Lew Dockstader

Lew Dockstader, born George Alfred Clapp on August 7, 1856, in Hartford, Connecticut, was an American singer, comedian, and blackface minstrel show performer who became one of the prominent figures in vaudeville during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The son of Chester Clapp and Sarah Reed, he legally adopted the name Lew Dockstader on April 20, 1887, years after beginning his career in entertainment.

Dockstader's professional life took a significant turn in 1898 when he partnered with George Primrose to establish Primrose and Dockstader's Minstrel Men, a troupe that toured the vaudeville circuit through 1904. He subsequently led his own company, Lew Dockstader's Minstrels, which brought him to Broadway as part of his performing career that spanned the New York stage from 1904 to 1922. His Broadway credits also included the revue Some Party. Performers who appeared with Dockstader's Minstrels included Will Oakland, Al Jolson, and Cornelius J. O'Brien.

Alongside his stage work, Dockstader appeared in a number of comedy short films between 1904 and 1907, and later played the title role in the 1914 silent feature film Dan. His film activities were not without controversy: on May 20, 1904, he was detained by the New York City Police Department for attempting to distribute a film deemed to caricature President Theodore Roosevelt. The matter was resolved when Dockstader agreed to surrender the film in exchange for the charges being dropped.

His interest in Roosevelt did not end there. In 1906, Dockstader incorporated an impersonation of Roosevelt into his vaudeville act, claiming the president had personally granted him permission to do so. Several years later, while Roosevelt was abroad on the Smithsonian–Roosevelt African Expedition in British East Africa, Dockstader commissioned a writer to prepare a sketch titled Dockstader in Africa, or Rescuing Roosevelt. He did not pay the writer, was subsequently sued for non-payment, and the sketch was never performed.

In his personal life, Dockstader married Lucin Brown on December 20, 1883, in Hartford. The couple had a daughter, Mildred Havlin Clapp, who later married Warren Palmer. His wife died in 1920. In January 1923, Dockstader sustained injuries from a fall in New Brunswick, New Jersey, compounded by an advancing cancer. His final performance took place at Keith's Star Theater in December 1923. He died on October 26, 1924, in New York City of bone cancer on his left leg, at the age of 68. His funeral was held at All Angels' Church, and he was buried at Kensico Cemetery.