Chicago, Illinois: Will Rossitter, 1907. Folio, 10 ½ x 14 inches. Cover chipped and detached, binding split, some marginal dampstaining, fair to good overall but attractive.. A scarce sheet for the song "Good-Bye Lou," performed by Sissieretta Jones as Black Patti circa 1907. By the early twentieth century Sissieretta Jones (1868-1933), widely billed as "Black Patti," had transitioned from her earlier international career as a concert soprano into touring with her company, the Black Patti Troubadours, a large troupe founded in the mid-1890s. During the period in which this sheet was published, the Troubadours continued to present mixed programs combining comic sketches, popular songs, spiritual-style numbers, and specialty acts, touring extensively across the United States on regional theater circuits. The company typically traveled with a sizable cast and orchestra, appearing in opera houses, vaudeville theaters, and touring venues throughout the Midwest, South, and East. Jones's reputation as a classically trained vocalist remained central to promotion, and period notices frequently referenced her earlier performances at Madison Square Garden, the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, and before European royalty. By the later years of the Troubadours' activity the troupe was among the longest-running African American touring companies, sustaining annual seasons with new musical material issued as sheet music such as the present example.
Friedlander was best known for his work on Broadway in the 1920s and 1930s. This composition was authored only two years after his first known publication, "The Man with the Jingle." During that period he also authored songs for his wife, the performer Nan Halperin.
We find one other copy of this sheet, at the Hackley Memorial Collection at the Detroit Public Library (OCLC 51158817). Overall a fantastic survival from Jones' touring career, with a large photograph of her, seated, on the illustrated cover.
