Irving Sayles (1872 – 8 February 1914) 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 ...

entertainer. He spent much of his life in Australia as a popular

minstrel show The minstrel show, also called minstrelsy, was an American form of racist theatrical entertainment developed in the early 19th century. Each show consisted of comic skits, variety acts, dancing, and music performances that depicted people spe ...

performer, touring the

Tivoli circuit The Tivoli Circuit was a successful and popular Australian vaudeville entertainment circuit featuring revue, opera, ballet, dance, singing, musical comedy, old time black and white minstrel and even Shakespeare which flourished from 1893 to th ...

. He performed

coon song Coon songs were a genre of music that presented a stereotype of black people. They were popular in the United States and Australia from around 1880 to 1920, though the earliest such songs date from minstrel shows as far back as 1848, when they w ...

s and employed a self-deprecating humor involving comic interpretations of plantation slavery that reinforced negative racial stereotypes.

Early years and work in Australia

Irving Sayles was born in

Quincy, Illinois Quincy ( ), known as Illinois's "Gem City", is a city in and the county seat of Adams County, Illinois, United States, located on the Mississippi River. The 2020 census counted a population of 39,463 in the city itself, down from 40,633 in 2010. ...

, to Melinda (''née'' Wilson) and Josephus Sayles. He reported his year of birth as 1872. He became a member of

Haverly's United Mastodon Minstrels Haverly's United Mastodon Minstrels was a blackface minstrel troupe created in 1877, when J. H. Haverly merged four of the companies he owned and managed. Promotion Borrowing techniques from showmen like P. T. Barnum, Haverly advertised the M ...

at a young age. In 1888 he traveled to Australia as part of the Hicks-Sawyer Minstrels, the second company that minstrelsy manager Charles Hicks brought to Australia. That September, the group played the Opera House in Sydney, where Sayles performed a solo piece and played the tambourine. Following a leg in

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

, Hicks wrote in 1890 that Sayles was the hit of their trip, saying that " s song, 'Father of a Little Black Coon,' gets three and four encores nightly." After the minstrel group broke up in 1890, Sayles went to

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

, where he worked for Frank Clark. He met Charlie Pope and the two formed a

double act A double act (also known as a comedy duo) is a form of comedy originating in the British music hall tradition, and American vaudeville, in which two comedians perform together as a single act. Pairings are typically long-term, in some cases f ...

, with Pope playing the straight man. They worked for theatre owner

Harry Rickards Harry Rickards (4 December 1843 – 13 October 1911), born Henry Benjamin Leete, was an English-born baritone, comedian and theatre owner, most active in vaudeville and stage, first in his native England and then Australia after emigrating in 1 ...

Later life

Sayles entered Australia prior to the

White Australia policy The White Australia policy is a term encapsulating a set of historical policies that aimed to forbid people of non-European ethnic origin, especially Asians (primarily Chinese) and Pacific Islanders, from immigrating to Australia, starting i ...

and the

Immigration Restriction Act 1901 The Immigration Restriction Act 1901 was an Act of the Parliament of Australia which limited immigration to Australia and formed the basis of the White Australia policy which sought to exclude all non-Europeans from Australia. The law granted i ...

. He participated in amateur races and in 1897 he married Englishwoman Edith Carter in Melbourne. From 1909 until his death he partnered with Les Warton. He made a long run as the cornerman "Tambo" and appeared on the cover of ''Theatre'' magazine in 1911.

Death

Sayles died suddenly from a blood clot on 8 February 1914 in

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon River / ...

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 ...

, after performing on the Brennan-Fuller vaudeville circuit as part of Fuller's Vaudeville Company. He was 42. He was buried in

Linwood Linwood may refer to: Places Many of the place names for Linwood come from the presence of linden trees. Australia *Linwood, South Australia * Linnwood, Guildford, 11-35 Byron Road, Guildford, New South Wales Canada * Linwood, Ontario * Linwood, ...

."Death of Irving Sayles: A noted Vaudeville Performer", ''The Theatre'', March 2, 1914, pp. 38–39.

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Early years and work in Australia

Later life

Death

Notes

References

Further reading