Blacks on Stage and Screen

Aida Overton Walker (1880-1914), dazzled early 20th century theater audiences with her original dance routines, her enchanting singing voice, and her penchant for elegant costumes. One of the premiere African American women artists of the turn of the century, she popularized the cakewalk and introduced it to English society. In addition to her attractive stage persona and highly acclaimed performances, she won the hearts of black entertainers for numerous benefit performances near the end of her tragically short career and for her cultivation of younger women performers. She was, in the words of the New York Age's Lester Walton, the exponent of "clean, refined artistic entertainment." Born in New York City, where she gained an education and considerable musical training. At the tender age of fifteen, she joined John Isham's Octoroons, one of the most influential black touring groups of the 1890s, and the following year she became a member of the Black Patti Troubadours. Although the show consisted of dozens of performers, Overton emerged as one of the most promising soubrettes of her day. In 1898, she joined the company of the famous comedy team Bert Williams and George Walker, and appeared in all of their shows—The Policy Players (1899), The Sons of Ham (1900), In Dahomey (1902), Abyssinia (1905), and Bandanna Land (1907). Within about a year of their meeting, George Walker and Overton married and before long became one of the most admired and elegant African American couples on stage. While George Walker supplied most of the ideas for the musical comedies and Bert Williams enjoyed fame as the "funniest man in America," Aida quickly became an indispensable member of the Williams and Walker Company. In The Sons of Ham, for example, her rendition of Hannah from Savannah won praise for combining superb vocal control with acting skill that together presented a positive, strong image of black womanhood. Indeed, onstage Aida refused to comply with the plantation image of black women as plump mammies, happy to serve; like her husband, she viewed the representation of refined African American types on the stage as important political work. A talented dancer, Aida improvised original routines that her husband eagerly introduced in the shows; when In Dahomey was moved to England, Aida proved to be one of the strongest attractions. Society women invited her to their homes for private lessons in the exotic cakewalk that the Walkers had included in the show. After two seasons in England, the company returned to the United States in 1904, and it was Aida who was featured in a New York Herald interview about their tour. At times Walker asked his wife to interpret dances made famous by other performers—one example being the "Salome" dance that took Broadway by storm in the early 1900s—which she did with uneven success. After a decade of nearly continuous success with the Williams and Walker Company, Aida's career took an unexpected turn when her husband collapsed on tour with Bandanna Land. Initially Walker returned to his boyhood home of Lawrence, Kansas, where his mother took care of him. In his absence, Aida took over many of his songs and dances to keep the company together. In early 1909, however, Bandanna Land was forced to close, and Aida temporarily retired from stage work to care for her husband, now clearly seriously ill. No doubt recognizing that he likely would not recover and that she alone could support the family, she returned to the stage in Bob Cole and J. Rosamond Johnson's Red Moon in autumn 1909, and she joined the Smart Set Company in 1910. Aida also began touring the vaudeville circuit as a solo act. Less than two weeks after Walker's death in January 1911, Aida signed a two-year contract to appear as a co-star with S. H. Dudley in another all-black traveling show. Although still a relatively young woman in the early 1910s, Aida began to develop medical problems that limited her capacity for constant touring and stage performance. As early as 1908, she had begun organizing benefits to aid such institutions as the Industrial Home for Colored Working Girls, and after her contract with S. H. Dudley expired, she devoted more of her energy to such projects, which allowed her to remain in New York. She also took an interest in developing the talents of younger women in the profession, hoping to pass along her vision of black performance as refined and elegant. She produced shows for two such female groups in 1913 and 1914—the Porto Rico Girls and the Happy Girls. She encouraged them to work up original dance numbers and insisted that they don stylish costumes on stage. When Aida Overton Walker died suddenly of kidney failure on October 11, 1914, the African American entertainment community in New York went into deep mourning. The New York Age featured a lengthy obituary on its front page, and hundreds of shocked entertainers descended on her residence to confirm a story they hoped was untrue. Walker left behind a legacy of polished performance and model professionalism. Her demand for respect and her generosity made her a beloved figure in African American theater circles. Sources: Jazz: Black Musical Theater in New York, 1890-1915. Washington, D.C., Smithsonian Institution Press, 1989, Thomas L Riis; Introducing Bert Williams by Camille F. Forbes, Luther S. White, Photographer; James Weldon Johnson Collection in the Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library

Inez Clough was born on March 1, 1873 in Worcester, Massachusetts. And began her career in 1896, as a concert singer in Worcester, Massachusetts. In the late 1890s, she toured with John Isham's Oriental American Company around the United States and in Europe. After performing in England for ten years she returned to the United States, and began to appear in music halls before joining the Williams and Walker company. With George Walker and Bert Williams, she appeared in In Dahomey in 1902, In Abyssinia in 1906, and Bandana Land in 1907. She worked with another legendary team in black musicals when she joined the cast of Shoo Fly Regiment, written by James Weldon Johnson and his brother J. Rosamond Johnson and produced by Bob Cole. One of her greatest triumphs as a serious actress was in a series of plays presented under the title Three Plays for a Negro Theatre on April 5, 1917, at the Garden Theatre in Madison Square Garden. The plays, The Rider of Dreams, Granny Maumee, and Simon the Cyrenian, were written by white playwright Ridgely Torrence, and the evening was noteworthy because it was one of the earliest attempts to present black actors instead of white actors in plays dealing with the black experience. That same year she was cited as one of the ten most distinguished performers on the New York Stage. She was also one of the original members of the Lafayette Players, founded by Anita Bush. Many of the acting ensemble were among the casts of the Ridgely Torrence one-acts. During the 1920s, Clough appeared in the landmark musical Shuffle Along by Noble Sissle and Eubie Blake and its successor, The Chocolate Dandies. She also appeared in the films Easy Money (1922), Secret Sorrow (1921), and The Gunsaulus Mystery (1921). She died of peritonitis on November 24, 1933 in Cook County Hospital in Chicago after a long illness. She had been married to Henry Hogan at the time of her death. Inez Clough was instrumental in establishing acting in the legitimate theatre as a possible option for African Americans. Bio: 'African American Concert Dance: The Harlem Renaissance and Beyond' by John O Perpener Photo: Crisis Magazine (1912) edition

