{"id":1169,"date":"2010-11-30T10:04:39","date_gmt":"2010-11-30T15:04:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/soupgreens.com\/?p=1169"},"modified":"2010-11-30T10:04:39","modified_gmt":"2010-11-30T15:04:39","slug":"life-and-times-of-virtuoso-whistler-george-w-johnson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/thejoydrops.com\/blog\/?p=1169","title":{"rendered":"Life and times of virtuoso whistler George W. Johnson"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

George
\nP. Johnson – “Listen to the Mocking Bird” (mp3)<\/a>
\nGeorge
\nP. Johnson – “The Whistling Girl” (mp3)<\/a><\/p>\n

From Lost
\nSounds: Blacks and the Birth of the Recording Industry, 1890-1919
\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

A November 29, 1890 item in the New York Sun titled “Whistling For the Wind”, which I discovered in Out
\nof Sight: The Rise of African American Popular Music, 1889-1895
\n<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

George H. [sic] Johnson, the whistling Negro inthe Battery scene of
\n“The Inspector,” is a familiar figure on the North River ferryboats,
\nwhere he whistles for pennies. Eighteen years ago he went with the
\nGeorgia Minstrels on a tour of the Old World. In Vienna they stayed
\ntwo months. While there he fell in love with a white woman. She had
\nno objection to his color, and they were married. Soon afterward they
\ncame to this country, and have lived happily together ever since. A
\ndaughter was born to them, and she has inherited the whistling
\nabilities of her father.<\/p>\n

When Dramatist Wilson approached Johnson on the subject of joining
\nhis company the whistler stuck out for a fair salary. He said that he
\ncould pick up over $15 on the boats, and get a regular salary from a
\nphonograph company for whistling in their machines. Wilson had to pay
\nhim $25 a week.<\/p>\n

Since his engagement he has had an offer from Mrs. William K.
\nVanerbilt, who wishes him to whistle for her one night after the
\ntheater performance. Mrs. Vanderbilt will not go to a variety
\ntheatre, but she is anxious to see all the best performers.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

I wonder about his daughter. As the years went by, how did she use her whistling? Maybe just to amaze people while she was walking down the street.<\/p>\n

And what about his Viennese wife? What happened after she arrived in America?<\/p>\n

NPR’s web site has a piece on him<\/a>, too.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

George P. Johnson – “Listen to the Mocking Bird” (mp3) George P. Johnson – “The Whistling Girl” (mp3) From Lost Sounds: Blacks and the Birth of the Recording Industry, 1890-1919 A November 29, 1890 item in the New York Sun titled “Whistling For the Wind”, which I discovered in Out of Sight: The Rise of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1169","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-steamboing","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/thejoydrops.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1169","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/thejoydrops.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/thejoydrops.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thejoydrops.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thejoydrops.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1169"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/thejoydrops.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1169\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/thejoydrops.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1169"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thejoydrops.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1169"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thejoydrops.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1169"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}