The Minstrel Show

1. European folk and art culture in the Classical Era
   1. European societies were characterized by a two-tiered system of culture:
      1. folk culture, associated with the poor and uneducated
         1. In feudal societies, they were the peasantry; after the Industrial Revolution, they were the agricultural workers and the urban proletariat.
         2. The music was comparatively simple in form, performed by nonprofessionals, and passed on through oral tradition. Performances tended to emphasize community.
      2. "High" culture, associated with the aristocracy.
         1. The music was more complex, composed and performed by "trained" and paid musicians. Performances emphasized the separation of artists and audience.
         2. The music was transmitted by written notation.
         3. Nobles (and, later, rich middle class) supported the arts through direct patronage.
   2. Although considerable interaction between the two occurred, "officially" they were distinct and separate.
2. Early Blackface minstrelsy
   1. In the early 19th century, America lacked a definable culture; European trends were valued, and European performers typically commanded higher fees than their American counterparts. As America developed a national identity, Interest in a uniquely American entertainment led to parodies of European operatic and theatrical songs.
   2. In the 1830s, minstrel musical acts appeared as interludes between circus acts or theatrical performances.
   3. In 1843 the first full-scale minstrel show played in New York; four white men from Virginia, billed as the "Virginia Minstrels", applied black cork to their faces and performed a song-and-dance act in a small hall. It was primarily musical, but it kept the same "variety show" format.

   
   

   4. Minstrelsy is characterized primarily by the use of "blackface" (typically burned, pulverized champagne corks mixed with water or petroleum jelly).
      1. Blackface served as a racial marker, suggesting that the performer would be portraying aspects of African American culture.
      2. It also served as a type of mask to shield the performers from identification with the their roles.
      3. Although the (to us, at least) blatant racism of blackface minstrelsy is its identifying characteristic, Mahar (1999) argues that "multiple meanings:"
         1. borrowing from and parodying European musical and literary pieces was a means of establishing some cultural parity.
         2. both Anglo and African American cultural practices were packaged for presentation to primarily urban audiences.
         3. minstrel shows traveled the same circuits as the circuses, opera companies, and European virtuosi.
         4. minstrelsy contributed to often contradictory beliefs about class and gender as well as race.
         5. it helped define (for better or worse) the masculine role in society.
         6. it marginalized women, defining their sexual, domestic, and public roles in narrow terms.
         7. minstrelsy developed into a commercially viable entertainment form from the combination of seemingly contradictory genres.
   5. Stereotypical characters include:
      1. "Jim Crow" - A construct of Thomas Dartmouth "Daddy" Rice, "Jim Crow" was presumably inspired by an elderly African American who Rice had seen dancing and singing the words: "Weel about and turn about and do jus' so, Eb'ry time I weel about, I jump Jim Crow." The name later referred to the racial caste system that existed from 1877 to the mid 1960s.
      2. "Zip Coon" - Created by George Washington Dixon, "Zip Coon" supposedly represented the "dandy," "sporting life" Northern character who had acquired some wealth through legitimate or illegitimate means.
   6. Musical aspects of the minstrel show:
      1. Minstrelsy had a tremendous impact on musical theater, both in the 19th century and after.
      2. Main instruments included the banjo, the fiddle, a tambourine (larger & with fewer rattles than today), and the "bones." Bones were animal rib bones or hardwood sticks of similar size, a pair in each hand, held between the fingers and played with a rapid wrist action to produce a sound similar to that of castanets.
      3. Minstrel shows provided opportunities for African American performers to work.
   7. More information is available at:
      1. "Blackface Minstrelsy 1830-1852"
      2. "The Minstrel Show"
      3. "Blackface Minstrelsy"
      4. The Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia
      5. The Afro American Almanac article on Jim Crow
3. Vaudeville
   1. Vaudeville was a product of the "cleansing" of burlesque (which also evolved into the "strip tease" act) to attract a family audience. For a time, vaudeville was the primary form of live theater; it was eventually supplanted by movies.
   2. Vaudeville began at Tony Pastor's Opera House in New York's Bowery. By the turn of the century it had become a nationwide network of hundreds of venues. Most of these were owned by the Keith-Albee chain in the East and Martin Brock's Orpheum circuit in the West.
   3. Vaudeville shows consisted of variety acts such as short plays, musical numbers, and comedy routines.

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