Clinton "Dusty" Fletcher (July 8, 1900 – March 15, 1954) was an African-American

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 ...

performer and comedian, who was best known for the comedy routine which became a hit record in 1947, "

Open the Door, Richard "Open the Door, Richard" is a song first recorded by the saxophonist Jack McVea for Black & White Records at the suggestion of A&R man Ralph Bass. In 1947, it was the number one song on ''Billboards "Honor Roll of Hits" and became a runaway ...

Routine "Open the Door, Richard!"

Born in

El Dorado, Arkansas El Dorado ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Union County, Arkansas, Union County, on the southern border of Arkansas, United States. According to the 2020 census, the population of the city is 17,755. El Dorado is headquarters of the Ark ...

, Fletcher refined his act over at least twenty years in vaudeville before the 1940s. He would come on stage dressed in rags, acting drunk, muttering and complaining about trying to find his way home. He would then bring out a ladder, and try to set it up so he could get in through a window. Every so often he would crash sprawling on the floor while shouting "Open the Door, Richard!".

Revue ''Fast and Furious''

In August and September 1931 Clinton (Dusty) Fletcher was one of 90 performers in the all Negro revue, ''Fast and Furious'', produced by Forbes Randolph. The revue was performed at the Brantd's Boulevard Theater and later at the New York Theater on Broadway. Fletcher performed in at least five numbers, Football Game, in which he played the Captain of Lincoln's Team; Ham What Am, in which he played Dusty; Macbeth, in which he played MacDuff; The Silent Bootlegger, in which he played the bootlegger; and in Clinton Dusty Fletcher in which he played himself in his comedy act.

Song and recording "Open the Door, Richard!"

In 1946, bandleader

Jack McVea John Vivian McVea (November 5, 1914 – December 27, 2000) was an American swing, blues, and rhythm and blues woodwind player and bandleader. He played clarinet and tenor and baritone saxophone. Career Born in Los Angeles, California, his fa ...

fashioned Fletcher's routine into the lyrics of a song, which he recorded with his band. McVea's record became a big hit, and Fletcher, by now semi-retired, was found living in South Carolina by

Herb Abramson Herbert Charles Abramson (November 16, 1916 – November 9, 1999) was an American record executive, record producer, and co-founder of Atlantic Records. Life and career Abramson was born in 1916 to a Jewish family in Brooklyn. He studied to be a ...

National Records National Records was a record label that was started in New York City by Albert Green in 1945 and lasted until early 1951. Big Joe Turner was signed at the beginning and remained until 1947. Billy Eckstine was also a big seller for the label as ...

. He made his own recording of the song, using McVea's arrangement, which made number 3 on US ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' R&B

chart A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphics, graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can repres ...

. It sold in excess of one million copies. The song was also

covered Cover or covers may refer to: Packaging * Another name for a lid * Cover (philately), generic term for envelope or package * Album cover, the front of the packaging * Book cover or magazine cover ** Book design ** Back cover copy, part of ...

by many others including

Count Basie William James "Count" Basie (; August 21, 1904 – April 26, 1984) was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. In 1935, he formed the Count Basie Orchestra, and in 1936 took them to Chicago for a long engagement and the ...

Louis Jordan Louis Thomas Jordan (July 8, 1908 – February 4, 1975) was an American saxophonist, multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and bandleader who was popular from the late 1930s to the early 1950s. Known as "Honorific nicknames in popular music, the King ...

, and

Pigmeat Markham Dewey "Pigmeat" Markham (April 18, 1904 – December 13, 1981) was an African American entertainer. Though best known as a comedian, Markham was also a singer, dancer, and actor. His nickname came from a stage routine, in which he declared himse ...

. National Records began a lawsuit to claim Fletcher's royalties as the originator of the routine which led to McVea's hit. However, a

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 ...

vaudeville comedian, John "Spider Bruce" Mason then claimed that Fletcher had originally stolen the routine from him in the 1920s. Eventually, McVea, Fletcher and Mason were all co-credited with writing McVea's version.Jim Dawson and

Steve Propes Stephen C. "Steve" Propes (b. about 1943)
Steve Hochman, ''

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is an American civil rights organization formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E. B. Du&nbs ...

(NAACP) publicly attacked the song, particularly Fletcher's version, for making light of public drunkenness and playing on the stereotype of black men as shiftless and ignorant. Fletcher continued to perform the routine, particularly at the

Apollo Theatre The Apollo Theatre is a listed building, Grade II listed West End theatre in Shaftesbury Avenue in the City of Westminster, in central London.

in New York, until shortly before his death.

Family

Fletcher had one daughter Helen Fletcher with original

Cotton Club The Cotton Club was a 20th-century nightclub in New York City. It was located on 142nd Street and Lenox Avenue from 1923 to 1936, then briefly in the midtown Theater District until 1940. The club operated during the United States' era of P ...

dancer Sadie Mae Fletcher. He had two granddaughters.

Filmography

* '' Hi De Ho'' (1947) * ''

Boarding House Blues ''Boarding House Blues'' is a 1948 American musical race film directed by Josh Binney which featured the first starring film role by Moms Mabley. It was the penultimate feature film of All-American News, a company that made newsreels about blac ...

'' (1948) * '' Killer Diller'' (1948)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fletcher, Dusty 1900 births 1954 deaths American vaudeville performers People from Des Moines, Iowa