William King (circa 1869 or 1875 – 1951) was an African-American
vaudeville
Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic composition ...
comedian who led the ‘’’Billy King Stock Company’’’ who was described as "a living link between the
Harlem Renaissance
The Harlem Renaissance was an intellectual and cultural revival of African American music, dance, art, fashion, literature, theater, politics and scholarship centered in Harlem, Manhattan, New York City, spanning the 1920s and 1930s. At the t ...
He was born in Whistler, Alabama, but left home when young. He formed his own company, "King and Bush, Wide-Mouth Minstrels", before joining the Georgia Minstrels. By around 1902 he was established as one of the leading comedians in the travelling troupe. He moved into vaudeville in 1911, and established his own company, writing prolifically and touring between bases in
Atlanta
Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...
,
Kansas City
The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more ...
,
Savannah
A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the Canopy (forest), canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to rea ...
and elsewhere. The company included comedian
Billy Higgins
Billy Higgins (October 11, 1936 – May 3, 2001) was an American jazz drummer. He played mainly free jazz and hard bop.
Biography
Higgins was born in Los Angeles, California, United States. Higgins played on Ornette Coleman's first records, be ...
. In 1915, he and his company performed regularly at the Grand Theatre in
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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Bessie Brown
Bessie Brown (1890–1955) also known as "The Original" Bessie Brown, was an American classic female blues, jazz, and cabaret singer. She sometimes recorded under the pseudonyms Sadie Green, Caroline Lee, and possibly Helen Richards. Brown was ...
and
Howard Kelly Howard Kelly may refer to:
* Howard Kelly (Royal Navy officer) - (1873-1952) Royal Navy admiral
* Howard Atwood Kelly
Howard Atwood Kelly (February 20, 1858 – January 12, 1943) was an American gynecologist. He obtained his B.A. degree and M.D ...
.
Between 1916 and 1923, he wrote, staged and starred in a succession of shows at the theater, often changing shows every week. He was responsible for introducing girls clowning at the end of chorus lines, an innovation later developed by
Josephine Baker
Josephine Baker (born Freda Josephine McDonald; naturalised French Joséphine Baker; 3 June 1906 – 12 April 1975) was an American-born French dancer, singer and actress. Her career was centered primarily in Europe, mostly in her adopted Fran ...
, and his shows sometimes included satire on race issues, with
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 ...
likening one of his shows to an
NAACP
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E.&nb ...
protest meeting. Some of his shows went on tour to
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), ...
and other established vaudeville circuit stops, and he employed a large group of performers who included his protégé
Gertrude Saunders
Gertrude C. Saunders (August 25, 1903 – April 1991) was an American singer, actress and comedian, active from the 1910s to the 1940s.
Biography
She was born in Asheville, North Carolina, and studied at Benedict College, Columbia before leavi ...
, and
Billy Higgins
Billy Higgins (October 11, 1936 – May 3, 2001) was an American jazz drummer. He played mainly free jazz and hard bop.
Biography
Higgins was born in Los Angeles, California, United States. Higgins played on Ornette Coleman's first records, be ...
. King was also involved in running theaters in
Louisville
Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border.
...
,
Chattanooga
Chattanooga ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States. Located along the Tennessee River bordering Georgia, it also extends into Marion County on its western end. With a population of 181,099 in 2020, ...
, Atlanta and elsewhere.
From 1923 until 1925 he took his Billy King Road Show on tour until it disbanded in
Oklahoma City
Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, it ranks 20th among United States cities in population, a ...
. The band remained together as
Walter Page
Walter Sylvester Page (February 9, 1900 – December 20, 1957) was an American jazz multi-instrumentalist and bandleader, best known for his groundbreaking work as a double bass player with Walter Page's Blue Devils and the Count Basie Orchestr ...
's
Oklahoma City Blue Devils
The Oklahoma City Blue Devils was the premier American Southwest territory jazz band in the 1920s. Originally called Billy King's Road Show, it disbanded in Oklahoma City in 1925 where Walter Page renamed it. The name ''Blue Devils'' came from t ...
, which in turn later provided the basis for
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 ...
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 not ...
in 1926. In 1937 he was elected president of the Colored Actors' Protective Society in
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 ...
.
He is believed to have died in New York in 1951.