A minstrel show was presented by the Elizabethville Baseball Club on the evening of March 3, 1961, at the Upper Dauphin High School, Elizabethville, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania. The following article appeared in the Elizabethville Echo, March 2, 1961, describing the event.
To Present Hometown Minstrel Show Friday
The Hometown Minstrels of 1961 will be presented by the Elizabethville Baseball Club in the auditorium of the Upper Dauphin Joint High School, Elizabethville, Friday, March 3, 7:30 p.m.
Theodore Lebo will be interlocutor, and end men include: “Mr. Kingfish,” Michael Margerum; “Mr. Bones,” Marvin Troutman; “Asbestos,” Ray Matter; “Mr. Endicott,” Ned Kauffman‘ “Bush,” James Raudenbush; “Li’l Richard,” Richard Miller.
Also taking part in the program will be Jane Hoke as “Liza” and Carson Underkoffler as “Rastus,”
Chorus members are: Willliam Collier, John Hain, Delmar Warfield, Kent Hassinger, Jay Buffington, Ken Miller, Norman Hain, Frank Warfield, Edwin Collier, Richard Reisch, Jay Buffington, Larry Shoop,Clarence Reisch, James Radel, William Botts, Dean Hartman, Donald Graimm, Donald Cook, Fred Renn, Harold Zeigler, A. J. Margerum, Russell Deibler, Larry Snody.
Music will be furnished by Swab’s Dutch Band.
Marvin Troutman is serving as director and Richard Grimm is accompanist.
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 Baseball Club of the town and the Board of Education of the Upper Dauphin Schools.
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.