MINSTREL SHOWS
There were thousands
of Minstrel Shows in America. From the late 1800s to the 1960s, Minstrel
Shows were one of the most popular forms of entertainment. From
grade schools to colleges, Scout Troops to Churches, everyone had
a Minstrel Show.
This page is not about Race nor politics. It does NOT endorse the
content. This page is simply a snapshot of who, where and when Minstrel
Shows were locally popular, like thousands of other pages across the
Net on this same subject. We cannot hid our past nor should
we. We must learn from our past and improve with each
generation. That being said, like always, one must understand the
times.
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Blackface minstrelsy
was the first theatrical form that was distinctly American.
Minstrel shows emerged as brief burlesques and comics between the acts
in the early 1830s in the Northeastern states. They were developed into
full-fledged form in the next decade. By 1848, blackface minstrel shows
were the national art form, translating formal art such as opera into
popular terms for a general audience.
Christy's Minstrels, sometimes referred to as the
Christy Minstrels, were a blackface group formed by Edwin Pearce
Christy, a well-known ballad singer, in 1843, in Buffalo, New York.
They were instrumental in the solidification of the minstrel show into
a fixed three-act form. The troupe also invented or popularized "the
line", the structured grouping that constituted the first act of the
standardized three-act minstrel show, with the interlocutor in the
middle and "Mr. Tambo" and "Mr. Bones" on the ends.
BUT THEN, THE NEW CHRISTY MINSTRELS CAME
ALONG, AND NO ONE GAVE IT A THOUGHT.
Meanwhile: The New Christy Minstrels were an American
large-ensemble folk music group founded by Randy Sparks in 1961. From
their beginnings as prominent figures in the early-1960s U.S. folk
revival, the group has recorded over 20 albums and had several hits,
including "Green, Green", "Saturday Night", "Today", "Denver", and
"This Land Is Your Land". Their 1962 debut album, Presenting The
New Christy Minstrels, won a Grammy Award and was on the Billboard
charts for two years. The group has sold millions of records and were
in demand at concerts and on television shows. They also helped to
launch the musical careers of several musicians, including Kenny
Rogers, Gene Clark, Kim Carnes, Larry Ramos, and Barry McGuire.
The New Christy Minstrels were formed by singer/guitarist Randy Sparks
in 1961. Sparks named his group after Christy's Minstrels, a
blackface group formed by Philadelphia-born showman Edwin Pearce
Christy in 1842 and known primarily for introducing many of Stephen
Foster's compositions. In a similar way, Sparks envisioned his
group—with its innovative sound—as a means to attract attention to his
own writing, which consisted of original songs and fresh adaptations of
folk classics. In 1970, they performed during Super Bowl IV at Tulane
Stadium in New Orleans.
In the late 1980s and into the early 1990s, the group's concert
activity declined steadily until it stopped completely. Early in the
new millennium, Randy Sparks was able to register a trademark on the
(dormant) New Christy Minstrels name and once again became the leader
of the group he had started almost 50 years before. He launched a
revamped, reinvigorated group on a new series of concerts, playing to
sold-out crowds and standing ovations—a satisfying renaissance for the
man who started it all.
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