Ollie Burgoyne (1875-1974)

Ollie Burgoyne was born, Olive Martin on June 13th, 1875, in Chicago, Illinois to Melvina Alexander and Henry C. Martin. Her maternal grandparents, William (1826-1891) and Mary Alexander (April 1824-May 23, 1916) originated from a plantation in Lafayette County, Missouri near the city of Lexington. After marrying around 1840, the couple produced the children: Charlie, Melvina (August 1849-c. 1908) and Jennie L. Alexander (April 1857-December 1923). After William Alexander was sold down to New Orleans, Mary hired her son off to various landowners to raise money to relocate to Peoria. Eventually the family reunited after the Civil War and moved further north to Chicago.

Chicago (1875)

In 1869, after graduating from Wilberforce University, Melvina “Mattie” Alexander met and married Henry C. Martin (1834-Jul.21, 1903), a barber from New York and settled into an apartment next door to the Academy Music Theatre. The marriage produced two children, William C. Martin (October 1869-1959) and Olive “Ollie” Martin. The entire Alexander family relocated to Kansas City, Kansas in September 1871. Since Mr and Mrs Martin frequently relocated between Chicago, Topeka and Kansas City, William and Ollie were left in the care of their Aunt Jennie Edinboro (she had married William Edinboro in 1887) at 539 State Street. 

Kansas City (1880)

Ollie's career began around 1887, at age 12, possibly in local churches. By 1894, she had left home and relocated to Chicago to work as a singer in the local clubs. By April 1896, she was a member of Allen's Celebrated Jubilee Singers. That August, she adopted the stage name, Ollie Burgoyne and moved to New York City as a chorus girl with John Isham's Oriental America Company. The show toured the Eastern United States for eight months before sailing for England in April 1897, where it remained for a year. However, Ollie isn't mentioned as being a part of the British tour, deciding to remain with a second company that continued appearing in New York for another year. In 1898, she joined the cast of John Isham's Octoroon company, touring the East Coast for a year before then joining the Williams & Walker company by December 1898, appearing in the productions “The Talk of the Town” and “A Lucky Coon”. Late-1900, she was traveling with Dunbar & Cook's production, “Uncle Eph’s Christmas”.

Returning to New York by April 1901, Ollie noticed an advertisement posted in the New York Herald by German theatrical impresario Paula Kohn-Wöllner, seeking seven African-American women with the ability to sing and dance for a concert tour of Germany. The Seven Louisiana Amazon Guard company was composed of Fannie Wise, Florence Collins, Emma Harris, S. T. Jubrey, Alverta Burley and Burgoyne. The seventh member, Coretté Hardy, remained in New York as a reserve. 

Vienna (September 1901)

On April 10, the six women were brought to the Passport Office to apply for their first passports. After two weeks with Ms. Kohn-Wöllner paying for all six of the women's travel expenses, they boarded on the S.S. Deutschland, heading for Germany. By April 21, the troupe had arrived in Leipzig, Germany. Throughout June and July, the troupe made a series of successful performances at Kaiserkrone and Carlsbad's Hotel Weber in Kiel. In late August, the women intrigued Hungarian audiences at the Os-Budavara fortress. In September, the women fulfilled a month-long engagement at Vienna's Colosseum Theater. The following month was spent at Copenhagen's Cirkus Variete for the beginning of their brief Scandinavian tour.

Budapest (August 1901)

In November, the troupe spent two successful weeks at Goteborg's Circus Madigan and two more weeks at Stockholm's Svensalen Variety Restaurant. Between their performances, on November 11, Ms. Kohn-Wöllner conducted several interviews with the Svenska Dagbladet newspaper, frequently pushing forward Wise (dressed in a black and white dress). Ms. Kohn-Wöllner mentioned her plans to organize a band for the troupe, the contract she signed with the Folies-Bergere (for January 1902) and to bring over Hardy, who was still waiting in America. The troupe returned to Germany in December to entertain at Berlin's Circus Schumann where they ended the year, preparing for another year of extensive touring.

Germany (c. 1902)

The new year of 1902, the group opened in Magdeburg for a two-week engagement before moving on to France, where the women intended to perform at Paris' famous Folie-Bergere cabaret. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem as if that ever came into fruition and the troupe returned to Germany to appear in Braunswich's Bruning Theater and Halle's Walhalla Theater. The month of March was spent in Breslau's Liebich Etablissement, followed by performances at Danzig's Wilhelm Theater and Poznan's Kaisergarten in April. In May, the group disappears briefly from the limelight as Fannie Wise and S.T. Jubrey suddenly quit the group and returned home to the United States. During this time their replacements, standby performers, Coretté Hardy and Fannie Smith (20-year-old from Philadelphia) were promptly brought over to Europe. Throughout June, the troupe toured across Switzerland, performing in Zurich and St. Gallen before returning north to Germany. The month of July was spent at Munich's Deutsches Theater, followed by a month at Leipzig's Central Theater (September) and Dresden (October). 

On November 9th, 1902, after twenty-one months of touring across Europe, during their Dresden engagement, the entire troupe walked out on their German impresario. Kohn-Wöllner was taken to court and accused of exploiting them financially. Lead performer Ollie Burgoyne was elected as their new manager and, now as the "Five Louisianas", the women left for Berlin, where they entertained at the Orpheum Theater and Harmonie Circus. After a brief engagement in Trier and Aachen, the group suddenly disappeared. In March 1903, Ollie Burgoyne and Florence Collins renewed their American passports and departed for London to join the cast of Hurtig & Seamon's In Dahomey, which opened on May 16th at the Shaftesbury Theatre.