These young ladies were known as the Florida Creole Girls who performed at the Casino de Paris shortly after the turn of the 20th century. They were part of an American dance troupe who helped introduce and popularize the Cake Walk Dance in Europe. Founder of the dance group is Miss Shippert standing in the center. I'm only able to name five other ladies but have no clue who is who: Miss Stafford, Miss Hobson, Miss Adams, Miss Hall and Miss Fitch. Walery, Photographer

Theresa Harris, star of the theater relegated to portraying maids on film in Hollywood. Actress Theresa Harris (1909 - 1985), once shared with a reporter that her “greatest ambition was to be known someday as a great Negro actress.” Harris was born in Houston, Texas to Anthony and Ina Harris. Her father was a construction worker and her mother was a well-known dramatic reader and school teacher. In the late 1920s, her family relocated to Southern California, where Harris graduated from Jefferson High School with scholastic honors and then studied music at the University of Southern California Conservatory of Music and Zoellner’s Conservatory of Music. She briefly pursued a career in theatre, gaining her most acclaimed role as the title character in the Lafayette Player’s musical production of Irene. In 1933, Harris married John Robinson, a prominent Los Angeles physician. The same year, she received her first credited film role as a domestic in the drama Baby Face and subsequently became one of RKO’s most visible stock players. Although routinely donned in apron and head wrap, Harris refused to comply with the mammy stereotype and parlayed her dignified style in a plethora of Hollywood’s most classic films. Under RKO, Harris later graduated to glamorous film roles, semi-frequently showcasing her vocal abilities in solo segments. Recognition as one of the industry’s leading African American actresses followed rave reviews of her role as comedian Eddie “Rochester” Anderson’s costar in Buck Benny Rides Again (1940), which earned Harris a two-year, multi-picture contract with Paramount Studios. While the majority of her appearances remained minor or uncredited, Harris maintained visibility in more than 60 films and offered on-screen companionship to many of Hollywood’s greatest icons – including Bette Davis, Marlene Dietrich, Ginger Rogers, and Barbara Stanwyck. As one of the industry’s first sable-toned actresses to receive credited and speaking roles, Harris also broke barriers by serving as a member of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG), where she lobbied for dignified roles for African American actors. In 1974, Harris was inducted into the Black Filmmaker's Hall of Fame. She died in Englewood, California in 1985. Sources: On the Real Side by Mel Watkins; George Walters, Photographer (Los Angeles)

She began her career as a child actress on radio and made her Broadway theater debut at the age of 15, when she snagged a role from 100 other girls for the Broadway play, "The Wisteria Trees," starring Helen Hayes. From then on, it was smooth sailing as she appeared on TV and radio and in seven other Broadway plays, garnering great reviews -- but still, as she put it during a TV interview, roles for "Black women were either mammies or whores." She chose another path and proceeded to create her own plays -- one-woman shows featuring a diverse group of characters from African villagers to American slaves to contemporary characters of all ages ranging from children to elders. The people she brings to life in these stunning vignettes exemplify the injustices she so hates. Her productions have been seen on Broadway, off Broadway, and in over 6,000 theaters, universities, and other venues on four continents. And they're still going strong as she continues to present them. She graduated from a Harlem high school at the age of 15, a member of Arista honor society, with a Classics Award in Latin, an American History Award, and a prize for excellence in English composition and literature. In recent years, Vinie acquired a Masters Degree in Performance Studies, NYU Tisch School of the Arts, Summa cum Laude. She received an Honorary Doctorate from Paine College, for "achievements as artist, activist and scholar." This mother/grandmother and great-grandmother has been a fervent advocate for peace, joining together with 17 other grandmothers in October 2005 when they tried to enlist in the military at the Times Square recruiting center to replace America's grandchildren as a protest against the war in Iraq. This action resulted in arrest, time in jail, and a six-day trial in criminal court, at the end of which they were acquitted. Impressed with her oratorical brilliance and command of fact and theory, the Granny Peace Brigade quickly assigned her the task of often serving as spokesperson. Some of her honors include: • Michael Tigar Human Rights Award, University of Texas, Austin • NYS Peace Action Award • Eugene McDermott Award Council for the Arts at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. • Silver Gavel Award American Bar Association - video narration • Emmy Nomination - video narration • Living Legend Award of The Black Theatre Festival • AUDELCO Award, Best Actress of the Year • Paul Robeson Award from Actors Equity Association www.vinieburrows.com

