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William A. Penno (1843–1929), known by his stage name William A. Huntley, was a composer, music teacher, and vocal and instrumental performer in minstrel and vaudeville traditions. Playing his 5-string banjo before crowds that came to number in the low thousands, he sang in a high tenor and played his banjo bare fingered, picking the strings in a style today named "classic banjo." His published compositions include banjo instrumentals and parlor music. Huntley spent his working life performing and teaching in the off season. He performed throughout the United States and toured Europe as a part of several different minstrel groups.[3] A highlight of his performing career was to play before the Prince and Princess of Wales, about 1880 at Her Majesty's Theatre in London.[3] He moved away from minstrel shows by the 1880s, and "took pride" that he could perform without blackface stage makeup.[3] He focused on building respectability for the banjo, through teaching, composition, and performance recitals.[3] He was featured in the S. S. Stewart Company's catalog (showing that art-banjo promoter Stewart recognized his talent) and began to play the company's banjeaurine.[3] In 1888 he performed before a crowd of 2,000 people in his hometown, Providence, Rhode Island.[3]

William A. Penno
William A. Huntly, from his 1883 sheet music, Little one whisper you love me
Background information
Also known as
  • William A. Huntley
  • Billy Huntley
Born(1843-11-02)November 2, 1843[1]
Providence, Rhode Island, US
DiedMarch 26, 1929(1929-03-26) (aged 85)[2]
Providence, Rhode Island, US
Genresparlor music, classic-banjo instrumentals
Occupation(s)performer music teacher, composer
Instrument(s)5-string banjo, piano, vocalist
Years active1860–1893

Career, minstrelsy to parlor music


Huntley first performed onstage in a play in Providence at six-years-old. He played the part of "little Tom Bruce" in the play Nick of the Woods.[1] His first minstrel engagement was in 1860 or 1862 with Mead's Euterpean Minstrels at New London, Connecticut.[1][4]

He worked as a clerk in Providence, recorded in the state census and city directory in 1865.[5]

Two biographies written during his lifetime are vague about the start of his musical career from 1865 to 1869; authors Edward Le Roy Rice and Samuel Swaim Stewart published generalized timelines of his activities.[1][4] The two give different years for his work with Mead's Euterpean Minstrels.[1][4] He was reported by Le Roy Rice to have joined the Campbell and Huntley Minstrels in 1865, and to have played with them for several years.[1] However, news clippings indicate that group was formed in November 1870. Between 1868 and 1870 he was reported to have opened a music-teaching academy in Providence in which he gave banjo socials once a week, his "first attempt at edging the banjo into high society."[3][1][4] However, he was not listed in the Providence, Rhode Island city directory from 1866 to 1869. He re-appeared in the Providence city directory in 1870 both as William A. Penno, music teacher, and William A. Huntley, musician.

Newspaper accounts in 1870 may be the earliest record of his music career. In October 1870, he became business partners with Charles Austin, John D. Hopkins and George W. Huntley to form Campbell, Huntley and Austin's minstrels, sharing profits.[6][7] They became Campbell and Huntley's Minstrels in the midst of a November and December fallout between Austin and Hopkins in the newspapers.[8][9][10] Originally planned to be together for four weeks, the group was still intact in January 1871.[11]

William A. Huntley began receiving his mail as a performer independent of Campbell and Huntley's Minstrels in February 1871.[12] He and George (later "Dr. Geo. W.") Huntley continued to associate repeatedly into the 1880s. George Huntley became a successful manager and agent (organizing shows in towns ahead of the arrival of the minstrels), working with the Huntley Minstrels, the Martinetti-Ravel Pantomime Company and Whitmore and Clark's Minstrels.[13][14][15]

By September, Huntley was performing on his own at the Howard Athenaeum in Boston, performing as a solo banjoist and making his first "whiteface" appearance on stage.[1][4][16] William joined the Lauri English Pantomime Troupe by October 1871 and the Martinetti French Ravel Pantomime Company from December 1871-July 1872.[1][17] In early 1873 he joined the McKee and Rogers Company, and afterwards rejoined the Martinetti Troupe.[1] In 1874 he became co-partner with George W. Huntley again, in the management of Huntley's Minstrels, and performed in the principal theaters of the country for the next four years.[1][4]

Advertisement for Haverly's Mastodon Minstrels in London 1880. Huntley was one of the 12 banjo experts.
Advertisement for Haverly's Mastodon Minstrels in London 1880. Huntley was one of the 12 banjo experts.

