479
●
(MUSIC—SONG SHEETS.)
Yella
Busha Bella * Heenan and the Black.
Two very unusual song sheets, 10
1
⁄
4
x 7
inches (margins approximate) with wood-
cut vignettes; printed on very fine paper
which has become quite toned and brit-
tle; small repair to the reverse of the first
title.
England, circa 1840’s to 1860’s
[600/800]
Yella Busha Bella, recounts in verse the story of
black man’s unsuccessful attempts to woo a
light-skinned, or “Yella” gal. Also on the same
sheet is “A Life by the Gally (sic) Fire, with a
woodcut of an exaggerated black face and a
sailing ship. The second piece, “Heenan and
the Black” refers to the great American pugilist
John C. Heenan. However, we could find no
match in which Heenan fought a “known”
black fighter. The second sheet bears a large
printed number “763” at the base of the page.
478
●
(MUSIC—MINSTRELSY.)
RICE, THOMAS DARTMOUTH.
Tremont Theatre. Mr. Finn’s Benefit
. . . Mr. T. Rice as Jim Crow.
Long
theatre broadside, 15 x 6
1
⁄
4
inches, top and
bottom edges slightly uneven; paper
evenly toned.
Boston, 1833
[1,500/2,500]
A VERY EARLY PROGRAM WITH THOMAS
RICE PERFORMING HIS SIGNATURE SONG
AND DANCE
.
Thomas Dartmouth Rice (1808
-1860) was an American song and dance
performer and playwright who used African-
American dialect and mannerisms to develop
what would became an entire genre of minstrel
style. Virtually all explanations of how Rice
came to develop the character of “Jim “Crow”
are apocryphal, but the most popular and
accepted story goes that Rice met an old black
itinerant performer who had a crippled leg and
slightly bent shoulder. As a result he had a
peculiar dance which Rice copied that involved
a little “jump” at the end of each verse. Thus
“Jump Jim Crow.”
479
478
