William A. Huntley
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. 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. He moved away from minstrel shows by the 1880s, and "took pride" that he could perform without blackface stage makeup. He focused on building respectability for the banjo, through teaching, composition, and performance recitals. 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. In 1888 he performed before a crowd of 2,000 people in his hometown, Providence, Rhode Island.
Q588666
minstrel
Concept
Q186286
vaudeville
Concept
None
classic banjo
UNK
Q7139128
parlor music
Concept
Q1155331
Her Majesty's Theatre
LOC
Q880808
blackface
Concept
Q4855834
banjeaurine
Concept
Q18383
Providence, Rhode Island
LOC
Q98970989
William A. Huntley
PER
1929-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1929
DATE
1880-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1880
DATE
1880-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1880
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1888-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1888
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1843
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5
NUMBER
place of birth