Ollie performed as a chorus girl with “In Dahomey” for the next ten months before sailing for Russia in March 1904, where she filed a passport in Saint Petersburg on March 14th. During the summer of 1904, the Harris Trio (remnants from the Louisiana Amazon Guard), together with Ollie Bourgoyne and Jennie Scheper (from the Florida Creole Girls) formed a new company known as the "Creole Troupe" and continued touring the principal Russian cities. On January 22, 1905, while attending a party, hosted by popular American jockey, William Caton, in central Saint-Petersburg, the women witnessed the Bloody Sunday riots outside the Tsar's palace and across the city. The trio immediately packed up and returned to Moscow, where they resumed working at the Aumont Theater. In February, while performing in the city of Vyatka, the troupe decided to dissolve. 

Helsinki (March 1905)

Now known as Olga Burgoyne, Ollie formed a duet known as the Sisters Burgoyne (Jennie Scheper possibly being the other member) and appeared at Helsinki's Societetshuset (March 1905) and Saint Petersburg's Krestovskiy Garden Theater (May-August 1905), although Ollie later claimed that her engagement at the Krestovskiy lasted two years. According to LeRoi Antoine's later biography on Laura Bowman, by September 1906, while Pete Hampton & Laura Bowman were appearing in Moscow, they were entertained by Ollie Burgoyne, her cousin Ida Forsyne and another African-American entertainer known as Irene Ford.

The following month, Hampton & Bowman took a vacation to Odessa, where they ran into Ollie Burgoyne again, who had joined her boyfriend, a Russian nobleman known as Sasha. Sasha was buying a set of horses for his wife and his Black mistress. A couple of weeks later, as the 1905 revolution intensified across the Russian Empire, Ollie and Ida Forsyne, with the help of friends at the American Embassy, escaped to London before returning to Saint Petersburg in the summer of 1907, moving into N°3 Moshkov Lane, according to the local address books. In September, she debuted at the Apollo Theater for a month before moving on to Finland, performing at Helsinki's Princess Restaurant (November) and Turku's Hotel Phoenix (December).

By early 1908, she had returned home to the Russian capital, settling into a new residence at N°4 Aleksandrovskaya. Ollie had become a popular exotic dancer in the Russian Empire known as, Граната (The Grenade) due to her firecracker personality. She began singing in German, French and Russian and performed the Maxixe, Ballet and Algerian Belly Dances onstage. Five months later, after a brief trip to England, on May 21, 1908, Ollie boarded the S.S. Celtic at Liverpool returning to America to visit relatives in Kansas City (possibly for her mother's funeral). The family still resided at 539 State Avenue and her brother William had become an editor with local African-American publication, The American Citizen. On July 2nd, Ollie performed onstage at the Sparks Theater, the proceeds going to a local orphanage. On September 24th, she gave a brief appearance at New York's Woods Palace before returning home to Russia, to appear that winter at Moscow's Scala Theater. 

12-b Bolshaya Ruzheynaya (c. 1915)

The year 1909, proved to be a very successful year for Ollie Burgoyne. She settled into a luxurious apartment at N°10 Bolshaya Ruzheynaya in the Petrogradsky District of Saint Petersburg. Two doors down, at N°12-b Bolshaya Ruzheynaya, she opened the Maison Créole: Lingerie Parisienne, an upscale lingerie boutique with 27 employees and showcased black mannequins in the windows. Together with her business partner, Mattie Vera Wilkes (a fellow chorus girl from Oriental America), the boutique ran for the next five years. When she wasn't running the boutique, she was appearing across the Russian Empire. In April, she appeared at Saint Petersburg's illustrious Kontan Restaurant, situated within the Hotel Rossia, located at 58 Moika River Embankment and famous for its exquisite cuisine and Romanian orchestras. The following month, she was dancing at Moscow's Aquarium Garden Theater. By July 2nd, she was back in Saint Petersburg, filing passport with the American Embassy. For next year, there's no records of her whereabouts.

 

Bucharest (March 1912)

On September 20th, 1910, she was in London visiting the home of Jennie Scheper and her new husband, Alphonso Haston. Four days later, she sailed on the SS Campania from Liverpool to New York, listing her destination as 20 West 136th Street. Although it's unknown how she spent her time during this trip to America, she reunited with her cousin, Ida Forsyne and Ida's husband Usher Henry Watts. Ollie and Usher decided to form a duet, known as the Duo Eclatants and returned together to Europe to embark on a 16-month tour. After a brief Russian tour, the couple appeared across Germany, Austria-Hungary, Romania, Turkey, Greece and Egypt. On May 7th, 1912, the couple sailed from Bremen aboard the SS Kronprinz Wilhelm back to New York, where they went their separate ways. Ollie returned home to Russia on June 15th.

