Sidney Easton | |
---|---|
Born | Savannah, Georgia, U.S. | October 2, 1885
Died | December 24, 1971 | (aged 86)
Occupation(s) | Actor, stage performer, playwright, composer, vocalist, pianist |
Sidney Easton (October 2, 1885 – December 24, 1971) was an African-American actor, stage performer, playwright, composer, vocalist, and pianist. He worked as a performer in minstrel shows, carnivals, burlesque, and vaudeville.[1] Starting in the 1930s he appeared in films.[2]
Sidney Easton was born on October 2, 1885, in Savannah, Georgia.[2][3] However some sources have his date of birth as 1886 or 1891.[1][2] Easton was the eldest of six children, his parents were Eva and King Easton.[4] In childhood, Easton went to work for the John Robinson Circus and later with the A.G. Allan Minstrel Show.[4] He was married to performer Sarah Dooley from 1913 to 1920, ending in her death.[4]
Easton was a member of the Easton Trio.[1] Many of his songs were recorded by various musicians in the 1920s including Elizabeth Smith , Margaret Johnson, Martha Copeland, Fats Waller, Fess Williams and his Royal Flush Orchestra, Joe Simms , Ethel Waters and the Ebony Four, George Bias, Stewart Wille, Virginia Liston, Clarence Williams and the Clarence Williams’ Blue Five, and Eva Taylor.[5]
Easton had a few successful collaborations with the singer Ethel Waters, including the lyrics and composition of the song, "Go Back to Where You Stayed Last Night".[4] Easton was the lyric and instrumental composer and served as a co-producer alongside Joe Simms of the traveling show, Sons of Rest (1920).[6]
In the 1940s, he sued 20th Century Fox the makers of the film, Lifeboat (1944) for having used his play Lifeboat 13 to write the script.[7] The case settled out of court four years later.[4]
The New York Public Library's Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture has a collection of his papers.[4]
Name | Dates | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
How've You Been? | 1925 | Performer, "the happy bootblack" | Traveling musical revue by Pollock Productions, music by Donald Heywood[6] |
Darktown Scandals | 1927 | Performer | Traveling musical revue by Eddie Hunter[6] |
Kilpatrick's (Old Time Minstrels) | April 19, 1930 – April 26, 1930 | Performer | Nine performances at the Royale Theatre, by Henry Myers.[8] Performances were done by an African American cast, however many wore blackface to appear darker and red lips.[8] |
The Pursuit of Happiness | 1933 – 1934 | Performer, Mose | Musical revue at the Sam S. Shubert Theatre in Kansas City, by Alan Child, and Isabelle Louden.[9] |
The Case of Philip Lawrence | June 7, 1937 – July 31, 1937 | Performer, first bodyguard | [3] |
At Home With Ethel Waters | September 22, 1953 – October 10, 1953 | Composer | Music and lyrics for "Go Back Where You Stayed Last Night" |
After Midnight | November 2013 – June 2014 | Composer | Music and lyrics |
Year | Name | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1931 | His Woman | Mark | Film based on the novel The Sentimentalists by Dale Collins (Boston, 1927).[10] |
1932 | Wayward | George | Film based on the novel Wild Beauty by Mateel Howe Farnham (New York, 1930).[11] |
1939 | Paradise in Harlem | Sneeze Ancrum | Easton performed with Babe Matthews in this film.[12][13] |
1941 | Murder on Lenox Avenue | Speed Simmons | [12] |
1940 | Sunday Sinners | Bootsie | [14] |
1946 | Fight That Ghost | Spooky Lighting | [12] |
1947 | The Story of Mr. Hobbs | Ben (butler) | [12] |
1948 | Killer Diller | policeman | |
1948 | Boarding House Blues | Boo Boo |