Huntley was especially engaged to play banjo for the blackface Haverly's United Mastodon Minstrels in London, and led the group's big banjo act in which twelve performers appeared at one time.[1][18][15] He gave a first performance at Her Majesty's Theatre on July 31, 1880 and remained three months.[1] During this period, Huntley had the honor of appearing before the Royal Family.[1] Afterward, he played in the principal cities of England and in Paris.[1] He left Europe later in 1880 and arrived in Memphis, Tennessee on December 30, to fill out his contract with Mr. Haverly's "New Mastodon Minstrels."[19]

From 1881 to 1884 Huntley performed with Whitmore and Clark's Minstrels, and later formed a partnership with John H. Lee.[1][20] The two men opened a banjo teaching-studio in Providence and performed together, Lee on the 6-string banjo and Huntley on the banjeaurine.[3][1]

Lee left for California in June 1887, while Huntley continued to teach and perform.[3]


Blackface vs. whiteface, a change of image


William A. Huntley, from S. S. Stewart's Banjo and Guitar Journal, Oct.—Nov. 1884.
William A. Huntley, from S. S. Stewart's Banjo and Guitar Journal, Oct.—Nov. 1884.
Description of a William A. Huntley performance

"Will A. Huntley gave a pleasing musical setting to a number of my songs, which met with favor in several cases and here, I recall another incident. He opened an engagement at Miner's Bowery Theatre. He was an artistic banjo player and a sweet tenor singer. At first, the manager told him he was afraid a Bowery audience would not stand for his appearing in full evening dress—swallow tails and all—and make the stage, with things thrown, look like a delicatessen shop. 'Don't you care. I'll sweep up,' said Huntley. It was a hot night and over a thousand of the audience were in shirt waists or the like. But the kids and the 'gods' were nice and recalled Huntley twice [for encores]. Then he gave them our, "When the birds nave gone to sleep." The instrumentation and voicing carries with it a flute obbligato imitating the pretty song and twitter of birds at twilight. That brought out an applause that sprained the roof. I was there and heard the sprain."

Arthur Wells French, songwriter for "When the birds have gone to sleep", for which Huntley composed music, [21]

The minstrelsy show-business of the 1860s, when Huntley was breaking into his career, meant performing in blackface. However Huntley also engaged with performing groups that labeled themselves vaudeville and with pantomime groups. He performed his solo act in variety shows, where he had more control over how he presented himself.

Huntley performed at Tony Pastor's. Starting in the mid-1860s, impresario Tony Pastor capitalized on middle class sensibilities and spending power when he began to feature "polite" variety programs in his New York City theatres.[22] Pastor used the term "vaudeville" in place of "variety" in early 1876,[23] hoping to draw a potential audience from female and family-based shopping traffic uptown by barring liquor in his theatres and bawdy material from his shows.

Huntley had been experimenting with a different image from the early 1870s. He was characterized by minstrel Edward LeRoy Rice as having been successful performing in whiteface.[1] It is not completely certain whether Rice meant his performances used white facepaint in the tradition of pantomime clowns, or if Huntley performed without any makeup at all.

An 1884 news article made it likely he was performing without stage makeup. The reviewer said, "Mr. Wm. A. Huntley is the only banjo artist in the country that has ever made a success in white face."[24]

Huntley was among the first to use the term classic banjo to describe his music. The phrase today means a style of playing the banjo bare fingered, picking out the notes with two fingers and a thumb. For Huntley, the term spoke of quality and he used it throughout the 1870s. Huntley became associated with Samuel Swaim Stewart, a banjo centered entrepreneur, and former blackface performer, who was trying to move the banjo toward greater respectability. Huntley was featured regularly in the S. S. Stewart Banjo and Guitar Journal, starting 1883, and Stewart published some of his music.

