Early years Higgins was born in
Columbia, South Carolina. He was
African-American and often worked in
blackface. He began his career in 1912 as a singer of ballads at private clubs in is hometown of
Columbia. Before that, he had been a machinist. Sometime around 1913, he joined
Billy King, a widely popular comedian and producer of touring theatrical revues. Higgins co-starred with King in the show
Two Bills from Alaska. Higgins performed with
King until 1917, when he entered the
U.S. Army during
World War I.
Service in the United States Army During World War I, Higgins was assigned to the
805th Pioneer Infantry, an African-American regiment of 2,810 men comprising 14 companies and a medical detachment. The regiment was nicknamed "Bearcats". Higgins quickly established himself as a performer at
Camp Funston's Detention Camp No. 2, where he was first assigned, and where all new recruits were sent to be cleared by Army medics of any communicable viruses or diseases. The Bearcat Entertainers were assigned to
Headquarters Company. The
805th Pioneer Infantry was assigned to Europe to support the
Meuse-Argonne Offensive, which began September 26, 1918. The organization participated for days — from October 3, 1918, to November 11, 1918 — when the
Armistice was signed. When the Bearcats were deployed to Europe, Higgins was chief entertainer for the 14-day trip — which included a stay at
Camp Upton, New York, and a
Transatlantic crossing aboard the
Saxonia. In Europe, the Bearcats were stationed at
Chatel-Chéhéry. Early on, after arriving, they organized a regimental show and entertained guest of the 805th Pioneer Infantry, among whom included the Congressional Committee on Military Affairs, the
Staff College of the
American Expeditionary Forces, and several other visitors of high rank. Lieutenant Leonce Raoul Legendre (1895–1951), of the
Headquarters Company, was in charge of the show and the band that, together, comprised the Bearcat Entertainers. However, Higgins was the
de facto stage director. He gained popularity singing songs such as: • "Shootin' Cross the Rhine" • "Somewhere Between Here and Yonder" • "There's a Great Day Coming When You Lay That Gang Plank Down" • "Bull Frog Hop" • "Oh! Doc, Then I'll Go With You" • "You'll Find Old Dixieland in France" • "There's Lump of Sugar Down in Dixie" • "And Everything" • "Somebody's Done Me Wrong"
Extant lyrics Higgins rose to the rank of
color sergeant. He was not deployed to the combat zones of European
theater of
World War I. After the
Armistice of 11 November 1918 was signed, Higgins
mustered out of the Army receiving an honorable discharge July 5, 1919.
Post World War I After returning to the US at the end of
World War I, Higgins joined the
Loew touring circuit,
Quintard Gailor Miller's (1895-1979) company, and then the
Coleman Brothers'
Creole Follies, which opened in 1922 at the
Lafayette Theatre in
Harlem. Higgins was then recruited by Marcus Levy to take the lead comic role in the 1923 New York show
Gold Dust. In 1924, he starred in the revue
Cotton Land, with music by
James P. Johnson; and in 1929 he appeared in
Hot Chocolates, with
Louis Armstrong and music by
Fats Waller. One of his last shows was
The Man From Baltimore in 1934. == Song writing and recording ==