Bob Height was an African American blackface minstrel performer. He was a standout talent in the companies with which he performed, although frustrations eventually drove him to pursue a career in Europe. Later writers have compared him to his contemporary, Bert Williams.
Height joined with Charles Hicks in the late 1860s to form Hicks and Height's Georgia Minstrels. This company proved quite popular among African Americans, particularly in the Washington, D.C. area. Eventually, both Hicks and Height joined Sam Hague's Slave Troupe of Georgia Minstrels. Height became a featured talent and accompanied the troupe on a European tour in the early 1870s.
Upon the troupe's return to the US in 1872, Charles Callender purchased it and changed the name to Callender's Original Georgia Minstrels. The new owner helped lead the company to great success, and Height enjoyed high billing alongside Billy Kersands and Pete Devonear. Before long, however, Height and several other performers quit Callender's in a dispute over pay and recognition. They formed a new company, but it saw little success; most of the players soon rejoined Callender's troupe. Height instead emigrated to Europe, where he performed for many years.
Famous quotes containing the words bob and/or height:
“English Bob: What I heard was that you fell off your horse, drunk, of course, and that you broke your bloody neck.
Little Bill Daggett: I heard that one myself, Bob. Hell, I even thought I was dead. ‘Til I found out it was just that I was in Nebraska.”
—David Webb Peoples, screenwriter. English Bob (Richard Harris)
“I pray that, according to the riches of his glory, he may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love. I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”
—Bible: New Testament, Ephesians 3:16-19.