The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1893-02-08
STREET MINSTRELS.
IN ENGLAND THE WANDERING SING
ERS MAKE GOOe WAGES.

Ten or Fifteen Dollars n Week Is Not IN
Unusual Amount for a Good Weeks
work-An Interesting Interview with the
Leader Of n Travelling Band.
1t was in little court off the Strand
where | caught "Brudder Johnsing" with
his three minstrel friends. They were just
moving off from that particular pitch" to
another where the police were not so anx-
ious that they should move on"
That's the worst Of our perfession ERE"
began Mr.. Johnsing, as the end men call
him. mo sooner are you well fixed Oh a
good pitch ahan the bobby comes and moves
yer on. OF course If we can make our col
lection before he comes it doesn't much
matter" And here he chuckled.
"Then where can you make most money!"
"Oh, at the seaside; but that is only dur
ing the summer. In the late autumn and
winter we make for London. There we find
quiet street off one of the big thorough
fares, or square in Bloomsbury, or far
ther away in the suburbs pays us best.
Our day is long one, and don't know
how many times we repeat our songs and
jokes The money we collect on pitch
varies greatly. Sometimes we make as
much as five shillings or six shillings,
which isnot bad business for half an hour
work. But then we may go from pitch to
/ pitch for whole afternoon or night with
out getting more than few coppers from
each"
But ut what do you average your week
| ly takngss''
well, that depends. A bad, wet season
| keeps the average low. But, after all, in a
first rate company like ours we generally
manage to make at least two or three pounds
week. That means working many hours
a day without rest. When we are at the
seaside we may even beat these earnings,
but II we do it's good business. Wealways
do well in Bloomsbury. You see, there are
u lot of foreigners who lodge there, md they
are always coming and going Our pro
gramme there of course never falls flat"
What caused you to turn to this bust
ness?"
"Why, because had failed Mt everything
else. Bat had little talent MS singer
of comic songs and played on the banjo,
and one day became so desperate at my
i'll luck that it occurred to me to go into
the streets with blackened face and try
my hand Mt negro minstrelsy. Well, the
first days earnings produced 2s. I'D. You
! laugh, but it was godsend to me The
next day did even better, and my earnings
| for the first week came to twenty-four
shillings.
1.-THE next week bought an old fancy
negro minstrel costume from a secondhand
dealer, and rs II result did better and bet
ter. In II month | had got together one or
two pals, and we then determined to storm
| Brighton. We did so and made lot Of
money. Each of us was twenty pounds in
| pocket at the end of the season. We had
bought II concertina, tambourine and bones
for the fray, and these, with my banjo,
painted the town red
Here's something which you may or
may not like to put down. Not long ago
we always made n pitch opposite house
In Rayswater and performed our full pro
gramme for the benefit of little consump,
tive boy, whose mother wanted to please
him. We went there every day for month
every time doing something new. The
day after the end OF the month we again
went to the house, but the blinds were
down. A servant camo out and told us that
the mother had left us a ten pound note
She had taken her little boy to Torquay
where he was expected to die. shall nevei
forget the merry way in which the young
ster laughed at our jokes" And "Brudder
Johnsing" looked as sad as he could with u
coal black face
"How long are you going to keep up your
street work2n
"Oh, as long as it pays. We have to con.
tinually find something fresh to sing, and
II you've joke or two about You we should
be glad to use them. Sometimes we gag us
much as Arthur Roberts, and other OF oui
jokes we discover in the comic papers
Talking of Arthur Roberts reminds me
that Insny street minstrels have gone onto
the music hall stage. One man know
makes quite ten pounds a week in winter
in taking turns at the halls spending the
summer time at the seaside. where he earns
quito as much. Some day hope to try his
kind of business.
what kind of songs do we sing? Oh
any TINT are popular. You see, We may
sing AZ many as we care, whether they ars
copyright or not, and | know a man in the
same line as myself who can always yet &
crowd arc md him by singing some of Gil
bert and Sullivan's songs from the Savoy
operas. But some OF Cheyalier's songs gt
down quite as well. No. there are moi
many troops of MINISTRIES who perform il
the streets, although there are n number Of
single performers on the banjo who &c
around the 'publics' and take their luck il
earning II copper"
other pitch, where l left "Brudder John
sing" who was ut that moment endeayor
ing to explain to the obtuse "Bruddel
Bones" an easy conundrum of which ev
erybody else ut once saw the solution
London Million.