Bob Cole (composer)

Bob Cole, ca. 1898

Robert Allen Cole Jr. (July 1, 1868 – August 2, 1911[1]) was an American composer, actor, and playwright who produced and directed stage shows.[2][3] In collaboration with Billy Johnson, he wrote and produced A Trip to Coontown (1898), the first musical entirely created and owned by black showmen.[4] The popular song La Hoola Boola (1898) was a result of their collaboration. Cole later partnered with brothers J. Rosamond Johnson, a pianist and singer, and James Weldon Johnson, a pianist, guitarist and lawyer, creating more than 200 songs.

Their vaudeville act featured classical piano pieces and their musicals featured sophisticated lyrics without the usual stereotypes such as "hot-mamas" and watermelons. Success enabled Cole and Rosamond to tour America and Europe with their act. The trio's most popular songs were "Louisiana Lize" and "Under the Bamboo Tree" (1901?). Their more successful musicals were The Shoo-Fly Regiment (1906) and The Red Moon (1908, written without Weldon).

Cole was the pre‑eminent leader in the world of black musical theater both as a composer and as a performer. His skills in acting, writing, and directing were brought to the public eye through his early works: first, he produced the black musical “A Trip to Coontown”, where he joined alliance with Billy Johnson, followed by the production of popular songs such as “ Under the Bamboo Tree,” where he worked with J. Rosamond Johnson. Cole committed suicide by drowning himself in a creek[5] in the Catskills[6] in 1911 after a nervous breakdown and period of clinical depression that worsened in 1910.

  1. ^ Saffle, Michael. "Cole, Robert Allen (Bob)". (1999). in International Dictionary of Black Composers. Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn. pp. 246-251.
  2. ^ Riis, Thomas L. (1985). ""Bob" Cole: His Life and His Legacy to Black Musical Theater". The Black Perspective in Music. 13 (2): 135–150. doi:10.2307/1214581. JSTOR 1214581.
  3. ^ "Robert "Bob" Cole, Jr. (1868-1911) •". 16 July 2017.
  4. ^ James Weldon Johnson (1930). Black Manhattan. Introduction by Sondra Kathryn Wilson. Knopf. p. 102. ISBN 978-0-306-80431-1. Retrieved 22 Mar 2013.[permanent dead link]
  5. ^ Abbott, Lynn; Seroff, Doug (1911-08-02). Lynn Abbott, Doug Seroff, Out of Sight: The Rise of African American Popular Music, 1889-1895. Univ. Press of Mississippi. ISBN 9781604730395. Retrieved 2014-06-18.
  6. ^ Hill, Errol G.; Hatch, James V. (2003-07-17). A History of African American Theatre. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521624435.