George Kunkel (theatre manager)

George Kunkel (January 21, 1823 – January 25, 1885) was an American theatre manager, impresario, actor, singer-songwriter, and playwright. His son, George Kunkel, was also an entertainer who worked as an opera singer and a silent film and stage actor.

As an entertainer, George Kunkel was a leading performer in minstrel shows of the 19th century, and was particularly associated with the role of Uncle Tom; a character he portrayed in blackface. After initially working as a printer in Philadelphia, he began his stage career in 1844 performing with the Virginia Serenaders. A talented bass vocalist, he wrote many of his own songs as well as music for other minstrel entertainers. In 1853 he established his own traveling minstrel show, Kunkel's Nightingale Serenaders (later known as George Kunkel's Nightingale Minstrels), the performance and personnel aspects of which he managed, with John T. Ford serving as the group's business manager. With Ford and Thomas L. Moxley (died 1890)^[1] as his occasional partners, he became a prominent theatre manager of the mid 19th century. Some of the theatres he managed included the National Theatre in Washington, D.C.,^[2] the Richmond Theatre, and multiple theaters in Baltimore.^[3][4]