Joseph Arnold Cave (c. 1823 – November 1912) was an English

music hall Music hall is a type of British theatrical entertainment that was most popular from the early Victorian era, beginning around 1850, through the World War I, Great War. It faded away after 1918 as the halls rebranded their entertainment as Varie ...

performer, actor and theatre manager. He is credited as the first British

banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and in modern forms is usually made of plastic, where early membranes were made of animal skin. ...

player, and as the first to present a

minstrel show The minstrel show, also called minstrelsy, was an American form of theater developed in the early 19th century. The shows were performed by mostly white actors wearing blackface makeup for the purpose of portraying racial stereotypes of Afr ...

on the concert (rather than music hall) stage.

Biography

Born in

Marylebone Marylebone (usually , also ) is an area in London, England, and is located in the City of Westminster. It is in Central London and part of the West End. Oxford Street forms its southern boundary. An ancient parish and latterly a metropo ...

, London, he was a child performer on stage. He first performed with a banjo at the New Marylebone Theatre in 1843, the first British performer to use the instrument. Cave described his first banjo, a copy of one used by

Joel Sweeney Joel Walker Sweeney (1810 – October 29, 1860), also known as Joe Sweeney, was an American musician and early blackface minstrel performer. He is known for popularizing the playing of the banjo and has often been credited with advancing the p ...

, as "rather rudely constructed, consisting of nothing more than a hoop about four inches wide, with a piece of

vellum Vellum is prepared animal skin or membrane, typically used as writing material. It is often distinguished from parchment, either by being made from calfskin (rather than the skin of other animals), or simply by being of a higher quality. Vellu ...

fastened on with brass-headed nails and a light staff of wood running through the

tambourine The tambourine is a musical instrument in the percussion family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called "zills". Classically the term tambourine denotes an instrument with a drumhead, thoug ...

-like body forming the

fingerboard The fingerboard (also known as a fretboard on fretted instruments) is an important component of most stringed instruments. It is a thin, long strip of material, usually wood, that is laminated to the front of the neck of an instrument. The stri ...

. There were four strings and a smaller one, always tuned to the octave of the key the instrument was tuned in."W. M. Brewer, "The Banjo in Britain", ''Banjo, Mandolin, Guitar'', No.579, July 1953, p.246 He was given it by a friend who had obtained it from a theatre in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. Cave played the instrument and sang Sweeney's songs at the Coal Hole, a

song and supper room A song and supper room was a type of dining club in mid-nineteenth century Victorian England in which entertainment and good food were provided. They provided an alternative to formal theatre and music hall with a convivial atmosphere in which th ...

in Fountain Court, off The Strand in London. He toured the country as a performer. With E. W. Mackney, he set up a

, "The Lantum Serenaders", and is credited with introducing minstrel shows to the concert room stage.Harold Scott, ''The Early Doors: Origins of the Music Hall'', Nicholson & Watson, 1946, p.127 From the 1860s, Cave managed several leading London

s. He was the first to present

Dan Leno George Wild Galvin (20 December 1860 – 31 October 1904), better known by the stage name Dan Leno, was a leading English music hall comedian and musical theatre actor during the late Victorian era. He was best known, aside from his music hall a ...

, in 1864 at the Cosmotheca music hall in

Paddington Paddington is an area in the City of Westminster, in central London, England. A medieval parish then a metropolitan borough of the County of London, it was integrated with Westminster and Greater London in 1965. Paddington station, designed b ...

. In 1866, he had a quarrel with

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English novelist, journalist, short story writer and Social criticism, social critic. He created some of literature's best-known fictional characters, and is regarded by ...

, who had seen and given a hostile review to a performance at the Marylebone Theatre, managed by Cave at the time. The review led Cave to accuse Dickens of being drunk, and Dickens in turn sued Cave. In 1867, Cave took over as lessee of the Victoria Theatre, later known as the "Old Vic". Cave attempted to improve the character of the theatre, writing in his

playbill ''Playbill'' is an American monthly magazine for Audience, theatergoers. Although there is a subscription issue available for home delivery, most copies of ''Playbill'' are printed for particular productions and distributed at the door as the ...

s that "any person whistling or making any other disturbance will be expelled by the police". He remained as manager during the time that the theatre was rebuilt and reopened as the New Victoria Palace. In 1872 he took over the

Greenwich Theatre Greenwich Theatre is a local theatre located in Croom's Hill close to the centre of Greenwich in south-east London. Theatre first came to Greenwich at the beginning of the 19th century during the famous Eastertide Greenwich Fair at which the Ri ...

. Cave published a memoir, ''A Jubilee of Dramatic Life and Incident'', in 1894. In 1906, as a widower, he was nominated by the King for a place in the

London Charterhouse The London Charterhouse is a historic complex of buildings in Clerkenwell, London, dating to the 14th century. It occupies land to the north of Charterhouse Square, and lies within the London Borough of Islington. It was originally built (and ...

almshouses. He died aged 89, and was buried on 23 November 1912 in the City of London and Tower Hamlets Cemetery.City of London and Tower Hamlets cemetery register, ref.CTHC/01/031

References

External links

Caricature
at National Portrait Gallery {{DEFAULTSORT:Cave, J. A. 1820s births 1912 deaths British music hall performers English banjoists Burials in Tower Hamlets Cemetery