Honkatonk (1900, from wild geese?)

[Bapopik at AOL.COM]

The following 1900 article (originally from the New York Sun) is of
interest. William Tonk pianos (from New York City) are NOT mentioned in the  article
by this NY newspaper. "Honkatonk" is explained at the very end of the  long
article (from Newspaperarchive).
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(OED)
honky-tonk
colloq. (orig. U.S.).
1. A tawdry drinking-saloon, dance-hall, or gambling-house; a cheap
night-club. Also in somewhat extended uses, and attrib. or as adj.

1894  Daily Ardmoreite  (Ardmore, Okla.) 24 Feb. 1/4 The honk-a-tonk last
night was well  attended by ball~heads, bachelors and leading citizens.
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3 February 1900, Reno (NV) Evening Gazette, pg. 2, col. 5:
_END OF HONKTONK._
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_Decadence of Oklahoma's Favorite_
_Entertainment._
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_What It Was When the Audience_
_Used to Rise Up and Join in_
_the Fusillade at_
_the Climax._
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The honkatonk is one of the few institutions of Oklahoma which  remain to
satisfy the tenderfoot visitor in search of the wild west scenes he  has read
about. And it isn't so very lively. In the times that were the cow  preacher was
expected to perforate the gaudy curtain when the performance  lagged, or shoot
a glimpse of daylight through the star performer's sombrero if  his
interpretation of his part lacked animation. At the climax, when the  wild-eyed
heroine, in boots and spurs, rushed madly upon the stage, and fired  the shot which
out her lover's pursuer's out of the way and saved him from an  awful death,
the audience was not alone permitted, but expected, to rise as a  man and
accompany the fatal shot with a volley that jarred the rafters. There is  not even
this byplay to stir the easterner's nerves nowadays.
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Ordinarily, the honkatonk opens about nine o'clock, and continues  in full
blast until one, or thereabouts, as long as its patrons will patronize  the bar.
There are no reserved seats and the visitor may have his choice of  floors.
The higher he goes the more it will cost him. Fifteen cents is the  regular
parquet price. It will cost him a dime extra if he prefers a balcony or  a box
seat where he may converse with the actresses after they have done their  turn.
Down on the first floor you can get drinks "at bar prices, gents," as the
hustler from the saloon annex announces at frequent intervals. Wherever the
visitor sits, it is unnecessary at any time to abandon the cigar, and whatever
the part of the house, he is expected to be liberal in his expenditure for
liquid refreshments. Along about 11 o'clock the stage manager advances to the
front and announces an intermission of ten minutes "to give you all time, ample
and sufficient, for to refresh yourselves," and then you pay for more  drinks.
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The programme is made up largely of specialties. Whatever the  feeling of a
long-suffering public, the honkatonk vocalists never will permit  "Sweet Rosie
O'Grady" and "Just One GIrl" to perish from the earth, and coon  songs are
sung as May Irwin never did and never will sing them. Always at least  one drama
is presented, the entire company, vocalists, dancers and all,  participating.
Among the most popular plays are "The Dalton Boys" and "Mildred,  the
She-Devil of the Plains," for the old traditions still are respected to a  certain
extent, though the participation of the audience is no longer  solicited.
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The performers do not travel by companies. Every star hustles for  himself
regardless of all the others, and remains in a community as long as the
management will pay him his price, or, if in case of an actress, as long as she  is a
success at winning checks by inducing her admirers to buy beer. At what age
the performer usually enters his career is questionable, but the Gerry society
 would hardly find the honkatonk stage a successful fields for operations,
even  when Little Eva or Jack the Boy Scout makes her or his appearance.
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The stage manager is an interesting individual. If he is the  valuable man
the proprietor expects him to be, he can beat the drum in the  street band; sell
tickets when the doors are opened; "leg" for the bartender  during
intermission, play the heavy villain in the tragedy act, and do a turn as  clog dancer
all in one evening. Long hair and a soiled frock coat are the marks  which
distinguish him from his fellows on the stage. Every afternoon he gathers  the
people of the cast at the theater and outs them through a rehearsal of the  piece
to be put on that evening.
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There is no defined circuit of honkatonks, but the performers  swing around a
circle of a half dozen theaters which dot Texas and the two  territories. The
once popular institution is dying off. There is one in Guthrie,  one in
Apimore, one in Fort Worth, and a few others further south. Weatherford  had a
honkatonk, which the stars say was one of the best-paying of all, but when  the
city authorities cut down the corn in the streets and Weatherford was  declared
to be a city of the first class it was crowded out.
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Every child of the range can tell what honkatonk means and where  it came
from. Away, away back in the very early days, so the story goes, a party  of cow
punchers rode out from camp at sundown in search of recreation after a  day of
toil. They headed for a place of amusement, but lost the trail. From far  out
in the distance there finally came to their ears a
"honk-a-tonk-a-tonk-a-tonk-a," which they mistook for the bass viol. They turned  toward the sound, to
find alas! a dock of wild geese. So honkatonk was named--N.  Y. Sun.