Charles Barney Hicks (? – 1902) was an American
advance man
A publicist is a person whose job is to generate and manage publicity for a company, a brand, or public figure – especially a celebrity – or for a work such as a book, film, or album. Publicists are public relations specialists wh ...
,
manager
Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business.
Management includes the activities o ...
, performer, and owner of
blackface
Blackface is a form of theatrical makeup used predominantly by non-Black people to portray a caricature of a Black person.
In the United States, the practice became common during the 19th century and contributed to the spread of racial stereo ...
minstrel
A minstrel was an entertainer, initially in medieval Europe. It 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 entertainer who ...
troupes composed of African-American performers. Hicks himself was a minstrel performer who could sing and play challenging roles such as the minstrel-show
interlocutor or endmen. However, he was most interested in the business side of minstrelsy. Over the course of his career, he worked with most successful black minstrel troupes as manager, owner or both. The white-dominated minstrel market proved hostile to a black owner, and Hicks (like his contemporary,
Lew Johnson
Lew Johnson (–1910) was an African-American owner and business manager of blackface minstrel troupes composed of African-American performers. His career began in the mid-1860s and spanned 25 years. Johnson is the only black minstrel-troupe owner ...
) had to travel abroad or manage for white owners in order to make a reliable living. Nevertheless, both white and black rivals came to respect him. One observer in 1891 wrote, "This man Hicks was a dangerous man to all outside managers and they all were afraid of him." In 1912, Hicks was the sole African American listed on
M. B. Leavitt's list of "best known advance agents during the last fifty years".
Career
![Harvard Theatre Collection - Georgia Minstrels TCS 1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/52/Harvard_Theatre_Collection_-_Georgia_Minstrels_TCS_1.440_-_cropped.jpg)
Hicks's first major accomplishment was the key role he played in 1865 to form
Brooker and Clayton's Georgia Minstrels. He served as the manager and probably performed with them during a tour through the Northeastern United States in 1865-6. Hicks and company became the first black minstrel troupe to have a successful season.
Hicks left Brooker and Clayton's in 1866 to try his hand at owning and managing a company of his own, becoming the first black man to do both simultaneously. Over the next four years, Hicks started and disbanded a number of unsuccessful groups. He played up his black minstrels' connection to legitimate black culture with names like the Slave Troupe or the Georgia Slave Brothers, and evidence suggests that Hicks's companies did draw significant numbers of black viewers. In early 1869, a
Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...
newspaper reported that the "colored element of the city turned out en masse" to see Hicks's Georgia Slave Troupe. In 1870, Hicks and his partner
Bob Height
Bob Height was an American 19th century African-American blackface minstrel performer. He was a standout talent in the companies with which he performed, although frustrations eventually drove him to pursue a career in Europe. Later writers have co ...
led
Hicks and Height's Georgia Minstrels on tour in
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
, the first black minstrel troupe to perform in that country.
Hicks left mid-tour to star with
Sam Hague's Slave Troupe of Georgia Minstrels. He also became a
correspondent
A correspondent or on-the-scene reporter is usually a journalist or commentator for a magazine, or an agent who contributes reports to a newspaper, or radio or television news, or another type of company, from a remote, often distant, locati ...
for the
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
entertainment journal, ''
The Clipper
''The Clipper'' was a weekly labor-orientated newspaper published in Hobart, Tasmania, from 8 April 1893 until 25 December 1909, before its merger with the '' Daily Post'' in 1910.
History
Its first editor was James Paton, a Christian sociali ...
'', a position he used to tout his accomplishments abroad. Upon their return to the United States in 1872, the troupe was bought by
Charles Callender
Charles Callender was the owner of blackface minstrel troupes that featured African American performers. Although a tavern owner by trade, he entered show business in 1872 when he purchased Sam Hague's Slave Troupe of Georgia Minstrels.
Renaming ...
, and Hicks stayed on until 1873 as
business manager
The Oxford English Dictionary defines a business manager as "a person who manages the business affairs of an individual, institution, organization, or company".
Compare manager.
Business managers drive the work of others (if any) in order to oper ...
. He next managed two more ill-fated troupes, Charles Hick's African Minstrels and Charles Hick's Georgia Minstrels. His next job was as manager of
Sprague and Blodgett's Georgia Minstrels in 1876.
In 1877, Hicks lured a company away from promoter
J. H. Haverly
Christopher Haverly (1837–1901), better known as J. H. Haverly or John H. "Jack" Haverly, was an American theatre manager and promoter of blackface minstrel shows. During the 1870s and 1880s, he created an entertainment empire centered on his m ...
and
Tom Maguire
Tom Maguire (28 March 1892 – 5 July 1993) was an Irish republican who held the rank of commandant-general in the Western Command of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) and led the South Mayo flying column.
Early life
Tom Maguire was born 28 Mar ...
and called them
Hick's Georgia Minstrels">icGeorgia Minstrels. Within a few months, Hicks led them to a tour in
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
. They played there for three years, during which Hicks wrote again for ''The Clipper''. Hicks also perfected his flair for promotion in Australia. Ads raved, "PIRATES BEWARE! WE ARE STILL ON THE WAR PATH" and "THE HEROES OF MONTREAL, SARATOGA, CHICAGO, SAN FRANCISCO AND NOW AUSTRALIA STILL LIVE!" He advertised his return to U.S. soil in July 1880 with an ad that read, "MISSING MAN TURNS UP HOME AGAIN."
[Advertisement quoted in Toll, 214.] Over the next few years, he managed and performed with a number of troupes owned by others.
In late 1881 or early 1882, Hicks persuaded Callender's current black troupe to join him in western
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
. On Callender's orders,
Gustave and
Charles Frohman
Charles Frohman (July 15, 1856 – May 7, 1915) was an American theater manager and producer, who discovered and promoted many stars of the American stage. Notably, he produced ''Peter Pan'', both in London and the US, the latter production ...
won them back, possibly by threatening to
blacklist
Blacklisting is the action of a group or authority compiling a blacklist (or black list) of people, countries or other entities to be avoided or distrusted as being deemed unacceptable to those making the list. If someone is on a blacklist, t ...
the wayward performers. Hicks's later stint as business manager for
A. D. Sawyer and
Tom McIntosh
Thomas S. "Tom" McIntosh (February 6, 1927 - July 26, 2017) was an American jazz trombonist, composer, arranger, and conductor.
McIntosh was born in Baltimore, Maryland, the eldest of six siblings. He also had an elder half-sibling by his fath ...
failed, possibly indicating that Hicks had himself been blacklisted.
In 1885, Hicks managed
Billy Kersands's troupe but left after less than a year. He again formed his own company, this time with A. D. Sawyer. They bickered, and within a year, they were managing rival troupes, both under the name
Hicks and Sawyer's Consolidated Colored Minstrels. Hicks's portion failed to make money, so he moved to playing
dime shows, museums, and other lower-paying venues. Eventually, Hicks formed another troupe and took them to Australia,
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
, and other Pacific countries. He died in 1902 in
Suraboya,
Java
Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's List ...
.
Notes
References
*Toll, Robert C. (1974). ''Blacking Up: The Minstrel Show in Nineteenth-century America''. New York: Oxford University Press.
*Watkins, Mel (1994). ''On the Real Side: Laughing, Lying, and Signifying—The Underground Tradition of African-American Humor that Transformed American Culture, from Slavery to Richard Pryor.'' New York: Simon & Schuster.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hicks, Charles
1902 deaths
African-American people
Blackface minstrel managers and producers
Blackface minstrel performers
Year of birth missing