eMoviePoster.com
Auction History Result YE OLDE MINSTRELS 1sh '41  Lease from Hershenson/Allen ArchiveAn Original Vintage One-Sheet Movie Poster (1sh) (Learn More) Ye Olde Minstrels, the 1941 Edward Cahn Our Gang juvenile musical comedy short starring Robert Blake, Darla Hood, George 'Spanky' McFarland, Carl 'Alfalfa' Switzer, Billie 'Buckwheat' Thomas, and Walter Wills (billed as "Minstrel Maestro Walter Wills"). This is one of the more interesting later Our Gang shorts, because it was designed as a tribute to the minstrel shows of the 1920s and earlier. In this one, the kids want to raise money for the Red Cross (this was on the eve of America's entry into World War II, but it had been fought in Europe for two years), and they put on a show, as they so often did. But in this one, Froggy's uncle was an old "minstrel man", and he helps them put on a show that was a tribute to Primrose and West, who helped change the traditional stereotyped blackface minstrel shows of the late 1800s, when, in 1882, they started a minstrel show with white performers who were not in blackface, and they did skits based on such upper class pursuits as fox hunting and yacht racing! So the minstrel show that the Our Gang kids put on in this short is NOT a stereotyped minstrel show, which was very unusual for movies at this time! NOTE: Click on linked names to see a biography. If you know who did the art (if any), please let us know. 
Postal Mailing Address:
Bruce Hershenson, P.O. Box 874, West Plains, MO 65775. (For our UPS or FedEx address, click here) phone: +1 417 256-9616 fax: +1 417 257-6948 E-mail: Contact Us Hours of Operation: Monday - Friday 8:30 AM - 12:00 PM & 1:00 PM - 5:00 PM (CST) |
|||||||||||||
