The BBC's Kentucky Minstrels, 1933-1950: Blackface entertainment on British radio

Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television

Volumn 16, Issue 2, 1996, Pages 161-195

  Pickering, Michael ^a  

^a LOUGHBOROUGH UNIVERSITY   (United Kingdom)

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[No Author keywords available]

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EID: 61149361801     PISSN: 01439685     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/01439689600260221     Document Type: Review

References (118)

1. P. Scannell & D. Cardiff, A Social History of British Broadcasting, Vol. 1. 1922-1939: serving the nation (Oxford, 1991);
2. J. Curran and J. Seaton Power without Responsibility, the Press and Broadcasting in Britain (London, 1985);
3. A. Crisell, Understanding Radio (London, 1986);
4. S. Barnard, On the Radio, Music Radio in Britain (Milton Keynes, 1989);
5. S. Frith, Music for Pleasure (Cambridge, 1988);
6. M. Pegg, Broadcasting and Society 1918-1939 (London, 1983);
7. D. Chaney, Audience research and the BBC in the 1930s, in J. Curran et al. , eds, Impacts and Influences (London, 1987), pp. 259-277;
8. J. Clark et al. , eds, Culture and Crisis in Britain in the Thirties (London, 1979);
9. F. Gloversmith ed. , Class, Culture and Social Change (Sussex and New Jersey, 1980):
10. D. L. LeMahieu, A Culture for Democracy, Mass Communication and the Cultivated Mind between the Wars (Oxford, 1988);
11. D. Cardiff and P. Scannel, Good luck war workers: class, politics and entertainment in wartime broadcasting, in T. Bennett et al. , eds, Popular Culture and Social Relations (Milton Keynes and Philadelphia, 1986), pp. 93-116;
12. D. Cardiff, Mass middle-brow laughter: the origins of BBC comedy, Media, Culture and Society, 10 (1988), pp. 41-60.
13. A. Briggs, The History of Broadcasting in the United Kingdom, Vol. 2 (London, 1965).
14. The present article is part of a general social history and cultural analysis of British blackface minstrelsy, sections of which have already been published (see next footnote). Those features of minstrelsy, including radio minstrelsy, which cannot be covered here, are dealt with in the broader project from which the material here is derived. Although certain general remarks are made about the politics of blackface minstrelsy, it should be stressed that their complexity cannot be addressed in a single short article, particularly one that, in the face of a tale untold, is concerned with getting the record straight for this one area of BBC programming, as well as dealing with certain aspects of its cultural discourse. The fuller exploration is part of the broader project.
15. The historiography of blackface entertainments in Britain is generally characterised by its anecdotal and celebratory narrative and detail. For those who have attempted to treat such entertainments to systematic analysis, see J. S. Bratton, English Ethiopians: British audiences and Blackface acts, 1835-1865, Yearbook of English Studies; 1981, pp. 127-142;
16. M. Pickering, White skin, Black masks: 'Nigger' minstrelsy in Victorian Britain, in J. S. Bratton, ed. , Music Hall Performance and Style (Milton Keynes and Philadelphia, 1986), pp. 70-91;
17. M. Pickering (1991a) Mock Blacks and racial mockery: the 'Nigger' minstrel and British imperialism, in Bratton et al. , Acts of Supremacy (Manchester and New York, 1979a), pp. 179-236;
18. M. Pickering, 'Blackeys, Bones and Banjoes': 'Nigger' minstrelsy and British imperialism, paper delivered at the 1991 Conference on Popular Theatre and Imperialism at the University of Newcastle, N. S. W. , Australia, 1991b;
19. M. Pickering, John Bull in blackface, Popular Music, forthcoming (1997);
20. G. Rehin, 'Harlequin Jim Crow': continuity and convergence in blackface clowning, Journal of Popular Culture, 9 (1975) pp. 682-701;
21. G. Rehin, Blackface street minstrels in Victorian London and its resorts, Journal of Popular Culture, 15 (1981), pp. 19-38;
22. and D. Scott, The Singing Bourgeois (Milton Keynes and Philadelphia, 1989).
23. C. Wittke, Tambo and Bones (Westport, Conn, 1968), p. 114.
