Queer Places:
Cypress Hills Cemetery Brooklyn, Kings County (Brooklyn), New York, USA

Christy Minstrels (Boston Public Library).jpgGeorge N. Harrington aka George Christy (November 6, 1827 - May 12, 1868) was probably the first famous female impersonator in minstrel shows when he played the part of Miss Lucy Long in the 1840s. "Lucy Long" (1842) was among the many early blackface minstrelsy songs to be performed by a white male dressed up as a mulatta female. During the singing of the love song, "Lucy" would cavort about the stage, flirting with everyone. At a time when anxiety about social roles was intense, the female impersonator, who actually changed roles, fascinated the public. By the mid-1850s most major companies had female impersonators (Wenches and Prima Donnas).

Jim Comer credits Christy 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.[4]

George N. Harrington, otherwise known as George Christy, was born in Palmyra, New York, the son of Harriet E. Christy (1812–1870). He began his career as a star performer with his stepfather Edwin Pearce "E.P." Christy (1815–1862)'s troupe Christy's Minstrels; in two and a half years with them he earned $19,680, a fortune for those times.[2][3] Harrington soon quit E.P. Christy and travelled for himself, achieving considerable success. Subsequently he joined the company of Mr. Henry Wood in Brooklyn and after that he went to California, under the management of Mr. R.M. Hooley. After his return he played in Brooklyn for some time, and then joined again Mr Hooley's troupe, where he remained until shortly before his death.

He was preparing to pay another visit to California and had just concluded an engagement in Boston when he was taken hill. He died in New York City at his mother's home from cerebral edema in 1868.

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