Easton, Sidney

Sidney Easton, actor, playwright and songwriter was from Savannah, Georgia, the first born of six children of King and Eva Easton. His father worked on the railroad and for the Merchant and Miners Steamship Company. Easton ventured into show business for the first time at the age of twelve when he and his friends produced an animal tent show with stray cats and a kazoo band. Shortly thereafter, Easton went to work for the John Robinson Circus and later the A.G. Allan Minstrel Show. In 1913, Easton married Sarah Dooley, a fellow performer, who he met while they both worked at the Savannah Theatre. He performed with his wife for a number of years, until she died in the 1920s. Devastated by his loss, Easton took six months off from show business.

During the 1930s and 1940s, Easton's career was on an upswing; he collaborated with Tom Delaney to write a song called "Jump Steady Ball," which was the first recording by Ethel Waters. Easton and Waters went on to collaborate on "Go Back to Where You Stayed Last Night," a song Waters included in her repertoire. Pearl Bailey also recorded this tune in later years. Other songs written by Easton include "When the Melon's Ripe in Dixie, That's When I'm Coming Home," and "Who's Dat Says 'Who's Dat."

Throughout his fifty years in show business, Easton brushed shoulders with a number of show business luminaries such as W.C. Handy, Canada Lee, Leigh Whipper, and Tim Moore ("Kingfish" from the television show Amos and Andy), and also worked with the parents of the Nicholas Brothers.

Easton appeared as an actor and musician in many films, plays, and a few television shows and programs. The films include His Woman (1931), starring Gary Cooper and Claudette Colbert; In the Garden of Eatin', a short with Ethel Merman; Drums of the Night, with Sheldon Leonard and Fredi Washington; Othello in Harlem, Murder on Lenox Avenue (1935) and Killer Diller (1948) with Dewey Pigmeat Markhan and Babe Matthews.

He appeared in the road company of Shuffle Along as the lead 'Steve Jenkins,' and in Sons of the Rest (1927). The latter was produced by Easton and Joe Simms, with music and lyrics by Easton and Robert Warfield. Also in the 1930s, Easton toured with a number of acts including Kilpatrick's Minstrels, which was staged by J.A. Shipp. It was during this time that he married Harriet G. Hill, with whom he had one child, Sidney, Jr.

Other plays he appeared in were How Have You Been, Darktown Scandles, Miss Trudie Fair, and Green Pastures. How Have You Been (1925), Darktown Scandals (1927) and Miss Trudie Fair (1954), which also was written by Easton and directed by Stanley Greene. The play

starred Juanita Bethea and Frank Catrell. The following year, Easton appeared as a guest artist with Eva Jessye's Choir in "Minstrelsy U.S.A." at Pennsylvania State University. In television, Easton had a role on the series The Black Robe (1950) and played Isaac in the Hallmark sponsored production of The Green Pastures.

Easton formed a number of comedic acts and musical partnerships during his career including Easton and Easton (featuring Bob Ricketts and others), Easton and (Jimmy) Stewart, Easton and Baby Goins Joyce and Easton and (Bert) Howell. The last duo, Easton and Howell, which occasionally featured singer and dancer Martha Copeland, had the longest association.

In the 1940s, Easton sued 20th Century-Fox Film Corporation charging them with having used his play, Lifeboat #13 as the basis for the film Lifeboat, starring Tallulah Bankhead and co-starring Canada Lee. In his memoirs, Easton claims that Leigh Whipper took the play to Hollywood and sold it without his permission. Easton settled four years later with the film company for a few thousand dollars, and relinquished the copyright for the play.

From the guide to the Sidney Easton papers, 1913-1980, (The New York Public Library. Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division.)