The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1908-03-16

dialect, catchy laugh and a regular
levee darby singsOns voice. with a use
Of his legs and feet that gave them a
constantly changing variety of eomical
twists. steps and poses. II was in 1853
that the writer last heard Billy Emer-
son in his song and dance, but he still
can see him come on in his roustabOut
makeup, swinging his napless old gray
hat in one hand while he took a few
preliminary steps around the stage and
then drawled out the song. The first
stanza ran:
this town.
And listen to what I'm goin' to say:
Never put your affections on any young
man.
| For fear that he'd go and run away.
And then you'd sail up into the air,
! Like Mr.. Johnny AndersOn's balloon.
| And you'd go TO California by the gas
light of the moon.
And no rip-tearin JOhnny'd meet yotf'
there
oh. thick lip and crooked stick,
Won't you come and kiss me quick
My rip-tearin' Johnny's gone away.
This was at Fox's casino in Phila-
delphia. a famous free and easy music
| hall during the war. This song and
dance made Billy Emerson, but with
| his latter-day success and eminence the
| naturalness that gave an incOmpara-
bic quality TO his humor in those early
days was replaced by an affectation
/ that, I'm the opinion of some, had made
| his art inferior to what it was in the
song and dance period.
! Lew Dockstader said that next TO
Billy Manning, Billy Emerson was the
| funniest end man ever, but did he re-
member Dan Bryant, Nelse Seymour,
Eph Horn and some more that have
been known TO make people all but
split their buttons off? OF course, mod
esty forbade him to except himself.
/ Billy Emerson was a funny end man,
but even in his "MOriarity" vogue he
fell snort of the cOmicality he showed
as an end man in a sort of imprO-
vised minstrel first part at this same
FoX's casino in 1868.
And that was quite a first part. Be
sides Billy Emerson there were Hughey
DOugherty, Fatty Stewart, Lew Gay
lord, John Mulligan, Andy Leavitt and
one or two others. Every one of these
was an end man whose equal it would
have been hard to find. They took
turns on the end.
Hughey Dougherty is the only one of
the lot alive today Who remembers
John Mulligan or Andy Leayitt2 But
they were famous star players Of that
time and later, Andy Leavitt being d
banjo player and a comedian never ex-
celled in his line, while John Multi
gan's song and dance, "Old Bob Rid
ley" was always what would be called
a headlineT now.
!. Mulligan was more than feet tall
and very thin and his style was that OF
the plantation darky. The Essence Of
i or V'ginny" has never been danced
since John Mulligan passed away. His
specialties were bits representing plan
ltatiOn negro types Of character, a school
: of minstTelsy that is now no more, its
last exponent being J. W. McAndrews,
THE Watermelon Man" once a popular
feature with Birch & Backus San
| Francisco MINISTRIES, who died some
years ago.
That was a great show, FOx's cast
no. The performers named belonged to
the stock company of the place, and
/ there was a special star of some kind
every week. one of these was Kitty
Blanchard, afterward Mrs. Mckee Ran
5 kin, who was a dancer then. Tony
p Pastor was another. and there ne in
t troduced Isabella With Her Gingha6
I | Umbrella" and "Sarys Young Man"
f 1t was there that Hughey DOugherty
began the stump speech speciality in
j that husky voice of his, which has been
e his chief stock in trade ever since. Fat
q ty Stewart, whose name was John, and
- who made fortune in after years as
r one of the 1.-TWO Johns kept a little
D place Just below the Casino, i'm Chest
20 nut street, above Sixth, called the Dew
q Drop inn.
= 1t was in a basement, with a very
= steep flight of steps. One wet. slippery
D night after the performance John Null
;, ligan was going into the place and he
: slipped ON the top step and fell head
n long to the bottom and through the door
= into the room. He picked himself up
and, looking at the sign over tbs door,
0 drawled:
o Dew Drop inn? Damned if I didn't
e do it,"
e 1t was along about this time that z
n | y. Slocum steered John Steele, Coal oil
f Johnny, to Philadelphia. There was a
d dancing girl at FOX's named Susie Sum-
J. merfield, who was a pretty girl, al
e though she did have one front tooth
a out, and Steele fell in love with her.
= Then he got right in with the pro-
IS fession and he fell in with the sugges
5 ton that he start a minstrel troupe OF
8 his own. He did. Or SlOcum and mar
e named Skiff started il for him.
= That was the beginning of the min
le streI company known to fame as Skif
lT q Gaylord's minstrels, Lew Gaylord
a leaving Fox's TO become one of the pro
ir prietors They used TO say that Johnny
is Steele gave each Of the members n
Of this troupe a 81 800 diamond pin. Thi
r may or may not be true, but SlOcuH
y and others with the company FLASHED
d diamond pins as big as hazel nuts soOl
after.