Here she is dressed as Prince Zurleska in the opera Urlina the African Princess from 1879. The Hyers Sisters were important performers of musical theatre in northern California. They lived in Sacramento and started out as musical prodigies. Anna Madah was 12yrs and Emma Louise was 10yrs (although they were billed as ages 10 and 8) at their concert debut in 1867 at the Metropolitan Theatre in Sacramento. Their parents, Samuel B. Hyers and Annie E. Hyers (nee Cryer), had come west from New York. As singers themselves, they had first trained their daughters before sending them for instruction to a German professor, Hugo Frank, and then to the opera singer Josephine D'Ormy. Anna was a soprano; Emma a contralto and gifted comedienne noted for her character songs. They performed for several years in the San Francisco and Oakland areas before embarking on their first transcontinental tour in 1871, under their father's management. For their east coast performances, including an appearance at the Steinway Hall in New York, Samuel Hyers engaged the services of Wallace King, tenor and John Luca, baritone. Mr. A.C. Taylor pianist of San Francisco, traveled with the sisters as accompanist. Early in their repertoire the sisters had included 'dialogues in character' and were said to possess 'great dramatic ability.' It was no surprise, when on March 26, 1876 at the Academy of Music in Lynn, Massachusetts, they presented a musical drama entitled, 'Out of the Wilderness,' which had been written for them by Joseph Bradford of Boston. For this show the quartet of singers was joined by Sam Lucas, a sometime minstrel actor slated to become a veteran comedian of the African American stage. Billed as the Hyers Sisters Combination, the troupe toured their show to New England towns, playing mostly one-night stands. In June the play's title was changed to 'Out of Bondage.' It was a simple tale of a slave family before and the Civil War. Four younger slaves go North as older folk hold back when Union troops arrive to liberate the South. In the end the family is reunited as the elders, who had stayed behind, visit their children, who have become professional vocalists. In 1883 the sisters decided to leave their father's management. Their parents had long been estranged, mother Annie Hyers having moved away from the family home in Sacramento, first to San Francisco then to Stockton. The breach with their father came in 1881 when he admitted into the company a young woman, 'little more than a teenager,' named Mary C Reynolds, whom he married two years later. He was then 53. Reynolds, billed as Mrs. May Hyers, was also a contralto and competed with Emma Louise (her stepdaughter) for roles. As the situation became untenable and likely to generate controversy, the sisters felt it incumbent on them to leave. At ages 17 and 19, they chose to be on their own. The sisters found new engagements for their combination of vocalists, at times in league with other managements, at other times contributing special items in companies of so called minstrels. Both sisters entered first marriages in 1883: Anna Madah to cornet player Henderson Smith and Emma Louise to bandleader George Freeman. The latter wedding took place in full view of the audience on the stage of the Baldwin Theatre in San Francisco during a performance of Uncle Tom's Cabin by Callender's Minstrels. By the start of the 1890s the sisters had been performing professionally for more than twenty years and had won recognition and respect for their talents and skills. Sources: A History of African American Theatre by Errol G Hill and James V Hatch; The Huntington Library

Frank and Edward Mallory were an outstanding novelty instrumental music, singing and dancing team, active on the minstrel and vaudeville stage, from the 1880s to the early 1900s. Their act included hand bells, saxophones and other brass instruments. Famed for their ability to imitate an entire brass band, they were considered one of the top vaudeville acts. As each brother married, he included his wife in the act and changed the name of the group accordingly. When Edward married Maizie Brooks (a harpist and singer), the name of the group changed to The Mallory Bros. & Brooks. When Frank married Grace Halliday (pianist, violinist, singer and dancer), the group's name changed to the Mallory Bros. Brooks and Halliday. Both Frank and Edward began their careers with Billy Kersands' Genuine Colored Minstrels (1885-1889), of which Frank was the end man and drum major of Kersands Minstrel Band. The two brothers next toured for a 20-week season with Richards & Pringle's Minstrel Show. The brothers next joined The Creole Show (1894-1896) as featured instrumentalists, in which they were praised for "their mandolin songs and dances and musical melange." Edward's wife, Maizie, was also in the chorus of this show. As the Mallory Bros. & Brooks, the three toured with The Octoroons show (1895-1897); next they joined Williams & Walker's Senegambian Carnival (1898), during which Frank's wife, Grace, also became a part of their act. Now calling themselves the Mallory Bros., Brooks & Halliday, they toured in Williams & Walker's A Lucky Coon show (1898-1899), of which Frank was also stage manager and played the title role, after which the four Mallory's toured in Williams & Walker's The Policy Players (1899-1900). After leaving Williams & Walker's company, the Mallory Brothers and their wives joined the King Rastus show (1900-1902), then were a featured act with the Fenberg Stock Co. (a white company), from 1902 -1904. And finally took their novelty musical act on tour of the Orpheum Circuit (a chain of white owned vaudeville and movie theatres) until Grace's (Frank's wife), death in 1906, after which the three remaining members of the group retired from the stage, making their home in Jacksonville, Florida. The Freeman, (Aug. 28, 1909) : Upon leaving the stage the Mallory Brothers, have made good use of money earned. They now possess some of the best property owned by colored people in Florida. They have eight rental houses in the city and one large two-story brick building in the business part of town, worth not less than $8,000. All of their property is well situated, and is always occupied by paying tenants. Since they left the stage they have been engaged in the broker business, and they run a first and second-hand mercantile establishment. They are constantly in demand also to furnish music for entertainment for whites and colored, as they keep an orchestra of eight persons constantly on hand. Maizie Brooks (Mrs. Ed Mallory), has permanent engagement with the leading (white) theater in Jacksonville. Sources: Profiles of African American Stage Performers and Theatre People (1816-1960) by Bernard L. Peterson; The Freeman Newspaper (August 1909)

