Tom McIntosh (comedian)
| Tom McIntosh | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1840 Lexington, Kentucky, USA |
| Died | 1904 Indianapolis, USA |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Comedian |
| Known for | Callender's Georgia Minstrels |
Tom McIntosh (1840–1904) was an African-American comedian who starred in many colored minstrel shows in the USA from the 1870s to the 1900s. He was considered one of the funniest performers in this genre.
Tom McIntosh was born in Lexington, Kentucky in 1840. He became an exhibition drummer, singer and comedian, singer. He teamed with the female impersonator Willis Ganze. McIntosh performed on some of the main entertainment circuits in America, notably with Charles Callender's Georgia Minstrels. He played with Charles Hicks and Billy Kersands in the Original Georgia Minstrels in the 1870s and 1880s.
In 1881 McIntosh took his comic drumming act to England with Haverly's Genuine Colored Minstrels. The proprietor of this troupe was J. H. Haverly, who had combined Callender's Minstrels with his United Mastodon Minstrels. The resulting 100-person show was often called the Black One Hundred. It was formed in Chicago, toured most of the large cities in the USA, and in 1881-82 made a successful tour of Europe. The Callender company was then taken over by Charles Frohman, who built it into a huge company that toured in the USA from 1882 to 1884 under names such as Callender's Colossal Consolidated Colored Minstrels. The company again toured Europe with Haverly's Minstrels in 1884.
McIntosh became part owner of McIntosh and Sawyer's Colored Callender Minstrels, and one of the leading black showmen in America. His wife, Hattie McIntosh (c. 1860 – 1919) first performed with the Colored Callender Minstrels in 1884.
McIntosh was the star of Cleveland's Colored Minstrels in 1890-91, which made a successful tour of the Pacific coast in 1890 and performed at the Bush Street Theatre in San Francisco. In the early 1890s Tom and Hattie McIntosh put together Mr. and Mrs. McIntosh in the King of Bavaria, a vaudeville act.Sam T. Jack's The Creole Show was an innovative cross between a minstrel show and vaudeville. It opened in Haverhill, Massachusetts, on 4 August 1890, and traveled to Boston, Brooklyn and Manhattan. The show opened in Chicago in 1891 in Jack's Opera House, and toured on Jack's circuit. Tom and Hattie McIntosh joined the show for the 1893–94 season. Tom and Hattie McIntosh were both in the original Octoroons show, produced by John William Isham in 1895.
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