Kelly and Leon’s Minstrels

Please see Fifth Avenue Opera House entry.  Article includes biographical information on Kelly and Leon: 

“Edwin Kelly was born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1835, and educated in London for a surgeon.  He was a life pupil of St. George’s hospital.  Came to this country after completing his medical studies, in accordance with a resolve made when very young.  On arriving here his youthful appearance precluded the possibility of his immediately establishing a practice in his profession.  He was introduced to Mr. John Ordway, proprietor of the celebrated Ordway’s Æolisus, (now Dr. Ordway, of Boston).  Possessing a fine tenor voice, and a natural aptitude for the stage, combined with a good personal appearance and a superior degree of intelligence, an engagement was at once effected, and young Kelly was speedily initiated into the mysteries of cork.  His close application and careful attention to his new profession soon produced the most gratifying results. As a light comedian, interlocutor and balladist, he became a great favorite. After his engagement at Ordway’s expired he made several tours with various minstrel companies, and became a very popular performer. At length he entered the managerial arena as a partner, and manager of the Academy of Music in Chicago, which was built under his supervision, where he collected a fine company, and by his judgment and energy, as well as his efforts to elevate the tone of minstrelsy, rendered the name of his company a popular one in Chicago and the great West.  After five years of continued success Mr. Kelly with his partner, Leon, transferred their attention to Cincinnati, where another and prettier minstrel hall was speedily erected and opened with as much success as had attended his former enterprise.  But this gratifying result was of short duration, as a fire in a few hours swept away the beautiful hall, wardrobe, and everything pertaining to the company, among which were some valuable operettas, ballads, and minstrel acts, written by Mr. Kelly, and which cannot be replaced. After this event Kelly resolved to try the great metropolis, opening at the place now known as Kelly and Leon’s Minstrel Hall, Oct. 1st, 1866, where, up to the present time, they have done a most excellent business, and established themselves as firm favorites with the public. As a manger, Mr. Kelly has proved himself to be every way competent to conduct a first class troupe. As an interlocutor he is well up in the business, being posted in all its details. He is a sweet ballad singer, and possesses a clear tenor voice. He is a tall, powerfully built man, with a large head and broad shoulders.  His muscular system is well developed. He has light hair, a heavy, drooping moustachios, and is exceedingly gentlemanly in his manners. He always kept out of crowds, except before his own audience, and was never before known to be mixed up in any quarrel. The wound which he has received is an exceedingly serious one, though not at present positively dangerous. His left eye is terribly swollen and exceedingly closed up, which is said to be the result of a kick received while down on the sidewalk. Mr. Kelly is a widower, his wife having died about six years ago, but he has two beautiful girls, residing in Chicago with his wife’s mother, and a son in this city.

Francis Glassey Leon was born in New York, Nov 21st, 1844. He was educated a Jesuit College, of Fordham, by the late Rev. Dr. Cummings. When only eight years old of age he sang in the choir of St. Stephen’s church, in this city. He sang with great success the first soprano in Mozart’s Twelfth Mass. He first made his debut in the minstrel business at Wood’s Marble Hall on Minstrelsy, on Broadway, when only fourteen years of age, in operatic burlesque. He made a successful first appearance and remained quite a favorite with the habitues for a long time. He subsequently appeared with various first-class troupes as prima donna and danseuse until we find him in partnership with Mr. Kelly, opened their present place of amusement on Broadway, where, up to the present time, they have been deservedly successful. Mr. Leon possesses a full soprano voice and can sing up to D in the ledger lines. As a dancer, he is one of the best at present in the minstrel business. His terpsichorean movements are executed with wonderful rapidity, and he does many steps that we have not seen attempted by any other performer in the same line of business. In his prima donna business he copies no one. His imitations of the principal operatic lady singers are very good. In addition to being very well up in this business, he is also a clever impersonator of female characters, in light sketches written by himself, and in which he is ably assisted by his partner, Mr. Kelly. In the West, where Mr. Leon is well known, he is one of the greatest favorites that attempt to do his line of business, and, notwithstanding he has not been long in the city, he has already established himself as a great favorite with his audiences.”