Huntley took to the idea of a refined image for the banjo, and modified an idea used by J. H. Haverly and other large minstrel performance companies. Some of their advertising posters showed them marching in solidarity, in formal dress and in white face. However, their performers would perform in blackface, still formally dressed. Huntley would show up as himself, dressed in full evening dress, to perform that way even in rough places like the Bowery.

From 1887 to 1893, he also performed at concerts organized by Fairbanks and Cole, high-end banjo manufacturers in competition with S. S. Stewart.[25][26]




Works



Methods



Compositions



Musical score, voice and piano

LOC are scores preserved at the Library of Congress. LSMC are scores preserved at the Lester M. Levy Sheet Music Collection. BERK are scores at the California Sheet Music Project at the Berkley Libtary.

He composed many song with lyrics by other musicians including Samuel N. Mitchell, Arthur W. French (1846-1919), Jerry Cohan (father of George M. Cohan[28]), George Birdseye and Ernest Hardenstein.


Alcoholism


Death


Flirtation


Goodbye to a love


Home


Hunger


Love at a distance


Minstrelsy


Money


Religious theme


Romance


Romance and marriage


Musical score, banjo instrumentals

1883. Sweet Pretty Waltz. Shows published banjo compositions.
1883. Sweet Pretty Waltz. Shows published banjo compositions.

Musical score, piano instrumentals


Huntley’s works arranged by other artists


Compositions recorded by other artists

Huntley's compositions were recorded by artists between 1898 and 1926 on Berliner, Victor, Columbia and Edison labels.[95] Examples include:


References


  1. Rice, Edward Le Roy (1911). Monarchs of minstrelsy, from "Daddy" Rice to Date. New York City: Kenny Publishing Company. p. 160.
  2. "Person details". rihistoriccemeteries.org. Rhode Island Historical Cemetery Commission. Last Name: HUNTLEY First Name: WILLIAM A born: WILLIAM A PENNO HE IS A COMPOSER Cemetery Name: LOCUST GROVE CEMETERY Birth Year: 1843 Death Day: 26 Death Month: MAR Death Year: 1929
  4. "William A. Huntley" (PDF). S. S. Stewart's Banjo and Guitar Journal. Vol. 2, no. 1. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: S. S. Stewart Company. May 1883. p. 1.
  5. "Rhode Island, State Censuses, 1865-1935 for William A Penno".
  6. "Charlie Austin's Card". New York Clipper. 3 December 1870. I want it discreetly understood that I was a full PARTNER, supposed to share equally with G. W. Huntley, Billy Huntley, and J. D. Hopkins, alias J. D. Campbell...
  7. "Reply to Charlie Austin's Card". New York Clipper. 10 December 1870. ...the four partners, viz., G. W. Huntley, Billy Huntley, Austin and myself...John D. Hopkins, Business Manager, Campbell and Huntley's Minstrels
  8. "Negro Minstrelsy". New York Clipper. 19 November 1870. Charles Austin states that he has severed his connection with Huntley and Austin's Minstrels, and has joined Whitmore and Clarke's Company.
  9. "Caution to managers". New York Clipper. 19 November 1870. I the undersigned, caution managers against one Charles Austin...J. D. Hopkins, Business Manager, Campbell and Huntley's Minstrels
  10. "Card To the Profession". New York Clipper. 3 December 1870. Inasmuch as Mr. J. D. Hopkins, who signs himself business manager of Campbell and Huntley's Minstrels to a card that appeared in the columns of this paper dated Nov. 19th, has sought to injure the reputation of Charles Austin...Mr. Austin assures me that when the party was organized, it was under the name of Campbell, Huntley and Austin's Minstrels...and that Mr. Hopkins...ordered a new stock of printing under the name Campbell and Huntley's Minstrels...
  11. "Clipper Post Office". New York Clipper. 28 January 1871. [List of performers that the public could address mail to through the Clipper's business office]...Campbell and Huntley...
  12. "Clipper Post Office". New York Clipper. 11 February 1871. [List of performers that the public could address mail to through the Clipper's business office]...Billy Huntley...
  13. "Academy of Music". The Charleston Daily News. Charleston, South Carolina. 16 Apr 1872. p. 2. MARTINETTI-RAVEL BALLET AND PANTOMIME TROUPE OF FRENCH ARTISTS...GEO. W. HUNTLEY, Agent>
  14. "Coming! Coming!". The Meriden Daily Republican. Meriden, Connecticut. 16 Oct 1873. p. 3. Huntley’s Minstrels...Dr GEO W HUNTLEY Manager
  15. "Personal News Items". Argus and Patriot. Montpelier, Vermont. 21 Sep 1881. p. 2. Dr. George W. Huntley, the courteous and energetic Business Agent for the Whitmore & Clark Minstrels for some years past, is to be the General Agent for that Company for the coming season... with W. A. Huntley...the bouquet vocalist and composer, who returned not long since from an extensive trip in Europe, where he appeared with Haverley's Mastodon Ministrels, making a decided hit. He appeared before a number of the crowned heads in his banjo specialities, and also lead the great act in which 12 banjo players appeared upon the stage at one time.
  16. "Dramatic". New York Clipper. 23 September 1871. ...At the Howard, variety is the order of the day. The new attractions here are...Billy Huntley, banjoist...
  17. "Mr. Billy Huntley". New York Clipper. 7 October 1871. Mr. Billy Huntley, the great banjoist and composer, in his wonderful specialties, having closed a successful engagement at the Howard Athenaeum, Boston, is now engaged with the Lauri Pantomime Troupe...
  18. "From our London correspondents". The Newcastle Weekly Courant. Newcastle upon Tyne, England. 29 Jul 1881. p. 2. [In a line of comparison of the Haverly’s United Mastodon Minstrels and the Haverly’s Genuine Colored Minstrels who succeeded them the next summer in London, a news clip stated:] Last time, Haverly's Minstrels were white men, corked to the requisite shade of blackness...
  19. "Negro Minstrelsy". New York Clipper. New York City. 1 January 1881. Wm. A. Huntley, banjoist, vocalist and composer, who has been with Haverly’s Mastodon Minstrels in England until recently, joins the New Mastodon Minstrels, under Mr. Haverly’s proprietorship, in Memphis, Tenn., Dec. 30. During his foreign tour he was the recipient of many complements gained by his clever banjo performances.
