Thomas Kurton Heath

Thomas Kurton Heath (1853-1938) was a vaudeville actor with James McIntyre. They started their act in 1874.[1][2][3]

References

  1. ^ "When McIntyre and Heath First Met". New York Times. 1919-11-16. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9E00EFDB123FE432A25755C1A9679D946896D6CF. Retrieved 2008-10-17. "James McIntyre and Thomas Heath met in San Antonio in 1874, and then and there began a stage partnership which still endures and is the longest of its kind in the world. At the Forty-fourth Street Theatre, where they are at present playing ..." 
  2. ^ "Heath Dies Year After McIntyre". New York Times. August 20, 1938, Saturday. http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F70610FF355C1B7A93C2AB1783D85F4C8385F9. Retrieved 2008-10-16. "Partner in Famous Minstrel Team Had Been Ill Two Years. First Joint Act in 1874. Blackface Pair Last Appeared in 'America Sings' in the Early 1930's at Boston. Biographer Visits Him Bedridden at Partner's Death Returned to the Footlights Heath Lost a Partner Helped Introduce Ragtime Only Friend "Jim" Remained. Thomas K. Heath, partner of the late James McIntyre in the famous blackface team whose act, "The Ham Tree," convulsed generations of Americans, died last night at his home here on the anniversary of his partner's death. He was 85 years old." 
  3. ^ "James McIntyre". William L. Slout. http://www.circushistory.org/Olympians/OlympiansMc.htm. Retrieved 2008-10-16. "Of the comedy team of McIntyre and Heath, one of the greatest blackface vaudeville and minstrel acts of all time. Died of uremic poisoning, on his estate in Nyack, near Southampton, LI, NY. In the days following the Civil War, McIntyre and Heath were supreme in the field of minstrel comedy and soft-shoe dancing. For more than 50 years they toured every part of the country, including the Far West when it was really wild. Their famous skit, The Ham Tree, amused audiences for years. They developed the slow-paced, melancholy blackface type of comedy, and were forerunners of Moran and Mack and Amos n’ Andy."