Harry T. Burleigh was a classical singer, composer, and arranger known for his adaptations of African-American spirituals. I have found scant documentation, but there appear to have been glee clubs named in his honor in several cities across the country, including Hampton, Virginia, and Dayton, Ohio.
Courtesy of an anonymous reader.
The Globe Theatre
A nice and cozy place to rest and enjoy the pictures the night before or after selling your tobacco. The seating capacity is quite large enough to accommodate all our friends.
If you want to laugh and grow fat come see Fatty Arbuckle and Mack Sennett in their funny comedies. If you want excitement that will almost make your hair stand on your head, come and see Ruth Roland in Tigers Trail on Monday, Wm. Duncan in “Man of Might” on Tuesdays, Tom Mix’s Westeners and “Silent Mystery” on Wednesdays, Eddie Polo in “Lure of the Circus” and “Masked Raider” on Thursdays, and the great Wm. S. Hart features on Fridays and Fox Features on Saturday. Dispersed among these nights will be Pathe News, Pictorial Life, and regular and colored comedies. The program condensed is as follows:
MONDAYS: Fox Features, Pathe-News and Comedy.
TUESDAYS: “Man of Might”, Pictorial Life and Colored Comedy.
WEDNESDAYS: “Silent Mystery”, Pathe News, Tom Mix‘s Westener
THURSDAYS: Eddie Polo in “Lure of the Circus” begins September 25th and “Masked Raider” begins October 23rd.
FRIDAYS: Wm. S. Hart pictures every Friday and good comedies.
SATURDAYS: A five reel features and good comedies.
The great advance in Pictures forces the General Admission to 25cts.
The show begins each evenings at 7:00 o’clock. Come early and see the first show.
The Williams Jubilee Singers, the Greatest Aggregation of Negro Singers in this Country will start at the Globe Wednesday, Oct. the 8th. Regular admission 50c. Reserve seats 75c.
TAKE NOTICE: Boys who are Boisterous and noisy are not wanted and we reserve the right to eject all such.
My thanks to a reader who shared this handbill for Samuel H. Vick‘s Globe Theatre, which likely dates to about 1920.
Wilson Daily Times, 26 January 1923.
Classically trained musician, folklorist, and musicologist Maud Cuney Hare performed a song and piano recital at Samuel H. Vick‘s Globe Theatre in the winter of 1923.
Clipping courtesy of J. Robert Boykin III; photo at Maud Cuney Hare.
Wilson Daily Times, 2 June 1922.
Two unnamed African-American entertainers, described as “singers of note and the highest priced among their race,” were robbed of their wardrobes before a performance at the Globe Theatre. Booker Dew and Sylvester Jones were charged with the theft, and Gussie Davis, Marie Wallace, and Maggie Jefferson with receiving stolen goods. Globe owner Samuel H. Vick, Allen Armstrong, and Noah Tate appeared in court as witnesses.
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Wilson Daily Times, 16 February 1916.
Shaw University’s band and glee club performed at Wilson’s Globe Theatre 106 years ago this week.
When Hood Vick registered for the World War I draft in Wilson County in 1917, he listed his occupation as “machine operator moving picture theatre” and C.L. Jones as his employer. The theatre was the Globe, which operated on the second floor of the Odd Fellows building. Samuel H. Vick is credited as its founder, but in the 1916 Wilson city directory, Charles Jones is listed as the Globe‘s proprietor.
Wilson Daily Times, 14 November 1921.
The NAACP’s Crisis magazine briefly mentioned the Johnson-Taylor-Johnson trio in December 1920:
Clipping courtesy of J. Robert Boykin III.
Wilson Daily Times, 7 October 1922.
Here’s Turner Classic Movies’ synopsis of Spitfire, which was released by Reol Productions in January 1922: “Guy Rogers, the son of a well-known publisher, sets out to prove his father’s racist critics wrong by putting Booker T. Washington’s philosophy into practice. He goes to a little Maryland Hills town where through his efforts a school and a library are built. He falls in love with Ruth Hill, whose recently widowed father, an ex-schoolteacher, is killed after being involved in horse thievery. ‘Buck’ Bradley, the local dealer in hay and feed, who put Ruth’s father up to the crime, has been made her guardian, and he beats up Guy when he tries to defend her. She nurses Guy back to health, love blooms, and they marry.”
Every week or so, a large manila envelope arrives in the mail, postmarked Wilson, N.C. Inside, a sheaf of xeroxed newspaper clippings from late 19th and early 20th century editions of the Wilson Daily Times. Bobby Boykin is the benefactor, and I thank him mightily, especially when gems like this appear:
Wilson Daily Times, 25 January 1921.
Just a few months past the earth-shattering release of “Crazy Blues,” the first blues recording by a Black artist for a Black audience, Mamie Smith and Jazz Hounds would have been a hot ticket anywhere, much less Wilson. The band played three shows in a single day at the Globe Theatre, Samuel H. Vick‘s vaudeville hall/movie theatre on the second floor of the Odd Fellows Lodge on East Nash Street. Darcy Yancey and Isaac Shade were selling tickets at their respective drugstores.
(If I could time-travel, I’d want not only to see Smith perform at the Globe, but see who saw her perform at the Globe.)
Mamie Smith and her Jazz Hounds, including Willie “The Lion” Smith on piano, 1920. Donaldson Collection/Getty Images.
2020 marked the 100th anniversary of the release of “Crazy Blues.” For more about the significance of Mamie Smith’s work, see Daphne A. Brooks’ New York Times piece, “100 Years Ago, ‘Crazy Blues’ Sparked a Revolution for Black Women Fans,” published August 10.
Mamie Smith publicity photo, Apeda Studio, New York, circa 1922, in collection of Old Hat Records.