In 1928 Myrtle Watkins from Baltimore, Maryland was a member of the cast of Blackbirds. By 1930, she was a dancer in Paris, one of the scores of African-American performers who had moved to Europe to escape the racism of the US and to trade on the French fascination for “negro” culture. Through the 1930s, African-American newspapers such as the Defender and the Afro-American reported Myrtle Watkins’ movements through Europe. She was in France, Belgium and Romania, among other places. In 1934, for instance, the Chicago Defender reported from Paris that the colourful African-American hostess Ada “Bricktop” Smith had postponed the opening of her new cabaret on rue Pigalle pending the arrival from Spain of Watkins, who “is appropriately publicized on this continent…as the world’s most fascinating entertainer." One report in the Afro-American described her as the Josephine Baker of Spain. “Miss Watkins, who is a very good dancer, with plenty of pep, is pretty and has a shapely figure,” it said. “She has been making conquests in high society and on her string is the marquis of one of Spain’s bluest blue bloods. She lives at the Florida, one of the best hotels in the city, has a fine roadster, records for Spanish gramophone and radio, and entertains at one of the leading cabarets.” That experience, perhaps, provided her with material to help her metamorphose from Myrtle into Paquita. Sometime in the late 1930s she started performing Latin American music under the name Paquita, along with her husband, a Mexican violinist Samuel Zarate. Between November 1941 and December 1942, Paquita and Zarate cut more than a dozen discs in India, backed by African American pianist Teddy Weatherford. Advertisement in 1958 boasts that Zarate and Paquita were “widely known as concert artists and nightclub entertainers [and] are also known as composers and recording artists”. They had evidently released a religious album “containing hymns and prayers embracing the faith of all people”. The ad said that the record was “receiving favorable comment from all who have heard it and those who already have it in their homes say it should be in all homes." Other Billboard articles suggest that they spent the 1950s as performers at variety shows in the U.S that featured jugglers and magicians, in addition to musicians. The Times of India place them in Bombay in the winter of 1941, performing at the Taj Mahal. They also made recordings in Calcutta later that year. It seems she switched from Myrtle Watkins and Paquita during her career and finally settling on going by Paquita. Myrtle and her husband later resided in Portland, Oregon. In 1959, after buying property in Lincoln Beach, Oregon, Myrtle and Zarate opened a Fine Arts Institution under the name ‘The Happy Village’. There local children were given lessons in Piano, Drums, Violin and Guitar by Zarate. Myrtle taught her Spanish and Latin American dances and lessons in French and Spanish song. There was also an adjoining restaurant, ‘The Gingerbread House’ providing traditional Spanish and Indian cuisine. During the winter of 1968, Myrtle passed away on November 10th. Samuel Zarate continued performing across Oregon and Mexico until his death in 1997. South American Way performed by Paquita and Zarate: soundcloud.com/tajmahalfoxtrot1/south-american-way-by-paq... Sources: blackjazzartists.blogspot.com; Black Jazz Taj Mahal Foxtrot: The Story of Bombay's Jazz Age, by Naresh Fernandes

An advert featuring the Armstrong Family: left to right Ellen Armstrong, John Hartford Armstrong, and Lille Belle Armstrong. One of America’s foremost early 20th-century African-American magic acts. J. Hartford Armstrong, his wife, Lille Belle Armstrong, and eventually their daughter (Lille's stepdaughter), Ellen Armstrong, performed feats that included mind reading, slight of hand, and card tricks. At times they were joined by J. Hartford Armstrong’s brother and by members of the Jordan family. They were lauded by one newspaper reporter “as being the most royal colored entertainers of the century, as magicians,—artists of the highest type.” The Armstrongs performed along the Atlantic seaboard from Key West to Philadelphia and are reputed to have toured in Cuba and Europe. According to the many newspaper accounts and handwritten endorsements included in their scrapbook, the troupe received widespread and enthusiastic audience acceptance. They performed before African-American audiences in churches and schools. They also gave performances for white audiences and, depending upon the location, for mixed audiences, in theaters, churches, schools, and opera houses. An advance publicity news clipping advertising their forthcoming appearance at Newport News, Va., asserts “The Armstrongs will tickle your shoe strings and make your big toe laugh. They will not pay doctor’s bills if you faint from laughter.” An undated newspaper clipping publicizing an appearance by the Armstrongs at the Columbia Theatre notes “These artists have been before the American public for the past 23 years, and have never failed to entertain their audiences with their magic, mirth, and mind reading mysteries. They have appeared in the largest cities of America and come well recommended.” John Hartford Armstrong Was one of the few black magicians who performed in the time span from 1900 to 1930. From 1901 through 1909 he toured with his brother Joseph (or Thomas) as the “Armstrong Brothers." Early 1901 he teamed up briefly with a magician named Jordan as "Armstrong and Jordan." After he married Lillie Belle he teamed with her as the “The Celebrated Armstrongs” also known as the “Armstrong Company." Lille Belle Armstrong When her husband died in 1939 both she and her stepdaughter Ellen continued his tradition, performing magic for the African American community. Lille Belle died in 1947. Ellen Armstrong She was the daughter of J. Hartford Armstrong and his first wife Mabel. Her mother died shortly after she was born. Along with her new stepmom (Lille Belle) she was soon integrated into the show. When her father passed away both she and her stepmom continued the act. After the death of her stepmom, Ellen continued her family's act becoming the first and only African American female magician touring with her own show. For thirty-one years, she continued to perform the Armstrong show up and down the East Coast, mainly at black churches and schools. Her tricks were common magic fare where she featured her own tricks and illusions of her father, such as "The Miser's Dream" and "The Mutilated Parasol." As time went on, she focused more on the drawing ability, billing herself as "Cartoonist Extraordinary." She retired in 1970 and spent her final years in a nursing home in Spartanburg, South Carolina. Her date of death is unknown. An excellent account of Ellen's life story can be found in the book, Conjure Times: Black Magicians in America by Jim Haskins and Kathleen Benson. Sources: magictricks.com; South Carolina Digital Archives/University of SC/Armstrong Family Papers

