George Christy
George Christy | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Sheet music cover for songs by Christy's Minstrels, 1844. Christy shown in circle at top. | |
| Born | George Harrington |
| Occupation(s) | Stage actor, singer |
George N. Christy (born George Harrington) (November 6, 1827 – May 12, 1868) was one of the leading blackface performers during the early years of the blackface minstrel show in the 1840s.[1]
Born in Palmyra, New York, his career began as a star performer with his stepfather E. P. Christy's troupe Christy's Minstrels; in two and a half years with them he earned $19,680, a fortune for those times.[2][3] Jim Comer credits him with inventing "the line", the structured grouping that constituted the first act of the standardized 3-act minstrel show, with the interlocutor in the middle and "Mr. Tambo" and "Mr. Bones" on the ends.[4]
He died in New York City from cerebral edema in 1868.
Notes
Sources
References
- Belcher, W.H., Interesting Career of Judge John W. Rea, originally from Passaic County Historical Publication, Vol. II, No. 1, September 1, 1931. Accessed 6 Sept 2005.
- Comer, Jim, Every Time I Turn Around: Rite, Reversal, and the end of blackface minstrelsy. Accessed 6 Sept 2005.
- Lott, Eric. Love and Theft: Blackface Minstrelsy and the American Working Class. New York: Oxford University Press, 1993. ISBN 0-19-507832-2.
Further reading
- Gleasons Pictorial, 1854
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