Old Zip Coon
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Transcript of Old Zip Coon
Old Zip Coon
The song "zip coon" (known today in instrumental form as
"Turkey "i,
the Straw") can be thought of as the epitome of
nineteenth-century American popular music. Published in 1834'
the song quickly became uttoiirt.d with the figure of the min-
strel .lown and was used innumerable times aS a solo, a dance ve-
hicle, and as the musical number around which minstrel finales
were built. The following piece cannot be dated with complete
accuracy. The playbook f;rm was copyrighted in L874,but there
is neither cast ,o. production information available which could
help to date the first performance of the piece'
bf purricular inteiest tn Old, Zip Coon are the elements associ-
ated with Reconstruction attitudes. The sentimentalized planta-
don setring is typical of post-civil war nostalgiat 1rd the jokes
created by"the irrr..riot bf tfr. antebellum social hierarchy illus-
trate the inherent racism of minstrelsy in its most vicious form'
The following text is reprinted from the acting edition published
by the Huppi Hours ComPanY in 1874'
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ZIP.
OLD ZlPCOON.
An E thiop'ian E cc entricity,In One Scene.
CHARACTERSZIP COON
CUFF CUDLIP
ITALIAN MUSIC MASTER
SALLY
SCENE:-The common roorn of Zip Coon's hou,se on the Old Planta-tion, opening on the uerandah-the cotton and cane fields beyond-theMississippi in the distance.
(2rc, elegantly dressed, reading a newspaper and' smoking a cigar, uith his
feet on a table on which are decanters and glasses. White boy presenting a
huge mint juli|.)Dere, clar you'selfl (drinfu) Dis brandy isn't so good as de last;
(smncking hit t Pt shall hab to discharge my wine merchant if hedon't improve, for sartin. Maybe it's my taste, but somehow 'tainthalf so good as de oleJamaica massa used to gib us to wash de hoecake down with. It's mighty comfortable to be rich, to be sure, butit's debblish tiresome to hab to keep up de dignity all de time. O,for one good old-fashioned breakdown, like we used to hab whenmassa run de old plantation for us, and all we had to do was playde banjo and loaf. (looking right and leftl Nobody looking! Maybe'taint genteel, but here goes for a try. (walhs around and sings)
Long time ago we hoe de cotton,Grub among de canebrake, munch de sugar cane,
Hunt coon and possum by de ribber bottom,Past and gone de happy days-nebber come again!
Ho,.hi! How de moments fly!Get up and do your duty
While de time am passin'by!
(breahdown, throws off his coat)
5l
This Grotesque Essence
Dere we knock de banjo, make de sheepskin talk'
Shout until de rafters to de chorus ring;
If de massa see us, make him walk his chalk'
Trabellibely o'er de boards' cut de pigeon wing'
Ho, hi! etc. (Break.)
(curr cuDlrp, with a small-bund,le on his shoulder and in a ragged suit'
peeps;,n ona-ro1i$ enters. Throws hund,te d,oum and joirx in breakd,own.)
CUFF.
Hoe it down libely, dere's nobody to-fear'
De gate uttt off de hinges' no oberseer dere;
Nooneinaecornfield,all-decoastisclear'H... J. bell a-ringin', step up and pay your fare!
BOTH.Ho, hi! etc. (break)
cuFF. Hy'a! ir's no use talking-nigger will be niggerl (puts his bundle
on table and takcs chair)
zlv(stippingintohiscoat).I,dhabyouknowdereaintnoniggahsnow.IbelongstodeupPerCrust.Yo.,,-makin,you,selfmight},Com-fortable anyhow.
;spor. you couldn't be hired to refuse a drink?
cuFF. Don',t press me. (puts bottle to his mu,cth, takes a swig' spits it rut)
Bah! What sort o' siuff dat? Hoss medicine?
zr,..Hossmedicine,/ouignoramusdarky'you!Dat'sdegenuineOtard.
cuFF. If dat's "old tod" I don't want none of it. But, s"y,r zip, yort look
as if you took de world easy; tT-t y"" +P us ajob'
zr,,. you would.r', degrade you;setf by workin" would you? well, go
out dere among de white. trash' den'
cuFF. I say-I see a gran pranner dere, but whar's de ole banjo-
whar's de ole cremonum? 1
Z|P. o, dem ain,t fashionable, now. You ,member when we lib in de ole
quarter and I took a shine to SaI Beeswax, de master,s cook? Hy'a!