In February 1913, Ollie was performing in Moscow, renewing her passport while there on the 26th. Two months later, for a few weeks in April, she appeared at Kiev's Villa Josef Cabaret. Returning to Moscow that summer, she appeared at the famous Hermitage Gardens, a popular recreation garden known for its attractions and live performances located in central Moscow on Karetny Ryad Street. That October, she headed west for Poland, performing at Warsaw's Oaza Kabarett for a few weeks.  By early 1914, her touring had taken Ollie across the border into Austria-Hungary, appearing in Budapest by March. She filed a passport from the American Consulate General on March 12th. By July, she was vacationing in the Austrian spa town of Marienbad when WWI broke out on July 28th. Ollie however did not receive the news until three days later. Traveling immediately to Vienna, she attempted to return home to Russia but was unable to. After several more attempts from Berlin, The Hague and London, she gave up and on October 20th, sailed from Liverpool aboard the SS Franconia back to America accompanied by Mattie Wilkes. Her luxurious Saint Petersburg apartment, filled with all her possessions, had been lost and her successful Maison Créole boutique at N°12-b Bolshaya Ruzheynaya had been sold and turned into an automobile dealership.

1915 Passport Photo

Unable to find work in America, and refusing to become a maid as her cousin, Ida Forsyne had become, Ollie sailed back across the Atlantic, settling in London, moving into an apartment on Southampton Row in early 1915. There she began entertaining the British elite with her exotic dances. Perhaps she hoped to wait out the war in England and return to Russia when the borders reopened. However by 1916, she had given up hope and sailed back permanently to the United States on March 18th aboard the SS Finland. After a brief stint at the Lincoln Theatre, she joined the cast of “Way Down on the Suwanee River”, appearing with them throughout the summer, leaving briefly to return to Kansas City for the funeral of her grandmother Jennie Edinboro. After moving back into her childhood home of 539 State Avenue, with her brother and aunt, Ollie began spending long months on the road with various vaudeville productions such as: Over The Top (1918), They're Off (1919), Town Top Piks (1920), Lost In Hawaii (1921), Ollie Burgoyne Company (1922) and Follow Me (1923-24). She was frequently billed as Olga Burgoyne: the Algerian Girl, and told stories to reporters that she was of Russian and Algerian heritage.

In September 1924, while appearing in Pittsburgh, Ollie eloped with 41-year old Ward Lionel Calloway, proprietor of the Ward Calloway Hotel. Ollie moved into his home at 2341 Wylie Avenue and abandoned the Follow Me company. However after a brief romance, she was back on the road the following year with the Darktown Strutters company alongside Ida Forsyne. In 1927, after appearing for a year on Broadway in the production of “Lulu Belle”, she once again traveled the United States with the Miss Bandanna company before settling back in New York in 1928, appearing on Broadway in several productions such as “The Lady Lies” opening November 26th at the Little Theatre, “Solitaire” on March 12th, 1929 at the Waldorf Theatre, “Tired Man Business”, opening June 3rd at the Waldorf Theatre and “Make Me Know It” opening November 4th at Wallack's Theatre. During this time she married Louisiana musician, Davidson Claudfield Nelson (Jul.25, 1903-Apr.7, 1946). The couple settled at 166 West 128th Street with her brother William and the mother of her ex-husband, Ward Calloway. This second marriage was also brief. 

Scene from "Laughter" (1930)

In 1930, she appeared in the comedy film produced by director Harry d'Abbadie d'Arrast, Laughter. Filmed in Astoria, Queens at Paramount Studios, Ollie appeared as Pearl, The maid to actress Nancy Carroll's character, Peggy Gibson. In 1937, she also briefly appeared in the 1937 film, “The Timid Ghost”, directed by William Watson.

In March 1931, she appeared in Yonkers as a member of the Bronze Ballet Plastique. The group rebranded and returned to New York City as the Negro Art Theater Dance Group, appearing throughout the summer, although it didn't receive much recognition. By the fall of 1931, Ollie had retired as a dancer at age 56, focusing on her career as an actress. From 1931-1942, she appeared in numerous stage productions, such as “Run Lil Chillun, Run!” which opened at New York's Lyric Theatre on March 1st, 1933 and ran for three and a half months. She was also hired as a choreographer, teaching Russian dances to American entertainers. 

Colonial House Restaurant

By May 1943, at age 67, she retired from the stage altogether, working at the 34th Street Subway Station exchange booth. A few months later, she traveled to California, visiting a friend in Oxnard. During her visit, she accepted what was supposed to be a short term gig as a hat-check girl at the Colonial House Restaurant, the most popular spot in Ventura County frequented by Hollywood stars. Instead, this visit turned into a permanent residency. For the next 22 years, she checked coats, waited tables and occasionally performed onstage at the Colonial House. In-between songs, she frequently recounted stories of her time in Europe to diners. Suffering from a heart condition, she retired in 1965.

On April 2nd, 1974, Ollie Burgoyne passed away in Oxnard. Four days later, after a service at Payton’s Mortuary Chapel, she was buried at Ivy Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery. 

Tiger Lily (1892-19??)

On February 6th, 1892, Beatrice Anderson was born in the village of Calhoun in Ouachita County, Louisiana. She was the one of three children to John Anderson. Beatrice, like many members of the Anderson family, was affected by Piebaldism, a rare, inherited disorder of pigmentation characterized by patchy areas of skin and hair that lack melanocytes, the pigment-producing cells. This leads to white patches of skin and hair, most notably a white forelock of hair. Because of this condition, several members of the Anderson family, traveled the United States and Europe with Vaudeville companies and freak shows. Three of Beatrice's aunts, Sadie, Fannie and Rosie were touring Europe as the Three Tiger Graces.

