Notice that the Boy Scout Troop 86 of Elizabethville, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, was presenting a minstrel show was given in article in four successive editions of the Elizabethville Echo, beginning on May 5, 1960;
The first of those notices is pictured above.
Scouts Plan for Minstrel Show
Members of Boy Scout Troop 86, Elizabethville, will present a minstrel show in the auditorium of the Elizabethville Borough School Building, Friday, May 27, at 8:00 p.m.
Warren Hoover will serve as interlocutor, and end men are Thomas Hain, Gary Zimmerman, Kenneth Klinger, Kenneth Hain, Michael Weaver and Clifford Hoover. The chorus will include members of the Troop.
Mrs. Paul Rummel is serving as musical director for the production.
All admissions will be fifty cents , and proceeds will be used towards providing a room in the new fire house, for meetings.
Tickets may be obtained from any Scout.
Abbreviated announcements appeared on May 12, 1960 and May 19, 1960.
The final notice was on May 26, 1960, the day before the program, and added the street where the school was located, presented the end men in a slightly different order, but eliminated the purpose for which the funds were being raised.
Scouts To Stage Minstrel Show Friday
A minstrel show will be presented by members of Boy Scout Troop 86 of town, in the auditorium of the Elizabethville Borough School building, West Broad Street, Friday, May 27, at 8 p.m.
Warren Hoover will be interlocutor for the show and the end men are: Gary Zimmerman, Thomas Hain, Michael Weaver; Kenneth Hain, Clifford Hoover, and Kenneth Klinger.
The chorus includes members of the Troop.
Mrs. Paul Rummel is serving as musical director for the production.
All admissions will be fifty cents. Tickets may be obtained from any Scout or at the door.
It did not have to be stated in the notices that the “end men” would be appearing in black-face.
White men and women, who blackened their faces, and performed emphasizing negative stereotypical behavior that they attributed to African Americans, for the purpose of getting laughs were often the most prominent people in the community. In the case of this production it was supported by the leadership of the Boy Scouts and the Board of Education of the town.
This post is part of a series in which news articles, photographs and other “memorabilia” are presented to show how “black-face” was infused into the culture of the Lykens Valley area. Readers are invited to submit photos and recollections on how long this offensive “entertainment” lasted and what locals thought of it as part of the culture of the area.
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News articles from Newspapers.com.
Corrections and additional information should be added as comments to this post.