24. E. Lott, Love and Theft, Blackface Minstrelsy and the American Working Class (New York, 1993), p. 6. Lott's use of the plural noun to refer to the socially and historically variable collectivities who attended or participated in minstrelsy is a salutary recognition.
25. For this popular radio series, see A. Askey, Before Your Very Eyes (London, 1975);
26. and Cardiff (1988). Unless otherwise noted, information on the personal lives of members of the cast is taken from the BBC Written Archives at Caversham. I would like to thank the staff at Caversham, and particularly Jeff Walden, for their cooperation and help in the pursuit of my research.
27. S. A. Moseley, Who's Who in Broadcasting (London, 1993), p. 114.
28. A. E. Wilson, Half a Century of Entertainment (London, 1951), p. 22;
29. C. Pulling, They Were Singing (London, 1952), p. 160;
30. see also E. Short, Fifty Years of Vaudeville (London, 1946), pp. 148-149, 153-156.
31. J. Snagge & M. Barsley, Those Vintage Years of Radio (London, 1972), p 146;
32. A. Briggs (1965), p. 89.
33. A. Briggs (1965), p. 90.
34. P. Duncan, In Town Tonight (London, 1951), pp. 27, 98-99.
35. D. Gifford, The Golden Age of Radio (London, 1985), pp. 308, 311.
36. Elsie and Doris Waters made their concert party debut at Southwold with Will Pepper's earlier version of the show. They progressed from a purely musical act to the cross-talk act of 'Gen and Daisy' via gramophone recordings for Parlophone, and during the 1930s and 1940s became well-known radio celebrities. They were sisters of Jack Warner, who later played Dixon in BBC TV's first important police drama series, Dixon of Dock Green.
37. Tommy Handley (1894-1949) was a comedian who became a household name during World War II as a result of hosting the BBC's comic radio show, ITMA (It's That Man Again).
38. Asa Briggs refers to him as 'the greatest of all radio comedians'. A. Briggs, The History of Broadcasting in the United Kingdom, Vol. 1 (London, 1961), p. 287.
39. For ITMA, see F. Worsley, ITMA 1939-1948 (London, 1948).
40. Stanley Holloway (1890-1982) was an actor and singer who started his acting career in seaside concert parties, worked during the 1920s as a trouper with the Co-optimists (among many other shows), and had a long career in British films, particularly in the postwar Ealing comedies. He is perhaps best known for his role as Alfred P. Doolittle in My Fair Lady, but in Britain was equally renowned for the monologues, featuring Albert, Sam and other Lancastrian characters, which he wrote, performed and recorded.
41. J. Watt, ed. , Radio Variety (London, 1939), pp. 79-83;
42. E. Midwinter, Make 'Em Laugh (London, Boston and Sydney, 1979), p. 22.
43. BBC Annual, 1935, p. 40.
44. The BBC's listener research department was not established until 1936 (see Chaney (1987) and Pegg (1983) chapter 5), and did not produce regular listening figures until World War II. For this reason, information about audience size is only available for the latter half of the run of The Kentucky Minstrels series. However, taking sample programmes at random, the popularity of the show in sheer quantitative terms is evident enough. Date % UK population 1%=approx. no. of persons 27. 10. 1941 20. 4 350,000 19. 01. 1942 26. 5 330,000 21. 07. 1943 20. 7 315,000 08. 12. 1943 25. 0 315,000 15. 08. 1944 26. 9 300,000 05. 09. 1944 30. 8 300,000 Estimated adult civilian population 05. 03. 1947 12 35,000,000 01. 04. 1947 16 " 18. 06. 1947 13 " 26. 07. 1948 7 36,000,000 16. 08. 1948 9 " 06. 09. 1948 12 " 04. 07. 1949 10 36,500,000 18. 07. 1949 16 " I am indebted to Jeff Walden at the BBC Written Archives for assistance in compiling these figures.
45. A. Briggs, The BBC, the First Fifty Years (Oxford and New York, 1985), p. 341.
46. R. Eckersley, The BBC and All That (London, 1946), p. 99;
47. B. Took, Laughter in the Air, an Informal History of British Radio Comedy (London, 1976), p. 11.
48. E. Maschwitz, No Chip on My Shoulder (London, 1957), pp. 65 and 72;
49. Scannell and Cardiff (1991), p. 255.
50. On Maschwitz, see L. Sieveking, The Eye of the Beholder (London, 1957), pp. 188-204;
51. also Radio Pictorial, 9 August (1935), p. 14.
52. For this term, see E. & D. Allan, Good Listening, a Survey of Broadcasting, (London, 1951), p. 130.
