Recently I've been engaged in looking for some banjo performers from long ago that we might not be acquainted with. Here (attached) is an ad for The Carmen Sisters and their dog Tatters from the New York Clipper March 14, 1896. Also on the same page was an ad from our old friend S. S. Stewart. Jim Bollman actually has a fine photograph of the Carmen Sisters accessible on Google.
Edited by - beezaboy on 06/06/2023 09:04:11
I am trying to find information about a long-ago banjo picker named Frank Posh. He was from Kentucky and travelled from Kentucky to California and back several times. Posh was the Great-Great Uncle of a 70 year old man I know. If anyone has any information regarding Posh, or his banjo, I would like to pass this information along.
A good compendium of this kind of information is The Banjo Entertainers: Roots to Ragtime by Lowell H. Schreyer.
JH, I would think any remnant billboards, posters, write ups, or programs from the minstrel era would give you plenty of names, "...that we might not be acquainted with".
I am looking in "mature" Vaudeville about 1900-1930.
What do you think this commentary about the Carmen Sisters N.Y. Clipper April 25, 1903 means? "They were not the originators of the banjo eye..." (attached). Referring to the Carmen Sisters' looks??
Here is Jim Bollman's article with the photo of the Carmen Sisters: https://www.antiquesandthearts.com/jim-bollman-2/
google.com/search?q=banjo+eyes...&ie=UTF-8
"Banjo eyes", term from c. early 1900's. (The Carmen sisters don't seem to have banjo eyes in the linked portrait.)
Edited by - tdennis on 06/06/2023 19:10:54
tdennis
Thank you for the explanation. I did not relate "Eddie Cantor" type "banjo eyes" to the Carmen Sisters. The review seems to have been a bit slap-dash even more so by using the "African Harp" cliche.
quote:
Originally posted by RealbluegrassfanI am trying to find information about a long-ago banjo picker named Frank Posh. He was from Kentucky and travelled from Kentucky to California and back several times. Posh was the Great-Great Uncle of a 70 year old man I know. If anyone has any information regarding Posh, or his banjo, I would like to pass this information along.
My mistake. The fellow I am trying to find information on is Frank Tosh, not Posh.
Edited by - Realbluegrassfan on 06/08/2023 10:18:15
