| ABOVE: They started it. These nine
people were the main characters in the cast of Aiken's dramatization when
Uncle Tom's Cabin appeared at the Troy Museum, 1852. LEFT: Some of the 1000's of actors and actress who continued it for the next eighty years. Many actors spent their entire professional lives in "Tom Shows," playing Eva or Topsy as children, Eliza or George as young adults, Tom or Ophelia as aging veterans. They called themselves Tommers. Other actors referred to them with much more derogatory terms, including "hams" -- because of the way Tommers playing characters like Tom or Topsy rubbed ham over their faces before blacking up; the ham grease made it easier to remove the blackface. Click on any of these images to see an enlargement with more information. |