Sissieretta Jones: "The Greatest Singer of Her Race," 1868-1933

8: The Black Patti Troubadours, 1900–1906

: 136 : 8 8 The Black Patti Troubadours 1900–1906 1900–1901 and 1901–1902 Seasons As the world adjusted to life in the twentieth century, Sissieretta and the Troubadours prepared for the opening of their fifth consecutive season, scheduled to run from August 1900 until May 1901. During this time President William McKinley, twenty-fifth president of the United States, was reelected for a second term (he was assassinated the following year, in September 1901); the first rigid dirigible (zeppelin) made its maiden voyage (2 July 1900) in Germany, carrying five people nearly four miles in seventeen minutes at a height of 1,300 feet; Picasso, Gauguin, Cezanne, Renoir, and Toulouse-Lautrec painted; and the cakewalk became the most fashionable dance in the United States.1 For Sissieretta and the Black Patti Troubadours, this season would turn out to be pretty much the same as the last, except that they would not travel to the West Coast and would spend an additional twenty days in the South. The show had a fresh opening farcical skit, “A Darktown Frolic on the Rialto,” which featured the company’s new principal comedian and composer, Irving Jones. Sissieretta continued to star in the Operatic Kaleidoscope, with its grand scenery and expensive costumes.2 The show’s cakewalk, as always, was a big hit with audiences from Halifax, Nova Scotia, to Atlanta, Georgia. Sissieretta and the Troubadours were largely well received throughout the 1900–1901 season, both in the far North into Canada and in the Deep South. Their travel schedule remained rigorous. The company played mostly onenight stands, with week-long performances in some major cities. Often the monotony of the tour was interspersed with social occasions, such as the firstclass banquet hosted in Nashville by prominent black fireman William H. Oden and his wife. The guests included many of the South’s most prominent black residents, including people from Tennessee, Kentucky, and Indiana.3 137 : The Black Patti Troubadours, 1900–1906 The Troubadour show, especially Sissieretta’s Operatic Kaleidoscope, continued to earn high praise from black theater critic Sylvester Russell. In his annual assessment of the state of black theater, published in the “Holiday” issue of the Indianapolis Freeman (29 December 1900), Russell said, “There has been nothing more encouraging to the black race of America than the progress made upon the stage by black performers during the past six years.” He credited John W. Isham and his original Octoroon company for being the first troupe to include opera and dramatic scenes in their show. The show later declined, Russell said, when it dropped the opera selections. Russell said black shows needed a prima donna and a star male soloist to succeed and that shows could not just play all ragtime songs. Like Ernest Hogan, Russell predicted , “The days of all-coon comedy in a colored show are past and yet one could not live without it, but white people in this day and time will not stand for all rag-time—a little of everything will assure a happy return.” Russell gave Anonymous portrait of Sissieretta Jones, Providence, R.I., circa 1900. Ink on paper. Print. Courtesy of the Rhode Island Historical Society, RH:X5 358. 138 : Sissieretta Jones his list of successful black entertainers, which included Bob Cole, Burt Williams , Irving Jones, Ernest Hogan, and Sissieretta, the only woman on the list. “The Black Patti (Mme. Sissieretta Jones), who has the envy of many of her race sisters, has not been surpassed by any of them yet,” Russell said, adding that she could challenge “all comers” for a while.4 The Troubadours finished the 1900–1901 season at the end of May 1901, and Sissieretta returned to Rhode Island to spend the summer in the large nine-room house located at 7 Wheaton Street, on Providence’s east side, that she had bought for her mother in 1899. As usual, while Sissieretta enjoyed visiting her mother and taking a break from her grueling travel schedule, Voelckel and Nolan were busy working on the 1901–2 season. The managers hired John Rucker, known as the “Alabama Blossom,” to be the star comedian for the upcoming season. The new show opened with a musical farcical skit called “A Filipino Mis-Fit,” followed by a number of vaudeville specialties . The second act of the show featured John Rucker singing and delivering a monologue, Mack Allen performing on the slack wire, the Troubadour...