Theater Circuits, Theater Wars, and the Formation of the T.O.B.A.
No sooner did African American vaudeville platforms take root in southern saloons and parks than plots were hatched to chain them together. As early as 1901, a Freeman commentary from the Rialto Theater in Memphis predicted: “ere long a circuit will be formed embracing Chattanooga, Birmingham and Knoxville, connecting with Florida.”1 For the next twenty years, until the Theater Owners Booking Association consolidated power in 1921, owners, booking agents, and performers, all competing for their share of influence and revenue, struggled to organize regional circuits and create a major black vaudeville wheel.
The T.O.B.A. was a confederation of theater owners attentive to the interests of theater owners, not the interests of performers. By controlling booking agencies and consolidating circuits, theater owners were able to cut out artist managers and other troublesome third-party agents. The residual effect was to standardize business practices and give owners more leverage in dealing with performers. African American newspapers duly recorded the long succession of hostile mergers, cutthroat tactics, and uneasy racial coalitions that eventually culminated in a national black vaudeville theater circuit.
The Tri-State Circuit
Fred Barrasso launched his Tri-State Circuit in the summer of 1910. Jelly Roll Morton claimed to have been an eyewitness to its birth: “Barrasso decided to try to start a colored circuit and for the first engagements booked four houses—Vicksburg, Greenville, Jackson, and Memphis. I was glad to go. Benbow and I went out with the first show and I believe this was the first colored circuit in America.”2
Unlike the antagonistic confederations of rival theater owners that characterized subsequent black vaudeville circuitry, Barrasso’s Tri-State Circuit was a one-man operation, more on the order of a grand adventure. To forge his circuit, Barrasso traveled the Deep South with all-star “stock companies” of African American vaudeville players, leasing small theaters for limited engagements, testing the waters for regional expansion. His initial expedition was into Mississippi, a famously lucrative territory for black minstrel tent shows, but a virtual wild frontier for black vaudeville theaters.3
In June 1910 Barrasso’s “No. 1” touring company sent their first report to the Freeman from Vicksburg:
All is well that ends well. But the package that our manager, F. A. Barrasso, of the Savoy Theater, Memphis got handed to him by the management of the attraction park in Vicksburg, Miss., was a bird, and the park and theater there is a joke. Why, when the performers saw the dump they thought it was a livery stable, and it looked the part. The plot was “Back to Memphis by Foot,” or “Will We Get Our Money?” Well, we did not get our money, and all that kept us from walking back to Memphis was our manager, who pawned his “socks,” which were a swell pair of red cotton hose that he had had on for three weeks.4
Barrasso’s stock company moved on to the American Theater in Jackson, Mississippi, where conditions were also less than exemplary:
[T]he town will not support a summer stock company. The theater is a first-class house in every way, but the people will not turn out. To make the matter plainer, the better class of people are kept away by the tougher element.
What a pity! Miss Laura Smith is still with the company, though very homesick … Miss India Allen received a lovely bouquet over the footlights and it was so small that the sender wrapped it in a sheet of writing paper, with a note enclosed, which read: “I sho dus lub you, and I like to met you dis eben.”
The members of the company were out joy riding … the other afternoon and spent quite a few hours fishing in Pearl River.
Jackson, Miss., is a swell town to live in after a hard rain.5
Despite initial impressions, Barrasso’s players held the stage at the American Theater through the spring of 1911; and Jackson became the Tri-State Circuit’s base of operations, “from which place companies will be sent out to various places.”6 Barrasso’s Mississippi excursions were concurrent with Baby F. Seals’s experiment at the Bijou Theater in Greenwood. Butler and Sweetie May made their first professional appearances in Mississippi, Memphis, New Orleans, and Arkansas on the Tri-State Circuit. These bold-spirited initiatives stimulated an outpouring of blues in black vaudeville in the Deep South.
Before the close of 1910 Barrasso had four touring companies filling engagements on his circuit. He moved them from theater to theater, and changed up membership as needed. One company featured Estelle Harris, Ora Criswell, and the Two Sweets.7 Another included Bessie Smith, Trixie Smith, Charles Anderson, and Mose Graham.8 A third carried Butler and Sweetie May, Bonnie Belle Thomas, and Edna Landry Benbow.9 The fourth had Mattie Dorsey Whitman, Laura Smith, Estelle Harris, Billy and Grace Arnte, and Buddy McGill.10 Barrasso wisely enlisted experienced southern vaudeville producer–stage managers such as William Benbow, J. H. Williams, E. D. Lee, and J. C. Boone to supervise his shows at the various theaters.
Touring parties on the Tri-State Circuit performed at the Majestic Theater in Hot Springs, Arkansas; the American Theater in Jackson, Royal Palm Theater in Greenville, Amuse Theater in Vicksburg, and an unidentified theater in Yazoo City, Mississippi; the Temple Theater in New Orleans; Lagman’s Theater in Mobile, Alabama; as well as at Barrasso’s flagship Savoy Theater in Memphis.
