Case, Ernie Sunshine Morrison, and the duo Flourney Miller and Aubrey Lyles.
[46] Women comedians usually performed as the foil for a male partner; Moms Mabley was the first to create her own solo act in the 1920s, eventually taking it from the Chitlin Circuit to the mainstream.
[48][49] 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.
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.
[19] As the live entertainment industry grew, actors, singers, comedians, musicians, dancers, and acrobats began to retain agents to book their acts.
The name stemmed from a regional Southern dish associated with blacks and their slave heritage:“chitlins”, deep fried pig's knuckles and intestines.
