Belle Davis

Belle Davis was an African American song and dance artist, entertainer, choreographer, and director. She was a recording pioneer who toured Europe extensively during the period 1901-1929. Not only did she record on disc as early as 1902, she also performed in front of a movie camera at least twice during the early years of this century. In spite of these extraordinary achievements, little has been written about her; her biography, her discography and her filmography remain sketchy. [Rainer E. Lotz]

On June 5, 1901, the S.S. St. Paul sailed out of New York Harbor bound for Southhampton, England. On board was Belle Davis, a young mezzo-soprano from the black variety stage, who was booked on a tour of Britain's Empire music hall theaters. The 27 yr old singer was already a veteran of the stage, beginning her career in 1890 as one of the illustrious teenaged chorus girls in the Chicago revue 'The Creole Show.' This was also not her first overseas tour; she had gone to Britain in 1897 with the revue 'Oriental America', one of several shows that was staged after 'The Creole Show's' success. But this was her first trip touring the overseas circuits with her very own specialty act. Like other chanteuse, Davis was now accompanied by her very own "picanninny chorus.' On board with her that day were two boys -- 7yr old Fernandes 'Sonny' Jones and 9yr old Irving 'Sneeze' Williams, travelling with Davis as the core members of her troupe. Their first booking was a North London music hall; Davis billed as "America's Greatest Coon Cantatrice of the Century," was to be 'assisted by her two Picaninny Actors.' Over the next few years Belle Davis and Her Picaninnies worked on the Empire circuit of music halls. Davis, Sonny, and Sneeze were to "see more of Britain than most Britons" as they travelled throughout England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland.

With other black acts, Belle Davis and Her Picaninnies also entertained audiences in continental Europe. They toured Britain during the fall and winter seasons and then spent summers performing in various European cities, including Paris, Vienna, Prague, Berlin, St. Petersburg and Copenhagen. Black speciality acts packed European and British music halls over the turn of the century, but the act of Davis, Jones, and Williams was among the most successful. In January 1902, they recorded for Gramaphone Records in London, and in 1906 they appeared in a short film in Paris. Black variety acts, particularly dance, remained in demand. Davis continued to tour variety circuits throughout the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Germany, Russia, and the Netherlands with various casts of children until 1917, years after Sonny and Sneeze had left the troupe. Neither Davis nor the boys returned to the United States on a permanent basis. Through the Great War and after, they remained in Europe with many other African American performers. In the 1920s they were based in Paris, there to greet a second generation of black performers to the overseas city circuits.

Babylon Girls Black Women Performers and the Shaping of the Modern by Jayna Brown