Kelly and Leon’s Minstrels

“A crowded house gathered at Kelly & Leon’s last evening, at 720 Broadway, and the entertainment was one of the best ever enjoyed by a metropolitan audience. Minstrels are apt to grow stale by frequent repetition, but the performance of last evening will stand many successive repetitions. Kelly & Leon have evidently a fresh edition of jokes, certainly little of the wit is [patrified?], and some other establishments might borrow Leon’s originality with success to themselve [sic], and better delight to the public. The beauty of Kelly & Leon’s is the absence of a manure heap of old accumulated stuff. There is abundant variety, and this variety is first class. Last night showed it. ‘The Soft Dew Is Sleeping,’ by Mr. Edwin Kelly; ‘The Budget,’ by S. S. Purdy; to ‘The Grand Finale,’ by the company, were superb. The negro bantering, Irish repartees, small talk, chattering, baiting and all the little affectations were capital. It wasn’t the same old thing. Leon was as good as ever; Kelly did remarkably well, and S. S. Purdy as Bad Dicky captured the house. The singing, music, dancing were all excellent, as was also the management of Mr. E. C. Wright. The bill closed with ‘Ching Chow Hi’—of course a very pathetic melodramatic opera.”  

“Minstrelsy by moonlight at Kelly and Leon’s has attracted good audiences during the week and an attractive programme has been presented. Mr. Edwin Kelly sang with effect the ballad entitled ‘The Soft Dew is Sleeping,’ and Leon appeared in an act entitled ‘Follies Dramatique;’ Lischen in ‘Lischen and Fritzchen,’ and as Fe-an-nich-ton in Offenbach’s opera ’Ching Chow Hi.’ Master Clarence Burton appeared in a song and dance, entitled ‘Love Among the Roses;’ Dave Wilson in a bone solo, and S. S. Purdy gave his budget of songs in the first part and played Bad Dickey in ‘The Ladder of Fame.’”