Annotation:Unsworth's Giggle Toot
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UNSWORTH'S GIGGLE TOOT. American, Air (2/4 time). A Major ('A' part) & E Major ('B' part). Standard tuning (fiddle). AB. See also "Unsworth's New Jig" from the Phil Rice's Correct Method for the Banjo (1858). Englishman James Unsworth (1835-1875) was an "Ethiopian Comedian."
E. Le Roy Rice in Monarchs of Minstrelsy (1911) has this brief biographical sketch of him:
James Unsworth, or just "Unsworth" as he was more familiarly known, was one of those rare performers who were concededly away ahead of the times in which they flourished. The word "great" may be truly applied to him, for while he excelled in all he undertook, he was famous for his stump speeches, for his banjo solos, and for his singing of Irish songs on the end, of which he was one of the first. His professional debut was made with Sanford's Minstrels, in Philadelphia, August 10, 1857; he continued there until January 2, 1858, when he left and joined Bryant's Minstrels in New York that same month. After a few months with that company he went with Matt. Peel's Minstrels for a road tour, and opened with them in New York, October 5, 1858; a few weeks later the company was known as Sniffen's Campbell's Minstrels, with whom Mr. Unsworth continued for several weeks.
December 6, he rejoined Bryant's for the season; again opening there the following Fall; he left Sept. 18, 1859, and later joined Anderson's Minstrels, which had a brief existence. Early in 1860 he opened with Hooley and Campbell's Minstrels: here he met "Eugene" [Ed. "one of the most thoroughly artistic personators of burlesque female actors ever seen"], and a business alliance was formed which continued uninterruptedly until death intervened, fifteen years later. He closed with Hooley and Campbell in New York City, January 26, 1861, and with "Eugene" and J.B. Donniker organized Unsworth's Minstrels. A few months later he sailed for Europe, and subsequently joined Rumsey and Newcomb's Minstrels in Liverpool; later going to Germany with them. Mr. Unsworth remained abroad playing the Music Halls, also a long engagement with Wilson and Montague's Minstrels, until the Spring of 1868, when he returned to America, and again joined Bryant's Minstrels in New York; he remained two years.
In the Fall of 1870 he joined Hooley's Minstrels in Brooklyn, N.Y., and later went with that company to Chicago, opening January 2, 1871, for the balance of the season. Unsworth's Minstrels again took the road, opening September 2, 1871, at Patterson, N.J.; December 18, he returned to Hooley's in Brooklyn N.Y. In 1872, he was successively with Moran and Dixey's; and Moran's Minstrels in Philadelphia. In the Spring of 1873 he joined Moran and Manning's Minstrels, and in the Fall of that year again became a member of Bryant's Company in New York for the season. Mr. Unsworth sailed for England in 1874, opening with Sam Hague's Minstrels in Liverpool in the Fall of that year; he remained with the company until his death.
James Unsworth was born in Liverpool, England, July 2, 1835; he died there, February 21, 1875.
His entry in Col. T. Allson Brown's Early History of Negro Minstrelsy reads:
Unsworth, James: died in Liverpool, England, February 21, 1875, from a complication of diseases, among which were jaundice, dropsy and enlargement of the liver. He was born at Liverpool, England, July 2, 1835, and commenced his career in burnt corkdom at 14 years of age in Montreal with an amateur party. The next year he joined S. S. Sanford’s Minstrels in Philadelphia. After that he appeared in every portion of the United States and Canada. He visited Europe with Eugene early in June, 1861. He settled in London, where he remained several years. He was induced to return to America by Dan Bryant. He was a good end man, a merry handler of the banjo, a good comic singer, quick at an impromptu repartee, and a successful performer in broad burlesque. The comic speech, the refrain of which was “or any other man” was originated by Billy Thomas but popularized by Unsworth. A very chaste and valuable monument is erected over the grave of Unsworth in Ford Cemetery, Liverpool. The monument bears the following appropriate inscription:
Of wit as genial as of humor bright;
The people’s favorite and his friends’ delight;
A man in everything a man should be;
And yet simplicity’s own child was he.
Who on the stage e’er heard that ready tongue,
But, mirth-convulsed, on his account hung?
Yet from that tongue no accent ever fell
That virgin virtue might not dare to tell,
Wit stands aghast, and Genius, pierced by grief,
In vain to stricken Mirth turns for relief;
Tears are shed, and prayers, too, fast arise,
Round this lone grave where genial Unsworth lies.
Source for notated version:
Printed sources: Buckley (Buckley's New Banjo Method), 1860; p. 33.
Recorded sources: