Theater Owners Booking Association

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Theater Owners Booking Association (in German about booking association of theater owners ), short TOBA was a bandage American Vaudeville -Theater, which especially in the 1920s and 1930s shows with African American offered musicians, comedians and other stage artists. The theater owners were all whites who organized jazz , blues , and other events for an African American audience . The association started with 31 theaters in 1909 and had over 100 members in its prime in the 1920s.

The colored artists coined the nicknames Tough on Black Artists for TOBA ( hard against black artists , since the fees were lower than for whites) and Toby Time ( Time , actually time , was a synonym for Vaudeville). Allegedly, TOBA theaters were the only ones south of the Mason-Dixon Line that offered programs for black audiences. TOBA lost its importance with the Great Depression .

TOBA stars included Ethel Waters , Ma Rainey , Bessie Smith , Mamie Smith , Fletcher Henderson , Fats Waller , Louis Armstrong , Duke Ellington , Josephine Baker , Cab Calloway , Count Basie and (at the age of four) Sammy Davis junior .