<HTML><FONT FACE=arial,helvetica><FONT SIZE=3>In a message dated 1/26/03 2:55:45 PM Central Standard Time, gwilliamoakley@earthlink.net writes:<BR>
<BR>
</FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0"><BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=CITE style="BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px"><BR>
Hi Jim:</FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=3 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0"><BR>
</FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0">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.</FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=3 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0"><BR>
</FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0">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.</FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=3 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0"><BR>
</FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0">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. </FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=3 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0"><BR>
</FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0">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.</FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=3 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0"><BR>
</FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0">Best Regards,</FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=3 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0"><BR>
</FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0">Bill</FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=3 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0"></BLOCKQUOTE><BR>
<BR>
<B>Thanks, Bill for a very good and interesting writeup on Minstrel shows. I get from this that I was wrong. I had seen minstrel show in my youth with white casts and no blackface. I just assumed that they were a riverboat type of entertainment show. I also saw the same sort of show with black casts. These were ususally part of a circus. I never saw one that was in blackface.<BR>
<BR>
JIm Beebe</B></FONT></HTML>