A musician who played the violin and cornet, Lew Earl drifted into vaudeville with his wife, Florence Jackson. The couple performed a comedy talking and singing act with the Keith circuit under the name Earl and Wilson. A comedy musical act, among the skits was one entitled “Fodder Bill”.  As part of the act, Florence sat and sang "In the Shade of the Old Apple Tree" while live snakes crawled out of her hat.

      A founder of the Actor's Colony with Joe Keaton and Paul Lucier, Wilson purchased a cottage in the area in 1906, becoming the first Thespian to make Muskegon his permanent summer home. Because of this, he was commonly referred to as the "Mayor of Bluffton.   An honorary title, Earl would jokingly remind visitors to the colony that he would defend his political reign in Bluffton against any and all challengers.  He assured them they didn't want to start that fight.
     Earl donated a piece of waterfront property on Lake Street (now Edgewater) to the Colony for the purpose of building a clubhouse.  It became the site of Cobwebs and Rafters.  An avid sportsman, Earl owned Dixie Pirate, the first speedboat to dock permanently on Muskegon Lake.
     In later years, Earl formed a booking agency in Chicago, Earl and Perkins, which handled programs for the Western Vaudeville Association.

Lew Earl
 -  the Honorary Mayor of Bluffton

Lew Earl's speedboat
 - Dixie Pirate