Evening Republican, Volume 23, Number 18, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 January 1920 — HAS ONLY MEMORY [ARTICLE]

HAS ONLY MEMORY

Old Minstrel Sadly Recalls Days of Affluence. Yea re Ago the Pet of Royalty, and Earning Thousands, Today Merely Regarded as an “Old Colored Man.” Leaning against the side of a moving picture theater on Broadway, a crippled old man, with white hair and deep lines In his face, stood the other day, bearing little resemblance to the man who was once the sensation of the English amusement world, the pet of royalty, and a maker of money in such quantities that it was said of him he only sipped the bubbles off champagne, leaving the drink Itself to hangers-on. Not a handful of people know of his former glory. To the passerby today he seemed simply an old ‘•colored man.” — But to the Old Timer recognition was immediate. He was none other than George Bohee, who, with his brother, Jim Bohee, was a feature of Jack Haverly’s Colored Mastodon minstrels tn this country 4O years ago and whb ln the early eighties took England off Its feet with the Introduction of negro minstrelsy, banjo playing and soft-shoe dancing there. The story of George Bohee is more timely now because of the recent visit of the prince of Wales. For when the present prince’s grandfather, the late King Edward, visited this country as prince of Wales, banjo playing was his hobby, and he later took lessons from the Bohee brothers, and often commanded them to appear at royal entertainments.

George and Jim Bohee were mulattoes. They were splendid singers and clever dancers. They always appeared together in silk costumes of gay coIoTs; highsilk “hats, and Witn banjos hung over their shoulders. They were for years with Haverly’s minstrels. In 1880 they decided to go to England, little hoping for any wonderful success there, but desiring to see the world and to try their luck. “I was in England at the period,” says the Old Timer. “The success of the Bohee brothers was instantaneous. It was remarkable. The soft-shoe dancing and banjo playing took England by storm. It became the rage, just as the jazz Is the rage here now. They were wooed by the big music halls and played a string of them every night, going from one to another. “King Edward, who was then prince of Wales, always had a hobby for the banjo. Nobody had ever played it in England as the Bohee brothers did and he summoned them early In their career there to play tor him-—Tho Bohees appeared at royal parties given by him and by the duke of Richmond and to Queen Alexandra. “I remember that one of the Bohee’s great songs in those days was “A Boy’s Best Friend Is His Mother.” Sounds slushy now, but it was a great hit in the eighties. Well, the Bohee brothers certainly were the class. They drove down Piccadilly, tandem, with an attendant in livery that would knock your eye out.

“When Jim Bohee came into the Gaiety or Criterion bar he would order champagne and never drink anything but the bubbles. That’s a fact; he would simply drink the effervescent top and let the greater part of the wine remain in the glass. “I remember one day meeting Jim In the Criterion and reminding him of an incident when he was with Haverly’s minstrels. It happened in Kalamazoo. Mich. Jim was leading the parade in a startling costume, carrying a huge drum-major’s stick which he was whirling and twirling like mad. “A frisky young colt was tied to a post, and when the parade came down with bands going full pressure and with Jim cutting high jinks in front, the colt reared up on its hind legs and fell over dead. That’s a fact “Well I asked Jim If he recalled that and he let out a roar of laughter that amazed those present Jim had cultivated an English accent and eliminated anything approaching the boisterous laugh or expression. Consequently when he lapsed Into an ordinary whoop It caused a stir, and he apologized. b ‘

-Ail this chme to my mind the other day when I happened to see George Bohee, a ghost of his old self. He made hundreds of thousands of dollars In his day. I think he makes a living now working around movie houses. ~ I stopped to talk with him and I recalled the days of forgotten glory. "Those were the days,’ he said sadly. “I forgot ,to say that the fall of the Bohees began with the death of Jim. Jim died just about the time their popularity began to- decline, and George couldn’t revive the old-time admiration of the amusement world.**