''The Kentucky Minstrels'' was a popular series of

BBC radio BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927). The service provides national radio stations covering th ...

programmes broadcast regularly in Britain between 1933 and 1950. Despite the fact that the show could only be heard and not seen, it retained the conventional format of

minstrel show The minstrel show, also called minstrelsy, was an American form of racist theatrical entertainment developed in the early 19th century. Each show consisted of comic skits, variety acts, dancing, and music performances that depicted people spe ...

s, with a "white" compere or "Interlocutor", and "black" comedy "end men" and entertainers. The first show, in January 1933, was compered by

Percy Parsons Edward Percy Parsons (1878–1944) was an American actor and singer who worked largely in the British film industry. Selected filmography * ''Suspense (1930 film), Suspense'' (1930) * ''Beyond the Cities'' (1930) * ''Creeping Shadows'' (1931) * ' ...

; later hosts included

James Carew James Usselman (February 5, 1876 – April 4, 1938), known professionally as James Carew, was an American actor who appeared in many films, mainly in Britain. He was born in Goshen, Indiana in 1876 and began work as a clerk in a publishing fir ...

, Nosmo King (H. Vernon Watson), and

Fred Yule Frederick Robert Yule (7 October 1893, Norfolk – 11 December 1982, Southend-on-Sea) was an English character actor, comedian and singer, mainly known for his appearances in post-war BBC Radio programmes such as ''ITMA'', ''Ray's a Laugh'', ''Ba ...

. The most frequent comic entertainers were

Scott and Whaley Scott and Whaley were an African American comedy duo who played in British music halls from 1909, settled in England, and remained popular for over thirty years. They were Harry Clifford Scott (18 November 1879 – 22 June 1947) and Edward Pet ...

, an African American duo who performed as Pussyfoot and Cuthbert. Music was performed by

Ike Hatch Ike or IKE may refer to: People * Ike (given name), a list of people with the name or nickname * Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890–1969), Supreme Commander of the Allied forces in Europe during World War II and President of the United States Surname ...

(also African American), together with the Kentucky Banjo Team and Minstrels Choir. The regular "stump speech" was given by

C. Denier Warren Charles Denier Warren (29 July 1889 – 27 August 1971) was an Anglo-American actor who appeared extensively on stage and screen from the early 1930s to late 1960s, mostly in Great Britain. Life He was born in Chicago the son of Charles Warren ...

, who also wrote the script. The show was produced by

Harry S. Pepper Harry Stephen Pepper (27 August 1891 – 26 June 1970) was a British pianist, songwriter, composer, actor, and BBC producer, whose career stretched from Edwardian era seaside entertainments to BBC television in the 1950s. Life Born at Putney,'' ...

Denis Gifford Denis Gifford (26 December 1927 – 18 May 2000)Holland, Steve, Obituaries: Denis Gifford', ''The Guardian'', 26 May 2000. was a British writer, broadcaster, journalist, comic artist and historian of film, comics, television and radio. In h ...

, ''The Golden Age of Radio'', B.T. Batsford Ltd, London, 1985, , pp.143-145 It ran for over 100 episodes until 1950. The show was "an exaggerated depiction of African Americans in the "good ole days" of plantation life in the U.S. South (Kentucky), accentuated with the use of stereotyped racist and sexual humor." The popularity of the show led to the same team, including Pepper, Warren, Scott and Whaley, producing a film in 1934, ''

Kentucky Minstrels The Kentucky Minstrels were a team formed under the leadership of Duncan Bruce to study a scheme during World War II to cover the River Thames with soot in order to conceal it from German Bombers.{{cite book, last=Pawle, first=Gerald, title=The Se ...

''. Aspects of the show foreshadowed the later, "less distorted",

BBC TV BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1927. It produced television programmes from its own studios from 19 ...

programme, ''

The Black and White Minstrel Show ''The Black and White Minstrel Show'' was a British light entertainment show that ran for twenty years on BBC prime-time television. Running from 1958 to 1978, it was a weekly variety show that presented traditional American minstrel and countr ...

'', broadcast in Britain between 1958 and 1978.

References

External links

''The Kentucky Minstrels''
at BBC Genome 1933 radio programme debuts 1950 radio programme endings BBC Home Service programmes {{BBC-radio-stub