Fanny Elssler and the Baltimoreans, Political Cartoon

A scornful look at the reception of German ballerina Fanny Elssler in Baltimore. The New York artist ridicules the adulation given the touring performer by the Baltimore public. During her July 1840 visit there, an enthusiastic group of young men removed the horses from Elssler's carriage and pulled it through the streets themselves. Here Elssler dances in an open carriage driven by a black coachman in livery and drawn by well-dressed men with asses' heads, who wave their hats in the air and shout "Eehow!" A bespectacled, pipe-smoking man with a violin prostrates himself before the dancer. Coachman: "By golly dis goes ahead of Jim Crow! I tink the New Yorkers cant beat dis unless dey gib Miss Fanny de freedom ob de City in gold snuff box!" Elssler: "My friends I tank you very! I understand you! I shall remember you for long "years!"" The print is very much in the style of Edward Williams Clay's "The Almighty Lever" (no. 1840-58).
Entered . . . 1840 by J. Childs.
Probably drawn by Edward Williams Clay.
Published by J. Childs 90 Nassau St. N.Y.
The Library's impression of the print was deposited for copyright on August 31, 1840.
Title appears as it is written on the item.
McCauley, no. E24.
Weitenkampf, p. 69.
Forms part of: American cartoon print filing series (Library of Congress)
Published in: American political prints, 1766-1876 / Bernard F. Reilly. Boston : G.K. Hall, 1991, entry 1840-51.