Ernest Hogan’s 12 Blackbirds

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The dressing is the worst possible. The girls, particularly, look as if they had come in for rehearsal on a rainy morning. The men are a bit better. One of the girls made up in grotesque costume had a good dance, and the same ” Auntie” contributed some excellent eccentric steps.
The singing is excellent at all times.
Clowning of the wildest sort seem to be the idea of humour with which the dozen seek to amuse their audience. All seem to have received orders to go insane at the finish and they carry out their instructions to the letter. The only person in the dozen who has any claim to classification as "comedian" is the negro "Auntie," who has caught a bit of Hogan's method.
Source:
Variety 5: 2 ( December 22, 1906)