Pat Chappelle
Pat Chappelle was born January 1869 in Jacksonville, Fl. In 1899, after disputing with the Mayor of Jacksonville, Chappelle moved to Tampa. Pat Chappelle was the owner and manager of several theatre companies including The Rabbits Foot Company, The Imperial Colored Minstrels, and The Buckingham as well as traveling tent shows like the Funny Folks Comedy Company.


Pat Chappelle

Lewis and James Chappelle
Lewis and James Chappelle were the younger brother of Pat Chapelle and partners in the Chapelle Bro’s, Rabbits Foot Company, and Funny Folks Company vaudeville shows. In 1907, Lewis and James left the company following disputes with Pat. James then worked as a horse caretaker and Lewis as a blacksmith.

Ireland Thomas
Minstrel comedian who later managed The Bijou Theater and was a stage director/secretary  for the Rabbits Foot Theatre co. with Pat Chappelle.

Imperial Colored Minstrels
The Imperial Colored Minstrels was a minstrel troupe started by Pat Chapelle that ran from 1898-1900, doing tours throughout the south, including stops in Tampa and Jacksonville, Florida. The Imperial Colored Minstrels evolved into The Rabbits Foot Theatre co.


Postcard from 1906 advertising the Imperial Colored Minstrels

Rabbits Foot Theatre Co.
The Rabbits Foot Theatre Co. was one of Pat Chappelle’s vaudeville tent shows. At it’s peak it employed over 60 black entertainers and traveled through theaters in Savannah, Georgia, Jacksonville, Florida, and Tampa, Florida. Members of the troupe included Arthur “Happy” Howe, Charles “Cuba” Santana, and Ma Rainey. After Pat Chappelle died, The Rabbits Foot was purchased by a white man named Fred S. Wolcott, however changes he made caused the show to lose it’s legitimacy and become more of a minstrel show than a vaudeville show.


An advertisement for the Rabbits Foot Theatre Co. from 1908

The Buckingham and Mascotte Theatres
Started in September 1899, The Buckingham Theatre was a black theatre, dance hall, and saloon in Tampa owned by the Chappelle Bro’s. 3 months after starting The Buckingham Theatre, the Chappelle Bros founded the Mascotte Theater in Tampa. Both theaters were incredibly popular amongst all races for vaudeville shows, such as the Chappelle Bro’s productions including the Imperial Colored Minstrels.

The Children’s Home of Tampa
The Children’s Home is an adoption and foster care company. In 1902, the Children’s Home in Tampa was in debt and as population grew, could not keep up with the amount of kids needing assistance. To raise funds,The Children’s Home hosted a minstrel show performance of Sons of Ham in 1903.

Community Minstrelsy
In the early 1900’s, local black community members in Tampa would put on minstrel shows to raise money from white people to support organizations like The Colored Home and Hospital.

**Most information during this time period we could find related to Vaudeville, rather than minstrelsy. The following images are of minstrel shows, however they are from the early 1950’s in Lake Wales, Florida**

Sources:

Abbott, Lynn. Ragged but Right: Black Traveling Shows, “Coon Songs”, and the Dark Pathway to Blues and Jazz. Univ Pr Of Mississippi, 2012.
Hewitt, Nancy A. Southern Discomfort: Women’s Activism in Tampa, Florida, 1880s-1920s. University of Illinois Press, 2004.
Peterson, Bernard L. Profiles of African American Stage Performers and Theatre People: 1816-1960. Greenwood Press, 2001.
Sampson, Henry T. Blacks in Blackface: a Sourcebook on Early Black Musical Shows. The Scarecrow Press, Inc., 2014.

 

–Kiana Outen