"I am the originator of the Cake Walk in all of the United States and Missouri." Doc Brown, 1899.
"Doc" Brown, also known as "Doctor William Henry Joseph Cutter Brown," was a famous Champion Cakewalker of Missouri and the World and colorful Kansas City personality. Doc is said to have introduced the Cake Walk in the State of Missouri. His 1896 portrait by artist Millard C. Haywood is in the collection of the Kansas City Museum. He is the subject of composer Charles Leslie Johnson's popular 1899 humoresque, "Doc Brown's Cake Walk; The Original Kansas City Rag." In 1897, Doc's legendary performance of the Cake Walk was captured on motion picture film by George W. Curtiss of Kansas City. This film is presently lost.
Joseph (or William) "Doc" Brown was born a slave, of Missouri and Kentucky parentage, on the Meredith Miles Marmaduke estate at Arrow Rock, near Marshall, Missouri. He never married. "Doc" died of tuberculosis at City Hospital, Kansas City, Missouri, at 7 o'clock A.M. on February 28, 1905; he was about 57 years old (birth date is estimated). His last residence was 505 West 13th Street, Kansas City, Missouri. "Doc's" obituary can be found in the "Kansas City Star" newspaper, February 28, 1905; his funeral was held at 2 o'clock P.M., March 3, 1905, in Allen Chapel, Kansas City, Missouri. His grave is presently unmarked, but thanks to kind donors a headstone will be placed on Doc's grave in 2024.
(Bio by N. P. Rod)
See also: "Doc Brown. Champion Cake Walker of the West" by Dennis Pash, in The Rag-time Ephemeralist for 1999, Volume I, Number II, pages 70-77.
Please leave flowers and a message for Doc!
"Doc" Brown, also known as "Doctor William Henry Joseph Cutter Brown," was a famous Champion Cakewalker of Missouri and the World and colorful Kansas City personality. Doc is said to have introduced the Cake Walk in the State of Missouri. His 1896 portrait by artist Millard C. Haywood is in the collection of the Kansas City Museum. He is the subject of composer Charles Leslie Johnson's popular 1899 humoresque, "Doc Brown's Cake Walk; The Original Kansas City Rag." In 1897, Doc's legendary performance of the Cake Walk was captured on motion picture film by George W. Curtiss of Kansas City. This film is presently lost.
Joseph (or William) "Doc" Brown was born a slave, of Missouri and Kentucky parentage, on the Meredith Miles Marmaduke estate at Arrow Rock, near Marshall, Missouri. He never married. "Doc" died of tuberculosis at City Hospital, Kansas City, Missouri, at 7 o'clock A.M. on February 28, 1905; he was about 57 years old (birth date is estimated). His last residence was 505 West 13th Street, Kansas City, Missouri. "Doc's" obituary can be found in the "Kansas City Star" newspaper, February 28, 1905; his funeral was held at 2 o'clock P.M., March 3, 1905, in Allen Chapel, Kansas City, Missouri. His grave is presently unmarked, but thanks to kind donors a headstone will be placed on Doc's grave in 2024.
(Bio by N. P. Rod)
See also: "Doc Brown. Champion Cake Walker of the West" by Dennis Pash, in The Rag-time Ephemeralist for 1999, Volume I, Number II, pages 70-77.
Please leave flowers and a message for Doc!
"I am the originator of the Cake Walk in all of the United States and Missouri." Doc Brown, 1899.
"Doc" Brown, also known as "Doctor William Henry Joseph Cutter Brown," was a famous Champion Cakewalker of Missouri and the World and colorful Kansas City personality. Doc is said to have introduced the Cake Walk in the State of Missouri. His 1896 portrait by artist Millard C. Haywood is in the collection of the Kansas City Museum. He is the subject of composer Charles Leslie Johnson's popular 1899 humoresque, "Doc Brown's Cake Walk; The Original Kansas City Rag." In 1897, Doc's legendary performance of the Cake Walk was captured on motion picture film by George W. Curtiss of Kansas City. This film is presently lost.
Joseph (or William) "Doc" Brown was born a slave, of Missouri and Kentucky parentage, on the Meredith Miles Marmaduke estate at Arrow Rock, near Marshall, Missouri. He never married. "Doc" died of tuberculosis at City Hospital, Kansas City, Missouri, at 7 o'clock A.M. on February 28, 1905; he was about 57 years old (birth date is estimated). His last residence was 505 West 13th Street, Kansas City, Missouri. "Doc's" obituary can be found in the "Kansas City Star" newspaper, February 28, 1905; his funeral was held at 2 o'clock P.M., March 3, 1905, in Allen Chapel, Kansas City, Missouri. His grave is presently unmarked, but thanks to kind donors a headstone will be placed on Doc's grave in 2024.
(Bio by N. P. Rod)
See also: "Doc Brown. Champion Cake Walker of the West" by Dennis Pash, in The Rag-time Ephemeralist for 1999, Volume I, Number II, pages 70-77.
Please leave flowers and a message for Doc!
"Doc" Brown, also known as "Doctor William Henry Joseph Cutter Brown," was a famous Champion Cakewalker of Missouri and the World and colorful Kansas City personality. Doc is said to have introduced the Cake Walk in the State of Missouri. His 1896 portrait by artist Millard C. Haywood is in the collection of the Kansas City Museum. He is the subject of composer Charles Leslie Johnson's popular 1899 humoresque, "Doc Brown's Cake Walk; The Original Kansas City Rag." In 1897, Doc's legendary performance of the Cake Walk was captured on motion picture film by George W. Curtiss of Kansas City. This film is presently lost.
Joseph (or William) "Doc" Brown was born a slave, of Missouri and Kentucky parentage, on the Meredith Miles Marmaduke estate at Arrow Rock, near Marshall, Missouri. He never married. "Doc" died of tuberculosis at City Hospital, Kansas City, Missouri, at 7 o'clock A.M. on February 28, 1905; he was about 57 years old (birth date is estimated). His last residence was 505 West 13th Street, Kansas City, Missouri. "Doc's" obituary can be found in the "Kansas City Star" newspaper, February 28, 1905; his funeral was held at 2 o'clock P.M., March 3, 1905, in Allen Chapel, Kansas City, Missouri. His grave is presently unmarked, but thanks to kind donors a headstone will be placed on Doc's grave in 2024.
(Bio by N. P. Rod)
See also: "Doc Brown. Champion Cake Walker of the West" by Dennis Pash, in The Rag-time Ephemeralist for 1999, Volume I, Number II, pages 70-77.
Please leave flowers and a message for Doc!
