Spectacles

1875 · List3681 — Cincinnati: F.W. Helmick 1875. Quarto 14 x 10 ½ inches 5 pp. Binding split some marginal chips good condition. Sentimental minstrel-era ballad associated with the touring repertory of J.H. Haverly’s Mastodon Minstrels one of the largest and most commercially successful minstrel organizations of the 1870s with an illustrated cover using the trope of an elderly African American man which was popular in Uncle Tom’s Cabin-era touring shows. The song is attributed to John Rutledge a performer and songwriter active within late nineteenth-century minstrel circuits whose compositions circulated primarily through stage performance and regional sheet music publication. The title was originally sung by Milton G. “Milt†Barlow 1843–1882 a prominent minstrel comedian and vocalist frequently billed as a “Dutch†or character performer and long associated with Haverly’s troupe. Published in Cincinnati by F.W. Helmick a regional music publisher active in issuing popular songs minstrel pieces and theatrical repertory during the 1870s. The sheet has four holdings in OCLC as well as Vassar’s Harriet Beecher Stowe collection. F.W. Helmick unknown