Billy Whitlock

William M. "Billy" Whitlock (1813–1878) was an American blackface performer. He began his career in entertainment doing blackface banjo routines in circuses and dime shows, and by 1843, he was well known in New York City. He is best known for his role in forming the original minstrel troupe, the Virginia Minstrels.

Whitlock was born in New York City in 1813. He worked as a typesetter for a religious journal, then went to work for the New York Herald. Whitlock claimed to have met America's pre-eminent banjoist, Joel Sweeney, in 1838 and to have taken some banjo lessons from him. He joined P. T. Barnum's circus in 1839, where he began his blackface act.

By 1840, Whitlock was performing circuses, museums, and variety shows and had taken the epithet "King of Banjo players, and the Emperor of Extravaganza Singers". He paired with John Diamond for a time, playing banjo and singing while Diamond danced. Frank Lynch eventually replaced Diamond, though he took "Frank Diamond" as his stage name. Whitlock also partnered with Dan Gardner, who would dress in drag as Whitlock's character "Sambo Squash" made romantic overtures.

This playbill, written in the stereotyped African American Vernacular English that characterized blackface entertainment, describes Whitlock's basic act:

Now dat Massa Whitlock plays so partic'lar combustious, and will sing dat 'fecting song of Jinny git your Hoe Cake done! and dat first rate ballad of Jim Along Josey! defying all de niggers in de world to charm de people after dat same manner. Dis very partic'lar nigga will jump, dance, and knock his heels in a way dat Mademoiselle Fanny Elssler neber did, neber can and neber will do.

Many years later, Whitlock claimed that his Negro impersonations were based on reality. He would "quietly steal off to some negro hut to hear the darkeys sing and see them dance, taking with him a jug of whiskey to make them all the merrier."

...
Wikipedia