THE HISTORY OF THE BANJO

Evening Star, Issue 19062, 3 October 1925, Page 10

THE HISTORY OF THE BANJO

Once upon a time the banjo was a secret known'only to the negroes of the Southern States of the U.S.A. In 184-'I an American circus brought to London a black singer named Joseph Sweeney, who accompanied himself on his strange new instrument. All tho minor performers of London instantly desired to pay him the compmuent of imitation, hut Sweeney could not be persuaded in any way to show them the instrument. At length, however, J. A. Care—who later became a well-known London theatre manager —defeated all his precautions. By making friends with the lesser members of tho circus ho discovered that a second banjo had been made in case Sweeney’s should be brokmi. Care bribed the men to let him examine tho spare instrument, h*cl it copied, and then made his fortune.