PRIMROSE & WEST BIG MINSTRELS STONE LITHOGRAPHIC POSTER (BY STROBRIDGE-1894)

HISTORY: Primrose and West was an American blackface song-and-dance team made up of partners George Primrose and William H. "Billy" West. They later went into the business of minstrel troupe ownership with a refined, high-class approach that signaled the final stage in the development of minstrelsy as a distinct form of entertainment. In 1877, Primrose and West were playing with a minstrel troupe owned by J. H. Haverly. That year, they both quit when their demands for more pay were not met. They formed their own company, which largely copied Haverly's United Mastodon Minstrels with its elaborate sets and visual spectacle. The troupe proved so successful that in 1879, The Clipper gave them a front-page story, treatment normally reserved for famous actors and actresses. In 1881, the pair became familiar with Sam Hague's British Minstrels, then on a U.S. tour. Primrose and West adopted Hague's techniques of ultra-refinement: Ballet and high-class music played by a large orchestra replaced