Article on George Swain Buckley

Biography of George Swain Buckley on p.29, with his portrait on p. 25. The eccentric comedian was born in Bolton, Eng., in 1831. His father, a well known violinist in that city, came to the United States in 1849 [sic], bringing with him his three sons, George, Bishop, and Frederick. The subject of this sketch made his first appearance in public as the “Infant Prodigy” at Harrington’s Museum, Boston, in 1840. It was at this time that he first commenced the study of the banjo under the celebrated Joe Sweeny, and in a short time acquired such remarkable proficiency, that “Joe” adopted him as his protégé and starred him throughout the States for several seasons under the appellation of Young Sweeny. In 1843 the Buckley Bros. organized a minstrel band, with their father, James Buckley, as leader, and made their first appearance in that combination at the Tremont Theatre, Boston, meeting with the most flattering success, Mr. George Buckley being the principal tenor singer and comedian. At the close of their first season, they traversed all the Middle and Southern states by means of their own teams. In 1847, they visited Europe, and after a successful pilgrimage of sixteen months through the principal cities and towns in England, Ireland, and Scotland, they returned to America and opened at the Society Library Rooms, in New York, in 1849, as the “New Orleans Minstrels.”

In 1852 they visited California, and performed successfully in all the principal settlements and mining regions, climbing and fording their way on mules, over mountains, rivers, and through floods. In all their difficult movements of toil and peril, George was the avant courier and principal performer in the band; frequently riding fifty miles a day to engage halls, advertise, and return in time to keep his end up with the boys at the evening performance. After leaving the Pacific they returned to New York, and in 1853 opened at the Chinese Rooms, and created quite a sensation in the production of burlesque operas. In 1856, they erected their new hall, No. 585 Broadway, but the financial panic, which gave many a concern a heavy shake, proved also detrimental to their enterprise. In 1858, they opened at Spaulding and Roger’s Amphitheatre, where they performed for nine consecutive weeks to large receipts. In March, 1860, they sailed for England, and their success in all the provincial towns throughout Great Britain, and in London, was flattering and encouraging in the highest degree, but unfortunately, after expending large sums of money in decorating and rentting [sic] numerous halls and theatres for the production of their burlesque operas, managers of different theatres became jealous of their popularity, and called up against them an almost forgotten statute in the law, relative to the performance of operas, and which excluded from license all but the regular Royal Opera; they appealed against it, but without success. The obsolete statute was enforced against them, and the Buckleys were compelled to abandon their enterprise and return to this country, arriving here in 1861. They then visited all the principal cities in the Loyal States, and finally settled down in Boston in June, 1863, where they are now one of the fixed institutions of that city. 

In all their movements of art, enterprise, and novelty, George Buckley has been an important lever, while as a performer his versatility and talent are unsurpassed. His rendition of the principal roles in burlesque operas entitles him to great praise. In his “Octogenarian” act, a serio-comic negro of four score years, he has recently developed genius of a high order, and his performance of the character at the Boston Theatre for the benefit of the veteran manager, Thomas Barry, was the theme of general praise. His “Sally Come Up,” is also very clever, while as a vocalist and opera tenor, apart from the burnt cork “biz,” he has received the flattering applause at fashionable concerts. At present, manager of Buckley’s Minstrels, Boston.