BrittDLD1 - Posted - 09/24/2010:  15:03:54

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Also SEE: banjohangout.org/topic/187600

Sorry this is such late notice:



TONITE!!! --- One Night ONLY!!! --- TONITE!!!

. . . . In a RARE, DEATH-DEFYING Performance!!! . . . .


Tomorrow night, Saturday Sept 25th, at 8pm
Debby McClatchy -- North of Boston

A rare East Coast show by Debby McClatchy -- who will appear in a costumed
musical performance -- as the celebrated 19th Century singer, banjoist, and
actress, Miss Lotta Crabtree.

She'll be performing one set as Debby -- and one set, in 19th C. costume, as Lotta.

The Linden Tree Coffeehouse
Unitarian Universalist Church
326 Main St, Wakefield, MA 01880

For reservations -- or info -- call: 781-246-2836
Email: lindentree85@comcast.net

lindentreecoffeehouse.org
debbymcclatchy.com/pictures.htm






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And... Here's some history on the REAL Lotta Crabtree:
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Charlotte Mignon Crabtree was born in 1847, in New York City. Her father left for the California gold fields, in 1851. Lotta and her Mother followed, settling in Grass Valley, CA in 1853, and making the acquaintence of the celebrated dancer, and actress, Lola Montez.

Influenced by the encouragement of Montez, young Lotta soon began performing ballads, and dancing, in the nearby mining camps. Her family moved to San Francisco, in 1856, and 9-year old Lotta (with her mother) toured the Sacramento and San Joaquin Valleys. She began playing the banjo, and was in demand in the San Francisco's variety halls and amusement parks. By 1859, at the tender age of 12, she had become "Miss Lotta, the San Francisco Favorite".


Photos of the REAL Lotta -- as a young banjoist, singer and performer, during the 1850s and '60s

. . .
Courtesy: James Bollman Collection

As Lotta's manager, her mother supposedly did not trust banks, or paper money. So Lotta's earnings were in paid in gold nuggts and coins -- which they kept, and transported, in a steamer trunk. In 1864, Lotta (and her mother) headed east, performing in New York, Chicago, Boston and the Midwest. Lotta soon took to smoking thin black cigars -- which was to become a trademark for her.

Becoming extemely popular on the American stage, in 1870 Lotta started touring with her own company. With her petite size, She became a favorite for her portrayals of children. Her mother began putting Lotta's sizable earnings into real estate, bonds and other investments. Traveling abroad with her mother, and brothers -- Lotta studied French, visited museums, and took up the hobby of painting.


Photos of the REAL Lotta -- as the wildly famous actress, entertainer, and notorious cigar-smoker, of the late-19th C.

. . .


In 1892, Lotta retired from the theater at the age of 45, as a very rich single woman, and moved to a country cottage in northwest New Jersey. Lotta made one final public appearance, in 1915 -- at the Panama-Pacific Exposition, in San Francisco. Shortly afterward, Lotta purchased the Brewster Hotel, overlooking Boston Common -- where she lived until her death in 1924. She was buried in Woodlawn Cemetery, in New York City.

Lotta was described by critics as mischievous, unpredictable, impulsive, rattlebrained, teasing, piquant, rollicking, cheerful and devilish. But her personal fortune was estimated to $2 million, and her total estate at $4 million. Over $50 million in today's dollars. Not too bad... for a banjo player.


For additional historical information on Lotta:

upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia...btree.jpg
ncgold.com/History/LottaCrabtr...otta.html

debbymcclatchy.com/bio.htm
lindentreecoffeehouse.org/


ENJOY!
Ed Britt

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Edited by - BrittDLD1 on 09/25/2010 10:29:46

tomberghan - Posted - 09/24/2010:  17:32:40

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I LOVE the concept of this show . . . and I am grateful Ed for your excellent presentation of the history of this facinating performer from 19th century America. NOT BAD FOR A BANJOIST INDEED!!!