Around 1901, Beatrice and her Aunt Hattie (who was a year older), traveled to New York in the care of retired acrobat, Henry “Harry Mack” McDonough (Apr.22, 1839-Mar.2, 1909) and his German wife, Emilia Marie Margarethe Franke (Jan.1, 1877-Apr.7, 1948). There the girls were given lessons in song, dance and acrobatics. That November, the young duo sailed to France with Barnum and Bailey's Circus, touring for months before the circus returned to the United States. 

However, Beatrice (now Tiger Lily) and Hattie (now Texas Hattie) relocated to Berlin with their caretakers and began touring for the next 13 years around Continental Europe, North Africa and the United Kingdom. In April 1907, while appearing at Rome's Salon Marguerita, were interviewed by Fabio Frassetto (1876-1953), Italian anthropologist and professor at the University of Bologna about the Anderson family history and their pigment condition.

In March 1909, after Harry Mack's death, Margarethe took over as their manager for the next eight years. After the outbreak of the First World War, the duo departed Switzerland for the Russian Empire where they signed a contract with Anatoly Durov's Salamonsky Circus in Moscow. 

In January 1916, after a thirteen month tour across Russia, Finland, Latvia and Estonia, Anatoly Durov suddenly died in the Ukraine. The women began appearing in cinemas, cabarets and variety halls in Petrograd and Moscow until departing for Finland in September for a four month appearance with Helsinki's Circus Olsen. 

Returning to Petrograd in January 1917, the women were engaged again for four months at the Circus Salamonsky (now run by Durov's son). It was during this engagement that the February Revolution broke out. After renewing passports at US Embassy, the women made appearances in Tula, Helsinki and Riga throughout the summer before returning to Petrograd in September.

In October, the women returned to Moscow for another four months at the Circus Salamonsky. During this engagement, they were caught up in the October Revolution. Instead of fleeing, they continued touring Russia and Estonia throughout 1918.

In February 1919, Durov Jr. escaped with the Salamonsky Circus to France, however Beatrice and Hattie Anderson were stopped at the Russian frontier and returned to Moscow. Their manager, Margarethe McDonough was able to return home to Germany. Beatrice Anderson, who was already suffering from an illness, was hospitalized for seven months. Hattie disappears from records and may have perished. After being released from the hospital, Tiger Lily resumed working at the Aquarium Theater in the fall. In February 1920, she received a medical operation and with the help of the Red Cross, was able to relocate to Reval, Estonia seven months later, where she made appearances before sailing to Germany. 

Tiger Lily resided at Cranachstraße 51 in Berlin's Friedenau district with Margarethe McDonough and after a month of rest in a clinic, resumed performing in January 1921. After running a dance school in Berlin briefly, she left for an extended European tour across Germany, Czechoslovakia, Austria, Hungary, Yugoslavia, Romania, Estonia, Latvia, Norway, Denmark and the Netherlands until 1924. From 1924-25, she traveled Central Europe as a tap dancer with the Bailey Brothers. Afterwards, she joined Louis Douglas's Black Follies company, with whom she traveled as a chorus girl for a year. 

1932 Marriage Certificate

From 1929-1932, Tiger Lily's career began to fade. She toured Eastern Europe, Turkey and Egypt as a member of the Cubanola Trio. On October 22nd, 1932, while appearing in Copenhagen, she married Karl Kristian Olsen and settled in Denmark, becoming a Danish citizen. Unfortunately the marriage was brief, as Tiger Lily was listed as a widow in the 1940 Danish Census. 

1940 Danish Census

She lived quietly in Denmark, surviving the German occupation until April 1953, when she sailed from Copenhagen aboard the SS Oslofjord to New York. She listed 312 Manhattan Avenue as her destination. 

Her trail goes cold afterwards. It's possible she joined her Aunt Sadie Anderson (June 20, 1886-July 1965) in Harlem, who had returned to the US in 1925 and was still touring across America in the 1950s as Sadie: The Leopard Skinned Woman. Another aunt, Rosie Meschi-Anderson (December 28, 1877-December 10, 1955) had retired and was living quietly in Syracuse with her daughter Victoria. 

Claudius Modjesko: The Creole Patti

Claudius Modjesko: Die Kreolische Patti

Born Edward Claude Thompson on December 26th, 1878 in Beaufort, South Carolina. In the late summer of 1893, the Sea Islands Hurricane devastated the Southeastern coast of the United States. Beaufort was especially hit hard, leaving much of the African-American community out of work. 

In 1894, at age 15, Claude began performing as a female impersonator (simply donning evening dresses), possibly in minstrel shows around the Southeastern United States. Three years later, by 1896/97, he had begun donning wigs and applying makeup. Audiences usually were unable to distinguish him from the other women in the show. 

Rome (1898)

By late-1898, received the opportunity to sail overseas to Europe. After a short period in Paris, he left for Rome. In various interviews, Claude claimed to have studied voice at an Italian music conservatory with a "Maestro Mantini". Instead, he roamed the streets of the Italian capital under the pseudonym of Rajah Kanjit Sinhji, soliciting sex from wealthy Italian male clientele. That winter, he began a relationship with, Mantissal, an advisor for the American Embassy. Eventually the relationship turned to Claude threatening to blackmail Mantissal in exchange for money.

