Page 251 - Swann Galleries - Printed & Manuscript African Americana- Sale 2308 - March 21, 2013

466 ● (MUSIC—GOSPEL.) C. & M.A. Gospel Quintet . . . Cleveland Ohio. Real
Photo Post Card, with the signatures of the members in white in the negative; slight abra-
sion to the surface, only visible under raking light. Cleveland, circa 1915 [300/500]
A rare contemporary image of the Christian and Missionary Alliance Gospel Quintet, one of
the earliest and finest groups of its kind. The group came together in Cleveland, Ohio in 1914
under the direction of John H. Parker, son of an ex-slave who in 1855 had used the
Underground Railroad to flee from Kentucky to Raleigh, Ontario. There Parker was born on
land set aside by Queen Victoria specifically for former U.S. slaves. In 1885, young Parker
moved with his family toYpsilanti, Michigan. In 1900, he was living in Cleveland where he
soon began performing with a group called the Buckeye Quartet. Parker’s first contact with the
Christian & Missionary Alliance occurred in 1909, and within a few years, he was asked to
form a quartet named for
the organization. The
group initially consisted
of tenors Parker and
Spurgeon R. Jones, bari-
tone Henry D. Hodges,
and bass Alexander E.
Talbert. The unit was
expanded to a quintet by
the addition of lead tenor
Floyd H. Lacy, a postal
worker who Parker heard
performing with a secular
group billed as the
Musical Magpies. 466
465
465 ● (MUSIC.) GREEN, SILAS.
Charles Colliers’ Original Silas Green
from New Orleans. Silk-screened
orange, blue and white poster, 28 x 21
inches; archival repair to reverse covering
a short, closed tear.
Np, circa 1930’s-1950’s [600/800]
“Silas Green from New Orleans” was an
African American owned and run variety tent
show, which in various forms toured the
Southern states between about 1904 and
1957. Part revue, part musical comedy, part
minstrel show, the show told the adventures of
short, “coal-black” Silas Green and tall, “tan-
nish” Lilas Bean. In 1940, Time Magazine
said of the show :- “This year their troubles
start when they go to a hospital with suitcases
labeled M.D. (Mule Drivers), are mistaken for
two medicos, end in jail. The show is garnished
with such slapstick as putting a patient to sleep
by letting him smell an old shoe, such gags as
“Your head sets on one end of your spine and
you set on the other.” Silas gets broad at times,
but never really dirty. What keeps it moving
are its dances and specialty acts, its gold-toothed
but good-looking chorus.” From the paper and
printing style, this poster, while not dated seems
to be from the late 1920’s to perhaps 1950.