Fact #114267

‘May Henderson is the greatest favourite. She is always sure of a hearty welcome here, and she was greeted this evening with every manifestation of delight. The programme describes her as ”The Dusky Comedy Queen,” and as a coon impersonation [sic] she is unrivalled. She has a good voice, has a genuine gift of humour, and is a clever dancer. On her first appearance she is dressed as a society belle, and sings just how she has rejected all her nigger suitors because she’s ”gwine to have a white man.” She next assumes the guise of a dandy coon who sings of his lady love, with all the ardour of a Spanish troubadour, but in a panegyric far more fanciful. Her third effort is by far the best. ”My Sweetheart is the Double-Bass Viol,” she sings, and she indulges in amorous gestures to members of the orchestra who is playing the instrument to which she refers. The discomfiture of the latter as the song proceeds, provides much merriment, and an encore invariably results at the close."
(Source : Brighton And Hove Society, Brighton, 8 March 1902)