Tag Archives: blackface minstrel

Minstrels and Newspaper Advertisements

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Today, we understand that the media plays an important role in cultivating a culture. Blackface minstrels were one of the first forms of widespread or “mainstream” American Media entertainment. This means that it played an influential role in the mainstream media that exists today. Newspapers were another way of spreading information and culture to a large audience. The following primary sources are taken from a Newspaper publishing company called the “Now Orleans Daily Creole” in the year 1856. 

Advertisement in the October 20th, 1856 publication of the “New Orleans Daily Creole”. “Armory Hall.” New Orleans Daily Creole (New Orleans, Louisiana), October 20, 1856: 2. Readex: African American Newspapers.

The first excerpt regarding “Armory Hall” was published on October 20th.1 The referenced group called “The Christy Minstrels”  was first formed by Edwin Pearce Christy, in 1842. The group consisted entirely of white performers in blackface. While this group was one of the first to travel as a unit and make a living off of it, by 1856(the year of the advertisements below) there was much more competition. 

Earlier on in the group’s career one audience member reviewed their performance as being “more amused by their caricatures than charmed by the power or sweetness of their music”(Nathan, 158)2. This, in combination with the advertisement’s use of the word “eccentricities” proves that the audience understood and encouraged the lack of reality in Minstrel performances, practices, and caricatures. The music was not at the forefront of minstrelsy. It was there to mock one of the biggest aspects of a culture that was not their own. 

Advertisement in the November 24th, 1856 publication of the “New Orleans Daily Creole”. “The Campbells.” New Orleans Daily Creole (New Orleans, Louisiana), November 24, 1856: 2. Readex: African American Newspapers.

The second excerpt was published only about a month after the first, on November 24th.3 It gives a little more credit to the performance as a whole by referencing the vocal, instrumental, and comedic aspects of the show to draw the audience in. This second advertisement references another white minstrel group who performed in blackface called “The Campbell Minstrels”. The excerpt also takes note of their director so one can assume that this group had a following just like “Christy Minstrels”. The popularity of Minstrel shows in general began in the 1820’s and clearly continued into the 1850s. Throughout these thirty years we can see its development because this source references the style of “burlesque”. We also know that Edwin Christy is credited with creating the 3-act show4
. Knowing that these traditions or styles were new to the time period proves that Minstrels played a large role in the development of American theater and mainstream media. 

It is also interesting to note that these performances were taking place in New Orleans. Many minstrels were popularized in the North, so to have these two traveling groups in the same southern location perform within a month of each other shows that minstrels were more common in the Southern United States than previously thought. While much of minstrel performance is lost on the modern audience or historian, the way they were advertised provides insight into perspectives of the average attendee. 

3 “The Campbells.” New Orleans Daily Creole (New Orleans, Louisiana), November 24, 1856: 2. Readex: African American Newspapers. https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/readex/doc?p=EANAAA&sort=YMD_date%3AA&page=1&fld-base-0=alltext&val-base-0=Minstrel&val-database-0=&fld-database-0=database&fld-nav-0=YMD_date&val-nav-0=&docref=image/v2%3A11B849020C1891B3%40EANAAA-11B95E58D0501DF0%402399278-11B86D154E124B80%401-1211B2645EE918AF%40The%2BCampbells&firsthit=yes

4 Lott, Eric. “Chapter 1.” Essay. In Love and Theft: Blackface Minstrelsy and the American Working Class. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1993. 

What’s White Christmas without Minstrelsy?

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White Americans have always love nostalgia and cozy feelings of their past. What could be more nostalgic than a white family curled up on a couch watching Irving Berlin’s White Christmas? If you noticed something wrong about that sentence, good. The movie is all about nostalgia with the actors “dreaming of a white Christmas” or singing tunes such as “Gee, I wish I was back in the army.” In the film White Christmas there is an iconic scene called the Minstrel Number.

This was a song that was a medley written by Irving Berlin and performed by Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, and Rosemary Clooney. The song “Id Rather See a Minstrel Show” opens the medley when sequels into “Mr. Bones.” “Mr. Bones” has Clooney singing of “minstrel men we miss” and “when Georgie Primrose used to sing and dance to a song like this.” Now Primrose was a white vaudeville song-and-dance man who wore blackface in the late 19th century. However, to really feel the effects of these lyrics popping up in one of America’s favorite nostalgic movies we have to go back to another movie of Irving Berlin with the infamous Bing Crosby; Holiday Inn; in which “White Christmas” was first sang.

While Holiday Inn was released in 1942, by 1954 when White Christmas was released it was already considered ill of someone to black up their faces. In Holiday Inn there is one song in particular that stands out and is often CUT out of the movie during showings. This is “Abraham” performed by Bing Crosby in full black face on Abraham’s birthday.

All the musicians and dancers around him are also in full black face. Only 12 years before White Christmas and 12 years before performing in black face was looked down upon, black face performances amongst major mainstream stars at the time was very acceptable. This brings me to the sheet music of both “Abraham” and “I’d Rather See a Minstrel Show.” Upon researching minstrel music in pop culture I came across the beloved Irving Berlin and Bing Crosby; both loved by generations of Americans. I saw that Irving Berlin had had both “Mandy” and “Id Rather See a Minstrel Show” published in Ziegfield Follies of 1919. While “Mandy” was of easy access, the Minstrel Show number was almost impossible to come by. I spent quite some time following every bunny trail I could to get to the sheet music of the Minstrel Show number but to no avail. Recalling Holiday Inn and Minstrel themes in that movie I tried to find sheet music to “Abraham.” This piece was also surprisingly hard to find on Sheet Music Consortium and I was eventually redirected to Baylor University’s Digital Libraries before I found it.

These two pieces are important as they bind exemplify some of America’s most beloved actors and song/screenwriters. They humble us as they remind us that none of us were too good for blackface and the enjoyment America wrongfully sought in it. It also reminds us of how minstrelsy and still be in pop culture of today and the elements of life that are important to our cultures.

Bibliography
Abraham : From the Paramount picture, Irving Berlin’s Holiday Inn. Abraham : from the Paramount picture, Irving Berlin’s Holiday Inn – Quartex site. (n.d.). Retrieved October 26, 2021, from https://digitalcollections-baylor.quartexcollections.com/Documents/Detail/abraham-from-the-paramount-picture-irving-berlins-holiday-inn/1129932?item=1142940.

Library Of Congress. (n.d.). I’d rather see a minstrel show – library of congress public domain search. Library Of Congress. Retrieved October 26, 2021, from https://loc.getarchive.net/media/id-rather-see-a-minstrel-show-2.