  20. "Personal News Items". Argus and Patriot. Montpelier, Vermont. 21 Sep 1881. p. 2. E. Prescott Hardy is busily engaged in making up his Whitmore & Clark Minstrel party for the coming season, and will have the strongest aggregation of talent ever on the road. In addition to Billy" Huntley, the great banjo player spoken of elsewhere, he is engaging other men as strong in their special ties.
  21. "Songs of other days, their author Arthur Wells French is now the Bard of Monroe and still at it". The Bridgeport Times and Evening Farmer. Bridgeport, Connecticut. 2 Oct 1911. p. 8.
  22. "vaudeville | entertainment". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 2017-08-11.
  23. Armond Fields, Tony Pastor, Father of Vaudeville (Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co., 2007), p. 84.
  24. "William A. Huntley" (PDF). S. S. Stewart's Banjo and Guitar Journal. Vol. 2, no. 12. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: S. S. Stewart Company. Oct–Nov 1884. p. 1.
  25. "Preludes and Echoes". The Boston Globe. Boston, Massachusetts. 6 Feb 1887. p. 10.
  26. "Banjo Concert". The Boston Globe. Boston, Massachusetts. 5 Feb 1893. p. 11.
  27. "Complete School Of Harmony for the Banjo (Huntley, William A.)". imslp.org.
  28. "Jerry Cohan wrote this". The Pittsburgh Press. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. 23 Jan 1914. p. 24. Jerry Cohan Wrote This. It's pretty close to 40 years ago that George M. Cohan's "daddy" wrote this song for Harper and Stansill, the famous one-legged song and dance team, both since deceased. It was called "The Girl That Took My Eye."
  29. Huntley, William A. (1871). "Addie Alleen". loc.gov. New York: J. L. Peters.
  30. Huntley, William A. (1871). "Come sing to me Addie again". loc.gov. New York: C. H. Ditson & Co.
  31. Huntley, William A. (1871). "Bring the absent back to me". loc.gov. New York: Oliver Ditson & Co.
  32. Huntley, William A. (1871). "Goodbye, Dear Mother". loc.gov. New York: J. L. Peters.
  33. Huntley, William A. (1871). "Oh Nixie, that's too thin". loc.gov. Boston: Oliver Ditson & Co.
  34. Huntley, William A. (1871). "Oh Nixie, that's too thin". loc.gov. Providence, Rhode Island: Cory Brothers.
  35. Huntley, William A. (1871). "When the moon is rising, Allie". loc.gov. Boston: White, Smith and Perry.
  36. Huntley, William A. (1872). "Bring the absent back to me". loc.gov. Boston: Oliver Ditson & Co.
  37. Huntley, William A. (1872). "Bring the absent back to me". loc.gov. Boston: Oliver Ditson & Co.
  38. Huntley, William A. (1872). "Kiss me, love, before I go". loc.gov. Cleveland: Brainard & Sons.
  39. Huntley, William A. (1872). "Under the silvery stars". loc.gov. Boston: Oliver Ditson & Co.
  40. Huntley, William A. (1873). "Close the door softly, for mother's asleep". loc.gov. Boston: G. D. Russell & Co.
  41. Huntley, William A. (1873). "Down beside the crimson meadow". loc.gov. Boston: G. D. Russell & Co.
  42. Huntley, William A. (1873). "Down the vale where Lillie sleeps". loc.gov. Philadelphia: Lee and Walker.
  43. Huntley, William A. (1873). "Just try it once for luck". loc.gov. Boston: G. D. Russell & Co.
  44. Huntley, William A. (1873). "Let me kiss him ere I go". loc.gov. Boston: Oliver Ditson & Co.
  45. Huntley, William A. (1873). "Mamma, come sing me to sleep". loc.gov. Boston: Oliver Ditson & Co.
  46. Huntley, William A. (1873). "My button hole boquet". loc.gov. Boston: Oliver Ditson & Co.
  47. Huntley, William A. (1873). "Neath the rose leaves on the hillside". loc.gov. Cleveland: Brainard & Sons.
  48. Huntley, William A. (1873). "The girl that took my eye". loc.gov. Boston: G. D. Russell & Co.
  49. Huntley, William A. (1873). "Under the buttercups". loc.gov. Boston: G. D. Russell & Co.
  50. Huntley, William A. (1873). "Under the buttercups". loc.gov. Boston: G. D. Russell & Co.
  51. Huntley, William A. (1874). "Oh just you wait and see (Huntley, William A.)". loc.gov. Milwaukee: H. N. Hempsted.
  52. Huntley, William A. (1874). "We met by chance, sweet Jenny". loc.gov. Boston: G. D. Russell & Co.
  53. Huntley, William A. (1875). "When the purple lilacs blossom". loc.gov. Philadelphia: Lee & Walker.
  54. Huntley, William A. (1872). "Mother and I have been waiting". loc.gov. Cleveland: Brainard & Sons.
  55. Huntley, William A. (1878). "Our Willie died this morning". loc.gov. W. F. Shaw.
  56. Huntley, William A. (1878). "Just to please the boys". loc.gov. Cincinnati: F. W. Helmick.
