William M. Whitlock (c. 1813 – 1878) was an American

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 ...

performer. He began his career in entertainment doing blackface

banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and in modern forms is usually made of plastic, where early membranes were made of animal skin. ...

routines in

circus A circus is a company of performers who put on diverse entertainment shows that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, dancers, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, magicians, ventriloquists, and unicy ...

es and dime shows, and by 1843 he was well known in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. He is best known for his role in forming the original

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 ...

troupe, the

Virginia Minstrels The Virginia Minstrels or Virginia Serenaders was a group of 19th-century American entertainers who helped invent the entertainment form known as the minstrel show. Led by Dan Emmett, the original lineup consisted of Emmett, Billy Whitlock, ...

Early career

Whitlock was born in New York City in about 1813. He worked as a

typesetter Typesetting is the composition of Written language, text for publication, display, or distribution by means of arranging metal type, physical ''type'' (or ''sort'') in mechanical systems or ''glyphs'' in digital systems representing ''char ...

for a religious journal, then went to work for the ''

New York Herald The ''New York Herald'' was a large-distribution newspaper based in New York City that existed between 1835 and 1924. At that point it was acquired by its smaller rival the '' New-York Tribune'' to form the '' New York Herald Tribune''. Hi ...

''. Whitlock claimed to have met America's pre-eminent

ist,

Joel Sweeney Joel Walker Sweeney (1810 – October 29, 1860), also known as Joe Sweeney, was an American musician and early blackface minstrel performer. He is known for popularizing the playing of the banjo and has often been credited with advancing the p ...

, in 1838 and to have taken some banjo lessons from him. He joined

P. T. Barnum Phineas Taylor Barnum (July 5, 1810 – April 7, 1891) was an American showman, businessman, and politician remembered for promoting celebrated hoaxes and founding with James Anthony Bailey the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. He was ...

's circus in 1839, where he began his blackface act. By 1840, Whitlock was performing

es, museums, and variety shows and had taken the epithet "King of Banjo players, and the Emperor of Extravaganza Singers". He paired with John Diamond for a time, playing

and singing while Diamond danced. Frank Lynch eventually replaced Diamond, though he took "Frank Diamond" as his stage name. Whitlock also partnered with Dan Gardner, who would dress in

drag Drag or The Drag may refer to: Places * Drag, Norway, a village in Tysfjord municipality, Nordland, Norway * ''Drág'', the Hungarian name for Dragu Commune in Sălaj County, Romania * Drag (Austin, Texas), the portion of Guadalupe Street a ...

as Whitlock's character "Sambo Squash" made romantic overtures. This playbill, written in the stereotyped

African American Vernacular English African-American Vernacular English (AAVE) is the variety of English natively spoken, particularly in urban communities, by most working- and middle-class African Americans and some Black Canadians. Having its own unique grammatical, voca ...

that characterized blackface entertainment, describes Whitlock's basic act:

Now dat Massa Whitlock plays so partic'lar combustious, and will sing dat 'fecting song of Jinny git your Hoe Cake done! and dat first rate ballad of Jim Along Josey! defying all de niggers in de world to charm de people after dat same manner. Dis very partic'lar nigga will jump, dance, and knock his heels in a way dat Mademoiselle
Fanny Elssler Fanny Elssler (born Franziska Elßler; 23 June 181027 November 1884) was an Austrian ''ballerina'' of the Romantic Period. Life and career She was born in Gumpendorf, a neighborhood of Vienna. Her father Johann Florian Elssler was a secon ...
neber did, neber can and neber will do.

Many years later, Whitlock claimed that his Negro impersonations were based on reality. He would "quietly steal off to some negro hut to hear the darkeys sing and see them dance, taking with him a jug of whiskey to make them all the merrier."

Virginia Minstrels

In early 1843, Whitlock became one of the founding members of the

. Whitlock's version of the group's founding holds that Whitlock asked

fiddler A fiddle is a bowed string musical instrument, most often a violin or a bass. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including classical music. Although in many cases violins and fiddles are essentially syno ...

Dan Emmett Daniel Decatur Emmett (October 29, 1815June 28, 1904) was an American composer, entertainer, and founder of the first troupe of the blackface minstrel tradition, the Virginia Minstrels. He is most remembered as the composer of the song "Dixie". ...

to practice with him. They did so on a few occasions, but during one such session,

Frank Brower Francis Marion Brower (November 20, 1823 – June 4, 1874) was an American blackface performer active in the mid-19th century. Brower began performing blackface song-and-dance acts in circuses and variety shows when he was 13. He eventually intro ...

dropped by unannounced and decided to join in on

bones A bone is a rigid organ that constitutes part of the skeleton in most vertebrate animals. Bones protect the various other organs of the body, produce red and white blood cells, store minerals, provide structure and support for the body, an ...

