William T. Kent: From Vaud to Video

I grew interested in William Kent (1886-1945) after seeing him in blackout sketches in the 1930 Paul Whiteman movie The King of Jazz. Sometimes billed as William T. Kent, sometimes as Billy Kent, his footprint in films was miniscule. He had supporting parts in When Knighthood Was in Flower (1922) with Marion Davies,Walls Tall Tales (1928) with Madge Kennedy,Saturday’s Millions (1933), and the 1934 version of The Scarlet Letter.

The stage was Kent’s true home. He’d begun in minstrelsy as a teenager, then went into burlesque and vaudeville, where for a time he was partnered with Jeanette Warner (see above; they were credited with introducing “Ballin’ the Jack”). Frm 1918 through 1935 he appeared in over a dozen Broadway shows, including the original productions of Battling Butler (1923), Rose-Marie (1924), Funny Face (1927) and Girl Crazy (1930). When he passed away at the age of 59, The New York Times named his role as Hard Boiled Herman in Rose-Marie as his best remembered. Thanks to films (and near universal access to them nowadays though) as time goes on he’s more likely to be known for The King of Jazz.

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