53. A. F. Wertheim, Radio Comedy (New York and Oxford, 1979), p. 15.
54. M. Pickering, (1986), pp. 90-91.
55. Scannell & Cardiff (1991), p. 262;
56. R. Wilmut, Kindly Leave the Stage! The story of variety 1919-1960 (London, 1985), p. 128;
57. B. Took (1976), p. 17.
58. The Times, 27 June 1970.
59. BBC Annual, 1936, p. 43.
60. Snagge & Barsley (1972), p. 146.
61. Scannell & Cardiff (1991), p. 273.
62. and A. Crisell, 'Sound for all it was worth': how comedy on the radio became radio comedy, paper given at the 1994 Leicester Film and Television School Conference, 'What's So Funny?'
63. Several of these references may need glossing. 'Digging for Victory' was a British wartime propaganda campaign which encouraged the domestic cultivation of fruit and vegetables. The number of allotments greatly increased as a result of the campaign, and midway through World War II, a survey found that over half of England's manual workers kept either an allotment or a garden. A. Calder, The People's War (London, 1971), p. 496;
64. see also R. Minns, Bombers and Mash (London, 1980, pp. 95-101). Reginald Foort, who sometimes contributed to the musical accompaniment of The Kentucky Minstrels, was a famous cinema organist of the period, while Freddy Grisewood, who starred in In Town Tonight, among other programmes of the time, was a well-known BBC newsreader and commentator of the interwar and mid-century period.
65. G. Nobbs, The Wireless Stars (Norwich, 1972), p. 40.
66. P. Bailey, ed. , Music Hall the Business of Pleasure (Milton Keynes and Philadelphia, 1986), p. xiv.
67. The song, 'All Us Chillun Got Rhythm', performed on the show by Ike Hatch, was written in 1937 by Gus Kahn (1886-1941) and featured in the Marx Brothers' film, A Day at the Races. Citations from The Kentucky Minstrels series are taken from scripts held in the BBC Written Archives.
68. S. Colin, And the Bands Played On (London, 1977), p. 103.
69. S. Frith, (1988), pp. 37 and 54.
70. G. Nobbs (1972), p. 40.
71. D. Parker, Radio: the great years (Newton Abbot, 1977), p. 94.
72. Although there were a number of musicians and singers employed as general support for certain features of the show, The Kentucky Minstrels only consisted of five regular cast members. This means that the black presence predominated over the white, something of a turn-around indeed.
73. For certain biographical and career details concerning Isaac Hatch, I would like to thank Howard Rye and John Cowley, who generously allowed me access to their extensive database on black singers and musicians in early twentieth century Britain, as well as providing other items of information.
74. I. Hatch, The singing minstrel, Hot News, 1 (1935), p. 6.
75. Hatch may have recorded with Hardy. Recordings made 1917-1923, released on the 1994 Memphis Archives CD of Hardy's Orchestra, and his later Memphis Blues Band, include liner notes which fail to make this clear.
76. J. H. Littlejohn. Aberdeen Tivoli (Aberdeen, 1986), p. 29. The conflation of 'jazz' and 'Sambo' in the name of their partnership shows how black entertainers were still to a great extent perceived through a minstrel optic.
77. L. Hughes & M. Meltzer, Black Magic, a Pictorial History of the African-American in the Performing Arts (New York, 1990), p. 348.
78. Hatch had at one time received vocal training as a singer from Abbie Mitchell, the wife of Will Marrion Cook, for whom see E. Southern, The Music of Black Americans (New York and London, 1983), p. 409.
79. R. Kimball & W. Bolcom, Reminiscing with Sissle and Blake (New York, 1973), p. 199;
80. Radio Times 22 October 1937.
81. The 'Shim-Sham' and 'Suzi Q' referred to dances of the period. For details of 'coloured clubs' in London at this time, at one of which Ike Hatch worked as 'the host', see J. Glicco, Madness after Midnight (London, 1956), pp. 131-133.
82. R. Busby, The British Music Hall (London and New York, 1976), p. 158.
83. A. Haddon, The Story of the Music Hall (London, 1935), p. 185;
84. J. H. Littlejohn (1986), p. 38.
85. Richard Waterhouse's recent history of minstrelsy in Australia does not, unfortunately, pick up on this tour (R. Waterhouse, From Minstrel Show to Vaudeville, the Australian Popular Stage 1788-1914 (1990).