“I’ve never felt that fear is my enemy. Fear is my friend. It offers me a chance to stay alert, keep growing, continue creating something new. If you don’t take that sort of risk, you learn nothing.” Eartha Mae Kitt (1927 - 2008), was an international star who gives new meaning to the word versatile. She has distinguished herself in film, theater, cabaret, music and on television. Miss Kitt was one of only a handful of performers to be nominated for a Tony (three times), the Grammy (twice), and Emmy Award (twice). She regularly enthralled New York nightclub audiences during her extended stays at The Cafè Carlyle and these intimate performances have been captured in her recording, Eartha Kitt, Live at The Carlyle. Miss Kitt's distinctive voice has enchanted an entirely new generation of fans. Young fans loved her as YZMA, the villain, in Disney's animated feature "The Emperor's New Groove", (2001 Annie Award for Best Vocal Performance / Animated Feature). Miss Kitt was also featured in the sequel, "The Emperor's New Groove II" and reprised the role in the popular Saturday morning animated series "The Emperor's New School" for which she received a 2007 and 2008 Emmy Award for Outstanding Performer in an Animated Program and a 2007 and 2008 Annie Award for Best Vocal Performance in an Animated Television Production. Miss Kitt was ostracized at an early age because of her mixed-race heritage. At eight years old, she was given away by her mother and sent from the South Carolina cotton fields to live with an aunt in Harlem. In New York her distinct individuality and flair for show business manifested itself, and on a friend's dare, the shy teen auditioned for the famed "Katherine Dunham Dance Troupe." She won a spot as a featured dancer and vocalist and before the age of twenty, toured worldwide with the company. During a performance in Paris, Miss Kitt was spotted by a nightclub owner and booked as a featured singer at his club. Her unique persona earned her fans and fame quickly, including Orson Welles, who called her "the most exciting woman in the world". Welles was so taken with her talent that he cast her as Helen of Troy in his fabled production of "Dr. Faust." Back in New York, Miss Kitt was booked at The Village Vanguard, and soon spotted by a Broadway producer who put her in "New Faces Of 1952" where every night she transfixed audiences with her sultry rendition of Monotonous. Her show stopping performance in "NEW FACES", which ran for a year, led to a national tour and a Twentieth Century Fox film version. Broadway stardom led to a recording contract and a succession of best-selling records including "Love for Sale", "I Want to Be Evil", "Santa Baby" and "Folk Tales of the Tribes of Africa", which earned her a Grammy nomination. During this period, she published her first autobiography, "Thursday's Child." Miss Kitt then returned to Broadway in the dramatic play "Mrs. Patterson", and received her first Tony nomination. Other stage appearances followed, as did films including "The Mark Of The Hawk" with Sidney Poitier, "Anna Lucasta" with Sammy Davis, Jr. and "St Louis Blues" with Nat King Cole. In 1967, Miss Kitt made an indelible mark on pop culture as the infamous "Catwoman" in the television series, "Batman." She immediately became synonymous with the role and her trademark growl became imitated worldwide. Singing in ten different languages, Miss Kitt performed in over 100 countries and was honored with a star on "The Hollywood Walk of Fame" in 1960. In 1966, she was nominated for an Emmy for her role in the series, "I Spy". In 1968, Miss Kitt's career took a sudden turn when, at a White House luncheon hosted by Lady Bird Johnson, she spoke out against the Vietnam War. For years afterward, Miss Kitt was blacklisted in the U.S. and was forced to work abroad where her status remained undiminished. In December 2006 she returned to Washington and lit the National Christmas Tree alongside President and Mrs. George W. Bush In 1974, Miss Kitt returned to the United States, with a triumphant Carnegie Hall concert and, in 1978, received a second Tony nomination for her starring role in the musical, "Timbuktu." Miss Kitt's second autobiography, "Alone With Me", was published in 1976 and "I’m Still Here: Confessions Of A Sex Kitten" was released in 1989. Her best-selling book on fitness and positive attitude," Rejuvenate! (It's Never Too Late)", was released by Scribner in May 2001. Live theater was Miss Kitt's passion. In 2001, Broadway critics singled her out with a Tony and Drama Desk nomination for her role as Dolores in George Wolfe's "The Wild Party." Over the last few years, she has starred in National Tours of "The Wizard Of Oz" and Rogers & Hammerstein's "Cinderella". In December 2003, Miss Kitt dazzled Broadway audiences as Liliane Le Fleur in the revival of "Nine, The Musical." In December 2004, she appeared as The Fairy Godmother in The New York City Opera production (Lincoln Center) of "Cinderella." She also starred in the off-Broadway production of "Mimi Le Duck" (2006) and The Westport County Playhouse production of "The Skin Of Our Teeth" (2007). Miss Kitt remained devoted to performing in front of live audiences, from intimate cabarets to concert halls with local symphonies. Some of her engagements included appearances with The Atlanta Symphony, The Portland Symphony, Detroit's Music Hall, D.C.'s Blues Alley, Seattle's Jazz Alley, Palm Beach's Kravis Center for the Performing Arts, The Mohegan Sun, Sarasota's Van Wetzel Center for the Performing Arts Festival. In addition, she was especially proud to have brought her one-woman show to the 51st Annual JVC Newport Jazz Festival and the Miami Beach JVC Jazz Festival. In February 2007, Miss Kitt returned to London after a 15 year absence for a remarkable series of sold-out performances at The Shaw Theater. She returned to Great Britain in 2008 to critical raves at London‚Äôs Place Pigalle and to headline the prestigious Cheltenham Jazz Festival. On January 17 2007, Miss Kitt held a celebratory concert in honor of her 80th birthday at Carnegie Hall with a, JVC Jazz called "Eartha Kitt And Friends." Miss Kitt died on December 25, 2008 and is survived by her daughter, Kitt Shapiro, and four grandchildren. Sources: earthakitt.com; photo by Paramount Pictures "St. Louis Blues" (1957)

