George Christy
George N. Christy was one of the leading blackface performers during the early years of the blackface minstrel show in the 1840s.
Born in Palmyra, New York, his career began as a star performer with his stepfather E. P. Christy's troupe Christy's Minstrels; in two and a half years with them he earned $19,680, a fortune for those times. Jim Comer credits him with inventing "the line", the structured grouping that constituted the first act of the standardized 3-act minstrel show, with the interlocutor in the middle and "Mr. Tambo" and "Mr. Bones" on the ends.
He died in New York City from cerebral edema in 1868.