Budapest passport (1899)

On October 21, 1899, Claude arrived in Budapest, moving into the Szallodaban Jozef Foherceg (Archduke Joseph Hotel), where for the next 22 days he began relationships with various Hungarian men, later ending with him extorting them for money. Eventually, on November 10th, Claude auditioned and landed a job as a female impersonator at the popular Etablissement Somossy Mulato. He also struck up a friendship with another African-American performer, Edgar Jones, who was also performing at the cabaret. For months, Claude had been the subject of an ongoing investigation involving the Italian government and the American Embassy. He was finally arrested on November 13th and imprisoned for seven days. After intense interrogation, he finally admitted his true identity to the Budapest's American Ambassador. On November 20th, Claude finally made his debut at the Etablissement Somossy. However, on the 22nd, he received his American passport and fled the city after only appearing for three days. 

1898:

Sails to Europe (October)

1899:

Budapest, Hungary- Archduke Joseph Hotel (October 21)

Budapest, Hungary- Etablissement Somossy Mulato (November 20-22)

Stockholm (June 1902)

Claude doesn't reappear until March 1902, performing for a week at Copenhagen's Cirkus Variete as "Modjesko: the Creole Patti". For the next 11 months, he successfully toured across Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Russia. For a brief period, at the beginning of the tour, he often accompanied the African-American entertainer and bandleader, Geo Jackson. In June, he appeared at Stockholm's Crystal Salon, and gave a series of interviews with various Swedish newspapers. He claimed to originate from Bombay, son of a Indian woman and British nobleman who sent him to London at age 3 and later Italy at age 10 to study music. In the fall, Modjesko appeared for three months at Stockholm's Mosebacke Variete, performing duets with the tenor singer, Khan Leopold. During this successful engagement, on October 16, Modjesko's personal valet, an African-American named Joseph Thomas was arrested after being caught stealing backstage.

1902:

Copenhagen, Denmark- Cirkus Variete (March 17-24)

Kristiania, Norway- Cirkus Variete (April 7-May 6)

Kristiania, Norway- Tivoli Haven (May 20)

Stockholm, Sweden- "Summer Revue" Kristallsalongen (June 18-July 12)

Gothenburg, Sweden- Lorensbergs Sommerteater (July 18-31)

Moscow, Russia (August)

Stockholm, Sweden- Mosebacke Variete (October 2-December 31)

1903:

Norrkoping, Sweden- Central Hotellet (January 5-15)

Berlin, Germany (May 8)

Lemberg, Austria- Colosseum Hermanow (May 16-29)

Teplitz, Austria- Variete Schwann (June 20-30)

Brauschweig, Germany (September)

Rome (November 1905)

Early 1905, the Creole Patti was residing west of the German capital at 7 Viktoria-Luise in the comfortable town of Schöneberg. On May 15th, 1905, Modjesko was issued a passport from Berlin's American Embassy for immediate passage to Russia, possibly performing in Moscow despite the ‘05 Revolution raging. From there, he made his way across to Belgium in mid-June for a week. The following month was spent touring across the Netherlands. On August 16th, he debuted at Paris' popular Olympia Musichall, where he shared the bill with Mata Hari, a brand-new exotic East-Indian dancer that had been taking Paris by storm since 1903. After receiving a new passport from the American Consul on August 30th, Modjesko departed in mid-September to Marseille before returning the French capital in October. In November, he departed for Italy, where he distributed signed copies of his publicity shots dressed in beautiful, dramatic gowns and jewelry he had acquired over the course of his tour. He completed the year back in the Netherlands, appearing in The Hague's Scala Theater on December 19th. 

Modjesko on a German postcard (1906)

On March 1st, 1906, Modjesko was back in Paris, headlining at the Alhambra  for another month, before moving on towards engagements in Germany and Italy. On April 24th, shortly after returning home to Berlin, Modjesko wrote a series of letters from his residence at 89 Mauerstraße (located in the middle-class Friedrichstadt District) to British impresarios, particularly a Mr. R. Ruddleslone of Blackpool’s Wintergarden, insisting that he was the only Creole female impersonator on the continent and hoped for a offer of an engagement in Britain during the summer season. Afterwards, Modjesko departed for another small German tour before finally opening in London in August, where he debuted a new song, “My Brazilian Boy” penned for him by the popular African-American composer, Harry Wellmon, whom had recently immigrated to England from the restricting racist American continent. On August 3rd, Wellmon composed another song, “My Blue-Eyed Jane”, which Modjesko performed upon debuting at the Hammersmith Palace Theatre on August 17th. It's unknown if he was engaged in Blackpool, however by the 24th, Modjesko was engaged in Brixton, September 14th at Oxford’s Chelsea Palace Theatre, September 28th at London's Metropolitan Theatre and finally an appearance at the Royal Standard Theatre on October 4th before sailing back to the continent, where he completed the year performing in Hamburg and Rotterdam.