Anna Madah Hyers performed in black musical theater with her sister, Emma Louise Hyers. The Hyers Sisters & Co. produced the "first full-fledged musical plays in which African Americans themselves comment on the plight of the slaves and the relief of Emancipation without the disguises of minstrel comedy." Their first play was Out of Bondage (also known as Out of the Wilderness), followed by Urlina, the African Princess, The Underground Railway, and Uncle Tom's Cabin. Anna Madah Hyers (1855 - 1925), one half of the famous Hyers Sisters were important performers of musical theatre in northern California. They lived in Sacramento and started out as musical prodigies. Anna Madah was 12yrs and Emma Louise was 10yrs (although they were billed as ages 10 and 8) at their concert debut in 1867at the Metropolitan Theatre in Sacramento. Their parents, Samuel B. Hyers and Annie E. Hyers (nee Cryer), had come west from New York. As singers themselves, they had first trained their daughters before sending them for instruction to a German professor, Hugo Frank, and then to the opera singer Josephine D'Ormy. Anna was a soprano; Emma a contralto and gifted comedienne noted for her character songs. They performed for several years in the San Francisco and Oakland areas before embarking on their first transcontinental tour in 1871, under their father's management. For their east coast performances, including an appearance at the Steinway Hall in New York, Samuel Hyers engaged the services of Wallace King, tenor and John Luca, baritone. Mr. A.C. Taylor pianist of San Francisco, traveled with the sisters as accompanist. Early in their repertoire the sisters had included 'dialogues in character' and were said to possess 'great dramatic ability.' It was no surprise, when on March 26, 1876 at the Academy of Music in Lynn, Massachusetts, they presented a musical drama entitled, 'Out of the Wilderness,' which had been written for them by Joseph Bradford of Boston. For this show the quartet of singers was joined by Sam Lucas, a sometime minstrel actor slated to become a veteran comedian of the African American stage. Billed as the Hyers Sisters Combination, the troupe toured their show to New England towns, playing mostly one-night stands. In June the play's title was changed to 'Out of Bondage.' It was a simple tale of a slave family before and the Civil War. Four younger slaves go North as older folk hold back when Union troops arrive to liberate the South. In the end the family is reunited as the elders, who had stayed behind, visit their children, who have become professional vocalists. In 1883 the sisters decided to leave their father's management. Their parents had long been estranged, mother Annie Hyers having moved away from the family home in Sacramento, first to San Francisco then to Stockton. The breach with their father came in 1881 when he admitted into the company a young woman, 'little more than a teenager,' named Mary C Reynolds, whom he married two years later. He was then 53. Reynolds, billed as Mrs. May Hyers, was also a contralto and competed with Emma Louise (her stepdaughter) for roles. As the situation became untenable and likely to generate controversy, the sisters felt it incumbent on them to leave. At ages 17 and 19, they chose to be on their own. The sisters found new engagements for their combination of vocalists, at times in league with other managements, at other times contributing special items in companies of so called minstrels. Both sisters entered first marriages in 1883: Anna Madah to cornet player Henderson Smith and Emma Louise to bandleader George Freeman. The latter wedding took place in full view of the audience on the stage of the Baldwin Theatre in San Francisco during a performance of Uncle Tom's Cabin by Callender's Minstrels. By the start of the 1890s the sisters had been performing professionally for more than twenty years and had won recognition and respect for their talents and skills. Sources: A History of African American Theatre by Errol G Hill and James V Hatch; Moorland-Spingarn Research Center; The Huntington Library; Miriam Matthews Photograph Collection (UCLA Collections)

Dean, whose birth name was Dora Babbige, was born in Covington, KY. In London, Dean was known as "The Black Venus," a title Josephine Baker would later inherit. She was married to Charles E. Johnson, and they performed as a couple, often billed as the creators of the Cake Walk dance. Dean and Johnson were a stylish and graceful dance team who perfected the Cake Walk into a high-stepping swank. They also performed soft shoe and wing dancing; they were stars of "The Creole Show," emphasizing couples dancing. Dean and Johnson were the first African American couple to perform on Broadway. They were also the first to perform in evening attire; and they were also considered the best dressed couple on stage. Dean was described as possessing a plump, striking figure; she posed for German painter Ernest von Heilmann, and the painting was unveiled in 1902 at the coronation of King Edward VII and exhibited at the Paris Expo. Dora even had a few songs written about her one such song was titled, 'Have You Met Miss Dora Dean, Prettiest Girl You've Ever Seen.' The couple was also the first to use steel taps on their shoes and the first to use strobe lighting. Beginning in 1903, they lived and performed mostly in Europe and some in Australia and the U.S. They returned home in 1913. The couple had divorced in 1910, and once back in the U. S. they continued performing but did not perform together for a long while. In 1930, Dean had an acting role in the film Georgia Rose, an all African American talkie by white director Harry Gant. Dean and Johnson reunited as a team and a couple in 1934, and both retired by 1942. They spent the remainder of their lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Dean had a long illness and died in her sleep in 1943. Johnson passed away in his 80s in 1956. Sources: Babylon Girls: Black Women Performers and the Shaping of the Modern by Jayna Brown (2008); Southwest Journal article by Karen Cooper (Feb. 2020)

