A poster for John R. Arnam‘s Minstrels who were scheduled to perform at the Moose Theatre in Lykens, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, December 20, 1924. The members of this troupe were “all white” as noted on the poster, and the six end men, as expected, performed in black-face.
The advertisement for the show appeared in the Lykens Standard, December 19, 1924, along with a caricature of a white man in black-face.:
MOOSE THEATRE
Lykens
We Are Coming
John R. Van Arnam’s Minstrels
30 — All-White Stars — 30
Sweet Singers — Nimble Dancers — Funny Comedians
Band & Orachestra
Reserved Seats Friday at 1 P.M.
In the same edition of the Standard, an article described the group and its unique way of transporting its members to venues throughout the United States:
BIG MINSTREL ATTRACTION AT MOOSE
Manager A. L. Welker of the Moose Theatre wishes to announce to the public that he has secured John R. Van Arnam‘s Superior Minstrels for one night, Saturday, December 20th. Van Arnam’s Minstrels, while only on their fifth season comes with a enviable reputation of having played two consecutive years as a headline attraction over the H. F. Keith circuit of Vaudeville Theatres, being the only production giving the entire show on the Keith circuit.
Mr. Van Arnam has the only minstrel show on the road today playing to popular prices of 50c, 75c and $1.00. He believes in crowded houses and pleasing the public.
Parade and Concert
One of the features of John R. Van Arnam‘s Minstrels is the Band. Mr. Van Arnam takes special pride in his Band and each musician is an expert on his own instrument. The band and escort will parade Lykens at noon on Saturday and the Band will give a concert in front of the Moose Theatre before the performance.
A Home on Wheels
In these times of “High Cost of Living and Prohibition,” it has often been found difficult to secure accommodations for a company the size of Van Arnam’s Minstrels and Mr. Van Arnam has, at considerable expense, furnished a private Pullman dining and sleeping car for the convenience of the members of his Company. While touring the country, this is their home for the entire season and no detail has been omitted which would add to the comfort of his performers. Tis car is in unison with the high-class of entertainment provided by the Van Arnam Company.
“Local talent,” who emulated and mimicked the traveling minstrel shows welcomed the out-of-towners to learn new routines and know what was selling elsewhere.
The local 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.
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.
________________________________________
News articles from Newspapers.com. Poster image cropped from unlicensed images found on the web.
Corrections and additional information should be added as comments to this post.