Standard Theatre (Philadelphia)

The Standard Theatre showcased Philadelphia's most talented African-American performers and jazz musicians in the early twentieth century.

Its exceptional success can be attributed to its owner, John T. Gibson, an African-American man who envisioned affordable entertainment for people of color.

For example, a group of African-American investors from New York City led by Gibson Young leased the theater in 1913, with the promise of "altogether coloured management."

This was a great emotional loss to the African-American community, who saw the Standard Theater finally becoming a site of entertainment for their own color.

[6] In an interview almost two years after his purchase, Gibson said the following: "When I bought the New Standard theater, I felt that there was a field in this city for good clean Negro vaudeville at popular prices.

"[7] Gibson's premiere show opened with J. Lubrie Hill's Darktown Follies, a musical comedy featuring Southern rural characters.

At this point, the theater was valued at $70,000, making it one of the most valuable pieces of property owned by a single black man in the country.

The Washington Bee credited his success to his optimism loyalty to African-Americans: "Despite his great wealth, Mr. Gibson is a race man.

In the beginning of the twentieth century, millions of African-American Americans fled to northern cities, escaping southern segregation and Jim Crow laws.

[16] Newly arrived performers and audience members alike sought out theaters that hired and catered to African-American Philadelphians.

For instance, the conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra Leopold Stokowski compared jazz music to "the injection of new... blood into a dying aristocracy.

Perhaps reacting to the influx of non-African-American audience members, African-American critics began to change their tastes in performances.

Sandy Burns, a comedian who specialized in blackface performance, received rave reviews from Freeman papers in the teens.

"[19] While vaudeville comedy still lit the stage, Gibson changed his focus to musical performers, specifically big bands.

[21] Following Ellington and Armstrong's lead, numerous big band leaders added the Standard as a stopping point on their tours.

It was still the city's leading Negro showhouse, and the engagement meant I was recognized in my home town as an established professional performer.