AudioMo Day 30 - The Past and Present Memory

I had to race up to 2026 but that doesn't mean that we are free and clear of minstrel's influence on American culture. 

It is embedded. It is transmitted. It is encoded in a lot of things. Even a 2026 food commercial. This is my subjected look at how the past is influencing the present. 

AudioMo is an international participation of folks that want to share what they can do with the audio format. This is a captioned audio for those folks that are deaf, hearing impaired or English is not their native language.

AudioMo Day 25 Imitation of Life

According to the Britannica website, Fannie Hurst was an author who was concerned about romance and also social issues.

Fannie, to the best of her abilities, wanted to know what real people experienced. She took low wage jobs, she traveled with the common folk and made an effort to inject those experiences in her writing.

This is a quick look at two film version of one of her works, Imitation of Life.

If you would like to know more about Fannie Hurst, there is the Literary Ladies Guide biography.

And another biography at the The State Historical Society of Missouri Missouri Encyclopedia

AudioMo Day 24 Theatrical Animation

A little more personal than I would like, but I do mention some of the cartoons that have links to minstrel and vaudeville. 

Most animators were not intending to harm but they repeated what they knew or saw on stage. If all you know is snow, how can you recognize the green grass? 

I do think the website TV Tropes does a good job explaining the cartoon Coal Black and De Sebben Dwarfs. 

You can probably find a copy of that cartoon on YouTube. I have no desire to link to it.

AudioMo Day 23 The Beulah Show

There are times when the fiction is simple but the reality behind it is complex. Such is the case with the radio and television shows eventually called The Beulah Show.

For More Information:

Television Academy Interviews

Hattie McDaniel Filmography

AudioMo is an international participation of folks that want to share what they can do with the audio format. This is a captioned audio for those folks that are deaf, hearing impaired or English is not their native language.

AudioMo Day 22 Mantan Moreland

In movies, there wasn't just blackface. There was yellowface too. The Charlie Chan movies always had the character Charlie Chan performed by a white man. 

There various sons and daughters were portrayed by Asian actors.  At some point, someone at Monogram Studios decided it was a good idea for Mr. Chan to have a driver called Birmingham Brown.

Before Charlie, we have to talk about Mantan Moreland.

AudioMo is an international participation of folks that want to share what they can do with the audio format. This is a captioned audio for those folks that are deaf, hearing impaired or English is not their native language.

For more information:

Today I Found Out - Mantan Moreland

Yellow Face - History of Yellow Face in American movies

Same Passage page on the actor

AudioMo Day 21 - Amos and Andy Radio Show

The history of the Amos and Andy radio show is all about uncomfortable history. But uncomfortable history doesn't exempt you from knowing about it. 

This team pioneered a form of storytelling and method of syndication. On the other hand, they brought every trope that was in minstrel and vaudeville performances to a national audience. 

 

AudioMo is an international participation of folks that want to share what they can do with the audio format. This is a captioned audio for those folks that are deaf, hearing impaired or English is not their native language.

For more information:

This Old Radio Show page on the radio and television show.

Underground History for a different point of view.

The Jim Crow Museum page on the program.

AudioMo Day 19 Lincoln Theodore Monroe Andrew Perry

You might not know the name of Lincoln Perry but you might recognize the name of Stepin Fetchit. Mr. Perry's career is the living proof of being between and rock and a hard place.

This is a brief look at his career and some of the challenges he faced. If you would like to know more:

Lincoln Theodore Monroe Andrew Perry, “Stepin Fetchit,” The Rise And Fall Of The First Black Super Star, 1902 – 1985

The “Stepin Fetchit” via the Actors Under the Stars website.

Turner Classic Movies did a review about the movie Judge Priest that had both Stepin Fetchit and Hattie McDaniel as featured players.

AudioMo is an international participation of folks that want to share what they can do with the audio format. This is a captioned audio for those folks that are deaf, hearing impaired or English is not their native language.

AudioMo Day 18 Start of Black Cinema

With the Hayes code and Jim Crow in effect, the ancestors decided to make their own movies. They started out with short films but soon were making full length films. 

 

AudioMo is an international participation of folks that want to share what they can do with the audio format. 

This is a captioned audio for those folks that are deaf, hearing impaired or English is not their native language.

AudioMo Day 16 The Decline of TOBA

There are forces that are causing the downfall of TOBA and black vaudeville. There is that pesky technology, the great depression and an audience that is exercising their right of choice.

AudioMo is an international participation of folks that want to share what they can do with the audio format. This is a captioned audio for those folks that are deaf, hearing impaired or English is not their native language.

AudioMo Day 15 Al Jolson and the Journey

Al Jolson is a time marker between the past and the future. He had extensive experience in vaudeville as well as traditional theater. He did that using his blackface persona on stage. In 1929 he appeared in the first sound movie, The Jazz Singer.

 

AudioMo is an international participation of folks that want to share what they can do with the audio format. This is a captioned audio for those folks that are deaf, hearing impaired or English is not their native language.

AudioMo Day 14 Bessie Smith

Many of the minstrels and vaudeville performers were poor or were born on the so-called wrong side of the tracks. 

Being able to sing and dance might help you and your family eat or have a place to live. And that could start in childhood or as a teenage. Survival was everything and with no social support system people did what they could do.

Bessie Smith lost her father and mother early in life. Some reports say an older sister took care of the siblings, other state it was an aunt. 

In either case, those who were old enough were expected to find ways to bring home some money.

Bessie, and two of her brothers Clarence and Andrew busked around the city getting those coins by singing and dancing on the street.

