Pigmeat Markham

This post is one in a series that defines for the layman the various types of variety arts. For the full panoply go here. We present this edition in conjunction with Black History Month.

While mainstream vaudeville provided opportunities for many African Americans (see a long list of them here), there were many limitations. African American acts were prohibited from headlining, they were numerically restricted (i.e., only one such act on the bill) and backstage they often had to use separate dressing rooms or none at all. In the Southern states, they couldn’t perform at the major theatres period, nor could black audiences patronize white theatres.

As a result, from a surprisingly early stage, an entire segregated entertainment industry arose. All-Black minstrel shows had been around since the 19th century (yes–minstrel shows, in which African Americans wore blackface and “impersonated” African Americans. It’s how blacks first broke into show business.) And African American book musicals and revues had been around since the turn of the century. In 1909, the first primarily black vaudeville circuit was established, the Theatre Owners Booking Association (TOBA). This was an early incarnation that fizzled out. In 1921, a new version was established that was to provide employment for African American entertainers for about a decade. TOBA was often known as “Toby Time”, and, because of the poor condition of many of the houses, and the tough treatment of the acts by the management, it was often joked that the initials in T.O.B.A. stood for “Tough on Black Asses”.  Some of the artists the circuit employed included Mamie Smith, Bessie Smith (no relation),Ida Cox, Ma Rainey, Leonard Reed, the Nicholas Brothers, the Will Mastin Trio (featuring a very young Sammy Davis, Jr.), Stepin Fitchit, Eddie “Rochester” Anderson, “Pigmeat” Markham, “Moms” Mably, Stump and Stumpy,  Mantan Moreland, and the list goes on. In addition to the 45 theatres on the TOBA circuit (which was located in the South and Midwest), there were other, smaller all-black circuits in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic. In addition to bricks-and-mortar vaudeville, travelling all black tent shows were a major factor in the rural areas. In the post vaudeville era, the national network of African American theatres became known as the “chitlin’ circuit”.

This significant underground cultural development went on largely unobserved by mainstream pop culture, until the 1950s, 60s and 70s when many of these acts began to be presented on television variety shows for the first time, changing American entertainment — and America — forever.

To this day, you can get a taste of something not too different from what audiences enjoyed on the black vaudeville circuits. It’s called Amateur Night at the Apollo. (Don’t let the name fool you)

To find out more about  the history of vaudeville, consult No Applause, Just Throw Money: The Book That Made Vaudeville Famous, available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and wherever nutty books are sold.

Now here he is on The Jackie Gleason Show:

To find out more about  the history of vaudeville, consult No Applause, Just Throw Money: The Book That Made Vaudeville Famous, available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and wherever nutty books are sold.

Ed Lowry (born today in 1896) is better known today than he might have otherwise been, because of his legacy. He left behind his trunk of sketches, jokes and gags, which was published as the book you see above. See my review of Vaudeville Humor in the March 2007 number of American Theatre here: AT–Three Vaud0001. (Note: Lowry’s book is featured toward the end of my article.)  He also wrote a book about his pals Joe Frisco and Charlie Foy called Joe Frisco: Comic, Jazz Dancer and Railbird which is a valuable source of information and entertainment (Foy was Frisco’s best pal and room mate in the post-vaudeville years. Their exploits are legendary).

Lowry himself had been a minor vaudevillian, a dancer, saxophone player, comic and emcee who was teamed onstage for many years with his wife Irene “Teddy” Prince. Starting out in the teens, he managed (thanks to U.S.O. tours) to stretch his career out through the Korean War. After he retired from show biz, he ran a hotel and invested in real estate. He passed away in 1983.

To find out more about  the history of vaudeville, consult No Applause, Just Throw Money: The Book That Made Vaudeville Famous, available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and wherever nutty books are sold.

Master Juba, Father of the Quintessential American Dance Form: Tap

February is Black History Month — every day this month look at Travalanche for short biographical articles on African American vaudevillians and related subjects. And please go here for over 100  past articles on great African American performers (as well as some examinations of white performers who felt called to “black up” as minstrels — a propitious time too to reflect on that bizarre phenomenon). And if you have someone in mind — Bert Williams? Eubie Blake? Bessie Smith? — just type the name into our search function. I bet we already have who you’re looking for!

To find out more about  the history of vaudeville, consult No Applause, Just Throw Money: The Book That Made Vaudeville Famous, available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and wherever nutty books are sold.

ALSO: please note the swell theme music, by Vince Giordano and the Nighthawks. Don’t miss Vince and his swingin’ band for dinner and dancing every Monday and Tuesday at the Edison Hotel! (Details are here).

Vaudephone is a co-production of Travalanche/ the American Vaudeville Theatre, and Vaudevisuals.com.

To find out about  the history of vaudeville, consult No Applause, Just Throw Money: The Book That Made Vaudeville Famous, available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and wherever nutty books are sold.

To find out more about these variety artists and the history of vaudeville, consult No Applause, Just Throw Money: The Book That Made Vaudeville Famous, available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and wherever nutty books are sold.

Kara (born Michael Steiner on this day in 1867) was one of the first and most prominent of the “gentleman jugglers”. A native of Nuremburg, Germany he began by juggling stones as a child and became famous for his ability to juggle several diverse household objects or radically different shapes and weights: a cigar, a chair and a cane, for example. He became professional at around age 20 and normally worked the European circuits, although there were several tours of America, in 1892, 1900, 1906, and 1921. He was forced to wait out World War One in a French Prisoner of War camp but reemerged to rebuld his career after a four year internment. He retired in 1927, passed way in 1939.

To find out more about  the history of vaudeville, consult No Applause, Just Throw Money: The Book That Made Vaudeville Famous, available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and wherever nutty books are sold.

What’s the “cakewalk”, you say? Why, this is the cakewalk:

Your ancestors would be astounded to learn you didn’t know! At any rate, as it happens, February is Black History Month. Please check in here starting next Wednesday and throughout the month for daily posts on African Americans in vaudeville!

To find out more about these variety artists and the history of vaudeville, consult No Applause, Just Throw Money: The Book That Made Vaudeville Famous, available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and wherever nutty books are sold.