The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-03-25

take with u New York audience for several |
months at time. He dresses his parts sump-
tuously. The more dresses he can manage TO |
wear during tie delmcatiou OF any Que particu- |
lar fote and the more expensive aud startling |
Is their description, tue better he Is satisfied. |
The foremost actres, Ia the foremost theatre of
lbc Umted States is not more extensively at |
brcd Than Leon Is whe he is presenting some !
'aN ortc roLe Tostec the "Graud DuchossO'
never wore larger o. more extravagant train .
His stage jewels are among she most costly pro-
curablc, aud in the general dash aud dazzle of |
his ensemble he goes far ahead of any other
''wenchist' in the profession. AS an actor, too
he is not withoat good deal of pquancy. His
extraordinary JdIsetto growing raggeder, alas
with every season--aids him to perfection in bis
burlesque of such parts as Marguerite" and
"Boulotte.' The practice of many years has
bestowed upon him knack of ogling and
wriggling, saucy, woman-like coguctry of
manner upon the stage that many actresses
would like to be the happy possessors of, and
which, to say the least, are very singular accom-
pliehments in man. In private life Leon is
noted for the quietness and modesty of his
manners, and an almost girlish bashfulness when
particular attention is directed to him.
The salaries of negro mlnstrels vary between
twenty dollars and two hundred dollars per
week. Twenty-Five dollars per week may be
assumed as the average. They don't like to play
before cheap audiences, and the crowning boast
of those that have played to dollar-and-a-ha
audiences is that they obtained "opera prices"
Another thing that managers Of minstrel COM
panies who are minstrels themselves pride
themselves upon is the thorough knowledge of
music as a science which the members of their
troupe possess, and the pure fun and humor of
the performance. That they give you as good
music as you will get at the Italian opera, and
that the cream of burlesque is furnished by them
in purer state than you would obtain it fro,a
the Lydia Thompson burlesque troupe are two
of the chief tenets in the negro minstrols belief.
I'VE don't want none of your opera trash, said
celebrated minstrel to me one day. "We've
got better tenor in our troupe to-day than
Brgnoli ever was or ever can be. Brignoli
-(with sardonic laugh)-Why, he don't
amount to a row Of pins. He can't hold candle
up to him. And as for your burlesque, the
public laughs more in ten minutes at our enter
tainment than it does in three hours over Lydia
| Thompson's We take the insides right out of
| burlesque, we do hand it over, and flop it
down, and the speaker suited the action to the
word as though he were really dlsemboweling
the theme that he was talking about
They are very chary about admitting any new
was one cay present at the rehearsal of min
| strel troupe, when a new conner who was nego-
tiating for An engagement asked permission to
| try new instrument before the manager. The
| latter assented, and the man forthwith I'M
| packed the instrument and placed it upon the
stage. At first appearance it something
| like an oblong box; but seizing hold of handle
| at each side, the man drew the contents of the
| box into an upright position, and in an instant
| you saw before you an excellent imitation of q
| harmonicon. He sat down to play, aud it
| sounded like oAe-a little more reedy, perhaps.
| In fact, the instrument was intended to chime
| in with an orchestra and initiate the notes of
reed instruments. The manager listened to it
| at first with admiration, then with air of PEN
| sive disappoin ntment. Finally he decided that
| the affair was very nice, but entirely toe
"churchy" for q negro minstrel audience.
He had ''felt the public" for many years, he
said, and he did not think they would stand
anything quite so 'churchy" as that. The
mans singing WAS vetoed by the discriminating
manager for the same reason. He had an ex-
cellent tenor voice, and sang with feeling and
expression, but he was unfortunate in his selec.
ton. Instead of sticking to some simple Englisl
ballad that would most likely have led to An en-
gagement, he chose tiresome solo from some
oratorio, and crushed his prospect with the frs
few bars.
If the reader ever feels desire to write
play-or acting sketch, for the style of perform
ance scarcely deserves to be called q play
advise him not to take the trouble to write 1t IL
rhyme, and not to stud it with too many or to-
pointed jokes. While he will never get the manage
of minstrel troupe to acknowledge that it /
too good for them that will certainly be tn
truth and his burlesque-of course it will be
burlesque will most decidedly be rejected
Perfect rhymes, polished wit, and spicy song
are all wasted upon that class of performers
The brilliant pointedness to which your coupet
are refined will go for nothing at all The mos
J of your Jokes will not be discovered, and you
songs will be Joh-poohed. What the minstrt
wants is good coarse slang. The colors must b
laid on with a whitewash brush, not a camel
hair pencil Remember that they are to be see
| by several hundred average-minded people
| the full fare of the burnt-cork footllghts an
not to be read in an intellectual study beGeat
the glow of argand burners.
The intense delight with which the jigs an
t | break-downs of minstrelism are surveyed
genuine negroes arises from the fact that thei
: dances are exact reproductions of the ont
: which used to be in vogue among the colore
= people of the South. Every step and motto
s has been photographed with keen artistic eye
a ands reproduced with wonderful exactness I'll
8 wonderful delight in them exhibited by negl
e people can only be compared to the frantic az
b miration of the Arabs for the performances
s the French conjurer and plenipotentiary, Robe
e Houdin. They flung themselves on their bac
e and threw their feet in the air, and