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10: The Black Patti Musical Comedy Company, 1909–1914
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: 191 : 8 10 The Black Patti Musical Comedy Company 1909–1914 As the summer of 1909 came to a close, Rudolph Voelckel began making arrangements for the 1909–10 theatrical season. Voelckel, now sole manager of the Black Patti Company, signaled that fact by changing the name of the Black Patti Troubadours to the Black Patti Musical Comedy Company. More information about the split between Voelckel and Nolan surfaced in the black press. Apparently toward the middle of the previous season, the two managers disagreed over the company’s route. Voelckel had wanted the Troubadours to tour California and the West, while Nolan wanted the company to play in Kansas, Oklahoma, and other nearby states. Voelckel got his way, prompting Nolan to “sever his connections” with the Troubadours and take over management of the duo’s other company, the Dandy Dixie Minstrels, who finished their 1908–9 season in May and then disbanded. Nolan then signed on as business manager for the 1909–10 season of the Southern Smart Set headed by former Troubadour Salem Tutt Whitney. Initially the two managers agreed to have the National Association of Producing Managers settle ownership and partnership issues related to their breakup, but later they decided to take their case to the New York Supreme Court.1 Voelckel ultimately became sole proprietor and manager of the Black Patti Company. Along with the company’s new name, Voelckel decided to change the show’s format to a three-act musical comedy and, for the first time, give Sissieretta a speaking part in the production. She would star, along with former Troubadour lead comedian “Jolly” John Larkins, in A Trip to Africa, reportedly written by Larkins and former Troubadour J. Ed. Green, with Joe Jordan furnishing some of the music. The New York Age praised the new format as being suitable to showcase Sissieretta’s talents. In the thirteen years the Black 192 : Sissieretta Jones Patti Company had been on the road, it had “exerted no little influence over the musical minds of hundreds in the South,” the Age said. With the new format , the “antiquated policies of the oldest colored show in the business will be no more.” The article noted, “For years an effort has been made by many of our prominent colored performers to induce the managers of the famous singer to put her out in a show that would do her credit. . . . [We] all rejoice that ‘Black Patti’ is to have a vehicle which will not consist of a first part, an olio, and an afterpiece. There is no more conclusive evidence of the signs of the times than the capitulation of Manager Voelckel to up-to-date stage methods. It also means that theatregoers in the South and West who are not favored with visits by the large colored shows will be more enlightened as to what is going on in the theatrical world. In the past it has been a source of deep regret that the large colored companies have been unable to go south of Louisville.”2 In early September, shortly before rehearsals began for the Black Patti Company, Lester Walton of the Age interviewed Sissieretta for an hour while sitting in her private railcar at Union Station in St. Louis. She told him how excited she was with her new speaking role. “Yes, I am to be a sure enough actress this season. Heretofore I have never had lines, but in my new show I will have quite an amount of talking to do, and I certainly feel elated over the part I have been given,” Sissieretta said. “Heretofore, I have never had a speaking part, as all my other shows did not call for such. I sang my songs and then I was through. This year I am to do considerable talking and am anxious to begin my work.”3 Sissieretta played two roles in the show—Lucinda Lee and Princess Lulu. The plot of A Trip to Africa was “somewhat deeper” than the average show of this kind. The story began with the kidnaping of a favorite teacher, Lucinda Lee, from Long Creek College. She is taken to the heart of the African jungle by members of the Zamboo tribe, who make her their Princess Lulu. Lucinda Lee’s friends follow her and attempt to rescue her. The play centers on these rescue adventures. The show did not have any “horse-play” or “coon songs” as were previously present in many of the Black...