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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