Mr. Brockway joined Hooley’s Minstrels in Brooklyn about December 1875. He had not appeared professionally for about ten or twelve years prior to his death.
W. H. Brockway was born in New York; he died in Boston, Mass., May 25, 1888, age 53 years.
Joseph Gorton, Sr., entered the theatrical business in 1854, and has the distinction of being the oldest manager, in point of service, of any man in the annals of minstrelsy.
Mr. Gorton assumed the management of the New Orleans Minstrels in November, 1867; the company subsequently became known as Gorton’s Minstrels, and as such has continued up until the present year.
Joseph Gorton, Sr., was born in Friendship, N. Y., February 21, 1835.
| “EUGENE” (1858) | “THE ONLY LEON” (1860) |
| ROLLIN HOWARD | FRED. DART |
THEY WERE FAMOUS IN FEMALE FRIVOLITIES.
O. P. Sweet, or Dr. O. P. Sweet as it is now, began his professional career as a member of Mrs. Matt. Peel’s Minstrels in 1860; at that time he was known as Tom Leslie.
The next four years were given to concert work. Mr. Sweet joined Haverly’s Minstrels late in 1864; March 17, 1865, he opened with Arlington’s Minstrels, in Chicago; two years later he was also with Arlington. Another two years saw him a member of Buckley’s Serenaders.
April 17, 1871, he opened in New York with Newcomb and Arlington’s Minstrels; a year later he was with Mike Leavitt’s Minstrels.