I bet Miss Lotta Crabtree even played my home town of Seattle. In those days, Seattle was a VERY wild west town with lots of gambling, theaters, and many fine houses for "Gentlemen's Entertainment."

It is wriiten in numerous history books that the scene in Seattle's "Lava Bed District" was MUCH wilder than anything the Barbary Coast in San Francisco had to offer.

At the end of the century the Klondike Gold Rush hit and then all hell really broke loose. (The Original Skid Road was Henry Yesler's log skid . . . where at the bottom grew the Lava Bed District where "Souls Now Skid To Hell!"

Rev. Mark A. Matthews, popularized the current sense of the term "Skid Road" in his sermons. The Seattle-area Presbyterian minister and ardent prohibitionist regularly used the term in his sermons, and was explicit about his etymology: "Yesler Way was once a skid road down which logs were pushed to Henry Yesler's sawmill on the waterfront. Today it is a skid road down which human souls go sliding to hell!"

Yeah! . . . and the area still has some that flavor. But now all the former "fun" activities are quite illegal

I bet in the late 1800s the place was fairly crawling with banjoists! (There are only a couple of us left now)

Please go to the show and review it on Sunday!
Thanks Ed,
Best Regards,
Tom

brokenstrings - Posted - 09/24/2010:  18:12:57

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Knew about Lotta Crabtree, but not that much detail. Thanks, Ed!

Ronnie - Posted - 09/24/2010:  19:42:43

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Well, phooey! I was born 100 years too late!!

vrteach - Posted - 09/24/2010:  20:52:45

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Wonderful information, thanks. Wish I could see the performance.

BrittDLD1 - Posted - 09/25/2010:  05:23:16

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quote:

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Originally posted by tomberghan

Please go to the show and review it on Sunday!

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Hi Tom.

I'll be running sound for the show.
(I've been the Linden Tree's volunteer Sound Coordinator for 26 years.)

Thanks for the Seattle info. I grew up in the Buffalo, NY area -- and it had
it's own small-town "Barbary Coast" section, back in the early 1800's.

It was the main Great Lakes transfer port, for shipping coming from
the NYC via the Erie Canal, and the Atlantic Ocean and Canada, via the St
Lawrence -- going west; and all the lumber, iron ore, wheat, and other
goods coming from the Midwest, and West, via the Great Lakes.

The ORIGINAL Christy Minstrels were from Buffalo, and started in the
early-1840s. 30 years ago, I acquired a great tackhead minstrel banjo,
from the Buffalo area.

Jim Bollman and I are loaning a couple original period minstrel banjos
for Debby to play. (If the scale-lengths suit her -- they're fretless...)

Best-

trapdoor2 - Posted - 09/25/2010:  10:46:54

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Clearly, I live in the wrong end of the east. Perhaps if I had know about this sooner (say, two or three years), I could have convinced my Gloucester/Lowell relatives to put me up for the weekend...and I could have had a lobstah-roll to boot.

Very cool show. I hope you tape it for youtube so we can all enjoy it from a distance!

===Marc

Basic Strum - Posted - 09/26/2010:  07:31:07

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Ed:

The Erie Canal made Buffalo a very happenin' place, indeed. (New York City, too, for that matter.) Speaking of which, you need to get home and see the recently excavated and restored Commercial Slip.

The performer/songwriter Chauncey Olcott was also a Buffalonian. He wrote "My Wild Irish Rose" and "When Irish Eyes Are Smiling" for his minstrel shows, which were taken to be authentic Irish music until three brothers from County Tipperary and their friend from Armagh landed a gig on Ed Sullivan a half-century later. Anyway, by the turn of the century, Buffalo's population of millionaires was second only to New York's, and the arts and entertainment thrived there.

But here's an interesting coincidence (or is it?): Although neither Olcott nor Lotta Crabtree were from New York City, they are both buried there, both in Woodlawn Cemetery. The cemetery's website describes its location as "just below Westchester County." In contrast, when people ask me where I'm originally from, I proudly say "The Bronx."

Bill