St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-10-15

the circus, in which appeared Billy Fay,
a famous clown and portrait painter,
who died some years ago, and Painter
and Duraud, then considered great
gymnaSts. Closing the show was the
concert. in which Yankee Robinson and
his wife sang Yankee duets. One of
them was quite celebrated. 1t was
"Bobbing Around" There was an
other classical composition that used TO
throw the audience into Pcstasies, and
two lines Of the refrain have jingled i'll
my ears in all the years since:
For every time raised old Betsy I'D.
Down popped the Mexican.
Simmons left the company in Indian
apoIS. after playing with it two seasons
considered q remarkable achievement
in those days in the line of consecutive
entertainment. ''rhe show broke up
| outside of Indianapolis. he said, but
| went there and Wintered. l dldn't
winter as we'll as the menagerie. |
managed to get my kicks by calling Off
cotilionS in dance houses. was owed
( ST after working all summer with the
circus. ] gave my account with Robin
son for my winters lodging. It's hardly
necessary to say it was never collected.
| had pair of good summer light Ok
| ford tie shoes, a cool shoe, admirably i'll
Keeping with winter. When the snow
and ice disappeared from the ground and
| spring came around on time once more
| didn't need any shoes, and | was per-
! fectlv satisfied with the fact that
didn't have any. Some of US got up a
variety snow with the assistance of the
| latest stranded concern-the Empire
MINISTRIES was organized at
| Cleveland and lasted as far as Indian
apolis AID Weaver. whom old-timers
| will remember, was on one end of the
show and | on the other. | was the
bones and Pm sure l looked it. He was
! the tambourine and had just strength
enough to tap the sheepSkin. You see,
like Jack Cade, we hadn't tasted meat
for a week. Then was the first time l
| tried to do funny banjo solo.
Il had the idea from Earl Pierce, who
is now dead. He WAS another great
| favOrite. whom all old-timerS will re-
member as with the ChIisty MINISTRIES.
| He first sang the celebrated song of
| op-de-dooden-do,' something that
| for absolute inanity beats our modern
'Ta-ra-rd.' That was in the winter of
| IS had an idea | could do it. l used
to practice it in the afternoon by my
self. Finally when L thought L had
! worked myself up to perfection l told
| Weaver | would like to spring il on the
! audience. | did so. You can get an
| idea of the beautiful and classical char
| acter of the piece from the first StanZa,
! which was this:
A thousand years ago today
My old master set me free;
My old mistress said 10 me-:
"Hoop-de doodeu-do."
"Plenty of old theater-goerS remem-
Der that song today. Sometimes the old
fellows come in here and insist upon my
singing it for them just as it used to be
sung. Well, sang that beautiful song.
! Pm afraid the times were not sufficient
, w advanced for it. When | finished
/ and looked around nervOuSly for some
| tokens of appreciation, the performers
on the stage began firing their match
| boxes at me. They banged me all over
! the head, and l was glad to run off and
| hide behind the scenes. l never knew
! exactly what the audience did. but re-
member taking one quick glance just as
l was getting off the stage, and seeing a
lot of people hurrying out of thehouse.
although | STAYED with the com
| pany, did no more funny banjo solos.
| We were playing i'll three-stOry build
ing and dressed in the second story. AS
i we were sitting there after the perform
| ance, | noticed that the others said
| nothing, but every now and then glanced
at me and turned up their noses. Al
| last | got mad and said, That was a
pretty bad reception, boys. but it don't
scare me. Phi be at the top of the heap
yet
SIN the following spring L went tc
Detroit. l played in Old Jake Boilers
saloon. He is in Detroit now. Then
did banjo solos, but no more 'Hoop-de'
dooden dos l was there all summer
My salary was a dollar night and -four
beer tickets. The star got ten beer tick
cts. Four beer tickets was the leas
anybody could get. That was the bes
variety show in the whole West then
in $50.
''In the fall of $50 went to New
York. There had an engagement a
| Frank Rivers Music hall, $50 Broadway