Barrasso was a “hands-on” manager, who traveled frequently over his circuit to check conditions. He embraced the spirit of southern vaudeville as few other white managers did. One Freeman correspondent claimed: “Mr. Barraso [sic] is loved by all his performers. Why? Because he treats them as ladies and gentlemen.”11 As he continued to fulfill his theatrical vision, the Freeman commented: “It appears that F. A. Barrasso is rapidly becoming a theatrical magnate of the South.”12
The Tri-State Circuit was still gathering momentum when Fred Barrasso died on June 25, 1911. Fred’s brother Anselmo took over the business. Apparently content to preside over black vaudeville activity in Memphis, Anselmo Barrasso abandoned his brother’s efforts to establish a circuit.13 The Tri-State Circuit may not have been impressive from a commercial standpoint, but it was a cultural watershed in the evolution of southern vaudeville and the blues. Expanding out from his Savoy Theater base, Barrasso’s circuit was among the earliest manifestations of Memphis’s identity as the “Home of the Blues.”
The Southern Vaudeville Circuit
After the death of Fred Barrasso, the focal point of southern vaudeville circuitry shifted from Memphis to Atlanta, where two southern white men, Charles P. Bailey, the notorious owner of the 81, and L. D. Joel, a reckless young newcomer, were vying for supremacy. Born in England in 1880, L. D. Joel immigrated to Jacksonville, Florida, with his parents in 1890.14 On May 2, 1909, he opened the Air Dome Theater in Jacksonville.15 In the spring of 1910 he hired Marion Brooks, fresh from the Chester Amusement Company disaster in Chicago, to take charge of the stage and lay the groundwork for a “booking exchange.”16 By August Joel had closed the Air Dome Theater and established a liaison with his chief competitor Frank Crowd, the black proprietor of Jacksonville’s Globe Theater.17
Indianapolis Freeman, September 24, 1910.
In September 1910 Joel relocated from Jacksonville to Atlanta, insinuating himself into the theatrical milieu as manager of Charles P. Bailey’s 81 Theater. Joel was looking for a central position from which to establish a black theater circuit and booking exchange: “Atlanta is much better situated for his purpose, hence he has chosen it as his headquarters.… At the new location Mr. Joel will be in closer touch with acts wishing to play from six to twenty-five weeks in the South without the loss of time.… Mr. Joel wishes to hear from good colored acts wanting to play the South. He wants them to write to him, and not be afraid, since all the houses he is booking are on the first-class order. Among these are the Globe Theater, Jacksonville, Fla., the Arcade Theater, Atlanta, Ga., and the Jacobs [sic, i.e., Mitchell Jacoby’s Belmont Street Theater], Pensacola, Fla.”18
On October 26, 1910, Joel called a meeting of regional theater owners at the Exchange Hotel in Montgomery. Coming to the table were James S. Chambers of the Queen Theater in Montgomery; M. Jacoby of the Belmont Street Theater in Pensacola; and Charles Lagman of Lagman’s Theater in Mobile:
Mr. Joel briefly outlined the importance of forming a circuit which each manager saw at a glance of the great benefit to be derived for the performers as well as the theater managers. Mr. Joel was immediately selected as secretary-treasurer and booking manager of the Southern Vaudeville Circuit, which will be the name of the circuit of four theaters that alone can assure you of its success.… The greatest feature about the Southern Vaudeville Circuit, after joining the circuit is that your transportation is paid. It don’t cost you one cent railroad fare. You open in Atlanta for three weeks, then go to Montgomery for three weeks, then to Pensacola for three weeks, then to Mobile three weeks.… Here’s wishing Messrs. Joel, Chambers, Jacoby and Layman [sic] success in their grand efforts for the Southern Vaudeville Circuit, as it means much to the vaudeville artists of the country giving long engagements, sure pay and no railroad fare to pay.19
Within five weeks of his arrival in Atlanta, Joel had established the Southern Vaudeville Circuit and wrested its flagship theater—the Arcade/81—away from Charles P. Bailey. On the strength of these accomplishments, Joel brashly declared himself the “Theatrical King” of southern vaudeville. In May 1911 word came that: “Mr. L. D. Joel, the theatrical king, has joined hands with Mr. Fred A. Barrasso, of the Tri-State Circuit.”
Meanwhile, Charles P. Bailey gained control of the Central Theater, and he and Joel announced that they would again try to work together.20 Tim Owsley filed this report from Atlanta:
All things change; even in show business.… Today the city is flooded with hand bills and banners, the reading on which has given the show-going public a surprise.… Manager L. D. Joel, better known as the “Theatrical King of the South,” owner of the Arcade Theater, also the secretary, treasurer and booking manager of the Southern Vaudeville Circuit, and Charles Bailey, manager of the Central Theater, have consolidated, thus giving L. D. Joel the largest and finest theater in the South, to play all high-class acts engaged by him to play the southern Circuit.
