Sissieretta Jones by Lee Maureen D.;

Author:Lee, Maureen D.;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: University of South Carolina Press

Women loved seeing Sissieretta in her beautiful gowns, like this one she wore during a photography session. Photograph courtesy of the Dr. Carl R. Gross Collection, Moorland-Spingarn Research Center, Howard University.

Sissieretta looks confident and poised, almost regal. Photograph courtesy of the Dr. Carl R. Gross Collection, Moorland-Spingarn Research Center, Howard University.

McCorker's closing comments about Sissieretta demonstrate how proud African Americans were of her and her musical accomplishments. Her black audiences in the South must have been particularly proud when she presented herself elegantly on stage, dressed in all her finery and jewels, and sang music that touched the hearts of both white and black theater patrons. Sissieretta was graceful, intelligent, well-spoken, and professional, and she presented herself regally but was never haughty. She was a concert diva in the best sense of the word.

The Black Patti Troubadours opened 1903 in Waco, Texas, and spent the rest of January touring in Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma Territory, and the Indian Territories. Most of February was spent doing one-night performances in Missouri, Kansas, Tennessee, Mississippi, and Alabama. The Troubadours performed in Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, and Indiana during March, playing Thursday evening, 19 March 2003, at Indianapolis's Park Theatre. A review in the Indianapolis Freeman said the Black Patti Troubadours was “full of stars,” such as Black Patti, James Crosby, J. Ed. Green, Bobby Kemp, Leslie Triplett, and John Green. The show, which featured a circus skit, “was a departure from the stereotyped beach scene and boarding house gag, with its fast set of sports, etc.” The reviewer, apparently familiar with Sissieretta's previous engagements in Indianapolis, gave her 1903 appearance lukewarm praise and suggested her repertoire had become stale: “M. Sissieretta Jones is holding her own, quite herself, singing with feeling. She has a fine stage appearance, makes up but very little, has a graceful tilt when she ambles off the stage, that is quite bewitching; it helps to get her back. She is becomingly modest and the barely discernible vein of ‘swellery’ makes her ‘taky.’ She has added nothing of note to her repertoire, still singing ‘Miserere,’ as the piece de resistance. Her Suwanee River was good and sweet, as well as good and old. The selection from ‘Martha’ and the waltz song, were prettily rendered, but seemed to lack the effectiveness of the finales of the past season.”20

This description suggests Sissieretta may have stopped putting much energy into updating her repertoire and might be coasting on her star status. She may have become weary after seven seasons on the road and lost some of her energy. Or Sissieretta may have just had an off night in Indianapolis and failed to generate the excitement she had in previous performances there. Regardless of her somewhat tired repertoire, the theater critic still found the thirty-five-year-old singer attractive and her performance entertaining.

The Troubadours toured in Pennsylvania and Ohio during April and spent most of May doing extended runs in cities such as Philadelphia, Baltimore, Atlantic City, and Brooklyn. The company closed its seventh season in New York City the first week of June.

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