Blues Empress in Black Chattanooga: Bessie Smith and the Emerging Urban South

5. An Empress in Vaudeville: Bessie Smith on the Theater Circuit

5 An Empress in Vaudeville Bessie Smith on the Theater Circuit Down in Atlanta, GA, under the viaduct every day Drinkin’ corn and hollerin hooray, pianos playin’ till the break of day. But as I turned my head I loudly said, Preach them blues, sing them blues, they certainly sound good to me, Moan them blues, holler them blues, let me convert your soul, Sing ’em, sing ’em, sing them blues, let me convert your soul. —Bessie Smith, “Preachin’ the Blues” The African American entertainment industry of the early twentieth century flourished with minstrel shows, vaudeville performances, and musical comedies. Inspired by performances in their small-town theaters, festivals, and carnivals, hundreds of young African Americans dreamed of joining the chorus of the Mahara Minstrels or the cast of a show like Bert Williams and George Walker’s Policy Players.1 Many black youth satisfied their desire to perform by joining their church choir or the local brass band ensemble, and they delighted audiences of relatives, friends, and neighbors. Yet other, perhaps more ambitious aspiring entertainers responded to handbills and advertisements in black newspapers that read: WANTED One Hundred Musicians to Play Brass. For the New GEORGE’S NEGRO MINSTRELS Also fifty Ladies, Singers, Dancers, and Drummers Ladies’ drum corps.2 114 blues empress in black chattanooga A select few of those who responded to the advertisements earned positions as musicians, actors, vocalists, and dancers on a national level. These African American performers crisscrossed the nation and entertained audiences in large urban theaters and rural tent shows. They traveled by railway, car, and ship to entertain nobility in London, sharecroppers in Mississippi, and general laborers in Washington, D.C.3 Entertainers endured the criticism of many morally conservative African Americans, as well as the racism and sexism inherent within the American entertainment industry, in their pursuit of a measure of fame and fortune. By 1909, young Bessie Smith had joined this ensemble of performers and begun to refine her craft in the black theaters of the South, Midwest, and East Coast. Before she “preached them blues” to millions of Americans in her popular phonograph records in the 1920s, Smith enchanted thousands of African Americans in the regional theaters and tent shows of the black vaudeville circuit and completed the evolution from a Chattanooga street performer to a headlining star. Yet as Bessie Smith evolved into the “Empress of the Blues,” she did not abandon her connections to the African American Chattanooga community. The Initial Years on the Vaudeville Circuit Bessie Smith was primarily an amateur performer until late 1908 or early 1909. She continued to refine her performing skills in her street-corner concerts with her brother Andrew until she had the opportunity to take her talent to a larger stage. Great confusion surrounds Bessie’s early prerecording years, and there are several legends about her entrance into professional entertainment. Previous Smith biographers have posited that lauded blues singer Gertrude “Ma” Rainey kidnapped Bessie off the Chattanooga streets and made her a success , or that Bessie won a local talent contest and then rose to fame, or that she auditioned for the Moses Stokes Revue in 1912 at the suggestion of her brother, Clarence.4 Speculation about the origins of Bessie’s first forays onto the stage abounds because she gave no single account about her early vaudeville past, nor did she follow a linear progression from street performer in Chattanooga to national star. For example, Bessie’s name might appear in theater ads as part of the chorus of an act in a Memphis theater in one part of the year and then later be listed as a dependent in her sister Viola’s Chattanooga residence in another portion of the year.5 The first mention of Bessie performing appeared in 1909 in the Indianapolis Freeman. In May of that year, she performed in the chorus of a show at the Arcade or Eighty-One Theater in Atlanta.6 an empress in vaudeville 115 The exact path that Bessie took from performing on Chattanooga’s Ninth Street to relocating to the black theater district in Atlanta is difficult to discern . Several probable motives may have caused her to move by 1909. In the aftermath of their parents’ deaths and the loss of their 100 Cross Street home, the remaining Smith family moved often throughout Chattanooga. Viola had moved with her daughter Laura, Bessie, and perhaps other siblings...