The Central Theater is a modern playhouse, seating over a thousand people. In the future, Mr. L. D. Joel will have full management of the same.… In connection with the house Mr. Joel will also operate the Arcade Theater.… Mr. Bailey will also operate the Duvall Theater. The opening vaudeville bill will be under Mr. Charles Bailey and L. D. Joel management … and Tim E. Owsley as stage director. After next week all changes in the house will be made known. This consolidation will mean much to the classy acts playing Atlanta.
Mr. Joel’s motto is: “Do Nothing Inconsiderately Nor Without a Purpose”; and everything he does seems to be for the betterment of the actor as well as himself.21
The short-lived Joel-Bailey-Barrasso alliance ended with Barrasso’s sudden death; and before the end of 1911 Joel and Bailey again severed ties, with Joel taking possession of both the 81 and the Central: “He is now indeed crowned ‘king.’ … Since he has turned his attention to Atlanta, he has had a ‘real battle’ and his experience in Jacksonville fortified him for this attack and now the purchasing of C. P. Baily’s [sic] interest in the Central theater and the J. B. [sic, Joel & Bailey] theater, makes him now the master of the situation.”22
Indianapolis Freeman, December 28, 1912. The extraordinary representation of L. D. Joel’s “Atlanta Players” in this full-page ad includes the only known photo of pioneer blues singer Tom Young and the earliest known photo of Bessie Smith. Also captured in early poses are future blues recording artists Bessie Brown and Trixie Butler; female yodeler Beulah Henderson; coming blues composer Jimmie Cox; blackface comedy star Billy Higgins; and pianist Caggie Howard.
But the battle between Joel and Bailey was far from over. Before the end of 1912 Bailey had regained control of the 81 Theater; Joel held onto the Central and Dixie theaters.23 As part of an end-of-the-year advertising blitz, Joel took out an extraordinary full-page ad in the Freeman, featuring cameo shots of his current “Atlanta Players.”24
In January 1913 Joel opened the Joel Theater in Chattanooga and installed Billy King as stage manager.25 He advertised it as a “gateway for all acts coming south.”26 Bailey had a vested interest in Chattanooga’s rival Savoy Theater. He countered that he could arrange for acts to play “all the big cities of the South”—Chattanooga, Atlanta, Savannah, Jacksonville, New Orleans, and Pensacola—“and receive the same salaries as in the North, East or West.”27 Joel may have stretched himself too thin in his reach to Chattanooga. By August, Bailey had regained control of the Dixie Theater in Atlanta, and Joel’s stream of self-aggrandizing ads in the Freeman ceased to flow.28
In the spring of 1914, Joel abandoned what was left of his Atlanta holdings and backtracked to Jacksonville, where he filed this report:
Recently many enquiries have reached this city asking whether L. D. Joel, the well known theatrical magnet [sic], was yet alive.… L. D. Joel is yet alive and back in the show business in a great way. Although he lost $40,000 flat in theatrical pursuits last year, this year finds him entering the field with colors flying high and everybody seems glad hereabouts.… This time Billy King becomes a partner of Joel’s and these two clever, honest and reliable men have opened one of the largest airdomes in the south at Broad and Ashley streets in the city of Jacksonville.29
Indianapolis Freeman, December 25, 1920. Bailey appended this “Holiday Greeting” to the photo:
I am in business. Have been cussed and discussed.
I have been pleased and displeased.
I have been talked about, lied about, lied to.
Some knocked [me] down and others hung me up.
The only reason I am staying in business is to see what will happen next.
But by summer Charles Bailey and Frank Crowd were gloating in the Freeman that the Dixie Theater in Atlanta and Globe Theater in Jacksonville “Are Open and Always will be As Long as Chas. P. Bailey And Frank Crowd run them, as we have the money to run them with, and did not have to go into bankruptcy and beat performers and friends to get it. Do you get me King? If so, please don’t leave me here.”30 Joel was not heard from again in the Freeman.31 Bailey had succeeded in dethroning the “Theatrical King.”32
Over the next few years, Bailey worked to make his 81 theater the hub of the southern vaudeville wheel. In a 1915 advertisement he asked, “Did you ever work at a Real Theatre? If not, try 81, and see how it feels to work to 1,800 people at one time. The biggest, finest and best Colored Theatre in the United States.”33 A note in 1916 said the 81 was “easily the Mecca of the South, and all roads lead to the 81 Theater, where Mr. C. P. Bailey, the owner, greets his many patrons with his famous diamond smile.”34
The S. H. Dudley Circuit and the Colored Consolidated Vaudeville Exchange
In northern vaudeville territory, black stage idol S. H. Dudley had been lobbying for a black theater circuit since 1907.35 Commentary in the spring of 1912 mentioned his “embryonic chain or circuit of theaters.”36 By June Dudley had anchored his chain in Washington, D.C., and opened pathways north to New York City and south into the Tidewater section of Virginia.37 By late summer a regular column of upcoming bookings titled “What’s What On The Dudley Circuit” began to appear in the Freeman.38
Before the end of the year Dudley forged an alliance with Tim Owsley at the Crown Garden Theater in Indianapolis.39 During the summer of 1913 news broke that Dudley and Owsley were pooling their resources with white Chicago agent Martin Klein to operate “a gigantic circuit of colored vaudeville houses.… This has been brewing in the minds of these well-known gentlemen for some time. It was perfected partially some weeks ago, when Mr. Dudley and Mr. Kline [sic] joined hands. Tim Owsley who held the houses in the South and West, was called for a conference, and … now we have a full-fledged legal booking agency, which will operate in several states.”40
