J. H. Haverly

His answer would be a company of minstrels "that for extraordinary excellence, merit, and magnitude [would] astonish and satisfy the most exacting amusement seeker in the world.

Aiming his advertisements at the family market and emphasizing his shows' freedom from base humor, they toured the whole United States, not just the Northeastern circuit to which minstrelsy had previously been mostly limited.

He found other ways to emphasize the troupe's size, one being a series of curtains pulled back in succession, each revealing more than a dozen men standing behind it.

One program read, "The attention of the public is respectfully called to the magnificent scene representing a Turkish Barbaric Palace in Silver and Gold", and the production delivered what had been promised.

In addition, a lavish royal palace appeared at one point, followed by a succession of non-connected scenes: "Base-Ball", "The Strong Defending the Weak," "United We Stand," and "The Dying Athlete".

[5] The show represented Haverly's mantra as a producer: "I've got only one method, and that is to find out what the people want and then give them that thing .

He also reinforced the belief that black minstrels were authentic portrayers of African American life by moving to a format of almost all plantation-themed material.

[8] In 1880, he even went so far as to create a mock plantation in a Boston field with over a hundred black actors in costume, including "overseers, bloodhounds and darkies at work ... indulging in songs, dances [and] antics peculiar to their people"[9] On July 31, 1881, the 60-strong Haverly's Colored Minstrels opened at Her Majesty's Theatre in London, where The Times wrote: "There can be no doubt of the spontaneity of the outbursts of sound, or of the enjoyment with which the performers take part in the dances and frolics of the evening.

"[10][11] Peter Fryer notes: "There were 20 dancers, a banjo orchestra, and 8 players of bones and 8 of tambourines -16 musicians who sat in two rows on the stage and made 'a most picturesque display in unison'.