OCR Text |
Show THE FUTURE OF MINSTRELSY. Haverly'8 General Agent Discourses on His Profession. J. M. McNamara, general agent for Haverly's Minstrels, was sunning himself yesterday afternoon in front of the Valley House office, when a Demockat reporter spied his gallant form, and noticing his apparently ruminating mood, decided to tap him. "Penny for your thoughts, Mc." "I was just thinking," said Mc, "upon the coming future of minstrelsy." "Just think aloud,then," suggested the reporter as his ready pencil slid from the back of his ear. "It is now six years since I first entered the bard business. I have seen its rises and falls, its booms and reverses, yet I think I never saw a brighter outlook than at present. Our business in San Francisco Fran-cisco the past eight weeks was wonderful, wonder-ful, and the prospects here are equally as good." "I notice that there are fewer bona-fide bona-fide negro minstrel troupes of late years. What is the cause ?" asked the reporter. "It arises from two causes. In the first place the simon-pure banjo negro of slavery days is disappearing. They have drifted partly into the channels of the negro dudes, which is an effeminate libel on the former happy-hearted plantation production. Then, again, the great bulk have been educated and lifted above their former sphere and have been assimilated with whites in business pursuits. In the second place, the negro minstrel never was a success except as a novelty. He was a machine. If you understood him and wound him up properly you could put him on the stage, and "if nothing broke down he miffht era off all riwht. hut he has no ability for extemporaneous work, and was not pliable. The imitation imita-tion is far better than the bona fide article." "What part of the country do you travel in?" "All over the world have been in Europe the past four summers. We played in England, Ireland and Scotland, and met with great success. A first-class minstrel performance takes better in Europe than any other class of amusement. amuse-ment. We go east from here, stopping at Cheyenne, Denver, etc. Our trip haa been a big success. "I see you' are billing to play here October 26th and 27th ?" "Yes, and it may seem strange that we are to appear in the Walker Opera House. We could not get the time we wanted at the Theatre, another attraction having contracted for it, and Manager McKenzie could not get them to change, and it was impossible for us to change. Of course we could not go by your city, as it is the best show town in the West. We hope your amusement-going citizens will lay aside any personal feeling they have regarding the choice of theatres, and avail themselves of the only opportunity oppor-tunity they will have of seeing this world-famous world-famous company, including the marvelous marvel-ous Cragg family." |