But by the start of 1914, the new Colored Consolidated Vaudeville Exchange was coming apart at the seams. Sylvester Russell followed the parting of ways in two consecutive columns of his “Chicago Weekly Review”:
That Dudley, Klein (white) and Owsley, known as the colored consolidated vaudeville exchange, have disagreed is the latest gossip on the Stroll in Chicago. It is said on good authority that Dudley was frozen out. Emma Griffin of the Griffin Sisters, who has started a booking agency in Chicago, declares that Dudley has deserted her and run to Klein and Owsley after she had given him information and valuable data of the propaganda. In the meantime it is understood that both Dudley and Miss Griffin are busy sending each other love letters of rebuke and chastism. So endeth the first chapter of true but genteel sophistry.41
The report last week that S. H. Dudley was ostracized from the consolidated agency by Klein and Owsley, was confirmed by Martin Klein. The present firm will continue. Emma Griffin states that she originally wanted Dudley to go in with her but he had chosen the white man, backed up by a theater proprietor’s money instead and that is what he got. In the meantime I, the critic, might state that it does not make much difference about the color of the booking agents. What we want is honest, square men to book actors, but they must have financial backing.42
Emma Griffin was born in Louisville, Kentucky, around 1873.43 She and her sister Mabel had gained fame as a vaudeville team act, playing both the North and the South, on black and white time, specializing in up-to-date coon songs like “Some of These Days” and “Grizzly Bear.”44 After appearing at S. H. Dudley’s U Street Theater in the spring of 1913, the Griffin Sisters made Dudley their business manager, and Emma was quoted saying:
We do not wish to emphasize the color line in the profession, but it must be admitted that we shall thrive best and be able to be more independent if we have among us a colored manager who can offer us adequate salaries and good dates, rather than be at the mercy of white speculators, who will often take advantage of the helplessness of the colored performer and refuse to give either the opportunity or the money to which he or she is justly entitled. There is nothing to brag about in being on “white time” unless there is a square deal for all concerned. Those of us who have fought our way by hard work into the front rank and gained some influence owe it to men like Mr. Dudley to exert it in their behalf. In proportion as the colored performers strengthen the hands of colored managers, they will strengthen themselves and make their place in the profession more secure. We heartily commend Mr. Dudley for his courage and race loyalty, and we urge others to come in under his protecting wing.45
Later that fall the Griffin Sisters opened an office at 3159 State Street and launched the “First and Only Colored Women’s Theatrical Booking Agency in the United States.”46 In January 1914, following a southern tour, they announced their intention to “build up a circuit starting from Cleveland, Ohio, to Jacksonville, Florida, taking in Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas.… We as race women hope that all colored acts will assist us in this good work and drown out such men as Charles P. Bailey.”47 “It is time that we pull together and work for ourselves and let the white man see that we can do without him.… If a white man runs a colored theatre let him book his acts from our colored agencies.… No white agent is looking out for the interest of a colored performer, or any colored manager. All they are looking for is the money. A colored agent will look out for both if he has any race pride.”48
In 1915 the Griffin Sisters moved to Washington. “They have retired from active work upon the stage and are promoting colored theaters in various cities. Lately they have acquired the Fairyland … making three theatres controlled by the sisters in the capitol, the Majestic, the Fairyland and the Griffin Airdome. They are negotiating for houses in Philadelphia and Baltimore.”49 But chronic illness took the Griffin Sisters out of theater competition, and they eventually returned to Chicago, where Emma Griffin died in 1918.50
Indianapolis Freeman, February 14, 1914.
Dudley adopted a more accommodating attitude than the Griffin Sisters: “I have found that co-operation is the only redemption, and the managers and promoters have got to get together. I appeal to the managers and ask you, ‘Why not book through a substantial enterprise or agency?’ There are but two recognized agents who are paying license to operate the same and I assure you that I am not selfish. If you don’t care to book through the S. H. Dudley theatrical enterprise, I recommend the Colored Consolidated Vaudeville Exchange, operated by Mr. Klein.”51
W. H. Smith, manager of the Pekin Theater in Chicago, showed a mixed reaction to Dudley’s editorial. He agreed that “there is a number of colored men that are operating theaters that should they get together much good could be done for their interest as well as the acts.” But, Smith insisted, “It should be purely a Negro enterprise, such as the Negro Businessmen’s League. That organization don’t seek the advice of any other race.”52
When Owsley backed out of the Colored Consolidated Circuit, Klein continued alone. By the fall of 1917 he was advertising an unprecedented combination of northern and southern theaters attached to his Consolidated Vaudeville Exchange.53 In order to penetrate the southern routes, Klein turned to Charles P. Bailey in Atlanta. At the end of 1917 Klein and Bailey’s Consolidated Circuit stretched to such strategic venues as E. B. Dudley’s Vaudette Theater in Detroit, Anselmo Barrasso’s new Metropolitan Theater in Memphis, and Charles Turpin’s Booker Washington Theater in St. Louis.
The Mutual Amusement Company
Sam E. Reevin was a white theater entrepreneur who played a big part in the establishment of the T.O.B.A. In 1916 he managed the Queen Theater in Chattanooga.54 The following year he opened the Liberty Theater in the same city.55 At the end of 1917 Reevin introduced the Mutual Amusement Circuit, connecting his Liberty Theater with the Bijou in Nashville, the Pastime in Birmingham, and the Dixie Theater in Bessemer.56 In the spring of 1918 Reevin submitted an open letter to the Freeman, chastising performers for letting their acts go stale: “Now, tell me, performers, how long are you going to use the same old … jokes and songs you used four and five years ago, and when you started using them they were old and worn out then.… How long will you all ‘kick’ about the ‘wrong part of the chicken received at the party last night’? How long will you all ask for a sheet to put on a ‘ghost act’? How long will you ‘pray for the lights to go out.’ … Wake up, open your eyes. Why, this is your bread and butter. Why don’t you try to improve?”57
Reevin’s open letter brought a retort from Martin Klein:
Some weeks ago I saw a letter in your paper written by a Mr. Sam E. Reevin, of Chattanooga. Same attracted my attention, owing to the fact that I am interested in the uplift of Colored vaudeville. I, myself, made a tour of the South in August 1917, for the purpose of studying the conditions that exist in Colored theatres in the Southern states.
I have come to the conclusion that the real trouble of acts not being able to have first-class wardrobe, lobby pictures and new acts lies with the managers of the Southern theaters. First of all, a vaudeville act should receive a living salary.… Mr. Reevin delights in advertising that he can give acts ten consecutive weeks, small railroad fares and no commission. But he does not state that he pays single acts $15 and $20 per week (sometimes less), and teams $25 and $30. Will this worthy gentleman inform me how he expects acts of talent to bring him new talent and remain in his city three or four weeks and give him new shows twice a week?58
Reevin shot back with “Some Nuts For Klein To Crack”:
Just look! It took M. K. seven weeks to answer a letter in which he said he was interested, and to learn true conditions in the South, it did not take him but a two days’ visit to Atlanta, and he knows it all.
I was one of the lucky managers down South to receive an invitation to come to Atlanta and see what can be done to arrange a southern circuit. I met Mr. K. at Mr. Bailey’s office. I don’t know how many invitations were sent out, but at the meeting Mr. Bailey, Mr. Douglass and I were present.… Now it seems to me that if M. K. learned anything about the South, it was through Mr. Bailey, Mr. Douglass and myself; and if he learned that the reason of all the trouble is that we don’t pay salaries to justify, how is it that he booked us all some of his best acts.…
Mr. K. don’t like my taking delight in advertising my circuits. Well, I don’t blame him. It is a money matter with him, but I will continue to boost a good thing, and I know the performers will realize that twelve consecutive weeks’ work, no lay-offs, small railroad fares, and no commissions, even by accepting $5.00 a week less for each person, is much better than to jump from New Orleans to Texas and from Texas to Florida and lose a week or two each month.…
My letter certainly accomplished what I desired. I am getting better acts and the few “ham fats” who used to worry me to death asking for bookings, stopped writing me, and are afraid to go on my circuit.… Mr. K. thought he would show me up and get in with the performers, but the better and more sensible performers are, I know, with me.59
Klein and Reevin continued to exchange volleys over the next few weeks.60
On August 8, 1918, ten southern theater managers met in Atlanta and agreed to affiliate with Sam E. Reevin’s Mutual Amusement Circuit.61 In the wake of Reevin’s apparent power grab, Tim Owsley booked a five-week tour of the Mutual Circuit, covering Nashville, Chattanooga, and Atlanta, and concluded that Reevin “has developed his campaign for colored actors playing colored houses into one of the most important circuits now in existence.” Still, he cautioned newcomers to southern vaudeville to “remember you are going on show business; not civil rights.… As some who go forth will be a stranger in a strange land.”62
Rather than expanding to other regions, S. H. Dudley bolstered his domination of East Coast theaters. He boasted at the end of 1917 that he was “booking and controlling more acts and theaters than ever before.”63 At the beginning of 1918 he served notice to all acts: “If you are coming East, write me first. Do not accept any independent bookings in my territory, as I can give you 14 to 16 consecutive weeks.… Beware of independent houses and sore head managers.”64
Martin Klein continued to operate the Consolidated Vaudeville Exchange. At the end of 1918 he formed an alliance with S. H. Dudley and E. L. Cummings of the Belmont Street Theater, Pensacola: “United We Stand for the Best Colored Vaudeville.”65 By the summer of 1919 they had added “Texas Representative” Chintz Moore, of the Park Theater in Dallas.66
