Tutt Brothers
Salem Tutt Whitney (1869 – 1934) and J. Homer Tutt (1882 – 1951), known collectively as the Tutt Brothers, were American vaudeville producers, writers, and performers of the late 19th and early 20th century. They were also known as Whitney & Tutt, Tutt & Whitney and the Whitney Brothers. They were prominent in black vaudeville and created over 40 revues for black audiences.
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Biography
Salem Tutt Whitney was born on September 16, 1878 (some sources say he was born in 1876, and still others say 1869) in Logansport, Indiana[1], as was his brother J. Homer Tutt, who was born there on January 31, 1882.[2] They referred to themselves as brothers, and may have been half-brothers.[3] Whitney originally intended to become a minister but later decided to become a performer, and left college.[2] He attended the National School of Journalism and gained amateur experience in acting, comedy and writing.[2] He married singer Emma Baynard (sister of William A. Baynard); she died at a young age in 1908.[4]
From 1888 through 1905, the brothers performed in their traveling tent show called Silas Green from New Orleans.[5] The show, which ran until the 1940s, was bought by circus owner Eph Williams although the brothers never received payment.[5][6] They formed the Smart Set Company in the 1910s, possibly taken over from Sherman H. Dudley.[3][7] From 1910–1925 Whitney and Tutt produced more than 40 revues for black performers and audiences, writing and performing in the shows themselves.[3] Some of their performers found fame in their own right, including blues singer Mamie Smith who danced in the brothers' Smart Set as a teenager.[3][8]
One of the Brothers' main productions was a musical farce called George Washington Bullion. Starring Whitney as a tobacco plantation owner, it was popular with audiences and ran for two decades.[6] Their musical Oh Joy! played on Broadway for four weeks.[6] It had originally starred Ethel Waters when performed in Boston, but when the only theatre space they could find in New York City was on a tennis court under a tent, Waters pulled out and was replaced by Ethel Williams.[3] Both of the brothers played in Marc Connelly's play The Green Pastures (1930).[6] They also acted in films including Birthright (1924), Marcus Garland (1925), The Broken Violin (1927), and A Daughter of the Congo (1930). Salem Tutt Whitney died in Chicago, February 12, 1934, and J. Homer Tutt died in Los Angeles, February 10, 1951.[3][9]
Works
- Silas Green from New Orleans (ca. 1903-ca. 1953)
- Blackville Strollers (1908-1909)
- The Mayor of Newtown (1909)
- George Washington Bullion (1910)
- The Wrong Mr. President (1913)
- His Excellency, the President (1914)
- George Washington Bullion Abroad (1915)
- How Newtown Prepared (1916)
- My People (1917)
- Darkest Americans (1918-1919)
- (The) Children of the Sun (1919-1920)
- Betwixt and Between (1920s)
- Bamboula (1921)
- Small Town Doings (1921)
- Jump Steady (1922)
- Oh Joy! (1922)
- North Ain't South (1923)
- Come Along Mandy (1923-1924)
- Who Struck John? (1923-1924)
- Hide and Seek (1924)
- Non-Sense (1925)
- When Malinda Sings (1925)
- Rainbow Chasers (1926)
- Deep Harlem (1929)
- The Witching Eyes (1929) directed by Ernest Stern[10]
References
- Floyd J. Calvin. "Salem Tutt Whitney Scores Poor Stage Facilities." Pittsburgh Courier, January 1, 1927, p. 13.
- Peterson, Bernard L. (2001). Profiles of African American Stage Performers and Theatre People, 1816-1960. Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 266–269. ISBN 0-313-29534-4.
- Cullen, Frank; Hackman, Florence; McNeilly, Donald (2007). Vaudeville, Old and New. Routledge. p. 1136. ISBN 0-415-93853-8.
- Peterson (2001), p. 21
- Peterson, Bernard L. (1990). Early Black American Playwrights and Dramatic Writers. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 9. ISBN 0-313-26621-2.
- Hill, Errol; Hatch, James Vernon (2003). A History of African American Theatre. Cambridge University Press. p. 209. ISBN 0-521-62443-6.
- In latter years, it was called The Smarter Set Company, possibly to avoid conflict with the publisher of the magazine The Smart Set.
- Oliver, Paul, "Smith (née Robinson), Mamie", The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz, 2nd edition, Oxford University Press, retrieved April 22, 2010
- "Salem Tutt Whitney, Veteran Actor, Dies in Chicago; Long Ill." New York Age, February 17, 1934. According to this obituary, S.T. Whitney was a native of Indiana.
- Workman, Christopher; Howarth, Troy (2016). Tome of Terror: Horror Films of the Silent Era. Midnight Marquee Press. p. 348. ISBN 978-1936168-68-2.
External links
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