Hi, not sure if this is for historians, and if someone knows a better sub for this, please let me know. Been thinking a lot about black face, as have we all. When I grew up in the south the only exposure I had to this idiom as theater that I was aware of was on cartoons like Bugs Bunny and Dumbo. I did know that Al Jolson wore blackface in the first talkie, but did not associate with the south. As an adult, I learned much more, having studied on the history of songwriting and various popular musical styles, and I can recognize many of the tropes in various aspects of popular culture even when not accompanied by obvious signifiers. Yes, I'm chagrined by the south's perpetuation of this idiom. What I am wondering is whether some of the themes that are common in white southern "country" variety shows had an origin in minstrelsy, or if they developed separately. I am thinking in particular of Hee Haw and old Grand Old Oprey skits where there would be music and then people would stop and set up a corny joke, usually at the expense of a character depicted as more of a country bumpkin than the others, so all us city folks can laugh. This seems like it could be related to some of the Jim Crow comedy routines that black people did where someone is talking to his country cousin and everyone laughs at/with him. Did these routines come out of vaudeville outside of the minstrel idiom, or does pretty much all American variety show theater start there? Are these types of routines related at all? Thanks.
Arguably the most famous "country bumpkin" of the nineteenth century was Artemus Ward, the creation of Maine-born, Charles Farrar Brown (1834-1867). Brown was a newspaper reporter/columnist who began writing missives from the imagined character in 1858. Artemus Ward was a traveling showman known for his poor education and he subsequently employed numerous misspellings and malapropisms. Although Ward was a country "rube," he was also known for his "down-home" Yankee common sense (in short, he was not a Southerner).
Brown collected his Ward columns and published them in a book - with the imaginative title, "His Book" - and this became a national favorite even as the nation leaned into Civil War. Ward was famously a favorite of President Lincoln, who frequently read passages to his cabinet to ease tensions.
Brown traveled West in 1863 - meeting and inspiring Samuel Clemens (and he helped Clemens, AKA Mark Twain, with his first national publication). By portraying his character, Artemus Ward, on stage, he furthered the fame of this country bumpkin, and in so doing became one of the earliest stand-up solo comic acts in the US.
All of this was without touching on Southern or racial cliches.