Black vaudevillians and entertainers joked that T.O.B.A. stood for "tough on black artists." But the Theater Owner's Booking Association (T.O.B.A.) played a foundational role in the African American entertainment industry and provided a training ground for icons like Cab Calloway, Bessie Smith, Ethel Waters, Sammy Davis Jr., the Nicholas Brothers, Count Basie, and Butterbeans and Susie. Michelle R. Scott's institutional history details T.O.B.A.'s origins and practices while telling the little-known stories of the managers, producers, performers, and audience members involved in the circuit. Looking at the organization over its eleven-year existence (1920-1931), Scott places T.O.B.A. against the backdrop of what entrepreneurship and business development meant in black America at the time. Scott also highlights how intellectuals debated the social, economic, and political significance of black entertainment from the early 1900s through T.O.B.A.'s decline during the Great Depression. Clear-eyed and comprehensive, T.O.B.A. Time is a fascinating account of black entertainment and black business during a formative era.
Michelle R. Scott is an associate professor of history at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. She is the author of Blues Empress in Black Chattanooga: Bessie Smith and the Emerging Urban South.
Preface Acknowledgments Introduction: They Called It T.O.B.A. Chapter 1. "Whistling Coons" No More: Race Uplift & the Path to T.O.B.A. Chapter 2. Hebrew, Negro, and American Owners: Black Vaudeville and Interracial Management Chapter 3. T.O.B.A Forms: The Interracial Business Plan for a New Negro Business Chapter 4. The Multiple Meanings of T.O.B.A: The Performers' Perspective Chapter 5. A Responsibility to Community: Circuit Theaters and Black Regional Audiences Chapter 6. "Trouble in Mind": The End of T.O.B.A. Time Epilogue: T.O.B.A.'s Legacy Appendix Notes Bibliography Index
"Clarifies the important role African American entrepreneurs played in promoting entertainment by and for Black people during a transitional period in American show business history. . . .T.O.B.A. Time is an excellent addition to [the University of Illinois Press] catalogue." --NewCity Lit "In clear and precise prose Scott chronicles the coalescence of Black vaudeville and how T.O.B.A. helped establish and nurture the initial flowering of what became the incalculably influential Black entertainment industry. Readers who enjoyed Entertaining Raceby Michael Eric Dyson and Little Devil in America by Hanif Abdurraqib will find Scott's unique history compelling. " --Booklist "Scott's meticulously researched and exquisitely detailed account reveals the broad impact of the T. O. B. A. circuit and the complexities of its organization and operations. The discussions of individual performers--famous and obscure--and their experiences as they worked the circuit are riveting. This is a benchmark book in theater studies and the definitive account of this fascinating institution."--Allyson Nadia Field, author of Uplift Cinema: The Emergence of African American Film & The Possibility of Black Modernity
