Christy and Wood's Burletta

Christy and Wood's Burletta (1854)

In the collections of the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center at the University of Texas are four small sheets, printed on thick paper, that were either given out to advertise or sold as souvenirs from the minstrel burlesque of Uncle Tom's Cabin that begin running at Geo. Christy and Wood's Minstrel Theatre in late May, 1854. From newspaper ads we know that Christy himself played Topsy (her name was spelled correctly in the ads, but as "Topsey" in the broadside), "Little Annie Kneass" played Eva, and Samuel A. Wells played Uncle Tom. From notices for the next four weeks in the New York Spirit of the Times we know that the "burletta" was a hit with audiences. But we don't know what the script was, or what the music was for the lyrics printed on the cards below, or how the production mixed Eva's song or the sentimental (and linguistically correct) "Duett" that Tom and "Cloe" sing with the play's burlesque and blackface elements.

EVA'S SONG. Hear the Mocking Bird. As sung in George Christy and Wood's Operatic Burletta of UNCLE TOM'S CABIN. CLICK ICONS TO ENLARGE	When the sun is brightly shining, To the cotton-field I go, Where the darkies' heads are peeping out From fields as white as snow; There, the perfume of the cedar, And the mocking-bird's sweet note, Seem blending with the darkies' voice, As through the air they float. Hear the mocking-bird, Hear the mocking-bird-- When the sun is brightly shining, To the cotton-field I go, Where the darkies' heads are peeping out From fields as white as snow. Oh, how I love the moonbeam! When the sun's declining ray, Seems dancing on the water, Just at the close of day. When I hear the darkies singing, From my couch whereon I rest, What sweet dreams then come o'er me, Hear the mocking-bird, Hear the mocking-bird, When the sun is brightly shining, To the cotton-field I go, Where the darkies' heads are peeping out From fields as white as snow.
Bekase my name am Topsey. As sung by GEORGE CHRISTY, in the Celebrated Burletta of UNCLE TOM'S CABIN.	I can play the banjo, yes, indeed I can! I can play a tune upon the frying-pan; I hollow like a steamboat fore she's gwan to stop; I can sweep a chimney, and sing out at the top. Oh, I can jump and I can hop, And take a little snopsey; Oh, I can sleep just like a top, Bekase my name am Topsey. When my face gets black, it always turns it brown, Den I get my boots and jump right up and down; I can roll a ball and make a ten-strike; I'm some at a butting, when dar's gwan to be a fight. Oh, I can jump and I can hop, And take a little snopsey; Oh, I can sleep just like a top, Bekase my name am Topsey. I can cotch a locust, and teach him how to sing; I can shoot a bullfrog flying on de wing; I tamed an alligator to move along de plow; De first potater I turned up was our old brindle cow. Oh, I can jump and I can hop, And take a little snopsey; Oh, I can sleep just like a top, Bekase my name am Topsey.
DUETT Aunt Cloe and Uncle Tom.	SOLO, TOM. Don't you remember, Cloe, dear, when you and I were young, Sometimes about the old door-steps, with tales of fear and fun, We'd sit and talk of ghosts, and oft imagine they were so, Till when the time of parting came. DUETT. Ah, yes, do I remember the stars that shone above, That twinkled in our childhood, shines bright upon our love. SOLO, CLOE. Ah, yes, do I remember still, the tales you told to me, And how I'd long for evening, that I might list to thee; The frightful tales I loved the most, and in the chilly weather, For trembling then with fear and fright, so close we got together. DUETT Ah, yes, do I remember the stars that shone above, That twinkled in our childhood, shines bright upon our love.