The billboard (Feb 1911)

FEBRUARY 4, 1911. Ttie B4*llt>oard 6 Mr. Danid Deatnr'Enitnett, who was best known as the author of Dixie Land, the soul-stirring negro melody, which served as a rallying song in two of the world's greatest wars, was another of those famous men born in the good old Buckeye State, which has become famous as the home of presidents. He was born in Moant Vernon. Knox County, Ohio, October 2^ t 181$.;' He :died June 1904. ^[ed 89 jours old. Alnio.t everybody knows tfie good old soi^ Dixie. Its delightful music is as inspiring to every true born American as Yankee Doodle, The Old Folks at Home, Home, Sweet Home, or The Star Spangled Banner, and other classic melodies. And yet very few whose hearts have danced to its strains, have known much, if anything, concerning its author. The writer, who made Mr. Emmett's acquaint- ance in 1868, at the old Straub. Hotis& Hamilton, Ohk>t can't help hearing the strdas of Dfiite softly wafted across ttie water of thiie,-which reach his ears whenever Mr. Emmetf s name is mentioned, as he was one of nature's "Mastodons,' good old noblemen, whose memory will never fade. itt's "Gianteans, Mr. Albert G. Hatfield is known to all tliea- tre-goers the world over as Al. G. Field, the king of minstrel men, a gentleman who through his great efforts and painsteldng attention to duty has placed his name on the top round of'the blazoned ladder of fame, a good pinnade of manhooid,. respected by all competitors as tiie finwer showman criterion to eqm* late, and it WM to ttig genlkniMi that Ae-pidilie should be grateful ^srantiiig the l«gi<m of Asnecican friends the chance orVnice more seeing good old XTn* cle Dan Emmett. Mr. Field found him living there in a little inland Ohio town in utter obscurity when in his eighty-iirst year, and took him touring with his Greater Minstrel Company. Dan Emmett was one of the four monbers wtio comprised tfie first minstrd organization in 1843. He lived to see minstrelsy in all its many phases, from the "original four" to the famous '^factor ;^ the yunfmt "Canq^bdls," the multi- tudinous '^Gnris^'^ Happy Cal. Wagner's 'Vav- toons," Sam Sharple/s '^'Ironclads," Haverley's Hooley and Ejnerson's "M^therians," and Mike Leav- So yon can wdl see tiiat Oan Enunelt's star of craafc> Dan Emmett was not only notable as the originator of Dixie, but ness eclipsed them all jilso as one of the pioneer Big Four blackface coxedians who in- September 19, 1859, was the precise date when Dixie was first pro- vented modern American minstrelsy. "Uncle Dan" Emmett, for that duced, at Mechanics Hall, by Bryant's Minstrels, as a "walk around" \ised to be the genial old minstrd's favorite term of address, once toM itt their first part the writer the stbfy of how he came to write his now celd>rated.sqqg. Dan Emmett was only s eve nt een years old when be left, his litde ;'I wrote Dixie like evoTthii^ else I ever did, because it hadto be doae,:BiidKe)re home to join a arcus as aimmdni taiA conric stnfcr. Befbn and I can tdl ^<m, -Milt, that in those days, most of our sones were the Urth of modem minstrel^, he nsed to play a banjo in some of the composed'without much preparation, but came to us quick as mou^t. New York City theatres at night. This was as early as l843< It was T was engaged in the spring of 1859, at New York City, 472 Broadway, :n the next year that "Dan" Emmett, "Billy" Whitlock, Fraidc Bower with Bryant's Minstrels. One of my particular tasks was to compose and "Dick" Pelham organized the first minstrel company in history, comic negro and plantation songs. 1 was also basso in the quartet. "Billy" Whitlock always claimed to have conceived the idea, but the One Saturday ni^t after the performance, Mr. Bryant overtook me organization itself was completed in Emmett's room in a Catherine street on my way home uid reqiwsted me to compose a new plantation, 'walk boarding house, kept by a Mrs. Brooks. Their debut was at the Chatham around' one, with a lively tune and catchy chorus, that the boys could Theatre, February 17, 1843, for "Dick" Pelham's benefit. They were learn quickly and sing through die streets, so as make it p<mular. 