Bessie's life was complicated and I encourage you to check out the following resources:

Bessie Smith (ca. 1895–1937) was a blues and jazz singer from the Harlem Renaissance who is remembered at as the Empress of the Blues. 

From the Women and the American Story there is "Bessie Smith." The New York Historical, 

National Public Radio did a 2019 story about Bessie's influence on popular music.

AudioMo Day 13 Bessie Lamb and Her Genre of Music

This isn't getting any easier. There were multiple genres of music between 1870 to 1920. There was high brow, low brow, dirty also known as blue and then there is this specific genre which I really don't want to name. 

But I can show it to you on this blog.

And this is one of the more benign covers. Bessie is the means of introducing this type of songs that were popular and were sung on Vaudeville stages, bars and even in homes.

AudioMo is an international participation of folks that want to share what they can do with the audio format. This is a captioned audio for those folks that are deaf, hearing impaired or English is not their native language.

Day 12 - Shadow of the Crow

 This is an extract from a book about this time period:

During the post-Civil War era, black performers struggled with the dual burden of seeking paying roles in entertainment and presenting the black community with dignity. 

Minstrelsy was still a prominent form of entertainment in the early twentieth century. Black performers like Bert Williams and Ernest Hogan entered the space only to modernize and update it. 

They served as a bridge between the minstrel show and the growing popularity of vaudeville, an increasingly popular form of theater that included musical, dance, and comedic acts. Black stage entertainers like Williams and Hogan could blacken their faces, sing, and perform comedy revolving around ill-fated schemes.

But they also introduced performances which added a greater humanity into their characters. Productions by black producers like Bert Williams could also include discussions of anti-colonialism in Africa and critiques against further development of Jim Crow laws. 

This political critique was disguised as comedy for largely white audiences. These performances gave African Americans a fullness not often seen when white actors sought to “depict” African Americans in blackface.

Kenya Davis-Hayes, African American Representation on the Stage, Screen, and Airwaves (2025)

Audio Mo Day 10 and 11

 Just a quickie on the growing popularity of the two separate but unequal forms of vaudeville.

AudioMo is an international participation of folks that want to share what they can do with the audio format. This is a captioned audio for those folks that are deaf, hearing impaired or English is not their native language.

AudioMo Day 7 Birth of Vaudeville From Beer Hall to Stage

The American version of vaudeville grew out of beer halls. This is how it got started and the links to known performers and minstrel connections.

   

 If you want to know more, the University of Arizona has an excellent page on Vaudeville 

 The online version of Britannica has info about vaudeville, burlesque and the UK Tavern version of performing in alcohol establishments. 

AudioMo is an international participation of folks that want to share what they can do with the audio format. This is a captioned audio for those folks that are deaf, hearing impaired or English is not their native language.

AudioMo Day 6 Bert Williams Stagecraft Under Duress

Bert Williams worked in minstrel shows. When those shows started to fade in popularity, he was able to transition to vaudeville. This is an overview of his career and some of the challenges he faced. 

If you would like to learn more about Bert Williams here are some resources:

• There is a short bio page from Library of Congress 
• IMDB has a bio page and lists his four known movies. 
• Dartmouth University page on Bert Williams https://journeys.dartmouth.edu/bertwilliams/biography/

AudioMo is an international participation of folks that want to share what they can do with the audio format. 

This is a captioned audio for those folks that are deaf, hearing impaired or English is not their native language. 

AudioMo Day 5 Minstrel Show Roots of American Comedy

Folks like WC Fields, Abbot and Costello, Martin & Lewis all used element of holding an audience that was transmitted from minstrel shows and vaudeville. In this episode, the elements of comedy used in those shows.

For more info there is the The Jim Crow Museum at Ferris University.

AudioMo is an international participation of folks that want to share what they can do with the audio format. This is a captioned audio for those folks that are deaf, hearing impaired or English is not their native language.

AudioMo Day 3 - Black Minstrels

It didn't take long for slaves and free black folks to want to get in on the action. They knew that they could do it. But they faced laws, slave codes and other barriers to performance. 

This is the TLDR version of how the ancestors broke into the industry.

AudioMo is an international participation of folks that want to share what they can do with the audio format. 

This is a captioned audio for those folks that are deaf, hearing impaired or English is not their native language.

AudioMo Day Two History Behind Stephen Foster's Old Black Joe

Stephen Foster was a songwriter. He had two styles of composition. One for the minstrel stage where he wrote in a stereotypical style and one for the parlor or for family occasions. 

Old Black Joe was created for the singing in the parlor audience.

     

 

If you would like to see the poem/song lyrics, there is a version of it on the Poetry Foundation's website. 

If you would like to know more about Stephen Foster, the Library of Congress has a biography of the songwriter. 

AudioMo is an international participation of folks that want to share what they can do with the audio format. This is a captioned audio for those folks that are deaf, hearing impaired or English is not their native language.

AudioMo 2026 As the Crow Flies

There are things that are happening in the US that are troublesome. Some say unprecedented. 

I say it has been there all the time. It is a river of fecal matter that bubbles up with pride at least two or more times in a century.

It stains everything. Especially in the realm of entertainment.

For this year's AudioMo contribution, I want to look at the African American, Black and Melanated performers that survived, became successful or created new art forms despite all kinds of obstacles.

You see, entertainment in America is a good reflection of what happens in society at any given point in time. Starting with entertainment, we have to start by looking at minstrel shows and vaudeville.

Newspapers and the funny pages too. Night clubs, how the isms moved into movies and radio and television and the new dirty veins of for profit AI videos. 

If you are of a delicate nature and don't like your history sanitized. This is probably not for you.

Go elsewhere. As the crow flies...and the birthing of Jim Crow 2.0