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Dan Emmett
1815-1904
Minstrel,
Composer
Daniel Decatur Emmett
was born in Mount Vernon, Ohio, on October 29, 1815. Like
many others that were to populate the early minstrelsy circuit,
Emmett came from an Irish-American family.
His grandfather, John Emmett came to America from Ireland
sometime before the revolutionary war where he served as a
surgeon and chaplain. In 1788 he had a son, Abraham who lived
in Vriginia with his family until coming to Mount Vernon,
Ohio in around 1812 and was among its earliest settlers.
Not much is known about Emmett's early childhood
except that in his old age he recalled that as a youth "it
was a fashion in those days among the young people to try
their skill at making verses, and sing them to some popular
tune." Most of the tunes which impressed Emmett were
of Irish, Scottish or English origin, with some early American
Negro minstrel music. At age fifteen he had written and performed
his first original composition at an 1830 Fourth of July celebration.
This song is still a popular song today called Old Dan Tucker.
At seventeen Emmett left home and joined
the U.S. Army, becoming the lead fifer at Jefferson Barracks,
Missouri. When the Army found out he lied about his age he
was dismissed. The next few years he would sign on with various
circus bands and continued to perform in public. In 1842 Emmett
joined the "Original Virginia Minstrels" where he
played fiddle. It was an immediate success and their act was
being copied all over the country. They even did a tour in
Great Britain. Unfortunately the group soon went there separate
ways.
Upon returning to the States he dabbled
in acting and managing minstrel shows but he belonged on the
stage. His main instrument throughout his years was the banjo.
Emmett joined Bryant's Minstrels in New York in 1858 where
he stayed and worked until 1867. From 1867 to 1888 he lived
in Chicago once again plying his stagecraft of song accompanying
himself on the fiddle and the banjo.
In 1859 Emmett wrote the song which would
make him famous. Dixie's Land, which was eventually shortened
to Dixie, became a smash hit. It was written as a walkaround,
which is a section of the show during which each performer
walked several times around the inside of a semicircle in
which his fellow performers were seated and then did his particular
specialty in the center of the stage. With the Civil War impending
the South picked up Dixie as its unofficial confederate anthem.
Emmett, being a Unionist was not happy about this at all.
Even today Dixie can bring up controversy. Schools, plays
and States have all been litigated against for usage of this
song, claiming its offensive in one form or another. After
the war Dixie regained its popularity in the North.
By 1882 Emmett, now in his sixties, was
still touring and would sing his famous song Dixie to standing
ovations. He toured with the Leavitt Gigantean Minstrels in
the 1880's and in 1895, at the age of eighty, he took his
last tour with Al Field's troupe, mostly touring through the
South. He returned to Mount Vernon in 1888 where he lived
the last years of his life.
Like most entertainers in those days Emmett
retired penniless. He would chop and saw wood for farmers
to put a meal on his table. Upon finding out of his situation
in 1893 the Actor's Fund of America in New York City granted
him a weekly sum of five dollars a week. He lived on this
until he died on June 28, 1904. He was always considered a
local celebrity and this small community still honors his
life with various events and lectures. A monument has been
erected in his honor and his birthplace is now a historic
landmark.
Besides Old Dan Tucker and Dixie, other
famous songs credited to Emmet are Turkey in the Straw, Old
Zip Coon, The Blue Tail Fly, and De Boatman's Dance. In 1943
Bing Crosby played Dan Emmett in the film-story of his life
called, of course, "Dixie."
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