Theatre Owners Booking Association

History

The association was established following the work of vaudeville performer Sherman H. Dudley. By 1909, Dudley was commonly known as the "Lone Star Comedian" and had begun an attempt to have a black-owned and operated string of venues around the United States. By 1911, Dudley was based in Washington, D.C. as general manager and treasurer of the Colored Actors' Union, and set up S. H. Dudley Theatrical Enterprises, which began buying and leasing theaters around Washington and Virginia. By 1916, the "Dudley Circuit" had extended into the south and Midwest, enabling black entertainers to secure longer-term contracts for an extended season; this circuit provided the basis for T.O.B.A. His circuit was advertised in a weekly column published in black newspapers, "What's What on the Dudley's Circuit", and by 1914 it included over twenty theaters, "all owned or operated by blacks and as far south as Atlanta."

T.O.B.A. was formally established in 1920 by people associated with Dudley's circuit. Its President was Milton Starr, owner of the Bijou Theatre in Nashville; its chief booker was Sam Reevin of Chattanooga. The organization had more than 80 theaters at its peak in the early to mid 1920s.

Often referred to by the black performers as Tough on Black Artists (or, by Gertrude "Ma" Rainey, as Tough on Black Asses), the association was generally known as Toby Time (Time was a common term for vaudeville circuits). It booked only black artists into a series of theatres on the East Coast and as far west as Oklahoma. T.O.B.A. venues were the only ones south of the Mason-Dixon line that regularly sought black audiences, according to one reference. T.O.B.A. paid less and generally had worse touring arrangements, which the performers had to pay for themselves, than the white vaudeville counterpart. T.O.B.A. became less successful as the Great Depression struck, collapsing in late 1930 when Dudley sold his chain of theaters to a cinema company.

Operations and performers

Its earliest star performers included singers Ethel Waters, Gertrude Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith, Edmonia Henderson,{{cite book

According to writer Preston Lauterbach, "a basic TOBA troupe carried about all the variety a single stage could hold, not to mention all the personalities one sleeping car could hold", including tap dancers, comedy teams, actors, and blues singers. Their backdrops, costumes and props moved with them.

The most prestigious black theaters in Harlem, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C., were not part of the circuit, booking acts independently; the T.O.B.A. was considered less prestigious. Many black performers, such as Bert Williams, George Walker, Johnson and Dean, Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, Irving Jones, Tim Moore, and Johnny Hudgins, also performed in white vaudeville, often in blackface.

References

References

1. (2023). "T.O.B.A. Time: Black Vaudeville and the Theater Owners Booking Association in Jazz Age America". University of Illinois Press.
2. Abbott, Lynn. (2007). "Ragged but right: Black traveling shows, "coon songs," and the dark pathway to blues and jazz". [[University Press of Mississippi]].
3. (4 December 2008). "Historical Dictionary of African American Theater". [[Scarecrow Press]].
4. Monsho, Kharen. "Dudley, Sherman H.". Texas State Historical Association.
5. Southern, Eileen. (1997). "The music of black Americans: a history". Norton.
6. [http://library.umkc.edu/spec-col/local627/text/bands/toba.htm Theater Owners Booking Association (T.O.B.A.), ''Musicians Local No.627'']. ''Library.umkc.edu'', retrieved 15 November 2015
7. Lauterbach, Preston. (2011). "The Chitlin' Circuit and the Road to Rock'n'Roll". W. W. Norton.
8. (1995). "[[Encyclopedia of Popular Music". [[Guinness Publishing]].
9. "Vaudeville - Part II".
10. Lauterbach, p.38
11. (May 30, 1925). "Edmonia Henderson Charms With Voice And Smile". [[Baltimore Afro-American]].
12. Giles Oakley. (1997). "The Devil's Music". [[Da Capo Press]].
13. "Underneath a Harlem Moon: The Harlem to Paris Years of Adelaide Hall (Bayou Jazz Lives)".