Part 30 (1/2)
”It is an unusually fine company, and superior to any that visit here.”
”The Baltimore News” says,--
”There is no approach to vulgarity. Their audiences are the most fas.h.i.+onable. No minstrel company can compare with Callender's.”
”The Brooklyn Union” says,--
”They are superlatively excellent.”
”The Memphis Appeal” says,--
”They are masters of minstrelsy.”
”The Baltimore American” says,--
”All other companies are tame in comparison with these.”
William Lloyd Garrison writes,--
”It is gratifying to see that no imputation is brought against them of presenting any thing offensive to the eye or ear.”
Mr. P.T. Barnum says,--
”They are extraordinary, and the best I ever saw. They fully deserve their large patronage.”
Said Dexter Smith, the eminent song-writer,--
”Boston has unconditionally yielded to the Georgia Minstrels. If you wish to see the brains, beauty, and fas.h.i.+on of the musical metropolis, a peep into Beethoven Hall will give you an insight of it. Never has a minstrel troupe created such enthusiasm in any American city as the Georgia Minstrels have done in Boston.”
And the Boston ”Folio,” that excellent journal of music,--
”The Georgia Minstrels, who are nightly appearing before crowded houses at Beethoven Hall, deserve more than a pa.s.sing notice, on account of their excellence, and the utter absence of aught that could offend the most fastidious. 'The Traveller' expresses our sentiments so exactly, that we cannot indorse them better than by quoting:--
”'There is a freshness and a completeness about the whole performance which ent.i.tle it to the fullest praise. As for the whole evening's enjoyment, it may be characterized as novel from the fact that it is native and not imitative, commendable because it is wholly refined, and most pleasant because it is always artistic. The comedians are very numerous, and all unite in giving a perfection to the rendering of the whole bill.'”
”The Boston Herald” said,--
”Beethoven Hall was well filled last evening by admirers of Ethiopian delineations, a.s.sembled to see and hear the original Georgia Minstrels, who have returned from a very successful tour in Europe, and are now located at the above-named hall for a short season. The company is a novelty from the fact that all the members are colored, and their performances possess a genuineness which no burnt-cork artists can fully imitate. Their music, both vocal and instrumental, is excellent. Each performer seems to be not only a natural, but a cultured artist; and all have the faculty of being exceedingly mirthful, without overstepping the bounds of refinement. In fact, each performer seems perfect in his _role_; and all appear to be masters of minstrelsy.”
Again the same paper said,--
”The Georgia Minstrels have burst upon us like an avalanche.
All the reserved seats were sold last evening before the performance commenced; and the house was filled by a fas.h.i.+onable audience,--one rarely seen at a minstrel entertainment. The troupe have made a decided hit, and their performances last night were received with great enthusiasm.
Their songs and choruses are excellent; their puns, jokes, and stories, fresh and laughable; and their special acts new, and of a superior order. The performances of the troupe have happily filled a void which existed in the amus.e.m.e.nt field.