David C. Montgomery

David C. Montgomery
Montgomery as the Tin Woodman in 1903
Born	(1870-03-21)21 March 1870 St. Joseph, Missouri, USA
Died	20 April 1917(1917-04-20) (aged 47) Chicago, Illinois, USA
Nationality	American
Occupation	Vaudeville performer
Known for	Montgomery and Stone

David Craig Montgomery (21 March 1870 – 20 April 1917) was an American actor and dancer, the partner of Fred Stone. Montgomery and Stone became famous for their performance in the 1903 Broadway musical The Wizard of Oz, and had many other successes in musical comedy and vaudeville.

David Craig Montgomery was born in St. Joseph, Missouri, on 21 March 1870. In March 1887 he was given a juvenile role in Smokey Moke at a local variety beer hall called Streakbiner's Garden. He had been thinking of getting work with a railway, but now decided to go on the stage, and practiced a routine in his back yard. He learned to become a dancer and contortionist. He put on his song and dance routine at various minor local venues, getting a good reception. He played for some years in St. Joseph and Kansas City, then found work in Denver and the surrounding mining towns, where he first met Fred Stone. Stone (1873–1959) from Valmont, Colorado, was an acrobat and tightrope walker.

While in Denver Montgomery was offered a job with the J. H. Haverly’s minstrel company, which was planning to first tour the southern USA and then move to New York. The minstrels played in Denver and then traveled to Texas where they played in Fort Worth and Dallas. They reached Galveston in January 1896 en route to New Orleans. Montgomery met Fred Stone again in Galveston, and invited him to become his partner. Billy Rice, manager of the minstrels. offered Stone a job, and he accepted. This was the start of a 22-year partnership.

In New Orleans, Montgomery and Stone played a song and dance routine, and Stone did an acrobatic act of his own. Attendance was poor, and after three days the Minstrels folded, unable to pay the cast. Montgomery was able to find a two-week engagement at a local variety theatre for himself and Stone, then got an offer from Billy Rice for them to appear in a minstrel show in Chicago at Hall's Casino. Montgomery had a good singing voice. In Chicago, Stone taught him new dance steps to use in their acrobatic tap dance routine. Montgomery and Stone were hired to perform in the Casino, Lyceum and Hopkins theaters in Chicago from March to June, and became well known for their original dance routine.