She was as huge as Josephine Baker was in France. Miss Fields gained her fame throughout Europe, learned their language, and became one of the first women to make a record. She also starred in two silent European films. Arabella Fields came to be known in Europe as The Black Nightingale . A contralto, she was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on January 31, 1879. She initially came to Europe as one half of a brother and sister singing act (James and Bella Fields) in 1889. From the 1890's to the 1920's she toured as a single act throughout Europe and became one of the most prolific African American entertainers outside the States. Fields was one of several women to make records in the 1900s. Her first recording was for the Anker label in Berlin in 1907; reissued many times, her twenty year old original records were listed in a 1928 catalogue. In this respect, the only artist comparable to Fields is Enrico Caruso, whose acoustic pre-1914 recordings were available well into the 1920s era of electric recording. To attract attention of her German audiences Fields often dressed in German style attire. She was also featured in many adverts in Europe (the photo is from an advert where she is dressed as an 'Alpine Cowgirl,' in 1910). In 1907 she was featured in two silent European films. In the first two decades of the 20th century she toured widely singing German lieder and Swiss yodels as well as English language songs. During the 20s and 30s she appeared in various black musicals that toured Europe. Among them, Sam Woodings 'Chocolate Kiddies' and Louis Douglas's 'Black Follies Girls and Negro Revue.' According to newspapers of that time she was in Amsterdam in 1915, 1916, and 1917. And made tours in the Netherlands in 1926, 1928, and 1931. It appears she was in at least one American film, Love in Morocco (1933) in which she portrayed an enslaved woman named Mabrouka. The social climate encouraged many African American entertainers performing in Europe to remain there permanently. Miss Fields lived the rest of her life in Germany. Source: Cross the Water Blues: African American Music in Europe by Neil A Wynn A more extensive and well researched bio can be found here: blackjazzartists.blogspot.com/2020/03/arabella-fields-sch...

Rachel Walker Turner (1868 - 1943), daughter to T.W. and M.L. (Lenyar) Turner, graduated from Cleveland's Central High School, entered Cleveland Normal Training School, and became a teacher in 1889. She taught in Cleveland schools for a few years before she followed a career as a singer. She studied in New York and then expanded her musical training in Europe. In 1895 the music critic of the Cleveland Leader wrote: "I listened to one young lady whom I regard as the coming soprano of the age, Rachel Walker. I am confident.... she will prove to be one of the greatest living singers. Her vocalization is extremely soulful." That same year, she toured California as the prima donna of the white Henry Wolfsohn Musical Bureau, and in July 1896 she made her debut as "The Creole Nightingale" in New York City at the Olympia Roof Garden, where the "unusual compass and excellent quality" of her voice made her "an extraordinary hit." A correspondent for the Cleveland Gazette who saw her New York performance complained about her "palming herself off as a 'creole' rather than stressing "the Afro-American connection." Miss Walker later joined the Robert Downing Company in Washington D.C. and then went to Europe to study voice. She lived in London, England and performed throughout Europe sometimes under the name Lucie Lenoir. At the outbreak of World War I she returned to Cleveland where she married Robert Turner and ran a music studio. Although she made a few concert appearances, due to the lack of opportunities for African-American singers in the United States during the early 20th century, her career came to an end. Photo: Historical Society of Cleveland Bio: Black Americans in Cleveland by Russell H. Davis, Associated Publishers, 1972

Movie Synopsis An Easter "Lily" was a silent film made in 1914. A film that takes on upstairs/downstairs race relations with childhood candor. Following his family’s African American maid to the laundry, Sonny Jim befriends her daughter Lily and shares his teddy bear. With Easter approaching, Mother Dear buys her boy a new outfit and readies her home for relatives. Sonny Jim talks about the coming festivities with his playmate. When he learns that she does not have holiday clothes, he appropriates the white frock of his visiting cousin and invites Lily to join his family for Sunday worship. Sonny Jim prepares to escort his newly bedecked, but hesitant, friend into church just as the film breaks off. While the ending unfortunately does not survive, we know what happens from the plot summary in Motion Picture World: “To the huge amusement of all, he (Sonny Jim) drags her (Lily) up the aisle into Daddy Jim’s pew. Daddy later asks Sonny why he did it, and he replies ‘Cause nobody ‘membered Lily at all.’ Sonny is forgiven.” The film closes with the family presenting Lily with a new gingham dress. Film The film is a quick 10 minutes and 25 seconds. Please note: Only surviving copy of the film is degraded and unfortunately it cuts off at the last part of the film. From the above you can read what the final outcome is. However, I still think many will find it of interest if only for historical purposes. I was very surprised at how the issue of race was handled considering this was a film made in 1914, told through the innocent eyes of a child. Child Actors Sonny Jim played by Bobby Connelly Lily played by Ada Utley Preservation The film was preserved by the Library of Congress from an original nitrate release print discovered at the New Zealand Film Archive in 2010. The work was funded through the support of a Save America’s Treasures Grant secured by the National Film Preservation Foundation (NFPF). An Easter Lily (1914) 10min: www.filmpreservation.org/preserved-films/screening-room/a...

