Anita Bush (September 1, 1883 – February 16, 1974) was an African American stage actress and playwright. She founded the Anita Bush All-Colored Dramatic Stock Company in 1915, a pioneering black repertory theatre company that helped gain her the moniker "The Little Mother of Colored Drama".

Biography

Anita Bush was born to Chapman Bush and Annie Elizabeth Bush, née Brown, on September 1, 1883, in

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. When she was three years old, the family moved to

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, where her father, a master tailor, became “a theatrical costumer whose clients included many New York actors and performers”. She grew up spending many hours working alongside her father, and delivered costumes to the theaters. She was exposed to legitimate shows in theaters where blacks were not allowed, and to many white theater actors and actresses. While working with her father, she also she acted alongside her sister in

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

's ''

Antony and Cleopatra ''Antony and Cleopatra'' (First Folio title: ''The Tragedie of Anthonie, and Cleopatra'') is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. The play was first performed, by the King's Men, at either the Blackfriars Theatre or the Globe Theatre in around ...

'', which inspired her to pursue a career in the theater. While working with her father at the Bijou Theater, she saw the renowned vaudeville company of

Bert Williams Bert Williams (November 12, 1874 – March 4, 1922) was a Bahamian-born American entertainer, one of the pre-eminent entertainers of the Vaudeville era and one of the most popular comedians for all audiences of his time. He is credited as being ...

and

George Walker George Walker may refer to: Arts and letters * George Walker (chess player) (1803–1879), English chess player and writer *George Walker (composer) (1922–2018), American composer * George Walker (illustrator) (1781–1856), author of ''The Co ...

( Williams and Walker Co.), performing ''

In Dahomey ''In Dahomey: A Negro Musical Comedy'' is a landmark 1903 American musical comedy described by theatre historian Gerald Bordman as "the first full-length musical written and played by blacks to be performed at a major Broadway house."Bordman, G ...

''. It was during this time that she asked her father for permission to audition for the group, in hopes to gain a career in acting. At the age of 17, she was cast with the company and it allowed her to tour the world and pave a way for her to form her own companies. With the Bijou Theater Company, she “traveled to England with the musical and later performed in the Chorus of four other Williams and Walker shows”. After performing in her final play, ''Mr. Lode of Koal'' with the troop, she formed her own dance group, Anita Bush and her 8 Shimmy Babies. Unfortunately, at the break of her career she had to stop dancing due to a back injury, which then inspired her to pursue a full-time career in theater drama.

Career

In the early part of the 20th century, Bush worked extensively as a dancer in musical theatre and vaudeville performing with the likes of Williams and Walker Co. While working with Maria C. Downs she put on vaudeville acts and plays. With a signed contract with Elmore, Bush went to Billie Burke, a Harlem-based white director/playwright to stage his play, ''The Girl at the Fort,'' a light comedy with five characters. Bush then assembled the cast which included

Carlotta Freeman Carlotta Freeman (June 11, 1954) was an American stage actress. She was one of the first African American women in the legitimate theatre. Biography Born Carlotta Thomas, she made her professional acting debut in 1905 and her first appearance o ...

Dooley Wilson Arthur "Dooley" Wilson (April 3, 1886 – May 30, 1953) was an American actor, singer and musician who is best remembered for his portrayal of Sam in the 1942 film ''Casablanca (film), Casablanca''. In that romantic drama, he performs its theme ...

and

Andrew S. Bishop Andrew S. Bishop (1894–1959) was an actor on stage and screen. He and Cleo Desmond drew adoring fans to their theatrical performances. He starred in several of Oscar Michaux's African American films. He was part of the Anita Bush stock compan ...

