Ethiopian Serenaders
The Ethiopian Serenaders | |
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Cool White Emmett etc. |
The Ethiopian Serenaders was an American blackface minstrel troupe successful in the 1840s and 1850s. Through various line-ups they were managed and directed by James A. Dumbolton (c.1808–?),[1] and are sometimes mentioned as the Boston Minstrels, Dumbolton Company or Dumbolton's Serenaders.[2]
Origins
The group was formed in Boston, Massachusetts, becoming the first in the city to play "concerted negro music",[3] before performing at the Chatham Theatre in New York City. Under Dumbolton's management, the original line-up included Francis Carr Germon, Moody G. Stanwood, Anthony Fannen (Tony) Winnemore, E. J. Quinn, J. Baker, and G. Wilson.[4] Their first major performance was for John Tyler at the White House in 1844 as part of the "Especial Amusement of the President of the United States, His Family and Friends".[5]
After this success, the troupe altered its act to make it more "refined" and to appeal to a higher-class audience than had traditionally patronized blackface entertainment. They billed their shows as blackface "concerts" and added songs of a sentimental, romantic nature, even going so far as to perform pieces from popular operas. In exchange, they cut out bawdy, humorous material like that used by the Virginia Minstrels and other troupes, and saw great success with this formula. According to Dwight's Journal of Music, they "popularized 'Rosa Lee', 'Dearest Mae', 'Mary Blane', &c., a species of composition more nearly bordering upon respectability than the characteristic negro songs by which they had been preceded."[3]
First British tour
In late 1845, with line-up changes but retaining Germon and Stanwood, the Serenaders left for a tour in
For most of 1846, they performed regularly at the
The troupe's performances represented "the high point of minstrelsy's success in early Victorian Britain".
Second British tour
Dumbolton formed a new, expanded, troupe of Serenaders, again fronted by Pelham. With the addition of
Return to the U.S.
Dumbolton established a new group of minstrels in the United States, again including Pelham, together with
Later activities
Of the early troupe members, Germon, Harrington and Stanwood died at a relatively young age,[9] as did Tony Winnemore.[14] Gilbert Pelham (c.1820–1872) eventually returned to England, married, and died in Rainhill Hospital near Liverpool, probably from syphilis.[8][15] George Warren White (1816–1886) performed with various minstrel troupes in the U.S., including Bryant's Minstrels until at least 1868, as well as in opera companies; he also composed melodies. He died in Somerville, Massachusetts.[16]
References
- ^ U.S. Passport application, National Archives and Records Administration (NARA); Washington D.C.; Roll #: 17; Volume #: Roll 017 - 01 Sep 1845-31 Mar 1846. Age given as 37 in 1845
- ^ a b c James A. Dumbolton, Biographical Overview, The JUBA Project. Retrieved 6 October 2020
- ^ a b "Obituary, not Eulogistic", Dwight's Journal of Music, 10 July 1858. Retrieved 6 October 2020
- ^ Charles White, "Negro Minstrelsy: Its Starting Place Traced Back Over Sixty Years, Arranged and Compiled from the Best Authorities", New York Clipper, April 28, 1860, reprinted at BanjoFactory.com. Retrieved 6 October 2020
- ^ 12 September 1844. Ethiopian Serenaders Booklet, London. Quoted in Toll 31.
- ^ a b "Juba and the Ethiopian Serenaders in the UK: 1842-52: Timeline: Itinerary and Reviews", The JUBA Project. Retrieved 6 October 2020
- ^ The Times, Friday, Jan 16, 1846, p. 1, Issue 19135, col A
- ^ a b c Stephen Johnson, Burnt Cork: Traditions and Legacies of Blackface Minstrelsy, University of Massachusetts Press, 2012, pp.82-90
- ^ a b c d "Negro Minstrels", The New York Clipper, October 7, 1876. Retrieved 6 October 2020
- ^ a b Harold Scott, The Early Doors: Origins of the Music Hall, Nicholson & Watson, 1946, p.128
- ^ 12 February 1862. "Nigger Minstrelsy", Living Age, p. 398. Quoted in Toll 40.
- ^ 16 October 1847. Spirit of the Times. Quoted in Odell, George C. D. (1927-59), Annals of the New York Stage, vol. V, pp. 131, 223, 307., New York; and in turn in Toll 39-40.
- ^ Charles F. Wells, "A Century of Entertainment in Oswego", Oswego Historical Society, 1945, p.26
- ^ "Winnemore, Anthony 'Tony' ", composers-classical-music.com. Retrieved 6 October 2020
- ^ Gilbert W. Pell, Biographical Overview, The JUBA Project. Retrieved 6 October 2020
- ^ "Archive of an American Minstrel Performer Touring England with the Ethiopian Serenaders Blackface Troupe", James E. Arsenault & Company. Retrieved 6 October 2020
- Toll, Robert C. (1974). Blacking Up: The Minstrel Show in Nineteenth-century America. New York: Oxford University Press.
- Watkins, Mel (1994). On the Real Side: Laughing, Lying, and Signifying—The Underground Tradition of African-American Humor that Transformed American Culture, from Slavery to Richard Pryor. New York: Simon & Schuster.