Next in popularity to the theatres are the performances of the Negro
Minstrels. Some of these companies have permanent halls which they
occupy during the winter. The summer and early autumn are spent in
travelling through the country. The principal companies are Bryant's and
the San Francisco Minstrels.
Dan Bryant is now the proprietor of a beautiful little theatre in
Twenty-third street, just west of the Sixth avenue. It is one of the
cosiest and most comfortable places in the city, and is usually filled
with an audience of city people of the better class. The music is good,
the singing excellent, and the mirth unrestrained and hearty. Dan
Bryant, himself one of the most irresistibly humorous delineators of the
"burnt cork opera," has collected a band of genuine artists, and has
fairly won his success. He has raised Negro Minstrelsy to the dignity of
a fashionable amusement, and has banished from it all that is coarse and
offensive. Men worn out with business cares go there to laugh, and they
do laugh most heartily. I think that even the king who "never smiled
again," would have been forced to hold his sides here. Families come by
the score to laugh at the vagaries of the sable minstrels, and the mirth
of the little folks is one of the heartiest and healthiest sounds to be
heard in the great city.
Next in order are the concerts. These are well patronized when the
performers are well known. There are several fine halls used for
concerts and lectures. The principal are Steinway Hall, in Fourteenth
street, and Irving Hall, in Irving Place.
Lectures also draw largely. The principal halls used for this purpose
are Steinway Hall, and the Halls of the Young Men's Christian Association
and the Cooper Institute.
Last, but not least in the estimation of New Yorkers, is the Circus.
This is a permanent entertainment during the fall and winter. The
performances are given in a handsome iron building located on Fourteenth
street, opposite Irving Place. The building is in the form of a circus
tent, and is lighted with gas, and warmed by steam coils. The audiences
are large, and consist to a great extent of children. The little folks
are very fond of the sports of the ring, and are among Mr. Lent's best
patrons.