Rotterdam - painting by L. Pissarro (1907)

In February, while in Paris on business, accompanied by his personal couturier, Arthur Brownton, Modjesko was approached by two 20-year old German men, whom called themselves Theodore Frigge and Schmidt. Frigge was really, Herman Otto Ludwig Scholkemeyer, born April 5, 1886 in Seesen, a small town near Hannover. He later settled Wittenberg and Magdeburg, where learned French and English. He first met Modjesko, at age 17 at cabaret in Brauschweig sometime in September 1903. Schmidt was really, Richard Winther, born c. 1886 in Bremen. The two men roamed around Germany, seeking ways to make easy money and running scams. Eventually the two men spent time in Italy, Egypt and Algeria before traveling to France. The two men joined Modjesko's troupe and accompanied him throughout Europe. In March, Modjesko was in Elberfeld, Germany for a week. While the Creole Patti performed, the two men were around town, running scams. Before the engagement was over, they presented Modjesko with a beautiful 400 Franc ring. On March 22, the troupe arrived in London, where Modjesko rented a home at 1 Brook Street, Kennington Road. For the next two weeks, they vacationed in London, while the Creole Patti scrambled to obtain a British booking. On April 8th, they arrived in Gothenburg, Sweden and boarded a train to Stockholm, where they checked into the Hotell Royal. Mrs. Hagman, the directrice of the hotel, quickly became suspicious of the three men and a female impersonator sharing a suite in the luxurious hotel. Eventually Modjesko grew tired of the men, and abandoning them in Scandinavia, fled with his couturier to Belgium on May 24th, where he had a months contract at Brussel's Palais d'Ete. Meanwhile, back in Sweden, on June 26th, Frigge and Schmidt robbed and murdered a Swedish postman named Olsson, fleeing with 700 Kroner only to be caught by the authorities the following day. Modjesko spent the month of July touring across the Netherlands. During this time, he became French Impressionist, Ludovic Pissarro and Dutch Fauvist, Kees van Dongen, who were both so intrigued by with the popular female impersonator, that before long nights onstage, Modjesko found himself being painted by such influential men in the European art scene. Later in the summer, Modjesko embarked on a tour deeper within the European continent. In August, Modjesko resumed his continental tour for two more months, although where he was engaged is unknown. 

Leon Cazauran (1907)

On October 8th, 1907, he was in Liverpool to board the S.S. Caronia on a journey back home to America for the first time in nine years. Upon arriving in New York eight days later, he secured an room at 253 West 30th Street. He was now employed as the personal secretary of the 28-year old French tenor singer, Léon Cazauran from Bayonne (or Bordeaux according to his ship records), who had successfully toured across Southern France, Italy, Algeria and Egypt. In 1906, he had even recorded in Milan. The relationship between the two entertainers is unknown, but the two may have met sometime between 1905-07 in either France or Italy. It's possible that the two were even lovers. 

Central Park

Cazauran finally arrived ten days later  on October 27th aboard the S.S. Kaiserin Auguste Victoria with a contract with the Hammerstein Company to perform in “Les Contes d’Hoffmann” and “Thaïs” at the Manhattan Opera House. Cazauran opened at the Manhattan Opera on November 4th, meanwhile, the duo began frequenting Central Park, strolling through the park together, as Cazauran enjoyed chatting with young boys hanging out at the Monkey House. On November 16th, their activities sparked curiosity in private detective, James J. Cain, who promptly arrested the Cazauran on the charges of corrupted the morals of 12 year old, Eugene Nash. Cazauran, who only spoke French, Spanish and Italian, was constantly shouting, “Eet is amazing!” before rambling on to Modjesko and the judge. Modjesko, who understood what harm an American jury could do to a African-American, took this opportunity to immediately take control of the situation, claiming that he hardly knew English himself, as he claimed he was originally from French West Africa and presented to the court nearly $1000 in bills. The courts immediately decided to drop the charges, however after a brief search of the men, fined Modjesko $10 after discovering a distasteful French nude photograph in his possession. The duo immediately fled back to Cazauran’s apartment at 247 West 34th Street, where they were the following day swamped by journalists. “The arrest won't hurt me much, except in this country, but for Cazauran it is a great tragedy” said Modjesko. “Innocent or guilty, the arrest on such a charge destroys his career. Mr. Hammerstein notified him today that he could not keep his engagement him.” Hammerstein immediately replaced Cazauran with Charles Dalmorès, who learned the role within two weeks. Although in December, Cazauran was allowed to appear in “Don Giovanni”, Modjesko promptly broke off his relationship with Cazauran, packed his bags and returned home to Europe.

1905:

Berlin, Germany- American Embassy (May 15)

Brussels, Belgium- Palais d'Ete (June 24-29)

Rotterdam, Holland- Variete Pflaging (July 29)

Paris, France- Olympia Musichall (August 16-September 21)

Marseille, France- Alcazar Leon Doux (September 22-October 5)

Paris, France- Olympia Musichall (October 6-November 19)

Rome, Italy (November 22)

The Hague, Holland- Scala Theater (December 19)

1906:

Paris, France- Alhambra Musichall (March 1-26)

Dortmund, Germany- Olympic Theater (March 24)

Paris, France- Alhambra Musichall (April 1-17)

Rome, Italy- Etablissement Olympias (April 18)

Paris, France- Alhambra Musichall (April 20-26)

Berlin, Germany (April 24)

Dusseldorf, Germany- Apollo Theater (May 25)

London, England- Hammersmith Palace Theatre (August 17-20)

Brixton, England (August 24-25)

Oxford, England- Chelsea Palace Theatre (September 14-21)

London, England- Metropolitan Theatre (September 28-October 4)

London, England- Royal Standard Theatre (October 5-6)

Hamburg, Germany- Flora Kabarett (November 1-4)

Rotterdam, Holland- Circus Variete (December 14-17)

1907:

Paris, France (February)

Elberfeld, Germany (March 1-7)

London, England (March 22-April 5)

Gothenburg, Sweden (April 8)

Stockholm, Sweden- Hotell Royal (April 8-May 23)

Brussels, Belgium- Palais d'Ete (May 24-June 21)

Amsterdam, Holland- Variete Flora (June 28-July 19)

Rotterdam, Holland- Variete Pflaging (July 26)

Liverpool, England- sails on the SS Caronia back to New York (October 8-16)

New York City, New York- sails back to Europe (December ?)