'Make-all end men and interlocutors—the dig^fied "Mr. Jdhnstoine*' who nmvr it good and stroagv' iBaid Bryant as he was leaviuK nie. ' AVe've^ to adays sits in the middle of the cr esce nt and adiemnly rqieats the qnories list a new attia^tidn,'tiaii.' ' of Mr. Bones and Mr. Tambo beh^ a later eMlntidn. This origiod "Next day Sunday, and a very rainy one at that, 1 was com- minstrel quartet did The Essence of Old Vir^nia.and 4he.Lucy veiled to remain mdoors, so I set to work on the song. At first I could do Walk Around. They called themselves the Virginia Minstrds, and after- nothing. Mv store of thoi^ts suitable for the desired song seemed wards appeared in other American cities, and even in Europe, so you exhausted. I went to my loom window and looked out into the street see that the present day minstrels do not have any call coming upon The cold rain was beating and driving down, and my thoughts went these infants of the burnt-cork reign. , . back to die good old White Top Days £ne whpn I was travdnig witfi a Emmett composed his other famous song of Old Dan Tudcer, also circus. When caught in inclement weather tii IteteNorth, the negroiw Ws Boatman s Dance. Walk Along John and Earlv in the Mornin', but with the circus were often wont to wish they werera T»ixie' land. Then none of these ever attauwd to the pqpubnty of Dixie. Ranking as it i> sentence, '1 wish I was in Dixie,' kept repeatiS^ itself in my mind, does widi the niore cla.«sical sdectiom of Oe^nnitei^-W^ Discouraged, I went back to the desk and set it down, and the rest nial in favor, is still, and will ever be regarded as a rdlC Of the CwH ^•anic easy. In twenty minutes the words and music were co iiplete. War. Be it in the n etropolis of the North, the town of tfie We^, or .•>n<l that's the whole truthful story. Milt, of how Dixie came to be %'illage in the South, its melody never fails to thnll the heart of the ^v r^tten. Dixie was just what Bryant wanted for thci next week. When patriotic American. Perhaps no other mdody has been so frequently we arrived in New York City, the hoysyrm actually wdiistling it in the u^ed in the theatre, to cap a climax, as this emblamatic ballad, streets, It made a great hit at once, and 1 smf it eveiy night It was . Mr. Emmett's tour with Al. G. Fidd Greater Minstrds in 1807-08 «MiipOSed and sung Nortii at least e^iteeii months before it was even was the hust he ever made. Mr. Field always treated Emmett widi the '<ung in the South, when the Confederates adopted it as thdr natiohal greatest reject and kindnesi» and at aU times spoke in the highest «jn{r, and then the South took it and datmed it as its own. Dixie un- praise of die character and hmale modesW of tins ^d-time Ethiopian <loiibtedly prolonged the Civil War. It made heroes out of the rough, impersonator, who never S0U|^t notoriety as die author of his nntvci^ nndisciplined Southern soldiers, and when plaved before a battle, sally sung masterpiece. ... , . « nerved them for the mighty struggle that-was to follow. The officers Among Mr. Field's treasures is an ongmal program of the 1859 realized the value of this favorite song, and when the men were dis- Mechanic'.-; Hall entertainment, when Dixie was first play»i and sung heartened and disGburaged,vthe band wOold. strike up Dixie, and the by Bryant's dusky comedians. As an incidental matter of history, it hanlcned veterans Wdiiila be n'fwed to teM»,'reBdy to die for their be- may be here recorded that Brjrant's Minstrels at that time comprised Icvcd Dixie Land. . "I bdag a Northern man, a good Unionist and die proven author of both words and music of the song, was the only man allowed to sins ft in any theatre or other place of amusement north of 'Mason and Dixon's line.' It is now often sung universally North, accompanied with as loud a 'yell' as was ever heard in the South Dan Neil and Jerry Bryant, T. Prendergast, Dick Carroll, Tommy Pdl, •G. \V. Griffin. Charles Fox and Dan Emmett .At that time Biyanlfs Mhistfds led them all. Tlidr dosest rivals bdqg Geoige Christy's Min- strds amd Pdl's Serenaders. The ori^ital manuscript of Dixie was throujgh some unexplained I neglected to reason either stolen or lost in 1897 or 1898. issue it until it was claimed as common property by everybody. After After leaving the Field Minstrels, Emmett was then 82 years old, I ha.i published it, I had to prove authorship to keq> from bang sued but was remarkably strong for one of that age, but he never appeared 'or infringement on other people's rights.". public again. He owed his remarkable health to his tenq>aate.> The South did have a sort of daini.uiioa Emmett's song, neverthe- life. ■■ih^^i!^^^^.^; ■CSS. for he was bom of Southern paKntage^ even though his birth did Should he have chosen to travd again, be would have been ai gicit take |*iace ootitkfe of "Dixie." Ifis ftidier was a Vtigfauan« and .hb tninstrd idol all over the United States, but Jie had enough of it^ apd motbcT a Marylander. - came bade to his litde home near Fredericktown, to live and die m die After his career in negro minstrelsy, he setded down hi Ohk^ about Vicinity of his boyhood years, and nevCT kfUlQloat County s^n. ^^'c n iles south of Fredencktown. in a londy litde hennitage, and passed ; Tuns ended truly a wonderful and ineful life, awa;. the last days of his eventful life. -■'■■■rx.i^-'..-^ J. MtLTOW TBABSa.