Silas Green from New Orleans was an African-American owned and run variety tent show that, in various forms, toured the Southern States from about 1904 through 1957. Part-revue, part-musicomedy, part-minstrel show, the show told the adventures of short, "coal-black" Silas Green and tall, "tannish" Lilas Bean. There was never a Silas Green nor any notable connection to New Orleans. "Silas Green" was a fictional character created by the show's original writer, Salem Tutt Whitney.

History

The show was originally conceived, scored, and written by vaudeville performer Salem Tutt Whitney. The song "Silas Green from New Orleans" debuted around 1908 in a revue by the Black Patti Troubadours, in New York. The Tutt Brothers, Whitney and J. Homer Tutt, were a comedic duo in the Troubadours show. According to a 1941 article in the Pittsburgh Courier by Egar Theodore Rouzeau (1905–1958), the origins of the show, Silas Green from New Orleans, as produced by circus owner Prof. Eph. Williams ( Ephraim Williams; 1860–1921), was believed to have been established as an American institution by 1912, with large [racially] mixed audiences in cities throughout the South. Rouzeau qualified his statement, stating, "Records of that first peregrination of Silas Green have faded with the years, but we do know that the future of the show could not have seemed very bright to the Brothers Tutt, because they renounced all claims and turned it over, title and all, to the late Prof. Eph Williams, in lieu of services rendered as a performer." Williams was, until his death, the only Black circus owner in America. Williams had set up his first circus in Wisconsin in 1885, and by the mid-1890s owned 100 Arabian horses and employed 26 people. His circus business collapsed around 1902, but soon afterwards he acquired the rights to Silas Green From New Orleans. Williams set up a new company, "Prof. Eph Williams' Famous Troubadours", to tour as a tent show. His Troubadours played one-night stands throughout the South, and became one of the longest-lasting tent shows in America. Williams managed the show and continued to perform horse tricks, alongside musicians such as Bessie Smith. By 1912, he rebranded his Famous Troubadours as Silas Green from New Orleans. When Eph Williams died in 1921, Vivian Williams Brent (1894–1942), his oldest surviving child (of three daughters) had been handling his business. Half ownership in the show went to Charles Collier (1881–1942). The show went on the following season under the direction of Richmond C. Puggsley with Lawrence Booker directing the band and Aida I. Booker as prima donna. By 1928, the troupe employed 54 people, including a 16-piece band and 16 female dancers. The main show tent had a capacity of some 1,400. Eventually, Collier acquired sole ownership. The show continued to tour until the late 1950s, and in later years was sometimes billed simply as the Silas Green Show.

Selected personnel

Owners and managers

Leading actors and actresses

Producer(s)

Dancers

Musicians

Musicians for Eph Williams' Famous Troubadours aka Big City Minstrels

Vocalists

Magician

<li> Courtesy [University of Iowa Libraries](https://bliptext.com/articles/university-of-iowa-libraries) <li> [(image)](https://bliptext.com/articles/undefined) <li> [(image)](https://bliptext.com/articles/undefined) <li> [(image)](https://bliptext.com/articles/undefined) <li> [(image)](https://bliptext.com/articles/undefined)</ol></ol>

Critical review

In 1940, Time stated:"This year their troubles start when they go to a hospital with suitcases labeled M.D. (Mule Drivers), are mistaken for two medicos, end in jail. The show is garnished with such slapstick as putting a patient to sleep by letting him smell an old shoe, such gags as 'Your head sets on one end of your spine and you set on the other.' Silas gets broad at times, but never really dirty. What keeps it moving are its dances and specialty acts, its gold-toothed but good-looking chorus."

Poster art

Historic posters advertising the shows, mostly printed by Hatch Show Print of Nashville, are popular among collectors. Three Hatch posters for Silas Green from New Orleans can be viewed in eleven photographs by Marion Post Wolcott held the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. The images are part of the Farm Security Administration–Office of War Information Photograph Collection, available online through the American Memory Project. The posters are advertising a performance for October 4, 1939, in Belzoni, Mississippi. (retrieved January 27, 2021)

<li> Title: "Itinerant salesman selling goods from his truck to Negroes in center of town on Saturday afternoon. [Belzoni](https://bliptext.com/articles/belzoni-mississippi), [Mississippi Delta](https://bliptext.com/articles/mississippi-delta), Mississippi." <li> ([image](https://bliptext.com/articles/undefined)) <li> ([image](https://bliptext.com/articles/undefined)) <li> ([image](https://bliptext.com/articles/undefined)) <li> ([image](https://bliptext.com/articles/undefined)) <li> ([image](https://bliptext.com/articles/undefined))</ol></ol> <li> Title: "Some of the Negroes watching [an] itinerant salesman selling goods from his truck in center of town on Saturday afternoon. [Belzoni](https://bliptext.com/articles/belzoni-mississippi), [Mississippi Delta](https://bliptext.com/articles/mississippi-delta), Mississippi". <li> ([image](https://bliptext.com/articles/undefined)) <li> ([image](https://bliptext.com/articles/undefined)) <li> ([image](https://bliptext.com/articles/undefined)) <li> ([image](https://bliptext.com/articles/undefined)) <li> ([image](https://bliptext.com/articles/undefined)) <li> ([image](https://bliptext.com/articles/undefined))</ol></ol> <li> [LCCN](https://bliptext.com/articles/lccn) [slide show](https://bliptext.com/articles/undefined) (35 images)</ol> ...from a collection courtesy of the [University of Georgia](https://bliptext.com/articles/university-of-georgia): <li> [(image)](https://bliptext.com/articles/undefined)</ol></ol>

Annotations