Gus Hill

Gus Hill
Gus Hill circa 1880
Born	Gustave Metz (1858-02-22)22 February 1858 New York City, New York, USA
Died	20 April 1937(1937-04-20) (aged 79) New York City, New York, USA
Nationality	American
Occupation	Vaudeville entrepreneur
Known for	Cartoon theatricals

Gus Hill (22 February 1858 – 20 April 1937) was an American vaudeville performer who juggled Indian clubs. He later became a burlesque and vaudeville entrepreneur. Hill was one of the founders of the Columbia Amusement Company, an association of burlesque shows and theaters, and became president of the American Burlesque Association. He also staged drama and musical comedies. He launched a highly popular series of "cartoon theatricals", musical comedies based on comic strips or cartoons. At one time he was running fourteen different shows.

Gus Hill was born Gustave Metz in New York City on 22 February 1858. His parents, Gustave Metz and Martha E. Baecht Metz, were German immigrants. Gus was the oldest of three surviving boys. His father was the owner of a sawmill and furniture factory. Gus Hill was an amateur athlete. He became a wrestler and then a juggler with Indian clubs. He took the name "Hill" from a sporting resort at Broadway and Crosby Street in Manhattan called Harry Hill's.

On 16 June 1876, when Hill was eighteen, he was listed as a club swinger on a bill for a vaudeville show at Tony Pastor's theater in New York. The show featured the "great Leonzo Brothers and their celebrated dog, Tiger." He would travel around the country challenging local jugglers to compete. On his first appearance he would let the local win. He would challenge them to a repeat match when he returned, ensuring a full house, and would then defeat the local. He gained the title of "Champion Clubman of the World". There was some sharp practice involved, but the title was useful in his variety act billings.

Gus Hill soon moved into show business management, although he continued to perform for ten years or more. Hill produced Gus Hill's Mammoth Novelty Company in the 1885–86 season, and performed in the show with his Indian clubs. He produced Gus Hill's World of Novelties in the 1886–87 season, featuring the new performers Joe Weber and Lew Fields. Hill produced musical comedies priced low for unsophisticated audiences far from Broadway. The scenery was designed to fold up into specially designed trunks to save space. Hill was known for cost-cutting, using old scenery and costumes, and employing performers who could not demand high wages since they were not yet known, or were past their peak.

In 1892 Hill added a second company, Gus Hill's New York Vaudeville Stars. Hill would put on shows from Monday to Saturday each week, including Wednesday and Saturday matinees. Hill made all the travel arrangements. Typically the show moved to a new city by train on a Monday morning, and were put up at a boarding house for performers at their destination. Hill owned several of these boarding houses, as did other variety company owners. The cast would share rooms, and would be given their meals at the boarding house. This kept expenses down, but conditions were acceptable for the performers. Hill signed up David C. Montgomery & Fred Stone in May 1896. By this time he was one of the richest of the variety show promoters. A reviewer described Hill's show at the Haymarket Theater in Chicago in 1896: