Billy B. Van

Billy B. Van (August 3, 1878 – November 16, 1950) was a prominent entertainer in the early decades of the 1900s. He was a star, progressively, in minstrel shows, vaudeville, burlesque, the New York stage, and movies. At the same time under another name he was a well-known dairy farmer and agriculturist. And, at the same time he was a manufacturer of soap products. And later in his career he reinvented himself as a nationally known motivational speaker, and a Yankee goodwill ambassador.

Billy B Van was born William Webster Van de Grift in 1878, in Pottstown, Pennsylvania. (He sometimes stated it was 1871.) His parents were George W. Van de Grift, and Henrietta. His father was a railroad engineer. His grandfather was a dairyman from the Netherlands.

The entertainer career of Van spans some 48 years (1879 to 1927). In many ways it reflects the change in American entertainment. The arc went from minstrel shows, often in blackface, to vaudeville and burlesque, to the legitimate stage. And add to this a career in silent motion pictures, both as producer and actor.

The story is told that Van got his start after his family moved to Philadelphia. In 1879 J.C. Stewart, a well-known manager, advertised for a child to play in H.M.S. Pinafore. Van auditioned successfully, but Stewart felt that the name was too long, so he changed it to Master Willie Van. Van later changed his acting name to William Van, then Billy Van, and finally to Billy B. Van, because there was another Billy Van.

At age 14 he was in a minstrel troupe in Atlantic City, called Trocadero. (There is a great photo of this group including Van in blackface dated 1886, in a book by Bernard.) He was being paid $10 a day. By age 20 he is reported playing vaudeville and burlesque with a stock company in Washington, D.C.

Being in the theatre probably did not comport with his parents' goals. His father got him a job in his teens at the Brill Car Co, where he was reported to have spent his time entertaining the workers. He did not go far in formal education, saying later that he was a graduate of the school of hard knocks (though much later he was made an honorary member of the Dartmouth College Class of 1906).

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