Sam Reevin’s Mutual Amusement Circuit was mentioned for the last time in the summer of 1919.67 Shortly thereafter, Reevin threw in with the Colored Consolidated Vaudeville Exchange and was installed as vice president.68 Dudley was president; Klein, secretary; Cummings, treasurer. On October 15 Dudley convened a “special meeting” of the directors of the Consolidated in Pensacola, “to perfect the business in general.”69 Following the meeting, Dudley, Klein, Reevin, and Cummings—the “Consolidated Quartet”—left for Atlanta “to complete their mission.”70 This entailed a conference with Charles P. Bailey. A note in November described that conference:
There was a hot time at the meeting of the directors of the Consolidated Circuit last month.… S. H. Dudley resigned as president of the organization and Charles P. Bailey was elected president in his place; E. L. Cummings, vice president and treasurer; Sam E. Reevin, secretary. Each officer elected was proposed and appointed by Dudley and each was elected unanimously. This shows that Dudley must have known the right man was in the right place. The firm is incorporated now and is doing business under the trade name of “The Southern Consolidated Vaudeville Circuit.”71
Another take on the Atlanta meeting was submitted by performer Lew Henry, who pointed out that, as “the only race man in the organization,” S. H. Dudley had not resigned as president of the Southern Consolidated Vaudeville Circuit before making an impassioned plea for the rights of performers: “It is a credit to have a man like him connected with the show game as there are so many cutthroats that are looking for himself and trying to get all out of the acts and managers and not offer anything in return.”72
After completely rebuilding the old 81 Theater in the spring of 1918, Charles P. Bailey sought to rehabilitate his bad reputation. When Tim Owsley played the 81 that summer he claimed: “Bailey of old died with the destruction of his old theater. Today you will find Mr. Chas. P. Bailey a business man to the letter.” Owsley further asserted: “Unless you wish it you never see Mr. Bailey during your entire engagement.”73 During the summer of 1919, Irvin Miller noted: “At present there are more theatres in the South suitable for playing a high-class Colored attraction and arts than any part of the country, and the jumps are shorter, through the enterprise and foresight of Messrs. Chas. P. Bailey and E. L. Cumming [sic]. The South can boast of a Colored circuit: That is better in many respects than the small time U.B.O. or Loew circuits, and certainly the acts receive more consideration.”74
In January 1920, less than two months after Bailey’s apparent return to prominence, Dudley, Klein, and Reevin broke away from the Southern Consolidated Circuit and formed the United Vaudeville Circuit, with Dudley as its president. Bailey’s “high-handed methods” had proven intolerable to the coalition:
It would seem that Mr. Bailey has been too arbitrary and selfish in handling the affairs of the Consolidated and not altogether fair to the performers, imposing fines on performers for playing opposition houses when they were compelled to lay off from lack of booking over the Consolidated and needed work to pay board and room rent. Also the price Mr. Bailey received for acts was not fairly divided with the performers, the Consolidated receiving more than was its due. Mr. Reevin said that he was a white man engaged in colored show business. That he had and is still receiving a generous return from that business and he felt that it was no more than right that the United Vaudeville Circuit should be represented by a colored man and that the performers should receive a just return from their labors. It will be the policy of the United to deal fairly, impartially and sympathetically with all colored acts and performers who affiliate with the United.75
Bailey subsequently reduced his visibility, as E. L. Cummings stepped into the role of general manager of the Southern Consolidated Vaudeville Circuit; Chintz Moore rose to the position of southwestern representative, and an African American theater owner, John T. Gibson of the Standard Theater, Philadelphia, came in to replace Dudley as the Consolidated’s new eastern representative. “‘Nuf Sed.’”76 That spring Dudley posted a radioactive letter to the Freeman, aimed at Gibson, published under the headline, “The White Man’s Nigger”:
To the surprise of this writer I find there still remains one of the old type of the slavery-time Negro who believes in cutting the throat of another Negro when told to do so by a white man. I really thought at this enlightened age that this type of Negro had become extinct.…
I admit competition is the trade of life and if this Uncle Tom had any interest or held any stock in the organization for which he is working I could consider it a legitimate business move but he is simply hired by Master Simon Legree to go out and kill all Negroes therefore he struck his first blow at me.…
There is a lot of camouflaging about certain circuits who are using colored men’s names but I doubt if there is any colored man in the business that owns any part of a booking exchange except myself who is the sole owner of the Dudley Circuit and an equal owner of the Dudley Klein and Reevin United Vaudeville Circuit.
