(21 April 1870 - 20 April 1917)
A composer, musician, and comedic performer, Montgomery had a very diverse career. He performed in and wrote an early musical version of The Wizard of Oz (1903), which attracted audiences with "elaborate scenery and pretty chorus [girls]." 1 This version focused on the Scarecrow and Tin Man, instead of Dorothy, allowing these two characters to serve as a vaudeville team throughout the show. 2
With Fred Stone, he was also a member of the vaudeville team "Montgomery and Stone," which began touring in 1896. Montgomery and Stone first met in St. Joseph, Missouri, and met again in Galveston, Texas, where Montgomery was working with Heverly's Minstrels and Stone was performing with a local theatre. Stone left the theatre and the two performed a blackface segment in Heverly's minstrel show. The minstrel group disbanded shortly thereafter, and Montgomery and Stone went to Chicago to begin their own tour. The pair performed together, including minstrelsy in their act, from this point until Montgomery's death. The two were a bona fide duo; they never again performed separately except once, when Stone appeared in The Wizard of Oz while Montgomery was in London. 3 The duo performed together in the 1906 Broadway musical The Red Mill. The duo created several other musical productions that appeared on Broadway before touring the country, including The Girl from Up There, The Old Town, The Lady of the Slipper, and Chin Chin. When Montgomery died in 1917, Montgomery and Stone were arguably America's most popular comic team.
1. New York Times 21 June 1903: 25.
2. "Today in History: May 15."
3. "News and Gossip of the Street Called Broadway." New York Times 6 March 1921: 72.
Resources
"CONTENTdm Collection: Search Results." University Of Washington. http://content.lib.washington.edu/cdm4/results.php?CISOOP1=any&CISOFIELD1=CISOSEARCHALL&CISOROOT=/sayrepublic&CISOBOX1=Montgomery.
This site offers a collection of still photos from several of Montgomery and Stone's productions.
"Crystal Gardens to Open with Two Musical Comedies." New York Times 21 June 1903: 25.
"David Craig Montgomery." IMDB.com. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1190391/
"Internet Broadway Database: David Montgomery Credits on Broadway." IBDB.com. http://www.ibdb.com/person.asp?ID=68346
"News and Gossip of the Street Called Broadway." New York Times 6 March 1921: 72.
This article chronicles Montgomery and Stone's partnership and provides a history of their work together.
"Today in History: May 15." http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/may15.html
This site provides a detailed comparison between Baum's book and the Montgomery and Stone production of The Wizard of Oz.