Sherman H. Dudley: The Lone Star Comedian

2022 marks the 150th anniversary year of the birthday of performer and impresario Sherman H. Dudley (1872-1940). The actual month and day are unknown so we celebrate him today for Black History Month.

Dudley was from Texas (the “H” stood for “Houston”), and he had been a jockey in his youth before joining up with traveling medicine shows. He toured with minstrel shows and black vaudeville for years singing so-called “coon songs”, billing himself as The Lone Star Comedian in honor of his home state. In 1902 he performed with Billy Kersands and Tom Brown. Two years later he was in Chicago, taking over the lead part in Gus Hill’s Smart Set Company, in a show called A Southern Enchantment. That same year (1904) he partnered with boxer Jack Johnson in the ownership of a bar and cafe. In 1906, the Smart Set Company put on a new show The Black Politician in which Dudley also starred, in a role that allowed him to show off his skill at horsemanship onstage.

In 1909 the Smart Set troupe split into two companies, north and south, with Dudley taking the northern unit and Salem Tutt Whitney assigned the South. Dudley’s 1909 show was His Honor the Barber, which introduced the song “Shine” and had Aida Overton Walker in the cast. This was played on Broadway in addition to touring.

Starting in 1911 Dudley began buying theatres in Washington DC, Baltimore, Virginia and environs, fulfilling his dream of starting his own black vaudeville circuit, which he largely achieved by about 1914. By 1916, it had expanded all the way to the midwest. The Dudley Circuit is considered a kind of precursor to the later TOBA Circuit, the most famous of the black vaudeville wheels. At the same time, Dudley continued to produce all-black musicals as well.

In 1926, Dudley lost his wife in a grisly murder-suicide as you’ll find detailed in the news items above. He and his wife had become estranged. She stepped out with a police officer, who became angry when the couple then reconciled. He shot Mrs. Dudley and then himself.

In 1930 Dudley sold off his theatre chain and retired to a Maryland farm where he could indulge his first love: horses.

To learn more about vaudeville history, please read No Applause, Just Throw Money: The Book That Made Vaudeville Famous.