Thomas L. Moxley
Thomas L. Moxley (c. 1828, Baltimore — 7 July 1890, Baltimore)[1] was an American actor, blackface minstrel show entertainer, and theatre manager. As a stage actor, he performed under the name Master Floyd and was an acclaimed female impersonator in minstrel shows.[2]
Career
[edit]Moxley formed a close partnership with the minstrel-show impresario, actor, and theater manager George Kunkel. They performed together for years.[3] Moxley was a leading member of Kunkel's Nightingales, one of the most popular minstrel shows of the 1850s and 1860s, and toured widely with the troupe during this period.
In 1855, Moxley formed a theatre-management firm with Kunkel and John T. Ford, co-managing multiple theaters in Baltimore, Washington, D.C., and Richmond, Virginia. These included the National Theatre in Washington,[4] and the Richmond Theatre (then known as the Marshall Theatre) in Virginia.[1]
When Kunkel adapted Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel Uncle Tom's Cabin for the stage in 1861,[5] Moxley portrayed the role of Topsy, a female slave. In his obituary, he was credited as the first actor to perform the role of Topsy in the theatre.[6]
Death
[edit]Moxley died of heart failure in Baltimore, Maryland, on 7 July 1890 at the age of 62.[1]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c "Deaths in the Profession; Thomas L. Moxley". The New York Clipper. July 12, 1890. p. 279.
- ^ Rice, Edward Le Roy (1911). "Thomas L. Moxley". Monarchs of Minstrelsy, from "Daddy" Rice to Date. Kenny Publishing Company. p. 59.
- ^ Alford, Terry (March 17, 2015). Fortune's Fool: The Life of John Wilkes Booth. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-972369-0.
- ^ Bogar, Thomas A. (2013). "A Hotbed of Spies and Seditious Plots". Backstage at the Lincoln Assassination: The Untold Story of the Actors and Stagehands at Ford's Theatre. Regnery Publishing. ISBN 9781621571742.
- ^ Egle, William Henry (1896). Pennsylvania Genealogies: Chiefly Scotch-Irish and German. Harrisburg Publishing Company.
- ^ "Death of Original "Topsy"". Madison Daily Herald. July 8, 1890. p. 1.
- 1820s births
- 1890 deaths
- 19th-century American theatre managers
- 19th-century American male actors
- American entertainment company founders
- American male musical theatre actors
- American theatre managers and producers
- American vaudeville performers
- Blackface minstrel performers
- Businesspeople from Baltimore
- Disease-related deaths in Maryland
- Deaths from congestive heart failure
- Female impersonators
- Male actors from Baltimore
- Pseudonyms