coats and striped trousers. The program opened with a chorus followed by a series of jokes between the interlocutor and end men, interspersed with ballads, comic songs, and instrumental numbers, on the banjo and fiddle.
The second part, or olio, consisted of a series of short skits that concluded with a hoedown or walk-around in which every member did a specialty number. Old Zip Coon (Dan Emmett), Dixie (Dan Emmett), Turkey in the Straw (Dan Emmett), and Golden Slippers (James Bland 1854-1911) are examples of walk-around tunes.
Old Time Music has many roots. One of the strangest is the minstrel show, a peculiarly American entertainment. Developed in the 1840's it peaked in popularity between 1850 and 1870, but survived into the 20th century through the movies.
Minstrel shows evolved from two types of entertainment popular in America before 1830. The impersonation of blacks by white actors between acts of plays and black street musicians who performed with banjo accompaniment.
The father of American minstrelsy was Thomas Dartmouth Daddy Rice, who between 1828 and 1831 developed a song-and-dance routine in which he impersonated an old, crippled black slave, called Jim Crow.
Dan Emmett's Virginia Minstrels, were one of the earliest troups. They first performed at New York's Bowery amphitheatre in 1843. The early minstrel shows parodied popular topics using stock blackface characters such as Jim Crow, an ignorant country bumpkin, and Zip Coon (derived from the name Scipio), a self absorbed city slicker.
The shows were in two parts. In part one the performers were arranged in a semicircle, with a leader (the interlocutor) in the center and Mr. Tambo, who played the tambourine, and Mr. Bones, who played the bones, at opposing ends. The interlocutor, in whiteface, wore formal attire; the others, in blackface wore gaudy
Minstrel shows exploited stereotypes, but helped blacks enter show business after the Civil War. Ironically, early black minstrel troupes corked their faces just like the white minstrel performers.
Unbelievable as it seems today, this was considered wholesome family entertainment in the 1800’s. White and black audiences viewed the blatant racism of the songs and skits as acceptable.
Hetzler's Fakebook
a
resource
for
fiddle, banjo,
guitar, mandolin and dulcimer players who want to learn traditional
music.
Dan Emmett (1815 -1904)
in blackface...
