Mr. Sully is the author of “Hesitate, Mr. Nigger, Hesitate”; “I Don’t Love Nobody,” and other well-known songs.
Lew. Sully was born in Pittsburgh, Pa., March 28, 1862.
Franz Vetta (Louis R. Newmayer), the famous operatic bass singer, was also known as Frank Wetter in minstrelsy.
He first appeared with Geo. Thatcher’s Minstrels in Philadelphia about 1881; subsequently he played engagements with Haverly, and the Standard Minstrels in San Francisco.
He was the husband of Lizzie MacNichol, the well-known opera singer.
Franz Vetta was born in Camden, N. J., in 1862; he died in Riverside, Cal., July 15, 1892.
Geo. W. Cunningham made his first professional appearance with Tommy Curran, as Cunningham and Curran, at Fraley’s Garden, Jeffersonville, Ind., in March, 1875, doing a black-face act; subsequently he formed an alliance with Ed. Talbott. In 1890 Mr. Cunningham and Ed. E. Grant became partners in one of the most amusing black-face acts on the vaudeville stage; for four years as “The Brutal Brothers” they played the best variety houses and combinations.
Cunningham and Grant dissolved partnership in 1894, after which Mrs. Cunningham (Geneva Smith) and Mr. Cunningham did a white-face act for several seasons.
July 20, 1908, the new firm of Geo. W. Cunningham and Herman Marion was born, and at two years of age is doing splendidly.
George W. Cunningham was born in Brookville, Ind., May 18, 1863.