Before there was television, and shows like the African-American sketch comedy series In Living Color, and before there were movie stars like Eddie Murphy, there was the African-American vaudeville superstar Irving Sayles.
In the late 19th century, Sayles was a transtasman sensation who could pull a crowd of 5000 in just one night with his ribald and self-deprecating humour. His star blazed brightly for a few decades, but dimmed quickly after his sudden death in Christchurch, nearly 98 years ago to the day, on February 8, 1914. Aged just 42, Sayles dropped dead from a heart attack and was buried in Linwood Cemetery.
That troupes of black American entertainers, known as minstrels, toured these parts - and a good number, like Sayles, never returned home, preferring to stay here - is an all but forgotten chapter in our cultural history.
Now, thanks to New York actor Jonathan Council and local playwright Arthur Meek, Sayles' star is about to shine again. Council, a regular visitor to New Zealand, was so impressed by Meek's show Collapsing Creation, about Charles Darwin, that he emailed the young playwright after seeing a performance in Wellington, saying he had an incredible story that could travel the world.
"I get sucked in by Americans 'cos they're so bloody optimistic," says Meek. "Then Jonathan introduced me to Irving Sayles and the character leapt out at me. A talented black man on the bones of his arse flees the prejudice of his homeland and washes up in Australasia? Interesting - becomes rich and famous beyond his wildest dreams? Fantastic - dies on-stage of an oversized heart? Dramatic - won his fame and freedom by performing self-denigrating racist humour? Eek!
