Az Eszterházy Károly Tanárképző Főiskola Tudományos Közleményei. 1996. [Vol. 3.] Eger Journal of American Studies. (Acta Academiae Paedagogicae Agriensis : Nova series ; Tom. 23)
STUDIES - Gabriella Varró: The Theme of Comic Love in Blackface Minstrelsy: The Anatomy of the Grotesque
Oh he bit me pon my arm and tore my close I fotch him a lick and broke Miss Dinahs nose /etc./ /Starr/ This kind of violence between the pseudo-black male and female characters was always presented in a light-hearted spirit in the shows, under the guise of "jealousy, braggadocio, bullying, and the like" (Dennison 134). Open degradation, ridicule and burlesque of the black male was quite unlikely on minstrel stages. Both social criticism and racial satire were delivered to audiences in a very subtle form. The primary suggestion of the blackface minstrel show was that it was pure comedy, and nothing else. An 1876 advertisement for the performance of the Georgia Minstrels in the New York Clipper, ; like many advertisements of the kind emphasized this purity of blackface presentations, it being completely free of racial burlesque: THE BOSTON ADVERTISER SAYS: Calender's band of the Georgia Minstrels presented an entertainment last evening that sparkled with fresh business, fresh jokes, and fresh music, and the charm of the whole was mainly to be found in the clever, realistic representation of broad Negro character, prompted by a good conception of the humorous side, without falling into the weakness of coarsely burlesquing it. The company is very strong*** They have no equals (The New York Clipper 18 March 1876: 408.) Considering the extensiveness of minstrel materials on the comic theme of love, it is no exaggeration to state that this topic provided the most fruitful subject of all the various themes held up for comedy on the minstrel stages all around America, and certainly a bountiful site where the minstrel grotesque was flourishing in a variety of configurations. Situation comedy playing on bizarre and absurd confrontations and scenarios (grotesque deaths and fights), the downgrading of love through placing unworthy parties to act out elevated feelings, exaggeration of farcical situations and motifs, were 110