Paris - painting by K. van Dongen (1907)

On January 23rd, 1908, Modjesko was back in Paris at the Théâtre Scala for a month of whirlwind success. On February, for a brief four days, he was engaged at Antwerp’s Scala Theatre before returning to Paris. Unfortunately, news of the Monkey House incident had reached Western European newspapers. It's unknown how Europeans directors perceived the incident, but Modjesko's contracts in Western Europe began dwindling. He spent the rest of the year touring around France, Switzerland and the Netherlands. 

By 1909, seems to Modjesko have relocated permanently to Central and Eastern Europe, touring frequently between Austria, Hungary and Romania under the new pseudonym, "Claudino". That fall, he returned to Paris, appearing at the Parisiana cabaret for a month. Afterwards he returned east, travelling around Vienna and Prague with the Austrian performer, Pepi Weiss that winter. The Spring of 1910, he appeared in Graz, Budapest (with the Afro-American duo Fredy & Rudy Walker) and Bucharest. In the summer of 1911, while appearing in the Austrian spa town of Karlsbad, he received a passport to enter the Russian Empire. However, on September 11th, he boarded the SS Virginian from Liverpool heading towards Montreal. He's not mentioned appearing anywhere in Canada however. He's back in Europe be the spring of 1912, performing at Prague's Hotel Zentral. 

1908:

Paris, France- Theatre La Scala (January 23- February 28)

Antwerp, Belgium- Scala Theatre (February 15-18)

Basel, Switzerland- Cardinal Theater (April 1-6)

Scheveningen, Holland- Theaterzaal Kurhaus (August 12-28)

Rotterdam, Holland- Casino Variete (September 19)

1909:

Paris, France- Parisiana Cabaret (September 1-October 18)

Vienna, Austria- Etablissement Gartenbau (December 16)

Prague, Austria- Hotel Zentral (December 18)

1910:

Graz, Austria- Grazer Orpheum (March 1-15)

Budapest, Hungary- American Consulate (March 22)

1911:

Karlsbad, Austria- American Consulate (July 5)

Liverpool, England- sails on the SS Virginian to Montreal (September 11)

1912:

Prague, Austria- Hotel Central (April 3-7)

Scenes of Cairo (1914-1916)

After six months in France (according to his passport), Modjesko travelled south to Egypt, arriving a month before the outbreak of WWI. For the duration of the war, he established a residence in the Egyptian capital and toured around the crumbling Ottoman Empire. In January 1920, he began frequently appearing in cabarets and hotels around Beirut. Returning to Cairo in June, he received a new passport from the American Consulate and mentioned his plans of organizing a troupe to take back to Beirut with him for the opening of a new cafe-chantant that Fall. Afterwards, Modjesko disappears, only reappearing briefly on October 13th, 1921 to register with Cairo's American Consulate.

1914:

Arrives in Cairo, Egypt (June 4)

Cairo, Egypt- American Consulate (November 14)

1920:

Arrives in Beirut, Lebanon (January 23)

Beirut, Lebanon- American Consulte (May 11)

Returns to Cairo (June 11)

Cairo Egypt- American Consulate (August 2)

1921:

Cairo, Egypt- American Consulate (October 13)

Cairo - Passport photo (1920)

Afro-Americans in Imperial Russia: Irene Ford

Clara Irene Ford (1877-1906)

Clara Irene Ford, born December 17th, 1877 in New York traveled to Europe early-1895 with a group consisting of Walter Wilkins (Dec.25, 1874 - Petersburg, VA) and Josephine B. Kent (Dec.25, 1873 - Washington DC)

Under the direction of German Impresario, Adele Weltenburg, the trio toured around Germany, Sweden and Russia for a year. On November 29th, 1895, Irene and Josephine signed a four-year contract with Frau Weltenburg, and continued touring successfully across Germany, Scandinavia and Russia until 1898. At some point, Marguerite Rhodes (Apr.27, 1877 - Washington DC) and Victoria Crockett (Aug.20, 1876 - Manhattan, NY) also joined the troupe.

In 1899, Irene Ford went solo, adopting the pseudonym, "Brazil Girl" performing her exotic songs and dances for eight consecutive years.

1899:
Berlin, Germany {Applied for passport} (Feb.3)
Copenhagen, Denmark- Circus Variete (Mar.6)/Amsterdam, Holland- Circus Carre (Mar.16-19)
Riga, Latvia- Variete Monopol (Apr.4-30)
Saint Petersburg, Russia- Aquarium Theatre (Sep.13)

1900:
Posen, Germany- Apollo Theater (Nov.?)
Berlin, Germany- Passage Theater (Nov.4-Dec.30)

1901:
Dresden, Germany {Applied for passport} (Feb.11)
Hamburg, Germany- Apollo Theater (Sep.14)
Hamburg, Germany- Apollo Theater (Dec.1)

1904:
Moscow, Russia- Aumont Theatre (May 1-5)

1905:
Moscow, Russia {Applied for passport} (Dec.24)

1906:
Moscow, Russia {Entertains Laura Bowman & Pete Hampton during their visit} (?)
Kiev, Ukraine {Clara Irene Ford dies mysteriously in Kiev} (Nov.28)

Since her arrival in Europe, Ms. Ford established a permanent residence in Moscow and after 1904, spent the majority of her time performing mainly around the Russian Empire.

