Theater Owners Bookers Association
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Theater Owners Booking Association, or T.O.B.A., was the vaudeville circuit for African American performers in the 1920s and 1930s. The theaters all had white owners and collaborated in booking jazz, blues, comedians, and other performers for black audiences. The organization started in 1909 with 31 theaters and had more than 100 theaters at its peak in the 1920s.
Often referred to by the black performers as Tough on Black Artists (Or Asses), the association was generally known as Toby Time (Time was a common term for vaudeville circuits). It booked only black artists into a series of theatres on the East Coast and as far west as Oklahoma. It paid less and generally had worse touring arrangements than the white vaudeville counterpart. But like white vaudeville, T.O.B.A faded from popularity during the Great Depression.
Ethel Waters, Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith, Billie Holiday, Fats Waller, Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, a young William Basie (before he became a Count) and four-year-old Sammy Davis, Jr., all performed on the T.O.B.A circuit.
The most prestigious black theaters in Harlem, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C. were not part of the circuit, booking acts independently; The T.O.B.A. was considered less prestigious. Many black performers, such as Bill "Bojangles" Robinson performed in white vaudeville, often in blackface.
[edit] See also
- Toba, disambiguation
[edit] External link
- American Vaudeville Museum pages on T.O.B.A.
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