. The play opened at the

Lincoln Theatre (Harlem) The Lincoln Theatre is a theater located on 135th Street near Lenox Avenue in Harlem, New York City. It opened in 1915 and was the first theater in a then predominantly white neighborhood in Harlem to cater to black audiences. The theater reached it ...

in November 1915. For the next six weeks, Bush's company presented a different play every two weeks to much success. The success of Downs's and Bush's team allowed them to generate more revenue and popularity. At this point, Downs asked Bush to change the name of her company from the Anita Bush Stock Company to the Lincoln Players. Bush's response to the request was, “… he moved her company to the Lafayette Theater to open with a sketch, ''Over the Footlights''”. Anita Bush 1937

The Lafayette Players

Bush founded The Anita Bush Stock Company in 1915 after presenting the idea of launching a dramatic stock company to Eugene "Frenchy" Elmore, the assistant manager of the Lincoln Theatre, an established vaudeville house in the

Harlem Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street (Manhattan), 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and 110th Street (Manhattan), ...

section of

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. Although her company had not yet been established, she convinced Elmore that she could mount a production in just two weeks. In March 1916, the Lafayette Theatre purchased the rights to her company and changed its name to The Lafayette Players. Bush then organized four additional companies of the Lafayette Players which toured throughout the United States. At the Lafayette Theatre, Bush's company would mount a new play every week. Throughout the Lafayette Players lifetime with Bush, she reached a point where she could no longer afford the group and sold her right to her “co-manager”.

Lester Walton Lester Aglar Walton (April 20, 1882 – October 16, 1965) was a St. Louis-born Harlem Renaissance polymath and intellectual, a well-known figure in his day, who advanced civil rights in significant and prescient ways in journalism, entertainm ...

. Even though she no longer managed the Players, Bush is credited with its founding and with establishing its reputation for excellence and for launching the careers of Charles Gilpin,

Evelyn Preer Evelyn Preer (née Jarvis; July 26, 1896 – November 17, 1932), was a pioneering American stage and screen actress and jazz and blues singer of the 1910s through the early 1930s. Preer was known within the black community as "The First Lady of ...

and others.. She faithfully remained with the company until 1920, when she left to pursue a career in film.

Silent Films

Bush was approached in 1921 by Richard E. Norman, a white filmmaker who's Norman Studios (also known as the Norman Film Manufacturing Company) was among the first companies to produce “race films”—films with positive, family-friendly storylines starring African American characters in positive, non-stereotypical roles. Bush appeared in ''

The Bull-Dogger ''The Bull-Dogger'' is a 1922 American five-reel silent film, silent Western (genre), Western film starring Bill Pickett, an African American and Native American who is credited with inventing bulldogging or steer wrestling. It was filmed on loc ...

'' (1921), starring renowned Black rodeo cowboy

Bill Pickett Willie M. Pickett (December 5, 1870 – April 2, 1932) was a cowboy, rodeo, Wild West show performer and actor. In 1989, Pickett was inducted into the ProRodeo Hall of Fame. Personal life Pickett was born in the Jenks Branch community of Willia ...

and starred in '' The Crimson Skull'' (1922) with vaudeville performer

Lawrence Chenault Lawrence Chenault (November 23, 1877 – December 27, 1943)Wintz, Cary D. and Paul Finkelman. Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance. Ebook, Taylor & Francis group. 2004 was an American vaudeville performer and silent film actor. He appeared in ...

, also with Pickett.

Death

Anita Bush died at the age of 90 in her Bronx, New York home on February 16, 1974. Anita Bush c. 1970.jpg, Anita Bush, c. 1970

Known Works

Stage

*''

'', 1903 *''

'', 1914 *''Across the Footlights'', 1915 *''Within the Law'', 1915-1916 *'' The Octoroon or Life in Louisiana'', 1916 *''

Madame X ''Madame X'' (original title ''La Femme X'') is a 1908 play by French playwright Alexandre Bisson (1848–1912). It was novelized in English and adapted for the American stage; it was also adapted for the screen twelve times over sixty-five ...

'', 1916-1917 *''

Very Good Eddie ''Very Good Eddie'' is a musical with a book by Guy Bolton and Philip Bartholomae, music by Jerome Kern, and lyrics by Schuyler Greene, with additional lyrics by Elsie Janis, Herbert Reynolds, Harry B. Smith, John E. Hazzard, Ring Lardner and Jer ...

'', 1917-1918 *''Goethe’s Faust'', 1917-1918

Film

*''

'', 1921 *'' The Crimson Skull'', 1922

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bush, Anita 1883 births 1974 deaths American silent film actresses 20th-century American actresses African-American actresses American film actresses American stage actresses Actresses from New York City People from Brooklyn 20th-century African-American women 20th-century African-American people