Lyceum Lyceum tours comprised the mainstay of Bessie and H. C. Mecklem's performing itinerary. A lyceum “course” consisted of a series of monthly programs for which audience members purchased a season’s subscription. Lyceum programs combined education and entertainment functions, offering “lectures by humorists, as well as dramatic readings, impersonations, concerts, magic acts, and other ‘lighter’ fare.” The Mecklems entered "the lyceum field when musicians first began to appear on its programs on a regular basis." The Mecklems were billed as a saxophone-harp duo. Henry Clay accompanied Bessie on her featured selections in addition to performing his own harp solos. They frequently shared their programs with various dramatic readers or humorists. Other musical soloists, chamber groups, or vocal ensembles were sometimes included. The duo was managed by Alonzo Foster's Star Lyceum Bureau. The Mecklems occasionally appeared with Foster’s New York Stars during the 1891-92 season. From 1892 through 1894, the Mecklems and elocutionist Florence Russell performed as the New York Ideal Trio, sometimes billed as the New York Ideal Concert Company. On 19 May 1892, the New York Ideal Trio shared the program with five other performers in a concert presented at Toronto’s Broadway Tabernacle. A review from the
Toronto Empire stated,"The duets by Miss Bessie Mecklem and her father, introducing the saxophone and harp, were of peculiar interest to the audience, the two instruments in conjunction being a genuine novelty. The young lady showed much ability and Mr. Mecklem’s harmonious work on the harp was splendidly done." The Mecklems were engaged as part of the Black Patti Concert Company on 10 May 1893, at the
Strong Place Baptist Church in South Brooklyn, assisted by humorist Fred Emerson Brooks. The Mecklems’ performances as part of the Black Patti Concert Company were notable in that they resulted in a racially mixed program of performers, a rare situation at the time. The company’s featured performer, soprano
Sissieretta Jones (1869-1933), became one of the most famous black musicians in America after the Civil War. Jones was known as the “Black Patti” for comparisons of her singing to that of
Adelina Patti, one of the nineteenth century’s most celebrated opera stars. The Mecklems paired with Walter Pelham, “a distinguished English humorist, poet and mimic elocutionist,” for a tour of lecture courses in western New York during November 1894.
YMCA and temperance As part of its programming, the YMCA sponsored lecture and entertainment courses similar to those of the lyceum. Because the audience for YMCA lecture courses comprised mostly young men, as opposed to a more heterogeneous composition in the lyceum, these events tended to have a more consistently moralistic, or motivational, emphasis. YMCA engagements made up the largest portion of the Mecklems’ documented bookings. H. C. Mecklem was a supporter of the Temperance movement. Five of the Mecklems’ documented performances were associated with anti-alcohol institutions or organizations. One of their earliest engagements included the
American Temperance Union’s Centennial Day service at Chickering Hall in New York in April 1889. They appeared twice at events sponsored by the New York Temperance Union. On 1 February 1891, “a rare and delightful musical programme” was offered at Masonic Temple in New York City. After the musical selections, Citizen
George Francis Train spoke on “The Drink Customs Around the World.” A second engagement, on 21 February 1892, at the Grand Opera House Hall, Twenty-third Street and Eighth Avenue, featured the young Baptist orator Reverend E. S. Halloway. Holloway, pastor of the West Thirty-third Street Church, spoke on the Parkhurst Raid.
Fraternal societies, labor organizations, and civic groups Membership in fraternal societies was widespread during the late 1800s, with an estimated participation of as many as one third of American adult males by 1920. Henry Clay Mecklem was among the first members of Longfellow Council, No. 675, of the
Royal Arcanum,
East Orange, New Jersey. Consequently, "the Mecklems frequently performed for fraternal orders, such as the Royal Arcanum, Order of Tonti, Fraternal Mystic Circle,
Freemasons,
Odd Fellows,
Grand Army of the Republic, Farragut Association,
Daughters of the American Revolution, and the Brooklyn Oxford Club. These engagements were nearly equal in number to their lyceum appearances. Social and fraternal organizations provided diversity to the types of performances the Mecklems presented, filled in open dates during tours, and increased their bookings overall." In addition to their work for fraternal organizations, the Mecklems performed during holiday observances and for labor groups. Civic groups that heard the Mecklems included the
New York Press Club. The Mecklems also performed at events held by musical societies such as the Richmond, Virginia, Mozart Musicale; the St. Cecelia Society of Hudson, New York; and the Beethoven Choral Society of Newark, New Jersey.
Benefit concerts Benefit concerts for various charitable causes, large and small, were an integral part of the Mecklems’ performance schedule. Some of these engagements took place in very prestigious venues. On 22 May 1890, the Mecklems participated in a joint benefit for the Babies’ Ward of the Post Graduate Hospital and for the Actors’ Fund, which took place concurrently at the
Metropolitan Opera House and two other New York theaters. Nearly $7,000 was raised. Benefit concerts were often lengthy affairs and featured numerous contributors; before a packed house at the Met that evening, Bessie Mecklem appeared sixteenth on a program of eighteen different acts. In addition to benefits organized in support of a colleague who had fallen ill or experienced financial difficulties, performers often staged events to pay tribute to fellow artists who were completing extended engagements. The Mecklems donated their services for a number of church benefits. A month after their May 1893 performance with Sissieretta Jones at Strong Place Baptist Church in Brooklyn, they once again appeared with the Black Patti Concert Company. On June 6, they participated in a concert at the Lee Avenue Congregational Church, Brooklyn, to benefit the church’s Sunday School. The Mecklems joined the Black Patti Concert Company a third time on June 13, at the Emory M. E. Church in Jersey City, New Jersey. Both June performances featured humorist James S. Burdett.
Band concerts and tours In early 1895, the Mecklems participated in two tours with the highly regarded Veteran Corps Band of Baltimore. A January Southern Tour took them through Virginia (to Richmond, Norfolk, with a return engagement to Richmond, then Lynchburg and Roanoke), then on to Pittsburgh and New York City. Their return to Baltimore was followed by a concert in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. The reviewer of the
Norfolk (Va.) Virginian found, "The saxaphone [
sic] solos of Miss Bessie Mecklem were artistically performed, and her '
Then You’ll Remember Me,' completely captured the audience. Miss Mecklem is an accomplished soloist, and her number received several encores." In late February-early March 1896, the band swung through Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey, with a final stop in Philadelphia. In 1895, H. C. Mecklem reported to
Talent that Bessie “played a saxophone solo at Central Park, N. Y., concert with Rogers’ Seventh Regiment Band, July 27 and August 3. On the 27th, her solo received a double encore. Miss Mecklem is the first lady who has ever played before a Park audience." == Women's club participation ==