James McIntyre | |
---|---|
Born | |
Died | August 18, 1937 | (aged 80)
Known for | Vaudeville |
Spouse | Emma Young (1862–1935) |
Children | Maud Ainsworth Young (1892–1966), adopted |
James McIntyre (8 August 1857 – 18 August 1937) was an American minstrel performer, vaudeville and theatrical actor, and a partner in the famous blackface tramp comedy duo act McIntyre and Heath.[1]
Of the comedy team of McIntyre and Heath, one of the greatest blackface vaudeville and minstrel acts of all time. Died of uremic poisoning, on his estate in Noyack, near Southampton, LI, NY. In the days following the Civil War, McIntyre and Heath were supreme in the field of minstrel comedy and soft-shoe dancing. For more than 50 years they toured every part of the country, including the Far West when it was really wild. Their famous skit, The Ham Tree, amused audiences for years. They developed the slow-paced, melancholy blackface type of comedy, and were forerunners of Moran and Mack and Amos n' Andy.