Ragged but Right

Black Traveling Shows, â??Coon Songs,â? and the Dark Pathway to Blues and Jazz

Publication Year: 2007

The commercial explosion of ragtime in the early twentieth century created previously unimagined opportunities for black performers. However, every prospect was mitigated by systemic racism. The biggest hits of the ragtime era weren't Scott Joplin's stately piano rags. "Coon songs," with their ugly name, defined ragtime for the masses. Though the name itself is offensive to modern ears, it is impossible to investigate black popular entertainment of the ragtime era without directly confronting the "coon songs" which cleared the way for the "original blues." In Ragged but Right Lynn Abbott and Doug Seroff investigate musical comedy productions, sideshow bands, and itinerant tented minstrel shows. Ragtime history is crowned by the "big shows," the stunning musical comedy successes of blackface performers Williams and Walker, Bob Cole, and Ernest Hogan. Under the big tent of Tolliver's Smart Set, Ma Rainey, Clara Smith, and others were converted from "coon shouters" to "blues singers." Throughout the ragtime era, circuses and Wild West shows exploited the popular demand for black musicians and performers yet segregated and subordinated them to the sideshow tent. Minstrel shows have long been marginalized in discussions of the history of blues and jazz. Yet this overlooked black entertainment industry helped to move blues and jazz into the mainstream. Drawing from careful reading of the Indianapolis Freeman, Chicago Defender, and other black newspapers and mainstream entertainment trade papers, the authors reveal a torrent of creativity that swept thousands of black writers, performers, musicians, and entrepreneurs into the professional ranks despite the overt racism of the times. Lynn Abbott works for the Hogan Jazz Archive at Tulane University. Doug Seroff is an independent scholar living in Greenbrier, Tennessee.

Published by: University Press of Mississippi

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

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pp. vii-viii

When we first started pooling our research and comparing notes, about thirty years ago, we had no idea that we would be undertaking long-term writing projects together. We are grateful for having been able to hammer out a democratic working relationship capable of withstanding the years. This is our second outing with University Press ...

INTRODUCTION

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pp. 3-10

In 1897 an African American stage singer named Bessie Gillam, on the road with P. T. Wright’s Nashville Students, drew praise from a black entertainment reporter for her “artistic rendition of coon songs.” The writer took stock of Bessie Gillam’s situation: “Being a young lady she has a bright future and we look forward to see her hold positions ...

PART I. Coon Songs, Big Shows, and Black Stage Stars of the Ragtime Era

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pp. 11-80

In the late 1890s, ragtime sung and performed by black musicians reached the mainstream popular stage in a form ignobly dubbed the “coon song.” Coon songs, with their ugly name, typically featured lyrics in Negro dialect, caricaturing African American life, set to the melodious strains of ragtime music. The designation first took hold ...

PART II. The Spirit of the Smart Set

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pp. 81-156

The comedian-producers of the big shows weaned mainstream audiences away from the crude character delineations of nineteenth-century minstrelsy and conditioned them to appreciate verisimilitude in black comedy representation. “Natural expression” in racial caricature became the cutting edge of black comedy. Still in blackface makeup, black ...

PART III. Blues for the Sideshow Tent

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pp. 166-217

Only since the 1980s has there been any significant representation of African American circus performers under the big top. In his 1990 study, The American Circus: An Illustrated History, John Culhane reveals that in 1968, “Irvin Feld introduced to the circus a troupe of basketball-playing uni-cycle riders, the King Charles Troupe, and proudly ...

PART IV. “Under Canvas”: African American Tented Minstrelsy and the Untold Story of Allen’s New Orleans Minstrels, the Rabbit’s Foot Company, the Florida Blossoms, and Silas Green from New Orleans

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pp. 209-356

The great African American minstrel companies of the 1890s—Mahara’s Minstrels, Isham’s Octoroons, the Black Patti Troubadours, Richards and Pringle’s Georgia Minstrels, etc.—all held forth in mainstream theaters. The onset of ragtime made possible the full realization of “genuine” African American minstrelsy; by the turn of the century, ...

APPENDIX I. Rosters of Alexander Tolliver’s Shows

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pp. 357-358

APPENDIX II. Itinerary of Alexander Tolliver’s Big Show/Smart Set

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pp. 359-360

APPENDIX III. Circus and Wild West Side Show Annex Band and Minstrel Rosters, 1911–1920

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pp. 361-370

APPENDIX IV. BAND ROSTERS OF ALLEN'S NEW ORLEANS MINSTRELS, THE RABBIT’S FOOT COMPANY, THE FLORIDA BLOSSOMS, AND SILAS GREEN FROM NEW ORLEANS, 1900–1940

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pp. 371-382

E-ISBN-13: 9781604731484
E-ISBN-10: 1604731486
Print-ISBN-13: 9781578069019
Print-ISBN-10: 1578069017

Publication Year: 2007

Ragged but Right

CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

INTRODUCTION

PART I. Coon Songs, Big Shows, and Black Stage Stars of the Ragtime Era

PART II. The Spirit of the Smart Set

PART III. Blues for the Sideshow Tent

PART IV. “Under Canvas”: African American Tented Minstrelsy and the Untold Story of Allen’s New Orleans Minstrels, the Rabbit’s Foot Company, the Florida Blossoms, and Silas Green from New Orleans

APPENDIX I. Rosters of Alexander Tolliver’s Shows

APPENDIX II. Itinerary of Alexander Tolliver’s Big Show/Smart Set

APPENDIX III. Circus and Wild West Side Show Annex Band and Minstrel Rosters, 1911–1920

APPENDIX IV. BAND ROSTERS OF ALLEN'S NEW ORLEANS MINSTRELS, THE RABBIT’S FOOT COMPANY, THE FLORIDA BLOSSOMS, AND SILAS GREEN FROM NEW ORLEANS, 1900–1940

NOTES

GENERAL INDEX

SONG INDEX

Research Areas

Welcome to Project MUSE

Connect with Project MUSE

Cover 1

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Ragged but Right

CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

INTRODUCTION

PART I. Coon Songs, Big Shows, and Black Stage Stars of the Ragtime Era

PART II. The Spirit of the Smart Set

PART III. Blues for the Sideshow Tent

PART IV. “Under Canvas”: African American Tented Minstrelsy and the Untold Story of Allen’s New Orleans Minstrels, the Rabbit’s Foot Company, the Florida Blossoms, and Silas Green from New Orleans

APPENDIX I. Rosters of Alexander Tolliver’s Shows

APPENDIX II. Itinerary of Alexander Tolliver’s Big Show/Smart Set

APPENDIX III. Circus and Wild West Side Show Annex Band and Minstrel Rosters, 1911–1920

APPENDIX IV. BAND ROSTERS OF ALLEN'S NEW ORLEANS MINSTRELS, THE RABBIT’S FOOT COMPANY, THE FLORIDA BLOSSOMS, AND SILAS GREEN FROM NEW ORLEANS, 1900–1940

NOTES

GENERAL INDEX

SONG INDEX

Research Areas

Recommend

Related Content

Welcome to Project MUSE

Connect with Project MUSE

Cover 1

Cover 2

Cover 3