A news article from the Lykens Standard, 25 February 1938, reported an upcoming minstrel show to be held by the Wiconisco Firemen in the new auditorium of the Wiconisco High School. The mention of the “sidesplitting jokes and funny situations created by the colored end men” was a reference to local white men in black-face, who were identified by name in the article.
Wiconisco Firemen’s Annual Minstrel To Be Held Monday-Tuesday
The second annual minstrel to be presented by the Wiconisco Fire Engine Company will take place Monday and Tuesday evening, February 28th and March 1st, starting at 8:15, in the new auditorium of the Wiconisco Schools. With the advance sales moving along briskly, a good attendance on both evenings is anticipated. Reserved seat ticket sales will start Saturday, February 26th at the Wiconisco Firehouse beginning at 10 A.M.
With forty-two members composing the group, a few of the many outstanding numbers include “Brick” Coles doing the “Short Mountain Shuffle;” hear “Monk” Messner “Fill a Chicken;” Mason Dreibelbis “Roll Over Them Plains;” Jimmy Farrell’s rendition of “Sonny Boy;” hear the side-splitting jokes and funny situations created by the colored end men, the life of the production.
The miniature minstrel composing the second part, will star Clarence Reed, the midget end-man; Bob Row, the boy soprano telling all about the “Dirty Dozen;” Richard Wolf, “Bringing Home the Bacon;” and Harry Hunter who dare you to “Stop Him From Dreaming…”
The program was then provided in detail, including the names of the end-men. The group of four end men was referred to as “Brick Coles and his three coal buckets.” In addition to “Brick” Coles, the other end-men in black-face were “Monk” Messner, Jimmy Farrell, and “Mace” Dreibelbis.
The second part of the program had four different end-men who were referred to as “Clarence Reed and His Three Reed Birds.” The three “birds” were Robert Row, Harry Hunter Jr. and Richard Wolf.
See:
https://www.lykensvalley.org/history-of-black-face-in-the-lykens-valley/
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News clipping from Newspapers.com.
Corrections and additional information should be added as comments to this post.