Well-dernrrru'' goned away and I g9! his property and married
Sal, and we got u iurt..-black ot "iid" de face an' white todder
-vll,shewon,ttouchnuffin,shortobapiannum,anddatbringsI Fiddle. A reference to cremona, a town in northern Italy' the name of which was
used ro designate any of the exquisi;.";i;li;t made there by Nicola Amati' Antonio
Stradivari, oi G.ri..PPe Guarneri
Old Zip Coon
all de high-toned darkies round her, and-and de white trash deycome round her thick as flies in a'lasses hogshead.
cuFF. Does any of 'em git stuck?zrr. You bet! Here comes de gal; golly, look at dat hoof.
(Enter sALLy,z with music and an Inlian master.)
MAsTER (sings). O, dulce animn, de mi con arnore dn poco.
sAL. "O dull seems the time unto me when I want to play poker."MASTER. Casta Diaa mifigelia, la croche se ha ben troaato,-sAL. "Casta Diva." I'm sure I'd not sing if I wasn't "obligato." (as'ide,
seeing Zril My fader! (Putt her arm,s about hi,s neck)
zrr. My darter! (embraces her) Here's old Cuff Cudlip-don't you'member Cuff! (C"If attempts to embrace her too. She curtsEs andpasses under-he embraces Zip irxtead, and, is slapped.)
s*. (sings).
Wtat magic's stealing o'er me, that mein, that noble brow!O, how my heartris thumping against my corsets now.
If this is what de crazy chaps call "love" in poetry,I's ready to frow up de sponge, for a gone coon am I!
(goes to pi4no with master)
cuFF (sings).
Now my heart with remembrance is wa'harming,And lub all its outposts is sto-horming,New hopes in my bosom am fo-horming,
O, how like a belus8 I sigh!I feel like a chap-fallen loverDat a big garden roller's past over;I'd consider myself in clover
For to catch but a glance of her eye!
zrc (pulkng on his kilk).Put on your airs!Here comes de company in pairs-
CUFF.
O, yes, by twos and threes they come;I'lI let them see that I'm at home.
2 It is probable that the actor who played Sally wore some fo-rm of.pie-bald makeup-a furthir indication of the grotesque visual extremes minstrelsy relied on.3 A bellows.
5352
This Grotesque Essence
(nkesblackcoatu,t,tofbund,te,and,putsoncoatondlargewhitekids)
ser. (as enter com,pany of both sex?' uhite and black)
Walk alonf, stall along! Daddy's ggt 9e gout;
Take him by de elbowl make him shake it out!
(sits at Pinno and Pln'Ys to choru's)
CHORUS.Troll, troll! let de chorus roll'Him aut ao"r"{3i"" us, hir him o,er de poll! (rhq dance.)
AIR
CUFF.
O, clar de kitchen, niggers'Your music can't begin'
Pull off Your coats and sPencers'4
Take Your gloves off and sail in;
Listen to de banjoWhile de old ting am in tune'
Incline Your ears and listen'And I'll gib You "Old ZiP Coon!"
Takingbanjosudd'enlyfrornbund'le'p@taoncechn'ngedtotheoldmetod,y-S;il leaaes thi piano ond, dai*s-alterna'tely with Zip and Cuff'
she and, they become rnore enthusiastic, all the rest nearly frantic' till sal
faints in thi arms of Cuff, and
CURTAIN
4 A spencer was a short, close-fitting jacket'
54
Unele Eph's Dream
By focusing on farcical elements it is easy to overlook the factthat minstrelsy was a very sentimental art form. The minstrelshow's first part invariably included mother songs or patheticballads which helped balance the comic songs and exchanges be-
tween interlocutor and end men. Numerous performers wererenowned for their ability to leave audiences weeping. DanBryant, for example, with his portrayals of starving slaves, is said
to have been the only actor in America who could consistentlymove the great Edwin Forrest to tears. Even the afterpieces couldindulge in the delicious pain of sentimentality as the followingpiece shows. Though the action of Uncle Eph's Dream tends to-ward slapstick, the subordinate elements-such as the setting,the background music, and the dream tableau-are evidence ofthe sincere though mawkish nostalgia with which a large por-tion of American society reacted to the harsh realities of Recon-struction.
The first recorded performance of Uncle Eph's Dream oc-
curred on November 6, 1871, when Bryant's Minstrels added itto their bill at Mechanics Hall in New York. In the next three
iears the piece was revived four times by Bryant's and ran forseveral weeks each time. The cast list printed with this text isproblematic. There is no record of these four performers having
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Louisiana State UniversitSi' PressBaton Rouge and London
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Theater poster for the original Ji* 91"*as Performed bY DaddY Rice' 1833'