I wonder if Uncle Tom ever stopped to think that some day he has to die. What color of pall bearers will he have. I suppose that Simon told him he would attend to all of that and would bury him in a golden casket.…
I would be pleased to read in the columns of the Freeman what Uncle Tom has to say for himself but sign your name in full so that the profession might know who this enemy of the profession is.—S. H. Dudley77
Salem Tutt Whitney weighed in to ask:
What’s all the row about? … Why can’t the Southern Consolidated and the United do business without slinging mud at each other? What benefit can they expect to derive from this muckraking process? Unless they are unlike most other corporations there are things hidden in the closet of each that had better not be brought to light. If they treat performers fairly the performers can’t help but be benefited by the competition. As they now stand, with regard to color, it is fifty-fifty. Mr. Gibson represents the Southern Consolidated in the East and Mr. Dudley is president of the United. Each of these gentlemen are associated with two other white gentlemen and these four white gentlemen have been affiliated with colored show business long enough for us all to know something about them. They are all in the business for the money they can make out of the business, and who can blame them? Mr. John T. Gibson has done his bit for colored show business and deserves success. Mr. Dudley likewise has done his bit for colored vaudeville, and we all wish him success. The four white gentlemen have contributed their money and their brains in building up colored show business; they are reaping a deserved profit. Why not let it go at that?78
Ostensibly reporting on a May 26, 1920, meeting of Dudley, Klein, and Reevin’s United Vaudeville Circuit in Chicago, Sylvester Russell repeated a recent claim by Martin Klein that Charles Bailey had:
slavonically kidnapped William Selman’s company from the United time, after his salary had been increased. It is estimated that Bailey raised the salary $225 more and declared that he owned the act, but according to Klein, he took rebate, which is practically no increase in salary at all for the ignorant colored actor.… It is this kind of practice in the South that will have to be thrashed out by the best managers in the field. The South presents two kinds of white managers in the show business, the square dealer and the cracker dealer and performers will have to be given a square deal by those who are crackers, if cracker managers expect to get any more colored people’s money.79
Ads for the United Circuit in June 1920 listed fifty theaters under their control;80 ads for the Southern Consolidated Vaudeville Circuit listed forty-three.81 At last, an ad in July announced that the two “Mammoth Circuits” had “Become Affiliated for the Betterment of the Entire Show World,” with E. L. Cummings as president and S. H. Dudley vice president. Sam Reevin was secretary, Martin Klein “Special Representative,” and John T. Gibson “Financial Adjustor.” Charles P. Bailey returned to the front ranks as “General Adjuster.”82 The merger fell under the banner of the Southern Consolidated Vaudeville Circuit—“The Big Time Circuit.”83
At the end of the year a half-page ad appeared in the Freeman, telling readers to “Watch This Space For Announcement Of Tremendous Importance To The Whole Colored Theatrical World.”84 Subsequent issues of the Freeman are not available for inspection; but on January 29, 1921, the Chicago Defender reported:
An event of importance has transpired in the vaudeville world. Recently there was formed in Chattanooga, Tenn., the Theater Owners’ Booking association. Since the inauguration of this company its operating territory has been extended until it now includes every desirable theater from Galveston, Tex., to Jacksonville, Fla., to Cleveland, Ohio, to Kansas City, Mo. The T. O. B. A. is owned, controlled and operated by theater owners, each owning an equal amount of stock, and controlling an equal voting power in the affairs of the company. The central office of this company is located in Chattanooga, Tenn., with Mr. Sam E. Reevin as general manager. Since the opening of this office there has been received a flood of telegrams and letters from almost every recognized company and actor in the profession. During the past week eight new theaters have purchased stock and become active members of the association.85
The first president of the T.O.B.A. was Milton Starr, brother of Alfred Starr of the Bijou Theater in Nashville. In February 1921, just a few weeks into his position of power, Starr offered a detailed description of how the T.O.B.A. worked:
Any theater owner in America may become a member of this organization by a purchase of three shares of capital stock at par value of $100. In so purchasing the theater owner automatically becomes the recipient of a free franchise for life for the city in which he operates. This eliminates entirely the franchise fees and office fees that have heretofore been the bane of the theater owners’ existence and the delight of the unreliable agents.…
The officials of the Theater Owners’ Booking Association, duly elected by the stockholders, are as follows: Milton Starr, Nashville, Tenn., president; C. H. Turpin, St. Louis, Mo., vice president; J. J. Miller, Charleston, S. C., secretary, and Sam. E. Reevin, Chattanooga, Tenn., treasurer and general manager. The board of directors is composed of the above named officials, together with T. S. Finley, Cincinnati, Ohio; C. H. Douglass, Macon, Ga.; Clarence Bennett, New Orleans, La., and H. J. Hury, Birmingham, Ala.
