INTRODUCTION.
Is Minstrelsy dying out? How often has the question been asked and how conflicting are the opinions of those who ought to know? Some maintain that minstrelsy is here to stay, while others insist there are no more minstrel shows.
But if the question were: Are the minstrels dying out? there could be no divergence of opinion. The passing away in the last decade or so of such luminaries as Neil. Bryant, Billy Rice, Billy West, Billy Emerson, Wm. Henry Rice, Frank Cushman, Ben. Cotton, Johnny Booker, Jack Herman, Andy Leavitt, E. F. Dixey, J. B. Donniker, “Eugene” J. H. Haverly, Sam. Hague, Dave Reed and many others, eliminate the matter of doubt entirely. Granting this, it would appear that the two terms: Minstrels and Minstrelsy are synonymous.
Some of the minstrel-loving public who recall the old days when Hooley’s in Brooklyn, The San Franciscos (Birch, Bernard, Wambold and Backus) in New York, likewise Bryant’s and the Christy’s; and Carncross and Dixey’s in Philadelphia were household words, will be astonished to learn that many of the burnt-cork heroes of forty years ago, yes, fifty years, are still living, scattered about the country, though it has been years since some of them have darkened their features.
But while most of the old-timers are past and gone, and those who are living, practically in retirement; yet there are many of the younger generation of sable performers who rank in many ways with their illustrious predecessors, and it is of these as well as of the “old guard” that “Monarchs of Minstrelsy; from ‘Daddy’ Rice to Date,” will specialize on. I wish to take this opportunity to extend my thanks to the New York Clipper, without whose assistance this work could not have reached the comprehensive form it has attained; and an invaluable auxiliary was obtained when this aid was further supplemented by the files and data of the Dramatic Mirror being placed at my disposal, and for which I am also extremely grateful.
From the Albert Davis collection of photographs, Brooklyn, I have received invaluable specimens, likewise Eddie Fox, Mrs. Billy Rice, “Hank” Mudge, Harry Booker, Emil Heusel, John Unsworth, Billy Huntley, Mrs. J. T. Huntley, Tommy Granger; Charles E. Ellis, author of “Official Elks History;” Mrs. James Budworth, Mrs. G. W. H. Griffin, Mrs. Archie Hughes, “Bill” Hines, Dan Mason, Phil. A. Paulscraft, Mrs. Ben Cotton, R. H. Mayland, Gus Hill, Fox & Ward, John P. Hogan, Miss Maggie Weston, Frank Dumont, William Blakeney, New York Sunday Telegraph; Louis Morgenstern, Tom Ward, Will Webster, Mrs. Catherine Griffin, Tom Waters, McIntyre & Heath, Geo. Lewis, Nick Norton, Geo. L. Willson, Chapin & Gore, Chicago; Willis P. Sweatnam, Walter Kingsley and the late J. H. Surridge.
Note.—Where dates and miscellaneous information found in this volume differ from those in my “1,000 Men of Minstrelsy; and One Woman,” it is because careful research has shown the latter to be erroneous.