86. E. Midwinter (1979), p. 167.
87. H. Rye, Eubie Blake & Noble Sissle, Storyville, 105 (1989), pp. 88-95 (91).
88. M. Pickering 'A Jet Ornament to Society': Black music in nineteenth century Britain, in P. Oliver, ed. , Black Music in Britain, Essays on the Afro-Asian Contribution to Popular Music (Milton Keynes and Philadelphia, 1990).
89. See R. Mander & J. Mitchenson, British Music Hall (London, 1974), p. 247;
90. cf. their appearance on the front cover of Radio Pictorial, 25 August 1939, reproduced in Gifford (1985), p. 63.
91. A. Haddon (1935) p. 185.
92. E. Schoen, Music for broadcasting, BBC Annual, (1935) pp. 171-174 (171).
93. The Brain's Trust was a celebrated BBC radio series which began on New Year's Day 1941, and consisted of discussions of listeners' questions by three basic panel members: the philosopher Cyril Joad;
94. the zoologist Julian Huxley; and a retired navel officer, A. B. Campbell. There were always two guest 'brains' who varied from week to week (see Calder (1971), pp. 420-422).
95. D. Gifford (1985), p. 308;
96. The Times 28 August 1971.
97. During the period concurrent with the run of The Kentucky Minstrels series, Warren acted in a number of British films, examples of which include The Great Defender (B. I. P. ) 1934;
98. The Clairvoyant (G. B. ) 1935;
99. A Star Fell from Heaven (Associated British) 1936;
100. Everybody Dance (G. B. ) 1936;
101. It's in the Air (Ealing) 1938;
102. Trouble Brewing (Ealing) 1939;
103. We'll Smile Again (British National) 1941-A2;
104. The Shipbuilders (British National) 1944;
105. Don Chicago (British National) 1945.
106. See P. Noble, The British Film Yearbook (London, 1950), p. 703. Warren's role in such films would repay serious investigation.
107. For Amos 'n' Andy, see J. Gaver & D. Stanley, There's Laughter in the Air! Radio's top comedians and their best shows (New York, 1945), pp. 138-152;
108. A. F. Wertheim (1979), pp. 35-58;
109. and M. P. Ely, The Adventures of Amos 'n ' Andy, a Social History of an American Phenomenon (New York, 1991).
110. G. Nobbs (1972), p. 40. According to this source, Warren's 'onslaught on wives in general and his own in particular called forth protests from a large number of listeners'. These letters do not seem to have survived in any archival repository I have consulted. This is unfortunate for a number of reasons, among which is that reference to them now would show the relative proportion of men and women among the correspondents.
111. M. Mulkay, On Humour (Cambridge and Oxford, 1988), p. 138.
112. For expansion of this issue, see M. Pickering, Race, gender and broadcast comedy, European Journal of Communcation, 9 (1994), pp. 311-333.
113. The phrase 'ethnographic miniatures' is Geertz's. See C. Geertz, The Interpretation of Cultures (London, 1993), p. 21.
114. M. Hilmes, Invisible men; Amos'n'Andy and the roots of broadcast discourse, Critical Studies in Mass Communcation, 10 (1993), pp. 301-321.
115. The same kind of inversion is found in comic postcards of the period, as for example in images of 'the termagant with the rampant rolling pin and the frostbitten nose' which presented the verso of domestic male violence, the victims of which were usually women; or those of the pathetically shrunken husband with a washer's-up apron and hangdog look cowering beside a wife of elephantine proportions, which both switched and exaggerated the physical sizes of the proletarian male with a huge beer-gut and his skinny, undernourished wife with her hands constantly in the sink. (For examples of and further commentary on such images, see B. Green, I've Lost My Little Willie, a Celebration of Comic Postcards (London, 1976), pp. 119-125;
116. F. Alderson, The Comic Postcard in English Life (Newton Abbot, 1970), pp. 27-33;
117. and of course G. Orwell, The Art of Donald McGill in his Collected Essays, Journalism and Letters (4 vols), Vol. 2. (Harmondsworth, 1942), pp. 183-195).
118. J. De Groot, 'Sex' and 'Race': The construction of language and image in the nineteenth century, in S. Mendus & J. Rendall, eds, Sexuality and Subordination (London and New York, 1989), p. 100 (emphases in original).