. Richard Pelham soon followed with his

tambourine The tambourine is a musical instrument in the percussion family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called "zills". Classically the term tambourine denotes an instrument with a drumhead, thoug ...

. The Virginia Minstrels put on a full

at the New York

Bowery Amphitheatre The Bowery Amphitheatre was a building in the Bowery neighborhood of New York City. It was located at 37 and 39 Bowery, across the street from the Bowery Theatre. Under a number of different names and managers, the structure served as a circus, ...

on 6 February 1843. Whitlock was the most famous of the foursome, but soon all four names became well known as they toured New York and Boston. Whitlock's banjo was long-necked and four-stringed, though a fifth was added by 1844. He played the instrument by striking the strings with his fingernail. Whitlock also did a "Locomotive Lecture", a predecessor to the

stump speech A political stump speech is a standard speech used by a politician running for office. Typically a candidate who schedules many appearances prepares a short standardized stump speech that is repeated verbatim to each audience, before opening ...

, wherein he feigned a complete lack of knowledge about steam engines and the railroad. Whitlock wrote some music, as well; his "

Miss Lucy Long "Miss Lucy Long", also known as "Lucy Long" as well as by other variants, is an American song that was popularized in the blackface minstrel show. After its introduction to the stage by the Virginia Minstrels in 1843, "Miss Lucy Long" was adopted ...

" became a hit for both the Virginia Minstrels and

Christy's Minstrels Christy's Minstrels, sometimes referred to as the Christy Minstrels, were a blackface group formed by Edwin Pearce Christy, a well-known ballad singer, in 1843, in Buffalo, New York. They were instrumental in the solidification of the minstrel ...

. Whitlock and the troupe left for

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

, on April 21. They performed several minstrel shows in the British Isles, but they broke up after a performance on July 14, 1843, possibly due to low profits. Whitlock returned to New York City with the group's manager, George Wooldridge.

Later career

Back in America, Whitlock returned to his circus blackface act. For a time, he joined T. G. Booth, Cool White, and Barney Williams as a member of the Kentucky Minstrels. On July 28, 1845, Whitlock joined Emmett, Jerry Bryant's Minstrels, Dan Gardner, and

Charles "Charlie" White Charles T. "Charlie" or "Charley" White (1821–1891), was an early blackface minstrel entertainer. Born June 4, 1821 in Newark, New York, White moved with his family at the age of two to New York City, where, before he launched his career as a ...

to form the Operatic Brothers and Sisters. The group put on a week of outdoor performances in

Hoboken, New Jersey Hoboken ( ; ) is a City (New Jersey), city in Hudson County, New Jersey, Hudson County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Hoboken is part of the New York metropolitan area and is the site of Hoboken Terminal, a major transportation hub. As of the ...

. On October 23, he performed at a

benefit concert A benefit concert or charity concert is a type of musical benefit performance (e.g., concert, show, or gala) featuring musicians, comedians, or other performers that is held for a charitable purpose, often directed at a specific and immediate h ...

along with Emmett, Gardner, and other prominent blackface entertainers. His last public blackface performance was at a circus in 1855.Stark 20.

Notes

References

* Crawford, Richard (2001). ''America's Musical Life: A History''. W. W. Norton & Company, Inc. * Emerson, Ken (1997). ''Doo-Dah!: Stephen Foster and the Rise of American Popular Culture''. Da Capo Press. * Nathan, Hans (1962). ''Dan Emmett and the Rise of Early Negro Minstrelsy''. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press. * Stark, Seymour (2001). ''Men in Blackface: True Stories of the Minstrel Show''. Xilibris Corporation. * Tosches, Nick (2001). ''Where Dead Voices Gather''. Little, Brown and Company. {{DEFAULTSORT:Whitlock, Billy 1810s births 1878 deaths American banjoists American male comedians American male dancers 19th-century American male singers 19th-century American singers Songwriters from New York (state) 19th-century American male actors Blackface minstrel performers Blackface minstrel songwriters Singers from New York City American circus performers Comedians from New York City Date of birth missing Date of death missing Place of death missing 19th-century American comedians American male songwriters