[Dixielandjazz] Minstrel shows

[G. William Oakley]

Hi Jim:
Historically the minstrel show started as a black-face entertainment.  The first performer in black-face (other than portrayers of Othello) was Thomas "Daddy" Rice who wrote the song Jim Crow.  The first actual minstrel troupe  was formed by Dan Emmett (Dixie), Frank Brower, Dick Pelham, and Billy Whitlock.  They called themselves the Virginia Minstrels and gave their first performance at the Bowery Amphitheater on February 6, 1843.  Throughout the heyday of the minstrel show they were done in blackface.  In later years, however, there were whiteface minstrels.  Like you,  I remember tent shows coming to the small Oklahoma town I was born in and white face minstrels were the rule. As an aside,  we also had another unique form of entertainment called the Toby Show.  These were very popular shows that toured throughout the Midwest, generally in tents.  The format was the Toby character (a rube type) who in the end bested the city slicker.  There was one of these shows still touring the Midwest as late as 1960.
It is interesting to note that black performers did minstrel shows as early as the 1870's and they also corked up.  This was long before Bert Williams became a big star.
I can only surmise that with the advent of Vaudeville after the turn of the century some remnants of minstrelsy continued to tour the hinterland and since we both have recollections of seeing these musical mastodons there were white-face minstrels. However,  the initial troupes were black-face and continued to be such until the demise of the form around 1900.  Many of the black-face performers went into Vaudeville and continued their black-face characterizations, i.e. Eddie Cantor.  
I know it is popular to denigrate the minstrel show but like jazz it was a unique American entertainment and occurred in a less critical age. And like it or not,  its impact on popular music was great and left a legacy of memorable tunes.
Best Regards,
Bill
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: JimDBB at aol.com 
  To: gwilliamoakley at earthlink.net ; dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com 
  Sent: Saturday, January 25, 2003 7:19 PM
  Subject: Re: [Dixielandjazz] Minstrel shows


  Bill Oakley:   I'm out on a limb about minstrel shows.  I maintain that they were not necessarily just blackface shows but that they were entertaining vandevillian type of shows and the blackface thing came in as a variation on it.  A black musician friend of mine states that they were strictly blackface shows.  I can remember seeing minstrel shows in my youth that were not black face and I saw some that were part of a circus and they were all black.

       So, can you fill my in on this a bit.

     Regards, Jim Beebe 
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