minstrel show

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minstrel show

n. A comic variety show of the 1800s and early 1900s, usually featuring white actors in blackface.

minstrel show

n (Theatre) a theatrical entertainment consisting of songs, dances, comic turns, etc, performed by a troupe of actors wearing black face make-up

min′strel show`

n. a theatrical entertainment of the 19th and early 20th centuries, usu. performed by whites in blackface.

minstrel show

A nineteenth-century farcical US show consisting of impersonations of blacks by white musicians using blackface make-up.

Thesaurus

Noun	1.	minstrel show - a troupe of performers in blackface typically giving a comic program of negro songs and jokestroupe, company - organization of performers and associated personnel (especially theatrical); "the traveling company all stayed at the same hotel"corner man, end man - a man at one end of line of performers in a minstrel show; carries on humorous dialogue with the interlocutorinterlocutor, middleman - the performer in the middle of a minstrel line who engages the others in talkminstrel - a performer in a minstrel show
	2.	minstrel show - a variety show in which the performers are made up in blackfacevariety show, variety - a show consisting of a series of short unrelated performances

minstrel show

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minstrel show,

stage entertainment by white performers made up as blacks. Thomas Dartmouth Rice, who gave (c.1828) the first solo performance in blackface and introduced the song-and-dance act Jim Crow, is called the "father of American minstrelsy." The first public performance of a minstrel show was given in 1843 by the Virginia Minstrels, headed by Daniel Decatur Emmett. Christy's Minstrels (for whom Stephen FosterFoster, Stephen Collins,
1826–64, American songwriter and composer, b. Lawrenceville, Pa. His pioneer family was aware of his talent for music, but not understanding it they provided him with little formal musical education.
..... Click the link for more information. wrote some of his most popular songs) appeared in 1846, headed by Edwin P. ChristyChristy, Edwin P.,
1815–62, American showman, b. Philadelphia. He established c.1846 in Buffalo, N.Y., a company of minstrels that came to be known as Christy's Minstrels.
..... Click the link for more information. . In the first part of the minstrel show the company, in blackface and gaudy costumes, paraded to chairs placed in a semicircle on the stage. The interlocutor then cracked jokes with the end men, and, for a finale, the company passed in review in the "walk around." This part of the minstrel show caricatured the black man, representing him by grotesque stereotypes that were retained in the minds of white American audiences for many decades. In the second part of the show vaudeville or olio (medley) acts were presented. The third or afterpart was a burlesque on a play or an opera. The minstrel show was at its peak from 1850 to 1870 but passed with the coming of vaudeville, motion pictures, and radio.

Bibliography

See C. Wittke, Tambo and Bones: A History of the American Minstrel Stage (1930, repr. 1968).

minstrel show

a theatrical entertainment consisting of songs, dances, comic turns, etc., performed by a troupe of actors wearing black face make-up

minstrel show

Note: This page may contain terms or definitions that are offensive or inappropriate for some readers.

noun

Words related to minstrel show

noun a troupe of performers in blackface typically giving a comic program of negro songs and jokes

Related Words

troupe
company
corner man
end man
interlocutor
middleman
minstrel

noun a variety show in which the performers are made up in blackface

Related Words

variety show
variety