Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1889-12-01
MUSIC AND DRAMa.
CAREER OF THE FAVORITE MINSTREL
DAVE S. WAMBOLD.
Demand for New Plays - Irving as a
ClOwn-Unsafe Theaters-Foot-
light F1ashes-Etc.

Demand for New Plays Irving as a
Clown-Unsafe Theaters-Foot-
light Flashes-Etc.
Dave S. Wambold, the favorite old-time
time minstrel, is dead. He was born in
Newark fifty years ago. An elder brother,
James, who was noted banjoist, is prob
ably responsible for the development of
Dawes fondness for the stage. When a
small boy his parents had difficulty in
keeping him at school, as he was wont to
play truant and get up minstrel perform
ances among his companions His first ap-
pearance as professional was at Charley
Whites old Melodion, on the Bowery,
New York, where he appeared as song
and dance artist. Even then his fine tenor
voice attracted considerable attention. He
steadily developed great vocal powers, al
though possessing no musical education.
He sung naturally, and so keen was his ap-
probation of sound, it is said, that he could
not only commit the words of song, but
also retain the melody of the composition
in his mind after hearing the music played
over once. In 1856 Wambold went to
England and signed a contract to sing un-
der the management of Pony Moore, the
father-in-law of the English pugilist, Char
lev Mitchell. Moore afterward formed a
Il, nd ttu,N
English managers, and with Wambold as
star they planned tour of England.
Wambold quarreled with Collins over Il
game of billiards, and in the heat OF pas
sion he struck his manager over the head
with a cue and then resigned from the
company and returned to New York.
While in Lendon Wambold had the dis
tipguished honor of being invited to sing
before the royal family He accepted the
invitation and was personally thanked in
letter from Queen Victoria.
Returning to New York he remained a
short time and then drifted to San Fran
cisco. In 1862 Tom Mcguire, now of New
York, but then the great theatrical manager
of the Pacific coast, organized the San
Francisco Minstrels, composed of Wam-
bold. Ben Cotton, Billy Birch, Charley
Backus, Joe Murphy and Others They
PLAYED for long period at Eureka Hall,
doing a tremendous business. Wambold's
songs, "Write Letter to My Mother"
"Oh, Mother Dear" and "An Absent
Brother" made him a great favorite on
the coast, and he was conceded to be the
most popular man in San Francisco. A
few years later the minstrel combination OF
Birch, Wambold, Bernard and Backus
opened at 5S5 Broadway, New York, and
remained there for several years. On the
night set for the opening performance at
this theater it rained heavily, and ten min
utes before the curtain went up the hall
was empty. Wambold refused to black up
for the performance, and swore at furious
rate because he had put his money into
venture that gave such little promise OF
success. By s o'clock the hall was Jammed
with people. Wambold rubbed on the
cork, and as he stepped before the foot
lights he was given a genuine ovation.
After leaving this house Wambold was on
the road for several seasons. He retired
from the stage about nine years ago, and
since then has been a great sufferer from
rheumatism and spinal trouble.
w
refinement that surrounds the minstrel
performance of to-day. He did away with
all the vulgar jokes that atcharacterized many
of the old-timers, and made the perform
ance of the San Francisco troupe model
of its kind. Aside from his singing Wam
bold was clever comedian, and in some of
the afterpieces, in which he appeared in
the original role of blackened Dutch CO.
median, he made big hit. His dialect
was perfect, and his long associations with
the German greenhorns gave him plenty
of material to work into his sketches. He
was probably the first American who ever
attempted distinctive German act on the
variety stage, and made a success of it.
Wambold married very beautiful woman,
but they did not get on happily together,
and separated about year ago, the hus-
band making a settlement upon the wife.
Wambold is supposed to have left property
worth about $65,000. For the past six
years he has lived at the Continental
Hotel. His mother, who lives in Newark,
Is so years of age.
'sWhen first knew Wambold," said B.
A. Whiteman, she was the most popular
man in San Francisco. He and | roomed
in the same house, which was kept by
German. Dave was great practical Joker,
and joke that he perpetrated upon his
landlord was the talk of San Francisco for
months, and the newspapers there were
full of it. Owing to Wambold's promi-
nepce the landlord considered what he said
was law. The German wished to add an
other story to his house. Wambold told
him that the air was the property of the
city, and he would have to get the permis-
sion of the Board of Supervisors for using
the air for another story. In order togain
the permission the German, at Wambold's
suggestion, got up monstrous petition,
which was decorated by ribbons and seals
of various kinds. In due time he presented
the petition to the Supervisors. The
wording was the composition of Wam-
bold and was very humorous, and asked
for certain number of cubic feet of
air. The Supervisors thought the poor
German was crazy and ordered an examine
tion as to his sanity. He would have been
sent to an asylum had not Wambold
acknowledged the joke. He was always
up to such trick. Almost every night
Eureka Hall, where he played, would be
packed at 10 o'clock, when Dave sang, and
during the rest of the evening the house
would be comparatively empty. In those
DAYS he was a very handsome fellow and
the pet of the ladies'"
DEMAND FOR NEW PLAYS.
William Archer, in the London World,
reads Mr.. Irving lecture for his failure
to produce new works. "He has done
much for the English stage, nothing for
the English drama. He has been ten
years manager, and during that time he
has produced two original plays-'The
Cup,' by Alfred Tennyson, and the Amber
Heart by Alfred Calmour-four acts in
all. If Watt Phillips had been alive, and
had himself brought "The Dead Heart a
virgin work, to Mr.. Irving, should we ever
have seen it? trow not. A burial cer-
tifcate is the indispensable passport to the
Lyceum stage" He then continues: 'In
the face of such success as Mr.. Irving's, it
is impossible to doubt that he knows his
own business-no one better. Advice or
warning to such man seems perilously
like an impertinence; yet | cannot but
suspect an error of policy in this piling of