The Showman: Charles L. Young

Charles L. Young
Charles L. Young, an impresario from New York, arrived at the Palace yesterday.
- San Francisco Chronicle, 30 January 1899.

Charles L. Young was an entertainment manager and promoter in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. After managing stars and theater companies for two decades, he created the Young Aeroplane Company to provide aviation exhibitions at the dawn of flight in the United States.

Young's clients included big names like Emma Nevada, Ysaye, and Robert Fowler, as well as less-well-known acts like Prof. Wymond and his Magniscope, Wallace the Untamable Lion, and the New York Champion Ladies' Base Ball club. His writing efforts with Walter Montague and others have faded into memory, but the story of his life tells us about American popular entertainment in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

I'll begin telling the story of Charles L. Young's life and career later this year.


Charles L. Young, the energetic manager, has just returned from a visit to the West, where he made some important connections. He opened an office in Chicago and appointed representatives in several other cities. . . . During the next season Manager Young will undoubtedly prove a vital factor in the musical movement in America.
- Musical Courier, 15 November 1899.