  57. Huntley, William A. (1880). "Bye and bye you will forget me". digicoll.lib.berkeley.edu. F. W. Shaw.
  58. Huntley, William A. (1875). "Take me back to home and mother". loc.gov. Providence, Rhode Island: Cory Brothers.
  59. Huntley, William A. (1875). "Take Me Back To Home and Mother. Song and Chorus. Box 135, Item 057". levysheetmusic.mse.jhu.edu. [Providence, Rhode Island]: Cory Brothers.
  60. Huntley, William A. (1879). "I'll Wander Back Again". imslp.org. F. A. North & Co.
  61. Huntley, William A. (1879). "Some Day I'll Wander Back Again". digicoll.lib.berkeley.edu. F. A. North & Co.
  62. Huntley, William A. (1883). "Must we leave the old home, mother?". loc.gov. W. F. Shaw.
  63. Huntley, William A. (1874). "Hush, My Little Darling (Huntley, William A.)". imslp.org. Philadelphia: Lee and Walker.
  64. Huntley, William A. (1878). "Black eyed Binie's gone to rest". loc.gov. W. F. Shaw.
  65. Huntley, William A. (1883). "Waiting a letter from overseas". loc.gov. W. F. Shaw.
  66. Huntley, William A. (1879). "I'm going home to Clo". loc.gov. W. F. Shaw.
  67. Huntley, William A. (1879). "I'm Going Home to Clo. Song & Chorus. Box 025, Item 052". levysheetmusic.mse.jhu.edu. W. F. Shaw.
  68. Huntley, William A. (1878). "Your pocket book's your friend". loc.gov. W. F. Shaw.
  69. Huntley, William A. (1871). "The angels are calling me, Mother". loc.gov. Boston: G. D. Russell & Co.
  70. Huntley, William A. (1871). "They are calling me to join them". loc.gov. Boston: G. D. Russell & Co.
  71. Huntley, William A. (1885). "Raise me, Jesus, to thy bosom". loc.gov. W. F. Shaw.
  72. "George Birdseye". hymntime.com. George Birdseye 1844–1919
  73. Huntley, William A. (1872). "When the song bird says good night". loc.gov. Boston: Oliver Ditson & Co.
  74. Huntley, William A. (1878). "When the birds have gone to sleep". loc.gov. Cincinnati: F. W. Helmick.
  75. Huntley, William A. (1880). "Come and meet me, Rosa darling". loc.gov. W. F. Shaw.
  76. Huntley, William A. (1883). "Little one, whisper you love me". loc.gov. W. F. Shaw.
  77. Huntley, William A. (1885). "Say but that tender word, Yes". loc.gov. W. F. Shaw.
  78. Huntley, William A. (1885). "She's as pretty as the roses in the morning". loc.gov. W. F. Shaw.
  79. Huntley, William A. (August 1883). "Rocky Point Schottische". loc.gov. S. S. Stewart. [This is from S.S. Stewart's Banjo and Guitar Journal, August 1883.]
  80. "William A. Huntley" (PDF). S. S. Stewart's Banjo and Guitar Journal. Vol. 3, no. 1. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: S. S. Stewart Company. December 1884. p. 9.
  81. Huntley, William A. (October 1884). "Mandoline Schottische" (PDF). loc.gov. S. S. Stewart. p. 17. [This is from S.S. Stewart's Banjo and Guitar Journal, October–November 1884.]
  82. Huntley, William A. (1884). "Sweet Pretty Waltz". loc.gov. William A. Huntley.
  83. Huntley, William A. (1884). "Fascination Waltz". loc.gov. William A. Huntley.
  84. Huntley, William A. (1885). "Rocky Point Schottische". loc.gov. S. S. Stewart. [This is from S.S. Stewart's Banjo and Guitar Journal, issue unknown, 1885.]
  85. Huntley, William A. (1884). "Whistling Wind Schottische". loc.gov. William A. Huntley.
  86. Huntley, William A. (1872). "Mitchell Waltz". loc.gov. G. D.Russell and Company.
  87. Huntley, William A. (1883). "Flirtation Schottische". loc.gov. W. F. Shaw.
  88. Huntley, William A. (1883). "Our Brigade, Grand March". loc.gov. W. F. Shaw.
  89. Knight, J. S. (1877). The Girl That Took My Eye. G. D. Russell & Company. |quote=Music by W. A. Huntley Arranged by J. S. Knight
  90. Huntley, William A. (1880). "Take me back to home and mother". loc.gov. W. F. Shaw. [Although this has a sheet-music cover that declares it a work by Arthur W. French and William A. Huntley, the contents are actually a "transcription by F. F. Hagen." It doesn’t describe what performance is being transcribed. Has original worj's 1875 copyright on cover and 1880 copyright on the sheet music inside.]
  91. Huntley, William A. (1883). "Some Day I'll Wander Back Again". loc.gov. W. F. Shaw.
  92. Take me back home to mother. worldcat.org. OCLC 310569206.
  93. Huntley, William A. (1885). "Some Day I'll Wander Back Again". loc.gov. W. F. Shaw.
  94. Huntley, William A. (1906). "Some Day I'll Wander Back Again. Song. Box 149, Item 106". levysheetmusic.mse.jhu.edu. New York: W. F. Shaw & Co.
  95. "William A. Huntley".




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