Allen was born in
Zanesville, Ohio, and attended
Denison University in
Granville. Though his early business involvement is unknown, in the late 1890s he set up a partnership with George W. Quine (and initially John H. Oaks or Oakes) to set up a traveling minstrel show, comprising African Americans though Allen and his partners were themselves white. Allen was the General Director and gave his name to the show, with Quine as General Manager. With a roster of about 60 people, Allen himself was described, apparently in error, as "one of the most successful black promoters of minstrel theater in the United States". The shows featured a band led by
cornetist J. H. McCamon, playing music "from classical to ragtime". Other performers included
blackface comedians, dancers, and "
coon shouters", many of whom were women. In 1906 the troupe reverted to an all-male roster, but with some
female impersonators; female performers were reinstated in 1914. After over 15 years of touring successfully, the organisation fractured by the end of 1914, when McCamon left, followed by Quine. Initially, Allen continued to manage the show, with J. Elmer Moore as bandleader. Quine returned in 1917, but the following year the organisation was taken over by J. W. Brownlee. In 1919, Allen formed a new traveling show, Allen's Minstrels, which included dancer
Eddie "Peg" Lightfoot, and, from 1922, comedian
Dewey Markham. Allen later worked for the North Carolina Poster Advertising Association. He died from heart disease in 1926, at his home in
Fayetteville, North Carolina. The touring company continued under his name for several years in the late 1920s, latterly under the management of E. S. Winstead. ==References==