William H. West (entertainer)
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William H. West (June 18, 1853 - February 15, 1902), known as the "Progressive Minstrel", he copied the British minstrel owner Sam Hague and became one of the first U.S. white owners of a minstrel troupe composed of black members. He often produced and played minstrel shows with George Primrose, first with a minstrel troupe owned by J. H. Haverly, and later in a show known as Primrose and West starring entertainers Milt G. Barlow and George Wilson, under the management of Henry J. Sayers. Primrose and West had a hit, and they came to be called "The Millionaires of Minstrelsy".[1]
He became the sole producer of the supposedly Richest and Costliest Minstrel Organization in Existence: West's Big Minstrel Jubilee, which featured some of the leading performers of the day, always ending with the cast, in "Black-Face", singing songs of the period.
William H. West is buried at Green-Wood Cemetery, Brooklyn, New York City, New York. On his grave marker are these words "None Knew Him But To Love Him . None named him save in praise".
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ 1882. Newspaper clipping from "How Burnt Cork Pays". Quoted in Toll 154.
