Minstrelsy on Record: 1890s to 1920s

Tim Brooks Society for American Music Conference March 2011

Some Key Dates

  1843: Virginia Minstrels debut in New York City 1843: E.P. Christy’s Minstrels  Set format  Popularized Stephen Foster songs  1860s-1880s: Heyday  Huge spectacles  Black troupes  Foreign tours

Len Spencer (1867-1914)

Most Members of Imperial Minstrels Were White, but…  One member black  George W. Johnson (1844-1914)  Born a slave  Popular early recording artist  Provided laughter, and his signature “Laughing Song”

Minstrel Record Content - 1890s

 “Gentlemen, be seated!”  Introductory Overture by orchestra (loud and fast)  Jokes between interlocutor and endman  Laughter and applause  Featured song by tenor or baritone  Fast closing chorus, with cheers

Repertoire - 1890s

  Featured song usually contemporary: mix of current hits and 1870s/80s minstrel “standards”  “Sweet Marie,” “Two Little Girls in Blue”  “Hear Dem Bells,” “A High Old Time”  Rarely pre-Civil War song (e.g Foster)  Most not racially oriented Early banter rough-edged, streetwise  Len Spencer-Billy Williams banter  Black dialect

Popularity of Minstrel Records Explodes  1894: New Jersey cylinders  1896: Columbia Records begins production  1897: Edison enters field  1898: Debut on disc records – first Berliner, then Victor  1900s: All labels jump in, 100s issued  1913: High water mark  34 listed in Victor catalog alone

Notable Highlights

 1903: full 30-minute show on multi-disc set  “An Evening with the Minstrels” on Victor and Columbia  Included olio  Best seller, issued in all formats  Many songs

about

minstrelsy

Coney Island, 1907

Minstrel Record Content - 1900s

 Largely contemporary hits  “My Pony Boy,” “Waltz Me Around Again, Willie”  Black references usually in dialogue  Dialogue much more mainstream  Infrequent use of “N-word”

Later History

 Minstrel records declined in popularity in 1910s  Revived in 1920s as nostalgia  Much more use of pre-Civil War songs  Generally respectful  Later depicted in films, on radio, even TV

How Minstrelsy Was Perceived at Turn of 20 th Century  Minstrel records as reflection of:  Repertoire used – surprisingly contemporary  Different ways in which jokes and dialogue were delivered  Immense popularity of these records, right up until the early 1910s  How the records evolved from contemporary entertainment (1890s) to pure nostalgia (1920s)

Thank You!

www.timbrooks.net

Lost Sounds: Blacks and the Birth of the Recording Industry, 1890-1919