The Leighton Brothers (alt. "Leighton and Leighton") was a

vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment which began in France in the middle of the 19th century. A ''vaudeville'' was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a drama ...

performance team consisting of brothers Frank Leighton and Bert Leighton. They also composed various songs, most notably "Steamboat Bill," the tune used in the

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...

animated Animation is a filmmaking technique whereby image, still images are manipulated to create Motion picture, moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on cel, transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and e ...

short,

Steamboat Willie ''Steamboat Willie'' is a 1928 American animated short film directed by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. It was produced in black-and-white by Walt Disney Animation Studios and was released by Pat Powers (producer), Pat Powers, under the name of Cele ...

Biography

Born to

Irish immigrants The Irish diaspora () refers to ethnic Irish people and their descendants who live outside the island of Ireland. The phenomenon of migration from Ireland is recorded since the Early Middle Ages,Flechner, Roy; Meeder, Sven (2017). The Irish ...

, the Leighton Brothers grew up in

Decatur, Illinois Decatur ( ) is the largest city in Macon County, Illinois, United States, and its county seat. The city was founded in 1829 and is situated along the Sangamon River and Lake Decatur in Central Illinois. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 ...

during the latter part of the 19th century. Frank Leighton was the first of the brothers to enter show business, joining a

Medicine Show Medicine shows were touring acts (traveling by truck, horse, or wagon teams) that peddled "miracle cure" patent medicines and other products between various entertainments. They developed from European Charlatan, mountebank shows and were common ...

in 1897 and then the Burt Sheppard

Minstrel Show The minstrel show, also called minstrelsy, was an American form of theater developed in the early 19th century. The shows were performed by mostly white actors wearing blackface makeup for the purpose of portraying racial stereotypes of Afr ...

in 1898. Bert joined

Milt G. Barlow Milt G. Barlow (June 29, 1843 – September 27, 1904) was an American blackface comedian and actor popular in minstrel and vaudeville shows over the latter half of the 19th century. Early life Barlow was born on June 29, 1843, at Lexington, Kent ...

's minstrel group in 1899. The brothers came together for the first time in 1900, joining Vogle and Deming Minstrels. The duo found success as both

blackface Blackface is the practice of performers using burned cork, shoe polish, or theatrical makeup to portray a caricature of black people on stage or in entertainment. Scholarship on the origins or definition of blackface vary with some taking a glo ...

performers and

performers for the next few years, culminating in their joining of the

Lew Dockstader Lew Dockstader (born George Alfred Clapp; August 7, 1856 – October 26, 1924) was an American singer, comedian, and vaudeville star, best known as a blackface minstrel show performer. Dockstader performed as a solo act and in his own popula ...

minstrel group in 1904. The Leighton Brothers were invited to perform on the

Orpheum Circuit The Orpheum Circuit was a chain of vaudeville and movie theaters. It was founded in 1886, and operated through 1927 when it was merged into the Keith-Albee-Orpheum corporation, ultimately becoming part of the Radio-Keith-Orpheum (RKO) corporatio ...

, highlighting their original music as well as their new compositions of popular songs. Frank Leighton died in 1927, after which Bert went into real estate. Bert died in 1964.

Music

The Leighton Brothers composed many

ragtime Ragtime, also spelled rag-time or rag time, is a musical style that had its peak from the 1890s to 1910s. Its cardinal trait is its Syncopation, syncopated or "ragged" rhythm. Ragtime was popularized during the early 20th century by composers ...

pieces for use in minstrel shows and vaudeville, including "There's A Dark Man Coming With A Bundle" (sung by

Bob Roberts ''Bob Roberts'' is a 1992 satirical mockumentary film written, directed by, and starring Tim Robbins. It depicts the rise of Robert "Bob" Roberts Jr., a right-wing politician who is a candidate for an upcoming United States Senate election. Rober ...

), "Far away in Honolulu (They've got the tango craze)" (sung by

Van and Schenck Van and Schenck were popular American entertainers in the 1910s and 1920s: Gus Van (born August Von Glahn, August 12, 1886 – March 12, 1968), baritone, and Joe Schenck (pronounced "skenk"; born Joseph Thuma Schenck, (June 2, 1891– June ...

), and an arrangement of " Frankie and Johnny" with

Ren Shields Ren Shields was an American folk musician born in 1868 in Chicago, Illinois. He died on 25 October 1913 in Massapequa, New York. He co-wrote the song with George "Honey Boy" Evans "In the Good Old Summer Time", (a part of which is sung by Laurel ...

that would set the tone for all future versions of the song It was with Shields that the Leightons composed their most memorable and influential song, "Steamboat Bill," in 1910. The song was a parody of best-selling "

The Ballad of Casey Jones "The Ballad of Casey Jones", also known as "Casey Jones, the Brave Engineer" or simply "Casey Jones", is a traditional American folk song about railroad engineer Casey Jones and his death at the controls of the train he was driving. It tells of ...

," by Seibert and Newton, which had itself been based on a song from the Leightons' vaudeville routine. Steamboat Bill was recorded by Arthur Collins in 1911 and would go on to inspire

Charles Reisner Charles Francis Reisner (March 14, 1887 – September 24, 1962) was an American film director and actor of the 1920s and 1930s. The German-American directed over 60 films between 1920 and 1950 and acted in over 20 films between 1916 and 1 ...

to write a movie for

Buster Keaton Joseph Frank "Buster" Keaton (October 4, 1895 – February 1, 1966) was an American actor, comedian and filmmaker. He is best known for his silent films during the 1920s, in which he performed physical comedy and inventive stunts. He frequently ...

titled Steamboat Bill, Jr., which released as a

silent film A silent film is a film without synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, w ...

in 1928. That same year,

Walt Disney Walter Elias Disney ( ; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer, voice actor, and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the Golden age of American animation, American animation industry, he introduced several develop ...

found inspiration in the movie and in the song to create the first synchronized cartoon with sound, Steamboat Willie.

References

{{Authority control American vaudeville performers 20th-century American comedians 20th-century American dancers American dance groups Blackface minstrel performers People from Decatur, Illinois American comedy musicians American parodists Parody musicians Brother duos