24 Facts About Billy McClain

Billy McClain wrote, produced and directed several major stage and outdoor extravaganzas, and wrote a number of popular songs.

Billy McClain was influential in extending the range of minstrel shows far beyond the traditional conventions of the time, giving them appeal to much wider audiences.

Billy McClain toured in the United States, Canada, Australia and Europe.

William C McClain was born on Elm Street in Indianapolis, Indiana, on 12 October 1866.

Billy McClain played cornet in Bell's Band when he was a boy, appearing in public for the first time in 1881 at Crone's Garden.

Billy McClain was the first black player with the circus.

Billy McClain recalled playing with Cleveland's Minstrels at the Gaiety Theater in Kansas City in 1887.

Billy McClain played with Cleveland's Minstrels in 1890, and toured with this company in the United States and Canada in 1891.

In 1892 the couple joined the extravaganza South Before the War, in which Billy McClain was stage manager and the leading black comedian.

Billy McClain claimed to be the first to put a cake walk on the stage, in South before the War.

Around then Billy McClain was star of Suwanee River, an otherwise all-white show.

Billy McClain was hired in 1895 by Nate Salsbury to produce a show called Black America.

Billy McClain claimed credit, and his contemporary Tom Fletcher gave him credit.

Billy McClain was simply called the leader of the choruses.

In January 1900 Billy McClain was playing in the Opera House, Brisbane, Australia, with the OM.

Billy McClain has earned the title of being the foremost colored actor on the stage today.

Billy McClain played in London and Paris in 1906 with Fred Karno's comedy troupe.

Billy McClain's wife performed with the troupe, as did an unknown comedian named Charlie Chaplin.

In 1911 Billy McClain was based in Brussels, Belgium, running a boxing school.

In 1931 Billy McClain moved to Los Angeles and obtained a position with the Pasadena police department as a physical trainer.

Between 1933 and 1946 Billy McClain appeared in many other film roles, although often these were minor parts and he was not credited.

Billy McClain played a servant, butler, footman, cook and janitor.

Billy McClain died on 19 January 1950 when the trailer he was sleeping in caught fire.

Billy McClain was one of the pioneers in introducing "vaudevillized minstrelsy", which opened a wider range of styles on the eve of the ragtime era.