Sam. Devere was one of the best-known black-face banjoists before the public. He first applied cork to his features when twenty years of age, in a music hall in Brooklyn, on the site now occupied by the Court Theatre.
In 1879 he starred in “Jasper,” a play in which he played one of the principal characters, in black-face. One year later he went to Europe with Haverly’s Minstrels, opening in London, July 31, 1880.
September 15, 1890, at the Gayety Theatre, Albany, N. Y., the first performance of Sam Devere’s Own Company was given, and the company continued on the road ever since. Even at the present date, the trade-mark is still in use.
Mr. Devere achieved wide popularity by singing the famous ditty, “The Whistling Coon.”
Sam Devere died in Brooklyn, N. Y., March 1, 1907; age about 65 years.
Sanford and Wilson are credited with being the original musical mokes; they certainly were among the earliest double acts of this kind.
Both were big men, and both capable comedians. The violin and banjo were about the only instruments they played; but they could play them, and no two performers ever got more comedy out of these instruments than they.
They formed a partnership in August, 1873, and during their many years on the stage they played all the principal variety houses, and engagements with Bryant’s, also Haverly’s Minstrels.
Mr. Wilson retired from theatricals in May, 1892.
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| JAS—MACKIN & WILSON—FRANCIS (1875) (Courtesy of Chapin & Gore, Chicago) | “KERRY GOW” JOE MURPHY (1862) | DAVE—MONTGOMERY & STONE—FRED (About 1898) |
| THOSE WERE THE HAPPY DAYS. | ||