Kicha's photos with the keyword: Actors

Black Patti Troubadours was a vaudeville company led by famous soprano Sissieretta Jones aka Black Patti . They toured internationally until 1915, performing operatic arias, and sentimental ballads. The Black Patti Troubadours, as pictured in their souvenir booklet, "Songs as Sung by the Black Patti Troubadours." Was the largest and most prestigious African American minstrel company of the ragtime era, ranked with the landmark black musical comedy companies led by Williams and Walker, Cole and Johnson, etc. The photo dates from 1897-1898, when the roster included both aging minstrel pioneer Sam Lucas, standing in the back row with top hat, and up and coming star Ernest Hogan, seated in the center, surrounded by the ladies of the company. Sissieretta Jones (1869-1933) was a pioneering African American concert singer who established an international reputation during the 1890s. When a critic for the New York Clipper dubbed her “the Black Patti” in reference to famed Italian soprano Adelina Patti, the name stuck. Her extensive tours across the Americas and Europe included performances for three Presidents and the Prince of Wales. In spite of these successes, she was denied many opportunities due to prevailing racial barriers, including a chance to sing at the Metropolitan Opera. Frustrated by such limitations, Jones formed her own traveling revue in 1898, known as the Black Patti Troubadours. The troupe comprised about 40 comedians, dancers, acrobats and singers, and featured such prominent black performers as Bob Cole, Sam Lucas and Ernest Hogan. The Troubadours toured for nearly two decades, presenting Jones’ operatic arias alongside minstrel songs and vaudeville acts, a unique blend of high culture and popular entertainment. Sources: Ragged but Right: Black Traveling Shows, "Coon Songs," & The Dark Pathway to Blues and Jazz by Lynn Abbott & Doug Seroff

Actors Edward Thompson and Evelyn Preer (married in real life) in a scene from Melancholy Dame from 1929. The movie was produced by Al Christie. Synopsis A nightclub owner's wife (Preer) is jealous of his attention to his star singer (Hyson), and vows to get her fired. Cast Edward Thompson as Permanent Williams Evelyn Preer as Jonquil Williams Spencer Williams as Webster Dill Roberta Hyson as Sappho Dill Charles Olden as Florian Slappey

Eddie Anderson took time off from playing “Rochester” on the Jack Benny Program to appear with Katherine Dunham in Star Spangled Rhythm, a 1942 all-star cast musical film made by Paramount Pictures. The number is titled "Sharp as a Tack." Edward Anderson Eddie "Rochester" Anderson was born in Oakland in 1906. His father, Big Ed Anderson, had been a minstrel performer; his mother, Ella Mae, had been a circus tightrope walker until an accident ended her career. Eddie Anderson started out in vaudeville and had appeared in a number of films when he debuted as the voice of a Pullman porter on Jack Benny's popular radio show in 1937. Audiences responded with such enthusiasm that the canny Benny soon made Rochester his man Friday and inseparable sidekick, and the duo starred together on radio, in movies and on television for twenty-three years. He was born in Oakland, California, on September 18, 1905. As a child, Anderson sold newspapers on a street corner and permanently damaged his vocal cords (he had to yell loudly to attract attention), leading to his trademark "raspy" voice. Anderson began his show business career at age 14 in a song-and-dance act with his brother Cornelius and another performer. They billed themselves as the Three Black Aces. He began his career in Radio and in 1937, Anderson made what was supposed to be a one-shot appearance on the The Jack Benny Program. The audience loved his droll humor and he became a regular member of the cast and the first black performer to acquire a regular part on radio. The show easily made the transition to early television and as "Rochester van Jones" (known simply as "Rochester") Anderson constantly deflated Benny's pomposity with a high-pitched, incredulous, "What's that, boss?" As a legacy of blackface minstrelsy, the pairing of Benny and Anderson was based on comedy routines of the White master and his slave Uncle Tom. The high esteem in which the two actors held each other was evident upon Benny's death in 1974, in which a tearful Anderson, interviewed for television, spoke of Benny with admiration and respect. By 1942, he was earning $100,000 a year and for a time was the highest-paid Black actor in Hollywood. Anderson invested his money wisely and became extremely wealthy. In addition to his partnership with Benny, Anderson appeared in over sixty motion pictures, including Uncle Peter in Gone with the Wind, Cabin in the Sky, and as one of the taxi drivers in Stanley Kramer's It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. He reprised his Rochester role in Topper Returns, this time as Cosmo Topper's valet (though he jokes about 'Mr. Benny' in the film). Anderson died in 1977 due to heart disease at the Motion Picture Country House and Hospital in Los Angeles, California. Eddie Anderson was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 2001. Source: Blackface!, Ken Padgett The above number Sharp as a Tack: vimeo.com/167177450