424 



KECREA TION. 



which, in a crude way, contained all the ele- 

 ments of modern minstrelsy. Their success 

 was so great that it decided them to con- 

 tinue practice together. 



The first appearance of the 4 on any 

 regular stage was at the Chatham Theater, 

 the event being Phelom's benefit. After this 

 they played one night at the Amphitheatre, 

 and as pay for their services were given 

 cuts of themselves in character. They were 

 now known as the " Virginia Minstrels." 



The scene of their next triumph was a 

 saloon called the " Cornucopia." Near this 

 was the Park Theater, with Walshe's circus 

 as the attraction. As they drew largely on 

 Walshe's patrons for support, he finally 

 offered them a week's engagement. They 





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9 _3 



DAN EMMETT, THE FATHER OF NEGRO 

 MINSTRELSY. 



were to receive $100 and a benefit. Their 

 profits on the week were a little over $700. 



From the Park Theater the Virginia 

 Minstrels went to Boston, and played to 

 large and fashionable audiences in that city. 

 Meanwhile Phelom had become infected 

 with the idea that riches and fame would re- 

 sult from a trip to England, and the other 

 members of the troupe were so elated with 

 their success that it was probably an easy 

 matter for him to bring them around to his 

 point of view. 



They returned to New York and after 

 giving Walshe a rousing benefit sailed for 

 the other side. 



Arrangements had been made for them to 

 appear at the Adelphi Theater, London, 



under the management of one Anderson, 

 " The Wizard of the North." Anderson 

 w r as a sleight of hand performer and the 

 minstrels gave their entertainment during 

 his rests. 



They remained 6 weeks at the Adelphi, 

 but the engagement was not a pecuniary 

 success. Either Anderson's sleight of hand 

 was as potent in the box office as on the 

 stage, or else their agent was dishonest, for 

 at the end of the run the minstrels were all 

 but penniless. 



Then followed a short but disastrous 

 season in the provinces, and the first min- 

 strel troupe came to an abrupt and inglori- 

 ous end. 



Browes and Whitlock returned home, 

 while Emmett with Phelom secured a posi- 

 tion in the band of the American Circus 

 company, then touring England. 



Emmett remained abroad until 1844, 

 when he returned to New York, only to 

 find that minstrelsy had undergone a great 

 change; so great, in fact, that he felt himself 

 altogether out of it. 



It was not until 1858 that he again vent- 

 ured upon the stage. In that year he be- 

 came a member of Bryant's minstrels at 472 

 Broadway. He was engaged to compose 

 songs and " Walk'rounds," but not to take 

 part in the performance. However, Bryant 

 soon had him on the stage once more, as 

 banjoist and vocalist. 



It was while he was a member of Bryant's 

 company that the famous song of " Dixie " 

 was composed. This song was hastily writ- 

 ten, one Sunday afternoon, in response to a 

 demand of Bryant's for a -new walk'round 

 for the following Monday's entertainment. 



There have been many accounts given as 

 to the origin of " Dixie." The one most 

 commonly accepted is that it grew note by 

 note of its own volition, and that Emmett 

 simply put on paper something that already 

 existed. 



The truth is that Emmett had the single 

 line, " I wish I was in Dixie " to start with. 

 Now oddly enough " Dixie " or " Dixie 

 land " originally referred to an estate on 

 Manhattan Island, owned by a man of the 

 name of Dixy early in the last century. Dixy 

 was an extensive slave holder, until the 

 spread of the anti-slavery sentiment in the 

 North, and the constantly increasing risk 

 that attended the ownership of this kind of 

 property forced him either to sell or remove 

 his slaves South; and from these slaves or 

 their descendants came the expression 

 " Dixie land," signifying their attachment 

 for their old home and master. 



The phrase passed into the current speech 

 of the people, gradually losing all local 

 reference. 



But a chance allusion by John Randolph 

 to Mason's and Dixon's line, in a speech de- 

 livered by him in 1820, revived the memory 

 of that now famous survey, and in some 

 way " Dixie " — doubtless from its similarity 



