Kelly and Leon’s Minstrels

Event Information

Venue(s):
Kelly and Leon's Minstrels Hall (720 Broadway)

Event Type:
Minstrel

Record Information

Status:
Published

Last Updated:
27 May 2016

Performance Date(s) and Time(s)

19 Aug 1867, Evening
20 Aug 1867, Evening
21 Aug 1867, Evening
22 Aug 1867, Evening
23 Aug 1867, Evening
24 Aug 1867, Evening

Performers and/or Works Performed

2)
aka Seedy musicians; Old time's rocks; Old times' rocks; Old times rock

Citations

1)
Advertisement: New York Herald, 18 August 1867, 3.
2)
Advertisement: New York Clipper, 24 August 1867, 155.
3)
Review: New York Clipper, 31 August 1867, 166, 2d col., bottom.

“Last week the attendance was pretty good, and the programme was a much better one than that of the opening week.  The old act of ‘Old Times Rocks’ was very well done, as was the burlesque on bell ringing.  But we heard the same old gags from the end men that we have heard the past two seasons.  The end men of a minstrel band receive large salaries, and they owe it to the managers, as well as to the public, to occasionally tell gags that have not been related all over the country by traveling bands, as well as become stereotyped with themselves, as were the gags told by Nelse Seymour last week.  Some of them we heard at Wood’s Minstrel Hall three years ago, and still later with Bryant’s Minstrels.  If end men cannot originate some funny gags, why not employ someone to do so for them.  Managers should have it in their bond with the ‘ends’ to change their gags regularly once a week, and if this was insisted upon, the performer would gain favor with the public, and the regular patrons of minstrelsy would go much oftener than they do now.”