The following theater owners are active members of the Theater Owners’ Booking Association, having purchased stock bookings through our office:
H. J. Hury, Gay Theater, Birmingham, Ala.; Milton Starr, Bijou Theater, Nashville, Tenn.; E. B. Dudley, Vaudette Theater, Detroit, Mich.; E. C. Foster, Brooklyn Theater, Wilmington, N. C.; C. H. Turpin, Booker Washington Theater, St. Louis, Mo.; N. C. Scales, Lafayette Theater, Winston Salem, N. C.; N. A. Lightman, Plaza Theater, Little Rock, Ark.; A. Barrasso, Palace Theater, Memphis, Tenn.; Chas. F. Gordon, Star Theater, Shreveport, La.; J. J. Miller, Moll Theater, Charleston, S. C.; T. S. Finley, Lyceum Theater, Cincinnati, Ohio; C. H. Douglass, Douglass Theater, Macon, Ga.; Sam E. Reevin, Liberty Theater, Chattanooga, Tenn.; William Warley, Lincoln Theater, Louisville, Ky.; Boudreaux & Bennett, Lyric Theater, New Orleans, La.; Clemmons Bros., Lincoln Theater, Beaumont, Texas; F. C. Holden, Liberty Theater, Alexandria, La.; C. C. Schreiner, Pike Theater, Mobile, Ala.; Chintz Moore, Park Theater, Dallas, Texas; W. H. Leonard, Gayety Theater, Waco, Texas; Lee & Moore, Lincoln Theater, Galveston, Texas; C. H. Caffey, American Theater, Houston, Texas; W. J. Styles, Strand Theater, Jacksonville, Fla.; H. W. Tolbutt, New Royal Theater, Columbia, S. C.; Boudreaux, Bennett & Gordon, Majestic Theater, Montgomery, Ala.
Other than these actual stockholders, the following theater owners have effected booking arrangements with our office and have signified their intention of purchasing stock in the near future:
W. J. Styles, Pekin Theater, Savannah, Ga.; O. J. Harris, Grand Central Theater, Cleveland, Ohio; E. S. Stone, Washington Theater, Indianapolis, Ind.; Lawrence Goldman, Lincoln Theater, Kansas City, Mo.; Breaux & Whitlow, Aldridge Theater, Oklahoma City, Okla.; L. T. Brown, Dreamland Theater, Muskogee, Okla.; L. T. Brown, Dreamland Theater, Tulsa, Okla., and many others.
I have issued the above statement for the edification of the theatrical world in general—Respectfully, Milton Starr, president T.O.B.A.86
By mid-February 1921 the Theater Owners’ Booking Association was running a regular column of “T.O.B.A. Doings” in the Chicago Defender, tracking activities at its various affiliated theaters. Still, the great vaudeville wheel was not complete; S. H. Dudley, Martin Klein, and E. L. Cummings were still holding fast to the Southern Consolidated Vaudeville Circuit. But, over the next several weeks the Southern Consolidated lost venues that were considered indispensable to its operation, forcing Dudley, Cummings, Klein, and other “distinguished officers”—probably including Charles Bailey—to show up at T.O.B.A. headquarters in Chattanooga “for the purpose of asking for a truce and an armistice.”87 By the end of May, the T.O.B.A. had brought all warring factions of theater owners and managers under its overarching umbrella:
After several days of negotiations between the officers of the Theater Owners’ Booking Association and the Southern Consolidated Vaudeville Circuit the war between the two corporations has come to an end.… [T]he Southern Consolidated Vaudeville Circuit has discontinued and no longer exists. Its charter is to be canceled and the offices in Pensacola, Fla., and Chicago, Ill., closed.…
S. H. Dudley remains the manager of the Eastern branch as before. Mr. Dudley was instrumental in bringing the fight to an end, as it was very costly to both sides and both factions were determined to pursue the battle to the bitter end.…
It is to be hoped that the leaders of the Theater Owners’ Booking Association will realize the importance of their position now and will not underestimate the task which is confronting them. But knowing the men who are at the wheel and the services that they have rendered to the theatrical profession during the last several years, the managers and the performers both can rest assured that they will receive a square deal.
Much success to the Theater Owners’ Booking Association.88
The Theater Owners Booking Association was the outcome of ten years of fighting over how the business of African American vaudeville should be conducted. For that, the T.O.B.A. saw less than ten good years of business before various factors conspired to do it in. It was well into decline by the summer of 1929, when the New York Times reported: “the total number of Race theaters in America is approximately 400.… Eighty of these theaters comprise a sort of vaudeville chain known as T.O.B.A., or ‘Toba.’ Its full name is Theater Owners’ Booking association, but the incorrigibles among the Colored vaudevillians prefer to interpret the initials as representing ‘Tough on Black Actors.’”89
The persistence of tyrants like Charles P. Bailey tends to confirm that famous construction. One early traveler on the T.O.B.A. routes described his stay at Bailey’s 81: “You must sleep where Marse Bailey tells you to, and you must eat at his brother’s restaurant and must pay as much as he tells you to, and no matter whether you use the meal ticket or not you are charged with the price of it just the same, and if you don’t do as he says you are canceled.”90
Even with a man like Bailey in the mix, the T.O.B.A. helped ring down the curtain on an era when southern vaudeville theater owners could hold a stock company in peonage or slap a pistol in a performer’s face for asking could he “draw some dough.” Rogue theater owners could no longer operate in isolation. Moreover, the T.O.B.A. represented a national platform for black vernacular performing arts, substantial enough to invite business relationships with the emerging race record industry.
