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Jules Bledsoe

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Jules Bledsoe

Julius Lorenzo Cobb Bledsoe (December 29, 1897 – July 14, 1943)[1][2] was an American baritone and one of the first African-American artists to gain regular employment on Broadway.

Early life and education

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Jules Bledsoe was born Julius Lorenzo Cobb Bledsoe to Henry L. and Jessie Cobb Bledsoe in Waco, Texas in 1898.[3][4][5] When Bledsoe's parents split in 1899, Julius went with his mother to live with the Cobb family.[4] During his youth Bledsoe attended Central Texas Academy from 1905 to 1914.[5] After graduating as valedictorian he studied at Bishop College where he earned his B.A. in 1918. He then attended Virginia Union College from 1918 to 1919, where he was a member of ROTC, and finally Columbia University, where he studied medicine from 1920 to 1924.[5] Throughout his time in school, he studied music under Claude Warford, Luigi Parisotti, and Lazar Samoiloff.[3][5]

Career

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Debut Recital Program, Aeolian Hall, New York City, April 20, 1924.

Bledsoe made his professional singing debut in New York's Aeolian Hall on April 20, 1924, with the sponsorship of impresario Sol Hurok. Over the course of his career he traveled throughout the United States and Europe performing, acting, and writing.[3] In 1927, he announced that he changed his first name from "Julius" to "Jules."[6]

In New York City, Bledsoe lived on Sugar Hill in Harlem. His addresses included:

Opera and music

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Bledsoe performed in many major operas and was in high demand due to his ability to sing in multiple languages as well as his impressive vocal range.[5] He could speak and sing in 8 languages: English, French, Italian, German, Russian, Spanish, Yiddish, and Dutch.[14] In 1926 Bledsoe appeared as Tizan in W. Franke Harling and Laurence Stallings's Deep River, a voodoo-themed opera set in New Orleans in 1835.[15] In 1927, he shared the stage with Rose McClendon, Abbie Mitchell, and Frank Wilson in Paul Green’s In Abraham’s Bosom, which won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1927.[16] In Florenz Ziegfeld's 1927 production of Show Boat (by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II based on the 1926 novel Show Boat by Edna Ferber), Bledsoe was the first to perform the role of Joe.[3][5] He recreated this role in the 1929 film Show Boat. His Show Boat performance became his best known role, and his interpretation of "Ol' Man River" made the song a popular American classic.[5]

In the Chicago Opera's production of Verdi's Aida, Bledsoe sang the role of Amonasro.[3] In 1930, Bledsoe attempted to create an original musical setting of Eugene O'Neill's The Emperor Jones, but he lacked the permission of the playwright which was already secured by composer Louis Gruenberg.[citation needed] Though the honor went to Lawrence Tibbett to originate the title role in 1933, Bledsoe played the character in a production in Amsterdam in 1934, and later in Paris, Vienna, Brussels and London, and still later in New York City. Bledsoe also performed the title character in Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov.[5]

Bledsoe's only recording of Ol' Man River, which he sang in the original production of Show Boat, is occasionally played on the NPR musical theatre program, A Night on the Town. His rendition of the song, especially in comparison to those made famous by Paul Robeson, William Warfield (in the 1951 film version), Bruce Hubbard (on the 1988 three-disc EMI album), and Michel Bell (in the Harold Prince revival of the show), is somewhat melodramatic in the manner of early twentieth-century acting, and Bledsoe rolls all of his "r"'s, as a baritone might when singing his solos in an oratorio. A recently released album of vintage spiritual recordings features Bledsoe singing Swing Low, Sweet Chariot in that same style,[17] which demonstrates that it was not unique to his performance of Ol' Man River. Bledsoe was also actually filmed singing the song - his rendition of it was included in the sound prologue to the part-talkie Show Boat (1929 film).

Bledsoe was also a composer. For voice, violin, and orchestra, he composed a set of four songs called African Suite, which he performed with the BBC Symphony in 1936 and the Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam in 1937.[18] He also wrote several other songs, including "Does Ah Love You," "Grandmother's Melodies," "Beside a New-Made Grave," "The Farewell," "Good Old British Blue," and "Ode to America."[5][19] He set Countee Cullen’s poem “Pagan Prayer” to music and performed it to widespread acclaim.[20] In 1939 he wrote a full opera called Bondage, based on Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel Uncle Tom's Cabin.[5] Most of his composing was done on his farm in the Catskill Mountains, outside Roxbury, New York, which he had purchased in 1929 and named "Jessie's Manna Farm" in honor of his mother.[21][19]

