Sidney Easton (October 2, 1885December 24, 1971) was an African-American actor, stage performer, playwright, composer, vocalist, and pianist. He worked as a performer in

minstrel A minstrel was an entertainer, initially in medieval Europe. The term originally described any type of entertainer such as a musician, juggler, acrobat, singer or fool; later, from the sixteenth century, it came to mean a specialist enter ...

shows,

carnival Carnival (known as Shrovetide in certain localities) is a festive season that occurs at the close of the Christian pre-Lenten period, consisting of Quinquagesima or Shrove Sunday, Shrove Monday, and Shrove Tuesday or Mardi Gras. Carnival typi ...

burlesque A burlesque is a literary, dramatic or musical work intended to cause laughter by caricaturing the manner or spirit of serious works, or by ludicrous treatment of their subjects.

, and

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 ...

. Starting in the 1930s he appeared in films.

Biography

Sidney Easton was born on October 2, 1885, in

Savannah, Georgia Savannah ( ) is the oldest city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia and the county seat of Chatham County, Georgia, Chatham County. Established in 1733 on the Savannah River, the city of Savannah became the Kingdom of Great Brita ...

. However some sources have his date of birth as 1886 or 1891. Easton was the eldest of six children, his parents were Eva and King Easton. In childhood, Easton went to work for the

John Robinson Circus John H. Robinson (circus), John H. Robinson created the John Robinson Circus, whose winter quarters were in Terrace Park, Ohio. Famous elephants Chief "Chief", an elephant from John Robinson's circus, killed his trainer in Charlotte, North Caro ...

and later with the A.G. Allan Minstrel Show. He was married to performer Sarah Dooley from 1913 to 1920, ending in her death. Easton was a member of the Easton Trio. Many of his songs were recorded by various musicians in the 1920s including , Margaret Johnson,

Martha Copeland Martha Copeland (–1894; date of death unknown) was an American classic female blues singer. She recorded 34 songs between 1923 and 1928. She was promoted by Columbia Records as "Everybody's Mammy", but her records did not sell in the quantiti ...

Fats Waller Thomas Wright "Fats" Waller (May 21, 1904 – December 15, 1943) was an American jazz pianist, organist, composer, and singer. His innovations in the Harlem stride style laid much of the basis for modern jazz piano. A widely popular star ...

Fess Williams and his Royal Flush Orchestra Fess Williams and his Royal Flush Orchestra was the main band of clarinetist Fess Williams from 1926–1930 Brief history In 1926 Williams formed the Royal Flush Orchestra. The popular hot jazz outfit held residency at Harlem's Savoy Ballro ...

, ,

Ethel Waters Ethel Waters (October 31, 1896 – September 1, 1977) was an American singer and actress. Waters frequently performed jazz, swing, and pop music on the Broadway stage and in concerts. She began her career in the 1920s singing blues. Her no ...

and the Ebony Four, George Bias, Stewart Wille,

Virginia Liston Virginia Liston (''née'' Crawford; c. 1890 – June 1932) was an American classic female blues and jazz singer. She spent most of her career in vaudeville. She performed with her husband, Samuel H. Gray, as Liston and Liston. In the 1920s s ...

, Clarence Williams and the Clarence Williams’ Blue Five, and

Eva Taylor Eva Taylor (January 22, 1895 — October 31, 1977) was an American blues singer and stage actress. Life and career She was born Irene Joy Gibbons in St. Louis, Missouri, as one of twelve children. On stage from the age of three, Taylor tour ...

. Easton had a few successful collaborations with the singer Ethel Waters, including the lyrics and composition of the song, "Go Back to Where You Stayed Last Night". Easton was the lyric and instrumental composer and served as a co-producer alongside Joe Simms of the traveling show, ''Sons of Rest'' (1920). In the 1940s, he sued

20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc., formerly 20th Century Fox, is an American film studio, film production and Film distributor, distribution company owned by the Walt Disney Studios (division), Walt Disney Studios, the film studios division of the ...

the makers of the film, '' Lifeboat'' (1944) for having used his play ''Lifeboat 13'' to write the script. The case settled out of court four years later. The

New York Public Library The New York Public Library (NYPL) is a public library system in New York City. With nearly 53 million items and 92 locations, the New York Public Library is the second-largest public library in the United States behind the Library of Congress a ...

Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture is a research library of the New York Public Library (NYPL) and an archive repository for information on people of African descent worldwide. Located at 515 Malcolm X Boulevard (Lenox Avenue) be ...

has a collection of his papers.

Theater and stage

Filmography

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Easton, Sidney 1885 births 1971 deaths Musicians from Savannah, Georgia Blackface minstrel performers American dramatists and playwrights 20th-century African-American male actors