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Stage Name |
Birth Name |
Johnny Diamond |
Johnny Diamond |
| "King of Diamonds," "'the Wirginny
Nigger" |
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Master Juba's success was the means of bringing
out another African-American named Johnny Diamond, who hung out
around the old Fly Market of the New York city. Diamond was first
brought into public notice by the enterprising P. T. Barnum, at
Vauxhall Garden, about 1840, when he was 17 years of age (he billed
him as only being twelve).
Diamond originally was a street performer who
got his challenge training on the "Shingle" or to say
that a 6 foot plank was laid down and a dance batltle would ensue
on this "Shingle," while another would make a wager
that he could outdo him. Diamond would come in black face, jump
on the shingle and talk like a slave while dancing, usually he
would be dressed in a type of Boxing costume, which was popular
at the time with certain dancers of the day, this was very popular
with those who watched him. Most of the dancers however wore a
velvet coat, flashy, flowing necktie, glazed cap, tight pants,
patent leather shoes with old copper pennies fastened to the heels
so Diamonds costume was somewhat unique as well as his style.
Sometime later Diamond created quite a furor
and and was spotted by P.T. Barnum. Barnum traveled
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with him all over
the country as well as the UK, with Diamond dancing matches with
whoever came on such as dancers Dick Pelham and William Henry
Lane aka Juba. Master Juba initially lost to Johnny Diamond in
Boston, MA. at the Boylston Gardens, but beat him there-after
and was impressed with him as a dancer. Juba took him on the road
with him after he and Barnum had a falling out over money and
whoring, it is written that Johnny had a temper and a bad disposition.
Barnum quickly replaced Diamond with Frank Lynch, who was placarded
and styled the “Great Diamond.” He was an extraordinary
dancer who also played the tambourine and banjo, and afterwards
it is said that he became a very prominent member of his profession.
After his travels with Juba (Juba joined White’s
Serenaders.), Diamond joined other minstrels performers for a
period of time. After the Virginia Minstrels formed in 1843, Billy
Whitlock, (Dan Emmett, Frank Brower, Billy Whitlock and Richard
Pelham, calling themselves the Virginia Minstrels.) convinced
Diamond to perform with them (aka Virginia Minstrels) in order
to increase the group's exposure. Diamond eventually joined the
Ethiopian Serenaders minstrel troupe. Diamond won match after
match in city after city, and his fame grew exponentially. He
earned a host of imitators and copycats, many of whom took his
name and pretended to be him. Some people
confuse Johnny Diamond with another Champion Minstrel performer
of the same time by the name of Jack Diamond; Jack Diamond was
white, who was also Master Juba's main "white competition."
There where also the 'Diamond Brothers' and the 'great Diamond',
all different people.
DANCE STYLE
(taken
From Wikipedia 1/2010)
Diamond repertoire was a mixture of African
American, English, and Irish steps. He danced the "five mile
out of town dance", the "Long Island breakdown",
the "Negro camptown hornpipe", the "ole Virginia
breakdown", and the "smokehouse dance". A playbill
claimed that his "rattle snake jig" had 120 steps. The
steps and maneuvers that made up these dances had equally colorful
names; his hornpipe featured the "double shuffle", the
"heel and toe", the "pigeon wing", and "running
on his heels". His energetic breakdowns were among his more
famous dances. Diamond performed in blackface, but some of his
dances were strictly British or Irish in origin and were danced
without makeup. Examples of these were an Irish jig called the
"fireman's hornpipe" and the "naval hornpipe in
the character of a Yankee sailor".
Diamond's dances were characterized by little
upper-body movement and rapid footwork. He left his upper body
relaxed so as to bring attention to his feet. One characteristic
step was to lean forward and dangle his hands loosely, look to
the side, and slide across the stage with a heel–toe alternation.
Noah M. Ludlow, a theatre manager, wrote that "He could twist
his feet and legs, while dancing, into more fantastic forms than
I ever witnessed before or since in any human being." His
playbills proclaimed Diamond a performer of "the greatest
display of heel and toe genus [sic] ever witnessed" and that
"Now de heels, if dares any music in you, its [sic] got to
come out". Diamond's rapid footwork rapped out percussive
patterns on the floor. He advertised that he could create music
with his heels.
Diamond's act also incorporated singing, either
by a partner or by Diamond himself. When partnered with a banjoist,
Diamond danced and leapt about the stage while the musician played.
These acts involved precise choreography. His repertoire consisted
of popular blackface numbers, such as "Jim-a-Long-Josey".
He performed stump speeches as well, such as his "Negro speech
in Congress".
... (End Wikipedia).
Diamond finally died after a triumphant career,
in Philadelphia, October 29th, 1857 and around this same time
the Morris Brothers’ Minstrels where created. It was with
this troupe that Fred Wilson introduced the clog dance for the
first time with a minstrel troupe that same year, (also Dick Sands,
Tim Hayes, Dick Carroll and Ben Goldsmith introduced the clog
dance with the minstrel troupes, also.) This proved to be a death
blow for the Jig champions domination in Minstrel show's.
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Birth Place |
Birth Date |
Spouse |
Offspring |
| Boston |
1823
- 10/29/1857 |
n/a |
n/a |
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Night Clubs |
Theaters |
Stage |
| Vauxhall
Gardens |
n/a |
P.T.
Barnum |
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Films |
Programs, Covers etc |
Publications, Books |
| n/a |
n/a |
7/18/1840 - Morning
Herald |
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2/24/1841 - Playbill
(Mobile) |
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1/19/1843 - New
York Herald |
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New York Clipper Articles (4/8/1860)
(Link)
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1873 - Jig, clog, and breakdown
dancing made easy (E. James) |
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1962 - Dan Emmett and the Rise
... (Hans Nathan) |
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1974 - Blacking Up (Robert C. Toll |
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1996 - Fun In Black
(Charles Day) |
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1997 - Demons
of Disorder (Dale Cockrell) |
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1999 - Behind the
Burnt Cork Mask (William Mahar) |
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2002 - Tap Roots (Mark Knowles) |
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2003 - A History of African American
Theatre (Hill and Hatch) |
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2009 -
Challenge Dancing and American Identity (April Masten) |
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Ballrooms