Film

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Between 1929 and 1930, Bledsoe appeared in three musical film Shorts: Old Man Trouble, On the Levee, and Dear Old Southland.[citation needed] He spent 1940 and 1941 working in Hollywood, and played the part of Kalu in Drums of the Congo. He is believed to have acted in Safari, Western Union and Santa Fe Trail, although his name did not appear in the credits.[5]

Partial filmography

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Legacy and death

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Bledsoe died in Hollywood, California, on July 14, 1943.[1] He is buried in Greenwood Cemetery, a city-owned cemetery in Waco, Texas. His papers, including sheet music, photographs, and correspondence, are housed in The Texas Collection at Baylor University.[22][23] The Jules Bledsoe papers, 1931-1939 are held in the Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, which is one of the research centers of the New York Public Library. These papers consist of correspondence, contracts, musical compositions, legal documents, financial records, programs, broadsides, and news clippings documenting Bledsoe's professional career, particularly in Europe.[24] The Bledsoe-Miller Community Center, a recreation facility in Waco, is jointly named for Bledsoe and Doris Miller.

References

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  1. ^ a b Ten Thing you should know about Jules Bledsoe by John Troesser. Retrieved 2013-07-14.
  2. ^ "United States Census, 1900". FamilySearch.org. June 4, 1900. Retrieved July 25, 2024.
  3. ^ a b c d e Jules Bledsoe Papers Accession #2086, The Texas Collection, Baylor University
  4. ^ a b Smith-Cobb Family Collection Accession #2755, The Texas Collection, Baylor University
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Geary, Lynnette. "BLEDSOE, JULIUS LORENZO COBB". The Handbook of Texas. Texas State Historical Association. Retrieved 13 February 2015.
  6. ^ "Jules Bledsoe Engaged For 'Show Boat' Cast". The New York Age. November 12, 1927. p. 6. Retrieved July 27, 2024.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  7. ^ "Jules Bledsoe Gives Party For His Sister". The New York Age. September 14, 1929. p. 7. Retrieved July 27, 2024.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  8. ^ "United States Census, 1930". Ancestry.com. April 4, 1930. Retrieved July 25, 2024.
  9. ^ "Society". New York Amsterdam News. April 30, 1930. p. 6. ProQuest 226355894. Retrieved July 27, 2024.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  10. ^ "Society". New York Amsterdam News. July 9, 1930. p. 6. ProQuest 226166923. Retrieved July 27, 2024.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  11. ^ "Jules Bledsoe Loses Automobile License". The New York Age. October 29, 1932. p. 2. Retrieved July 27, 2024.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  12. ^ "Beldsoe's Music Resounds In Real Life Court Drama". New York Amsterdam News. October 11, 1933. p. 3. ProQuest 226197277. Retrieved July 27, 2024.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  13. ^ "Certificate of Incorporation, The Garrison Apartments, Inc., September 24, 1929, Department of State, State of New York". Certificate of Incorporation, The Garrison Apartments, Inc. September 24, 1929. Retrieved July 25, 2024.
  14. ^ "Jules Bledsoe A Linguist". The Buffalo News. November 11, 1932. p. 27. Retrieved July 26, 2024.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  15. ^ de Lerma, Dominique-René (March 15, 2013). "Jules Bledsoe". Oxford African American Studies Center. Retrieved July 28, 2024.
  16. ^ Boyd, Herb (January 27, 2022). "Jules Bledsoe, an outstanding and versatile baritone". New York Amsterdam News. Retrieved July 28, 2024.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  17. ^ A First-Time Buyer's Guide to American Negro Spirituals, Music CD - Barnes & Noble
  18. ^ Geary, Lynnette G. (1989). "Jules Bledsoe: The Original 'Ol' Man River'". The Black Perspective in Music. 17 (1/2): 44. doi:10.2307/1214742. JSTOR 1214742 – via JSTOR.
  19. ^ a b "Singer, Jules Bledsoe, Dies". New York Amsterdam News. July 24, 1943. p. 5. ProQuest 226168778. Retrieved July 27, 2024.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  20. ^ Reinhart, Brian (June 22, 2021). "A Pioneering Black Singer's Compositions, Long Forgotten, May Finally Have an Audience". TexasMonthly.com. Retrieved July 28, 2024.
  21. ^ "Noted Singer, Tiller of Soil". New York Amsterdam News. October 9, 1937. p. 19. ProQuest 226077823. Retrieved July 27, 2024.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  22. ^ Jules Bledsoe Collection on YouTube. Retrieved 2013-12-16.
  23. ^ "The Texas Collection: Highlights". Baylor University Libraries. Retrieved July 27, 2024.
  24. ^ "Jules Bledsoe papers, 1931-1939". New York Public Library, Archives & Manuscripts. Retrieved July 27, 2024.
  • Eileen Southern (ed.), The Music of Black Americans: A History, 3rd edition, W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 0-393-97141-4
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