Blacks in Blackface: A Sourcebook on Early Black Musical Shows

2 Volumes

Henry T. Sampson

• Publisher: Scarecrow Press
• Year: 2013
• eBook ISBN: 9780810883512
• Edition: 0
• Topic: Media & Performing Arts
• Subtopic: American Drama

Published in 1980, Blacks in Blackface was the first and most extensive book up to that time to deal exclusively with every aspect of all-African American musical comedies performed on the stage between 1900 and 1940. An invaluable resource for scholars and historians focused on African American culture, this new edition features significantly revised, expanded, and new material.

In Blacks in Blackface: A Sourcebook on Early Black Musical Shows, Henry T. Sampson provides an unprecedented wealth of information on legitimate musical comedies, including show synopses, casts, songs, and production credits. Sampson also recounts the struggles of African American performers and producers to overcome the racial prejudice of white show owners, music publishers, theatre managers, and booking agents to achieve adequate financial compensation for their talents and managerial expertise. Black producers and artists competed with white managers who were producing all-Black shows and also with some white entertainers who were performing Black-developed music and dances, often in blackface.

The chapters in this volume include:

An overview of African American musical shows from the end of the Civil War through the golden years of the 1920s and '30sNew and expanded biographical sketches of performersDetailed information about the first producers and owners of Black minstrel and musical comedy showsOrigins and backgrounds of several famous Black theatresProfiles of African American entrepreneurs and businessmen who provided financial resources to build and own many of the Black theatres where these shows were performedA chronicle of booking agencies and organized Black theatrical circuits, music publishing houses, and phonograph recording businessesCritical commentary from African American newspapers and show business publicationsMore than 500 hundred rare photographs
A comprehensive volume that covers all aspects of Black musical shows performed in theatres, nightclubs, circuses, and medicine shows, this edition of Blacks in Blackface can be used as a reference for serious scholars and researchers of Black show business in the United States before 1940. More than double the size of the previous edition, this useful resource will also appeal to the casual reader who is interested in learning more about early Black entertainment.

Table of contents

• Contents
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Chapter 1: Early Black Musical Shows: Historical Overview
• Chapter 2: Pioneering Black Entrepreneurs in Show Business
• Chapter 3: Pioneer Black Show Producers
• Chapter 4: Famous Black Theatres
• Chapter 5: Reviews of Vaudeville, Tabloid, Road Shows, Burlesque, and Negro Orchestra and Comments, 1900–1940
• Chapter 6: Cabaret and NightClub Reviews, 1901–1940
• Chapter 7: Reviews of Negro Musical Comedy Shows, 1900–1940
• Chapter 8: Black Musical Comedy Shows: Casts of Characters and Synopses
• Chapter 9: Negro Performers in Carnival, Exposition, Medicine, Circus Annex, and Minstrel Shows, 1900–1940
• Chapter 10: Blacks in Blackface
• Appendix A: Partial List of Black Vaudeville, Road Shows, and Burlesque Acts Traveling over Major Theatrical Circuits, 1910–1940
• Appendix B: Theatre Owners Who Were Original Members of TOBA in 1920
• Appendix C: Routings on the TOBA Circuit, October 1926
• Appendix D: Partial List of Theatres Owned and Operated by Blacks, 1910–1930
• Appendix E: Typical TOBA Show Contract of the Late 1920s
• Appendix F: Partial List of Acts Playing the S. H. Dudley Circuit, November 1914
• Appendix G: Alphabetical List of Negro Musical Comedies and Tab Shows, 1900–1940
• Appendix H: Thirty Songs Written By Black Composers Published By Pace And Handy Music Co. Inc.
• Appendix I: Partial List of Colored Fairs, 1921
• Appendix J: Partial List of U.S. Black Newspapers, 1900–1940
• About the Author