A 1922 publicity photo of Gertrude Saunders, born on August 25, 1903 in North Carolina. She was an actress, known for Big Timers (1945), Sepia Cinderella (1947) and The Toy Wife (1938). She died in April 1991 in Beverly, Massachusetts. Saunders is also infamously known for her affair with Empress of the Blues , Bessie Smith's husband, Jack Gee. Smith had given her husband money to produce a show for her. Jack threw together as cheap a production as possible for Bessie and decided to use the remainder of the money for personal gain—not to enrich himself financially, but to win the heart of Gertrude Saunders, a singer of striking looks and impressive past accomplishments. Ms. Saunders had starred successfully in the title role of Irvin C. Miller’s Red Hot Mama show during the 1926 season, and headed the cast of various subsequent editions, but her most successful shows had been Liza and the 1921 Sissle and Blake hit, Shuffle Along (which included Josephine Baker in the chorus line). The latter production would probably have secured Ms. Saunders’ stage future, but she made a fateful decision and allowed herself to be lured away from the original cast by an offer that never materialized. Gertrude Saunders’ bad move opened the door for the ultimate black beauty of the day, Florence Mills, who took over the role and was such a hit that she became the toast of Broadway. Ms. Mills career was cut short in November,1927, when she died at the age of 35, but the bright spotlight Gertrude Saunders so foolishly relinquished was never restored to her. It is not known when Jack’s relationship with Ms. Saunders began, but Bessie's niece Ruby Walker Smith, thought it had gone on for some time before Jack produced her show, and that it accounted for some of his “hunting” trips. Gertrude Saunders was the antithesis of Bessie Smith, their personalities and looks contrasted sharply: Gertrude’s complexion was light, her hair long and her disposition gentle. She was also slim and quite a bit younger than Bessie. The artistic gap that separated the two was equally wide: Gertrude Saunders relied more on her looks than on her voice. “She was the opposite of Bessie,” said Ruby (Bessie's niece), making no secret of her disdain. “She had light skin and long curly 'good' hair and a gorgeous figure, and she knew it. In fact, she thought her shit didn’t stink." In a 1971 author Jack Albertson interviewed Ms. Saunders asking her if she had known that three thousand dollars of Bessie’s money went to back her show. “No,” she replied, emphatically, “but Jack could very well have put the money in my show without telling Bessie. Naturally he wouldn’t tell me if it was her money, he’d want to act like a big shot.” Which, of course, was exactly what he was doing. “I don’t know how he thought he could get away with it,” said Ruby, “but he wasn’t never too bright and he didn’t know anything about show business. He should have known that you can’t keep something like that a secret, not with all them blabbermouths around. His show only lasted about five or six months, then it folded up. He couldn't get enough bookings. And,” she added acerbically, “his star wasn’t strong enough to hold it up.” Bessie and Gertrude had two run-ins, the second left Gertrude beaten and bloody on a sidewalk and Bessie charged with assault. Afterwards, Gertrude vowed never to have anything to do with Jack again. Although she denied it, word was that she did not keep her vow. Source: Bessie, by Jack Albertson; IMD; Frank Driggs Collection

Jennie Scheper Haston, Pioneer Stage Star, Dies Suddenly in New York, Jennie (Scheper) Haston, born in Washington, D.C., 1878, retired theatrical star who was among the pioneer colored entertainers abroad, died at Harlem Hospital Saturday where she had been taken three hours before, following a paralytic stroke. While playing under the name of Jennie Scheper, she once made a command appearance before the czar of Russia. She went abroad in 1909 and toured all of Europe up to the outbreak of WWI in 1914. She served as an entertainer and did Red Cross work among the American doughboys. She appeared on the continent with the vaudeville team of Rastus and Banks as a singer and dancer. Later she appeared in her own act in Paris and later became a drummer and organized a female band which appeared with great success at the Cafe Cecil, in Paris and also Madrid and London. After her marriage to A.A. Haston, she made her headquarters in London and their home was always open to American Negro performers who came to that city. Her husband was for twenty years manager for the Versatile Three, which act was for many years the most prominent colored act in the British Empire. She gave up her own stage career to serve as her husband's secretary and his success was in a large measure due to her ability in this direction. In infrequent appearances in this country she played in several of the shows produced by the late J. Leubrie Hill, and her last New York appearance was with one of these shows at the Lafayette Theatre. The deceased was known throughout the profession for her big-heartedness and often aided financially performers of her race who were stranded. She made a hobby of collecting theatrical programs and souvenirs of all kinds that related to the stage and has a valuable collection of things of this kind. Funeral services were from the chapel of Henry W. Payne , 233 Lenox Avenue, on Tuesday and burial was in the Frederick Douglass Cemetery, Staten Island. Besides her husband, several distant relatives in Washington, DC., her native home, survive. Photo: Leslie's Weekly Newspaper (July 22, 1897) Obit: The New York Age (January 30, 1937)

W. Henry Thomas, originally of Charlottesville, Virginia, was a dramatist, actor, and manager of the Thomas Newark Dramatic Company in New Jersey when he was credited with writing five dramas, three of which had been staged by August, 1900. Since neither scripts nor production reviews are available, one lists the titles of his plays: The Duel That Didn't Come Off, Thister, A Sad Discovery, On the Brink, and The Oldest Title in France. Sources: The Colored American Magazine, vol. 1-2, 1900-01]; McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of World Drama: An International ..., Volume 1, By Stanley Hochman , McGraw-Hill, inc