Show US HAS ONLY MEMORY old minstrel sadly recalls days of affluence years ago the pet of royalty and earning Thouc thousands ands tc acra ly feord d as an aj colored man leaning against nga irist the side of a moving picture theater 0 on broadway roadway rt a crippled old man with white hair and deep toes lines in ills 1114 face stood the other lay day bearing little resemblance to the man who was once the sen san atlon atlon of the english amusement world the pet of royalty and a maker of money in such quantities that it was said aid of him lie he only sipped the bubbles olt oft champagne leaving the drink itself to hangers on not ft a handful of people know of ills his former glory to the pas seiby selby today he seemed simply an old colored man but to the old timer recognition was immediate lie he was none other than george bobee who with his brother jim bohee bobee was a feature of jack Haver IIa verlys tys colored mastodon minstrels in this country 40 years ago and who in the early eighties took england off its feet with the introduction of negro minstrelsy banjo playing and soft shoe dancing there the story of george coliee bobee Is more timely now because of he the recent vilt of tile the prince of wales wale for when the present princes grandfather the lite late king edward visited this country as is prince of wales ivies banjo playing was its hiss abby and he later look lessons fr from the dolice brothers brother and often commanded them to appear at royal entertainments george and mal jim dolice cohee were mulat toes they were splendid singers and clever lancers dancers they always appeared together in silk costumes of gay colors high silk hats and with banjos hung over their shoulders they were for years cars with IIa Ila verlys in asso they decided to go to england gland little hoping for any wonderful success there but desiria de KirIns to see the world and to try their luck 1 I was in england at the period says ays the old timer the success of the bohee brothers was instantaneous it was cmar eniar kable the soft shoo hoo dancing and banjo playing took england by storm it became the rage just as the jazz is the rage here now they were wooed by the big music halls balls and played a string of them every night going from one to another king edward who was then prince of wales always had a hobby for the banjo nobody had ever played it in england as the bohee brothers did and lie he summoned them early in their career there to play for him the bohocs appeared at royal parties given by him film and by tile the duke of richmond climond Ki and to queen alexandra 1 I reme remember ruler that one of the Doli bohets ees I 1 velt great songs snags in those lays days was A coys boys rest nest friend Is ills his mother sounds slushy now dow but it was a great hit bit in the eighties well the cohee brothers certainly were the class they drove down piccadilly tandem with nn lin attendant in livery that would knock your eye out when tim jim bohee came into the gaiety or criterion bar lie he would order champagne and never drink any hang tiling hut but the bubbles a fact lie he would simply drink the effervescent top and let the greater part of the wine remain in the glass 1 I remember one day meeting jim in the criterion and reminding him of nf iu nai incident when lie he was with hav ei ailys lys minstrels it happened in kalamazoo kiich jim was leading the parade in a startling costume car arving ain a huso drum majors stick alich lie was as whirling nud and twirling like mad 11 frisky young colt coll was tied to lo a lloil 11 aind when tile lie parade came down donin ath bands gong not full rc ri aure ire and with jim cutting high jinks in front the colt reared up on its hind legs and fell over dead a fact well I 1 asked jim it if he recalled that and he let out a roar of laughter tint thit amazed those present jim had cultivated an english accent and eliminated eliminate anything approaching the boisterous laugh or expression consequently when he lapsed into an pr ordinary whoop it caused a stir and he apologized all this crime to my mind the other day T when lien I 1 happened to see george coliee bobee a ghost of his old self he made hundreds of thousands of dollars to in his day I 1 think lie he makes a living now working around movie houses I 1 stopped to talk with nith him and I 1 recalled the days of forgotten glory those were the days he sald said sadly 1 I forgot to say that the full fall of tile the began with the death of jim jim died just about the time their popularity began to decil decline rie and george revive the old time admiration of the amusement world P |