Difference between revisions of "Nervous Cures"

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''[[Nervous Cures]]'' is a [[Ethiopian skit]] probably created by the [[Christy]] performers [[Joe Brown]] and [[Wash Norton]].  
 
''[[Nervous Cures]]'' is a [[Ethiopian skit]] probably created by the [[Christy]] performers [[Joe Brown]] and [[Wash Norton]].  
  
Also known as ''[[The Nervous Cures]]'', ''[[The Nervous Cures]]'' or ''[[The Nerves]]'' (''[[De Zenuwen]]'' in [[Dutch]]).  
+
Also known as ''[[The Nervous Cures]]'', ''[[The Nervous Cures!]]'' or ''[[The Nerves]]'' (''[[De Zenuwen]]'' in [[Dutch]]).  
  
 
== The original text ==
 
== The original text ==

Revision as of 06:18, 8 January 2019

Nervous Cures is a Ethiopian skit probably created by the Christy performers Joe Brown and Wash Norton.

Also known as The Nervous Cures, The Nervous Cures! or The Nerves (De Zenuwen in Dutch).

The original text

According to the Australian website of the Circus History Society, in its section covering the Barlow Minstrel Troupe[1], a Christy Minstrels troupe, of which Brown and Norton were members, had been shipwrecked on the coast of South Africa in 1863 and - having been saved - continued on to Australia, where they went on to perform.

There is a record Brown and Norton performing this particular skit at the School of Arts in Sydney Australia on 5 May, 1863 as part in their final season.

Translations and adaptations

Performance history in South Africa

1866: Performed on 8 September in the Garrison Theatre, Cape Town, as The Nervous Cures and announced as an "entirely new version of the Popular Dance-Song" by six members of the 9th Regiment's dramatic company. Also performed were Luke the Labourer (Buckstone) and Bombastes Furioso (Rhodes).

1866: Performed again on 18 September by the 9th Regiment in the Garrison Theatre, Cape Town, this time The Area Belle (Brough and Halliday) and Luke the Labourer (Buckstone), as well as a sword dance by H. Wallace.

1868: In November a burlesque called The Nervous Cures was apparently performed in Cape Town by Young Men’s Institute Amateur Christy’s. It was done, along with Charles White's Negro farce United States Mail, as a benefit for the Oddfellows Library and Reading Room.

Sources

Sydney Morning Herald, 5 May, 1863[2]

The Australian Circus History Society Website[3]

W.J. Mahar. 1999. Behind the Burnt Cork Mask: Early Blackface Minstrelsy and Antebellum American Popular Culture. Volume 442 of Music in American life. University of Illinois Press, 1999

F.C.L. Bosman. 1980. Drama en Toneel in Suid-Afrika, Deel II, 1856-1912. Pretoria: J.L. van Schaik.

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