San Francisco Minstrels

“San Fransisco Minstrels.—The superiority of this troupe maintains for it an amount of patronage which but few establishments of the kind can boast of. The novelty and genuine wit of its burlesques, the inimitable comic talent of its leading members, and the fine ballad singing of its principal tenor, Mr. Wambold, make for a sum of attraction which is irresistible. The advent of this troupe will effect a revolution in the minstrelsy business. Stale pieces and wornout voices can no longer keep the boards.”

“The performances of this racy band of brothers are the town talk.  Nightly their capacious hall is filled with highly select and appreciative audiences. . . . One great charm of their performances is the entire absence of everything calculated to offend the most fastidious taste.  Hence, it is that whole families, big and little, with mater and pater familias, are to be seen nightly in attendance. . . . Billy birch and Charley Backus never allow the spirit of the audiences to flag. . . . Bernard is also full of music and drollery, and the melodious voice of Wambold moves and warms us as pleasantly as autumn sunshine.  The San Francisco Minstrels are the best and most original in the city.  There is something new every night.”