William 'Billy' McClain

He was one of the most famous African Americans in the world. Above is how he appeared in his and Ernest Hogan's Smart Set Company theatrical production.

His landmark musical productions, The South Before the War (1892) and Black America (1895), was advertised as grander reflections of Black people than any entertainment in the United States to date. Born in Indianapolis in 1866, Billy performed in bands and minstrel acts as a teen. With a “fertile brain and boundless energy,” McClain spread his talents across minstrel comedy, acting, dancing, boxing, songwriting, and playwriting. He had gall, too. In 1880s or 1890s Kansas City, police took him into custody “for having too much jewelry for a colored man,” until he proved that the $7,000 worth of diamonds, “37 trunks, 13 hat boxes, 24 rugs, 14 brass instruments, 3 typewriters, 9 bird cages, 7 dogs” were rightfully his. McClain and his singer-actress wife, Cordelia (who later divorced him in 1910 on grounds of cruelty) were Black theater royalty.

Tired of playing demeaning blackface roles, McClain and the black comedian Ernest Hogan created the Smart Set Company in 1902. The cast dressed up in fine clothes, had numerous costume changes, and tried to avoid “darkey” jokes and “coon songs.” Most importantly, McClain’s success demonstrated that one could sell blackness without having to succumb to notions of black primitiveness held by white audiences.

As a popular entertainer, McClain spent many years overseas. These travels brought him in close contact with another set of entertainers, Black prizefighters. Like McClain, Black fighters including heavyweights Jack Johnson, Sam McVey, Sam Langford, and Joe Jeannette traveled overseas to Europe and Australia to fight for a living. It was outside of America where McClain connected with these men. In his first venture to Australia, he managed Black fighter Peter Felix to the Australian heavyweight crown. A decade later, he managed Sam McVey to secure a fight against champion Jack Johnson. Johnson, however, would not fight Black fighters, and it appears that McClain and McVey parted way by 1912.

Reading the local press, both white and black, it was clear that McClain had the best game in town. In 1918, he was the first athletic club in the city to receive an official state charter, giving him a license to host fights. Capitalized at $10,000, McClain started selling stock in his sports business.

To further tap into the black sporting world, McClain started The Referee, the first Black sports newspaper in the country. The Referee was a monthly publication which highlighted sports and the theatre industry. McClain used a black publishing company, the Tulsa Star Printing and Publishing Company. They also published the Tulsa Star, a successful Black weekly paper that was destroyed during the Tulsa Massacre.

Later in life McClain appeared in the only film roles available to him at the time which were servant roles. McClain appeared in more than twenty films, the last in 1946. Some roles were uncredited.

He tragically died in Los Angeles, in January 1950.

Article from the Daily News (Jan. 28, 1950), Billy McClain, veteran Negro actor, dies in flames:

William C. (Billy) McClain, 93, "The Old Man River" of Negro entertainers, came to the end of his theatrical trail today in a trailer at the rear of 2624 South San Pedro street, where he burned to death.

Friend of Clark Gable and many other motion picture notables who frequently called on him, McClain was the oldest living Negro theatrical figure. He was the father of Teddye (also spelled Teddy) Peters, noted woman entertainer of yesteryear, who now runs a night club on Central Avenue.

Although McClain's closest connection was in the theatrical world, he was prominent in the professional boxing picture, and once managed a leading heavyweight, Sam McVey, who fought from 1903 to 1920 in all parts of the world.

Of late, the aging McClain had devoted most of his time to turning out plays and short stories based on his fabulous career, which began in the cornfields of Kentucky and embraced 75 years of theatrical history.

He had recently returned to his trailer from a hospital where he underwent treatment for a stomach disorder.

It is believed he turned on an electric heater which set the trailer on fire after he fell asleep. An unidentified taxi driver saw the blazing trailer and notified Mrs. Myrtle Beal, who lives in the house in front. She and others tried to kick in the trailer door and save the aged man, but the flames drove them back.

His obituary in The Pittsburgh Courier (Feb. 11, 1950), Billy McClain - Buried in L.A.:

In identifying the remains of the actor at the morgue, attendants discovered what they believed to be a quarter-carat diamond attached to the bottom of one of four old-style solid gold bridged teeth. Old timers in show business recalled that when the deceased was in his prime, he had diamonds attached to his teeth "so I'll have enough to bury me when I die."

By order of his sole surviving relative, adopted daughter, Teddye Peters, the veteran actor took his stone and gold teeth to his grave.

The Rev. John L. Branham, St. Paul Baptist Church and Clayton D. Russell of Peoples Independent Church of Christ officiated at the services. Interment was at Lincoln Memorial Park.

Sources: Blacks in Blackface: A Sourcebook on Early Black Musical Shows by Henry T. Sampson Vol. 1 (2014); firstandpen.com article "Honoring Billy McClain And Tulsa, The Black Boxing Mecca: McClain used boxing to help support Black Wall Street" article by Louis Moore (May 2021); LA Daily News (Jan. 1950); Pittsburgh Courier (Feb. 1950); andscape.com article by Emily Bingham (May 2022)