In early 1906, together with Ollie Burgoyne, she entertained Afro-American duo, Hampton & Bowman during their Moscow engagement. In her later memoires, Laura Bowman recalls that Irene Ford was a popular attraction that had a string of Russian lovers from whom she frequently received expensive gifts.

On November 28th, 1906, during the chaos of the 1905 Revolution, Clara Irene died at age 28 in the provincial city of Kiev. Although her death was reported by the American Consulate, they never mentioned in any of the reports exactly her cause of death.

Pearl Hobson (1879-1919)

Pearl Lillian Hobson (1879-1919)

Pearl Lillian Hobson was born on July 7, 1879 in Bedford County to Susan Hobson and a unknown (possibly white) father. In 1870, according the United States Census, Susan and her son Pompey (born 1869) still lived at the home of her parents. However, by 1880, she had bore several other children, Pompey (1870), Claude (1872), Virginia (1874) and Romeo (birth date unknown) and was residing in a local boardinghouse employed as domestic. Pearl was never listed on the 1880 US Census, and was most likely born at another date as by the time of her death, 1883 was used as her birthyear. Eventually the Hobson family relocated to Roanoke.

In 1898, at age 19 (or 15), Pearl had migrated north to New York, where she frequently posted ads in various New York newspapers seeking employment as a live-in housekeeper. By 1900, she found as a maid for the Leventritt family.

During the summer of 1901, French actress, Nina Diva, wife of the Austrian millionaire Baron Erlanger organized the Fencing Musketeers (also known as the Fencing Octoroons and Les Mousquetaires Noirs) consisting of eleven black women, which after two months of rehearsing, opened at New York's Circle Theater (October 26, 1901). The show consisted of lead performer, Jennie Scheper (born 1877 in Washington DC), who had come from the Sons of Ham show. There was also, Bidie Hall (born 1882 in Dunkirk, NY), Edith Adams (born 1876 in Indianapolis), Ollie Fitch (born 1880 in Staunton, VA), Mattie Stafford (born 1870 in Norfolk, VA), Minnie Brown (born 1884 in Chicago, Il), William H. Ward (born 1876 in Salisbury, MO), Jennie Ward and of course, Pearl as well as two other unnamed women. In January 1902, the show played Boston's Howard Theater (January 12–18) and New York's Garden Terrace.

On February 5, 1902, the troupe departed from Philadelphia aboard the SS Belgenland, arriving 4–5 days later in Liverpool. By the time the show reached Europe, the show had lost member, now advertised as the 10 Fencing Musketeers Company. Early February through March, the toured across Germany, appearing in Bremen, Kiel and Hamburg. On April 14, while appearing in Copenhagen's Arenatheatret, the women applied for passports at the US Embassy. Later the women appeared in Stockholm's Svea-Teatern (May 1–5) and Budapest (June–July). On July 5, while appearing in the Hungarian capital, the furious women attacked their manager for not paying as a much as they were promised. The fighting became so severe that Hungarian police had to intervene.

Afterwards, the women reappeared that October in London, now managed by Geraldine de Grant, a German impresario who renamed them, Die 7 Florida Creols Girls sending them off to continue touring across the continent. The troupe later moved on to Düsseldorf's Apollotheater, Leipzig's Kristallpalast, Brussels, Amsterdam's Rembrandt Theater (November 24-December 9) and Rotterdam's Casino Variete.

In January 1903, the troupe opened in Paris at the Casino de Paris (January 1-February 23), where they were praised for their extraordinary demonstration of the Cakewalk. So popular were the women, that they were photographed at Studio Waléry, who distributed their photos as postcards for eager European and American tourists. During their sujourn in the French capital, the troupe quickly began to dissolve. Mattie Stafford quickly became a popular French attraction, Bidie Hall began her solo tour and Edith Hall probably returned to America. The remaining quartette, continued on with a month's engagement at Vienna's Ronacher Theater (March 7-31) and two weeks at Budapest's Municipal Orpheum Theater (Apr.1-15). In June, the troupe finally reached the vast expanses of Imperial Russia, appearing at a popular café-chantant in Moscow. Unfortunately, in Russia, every theater is under the power of the police. Nothing can be said or done against their wishes, and if the wish to stop any performance, why they stop it, and that is all that there is to it. The police saw their first performance and allowed them to go on. However, after their tenth performance, the police have stopped them, saying that the American cake-walk was too suggestive. On July 4th, the American Consul, Samuel Smith, invited all the American performers who were in Moscow to a celebration on the grounds of the consulate. The program included, the Manhattan Quartette, Smith & Doretto, Weston of loop the Hoopology, Miss Walcott, the Florida Creole Girls Quartette and Harry Houdini (who wrote about the women in his diary).

Afterwards the troupe moved on to appear in St. Petersburg and Riga's Hagenstalna Wafaras Teatris (August 18-23). In October, the troupe were in London, appearing at the Royal Holborn Theatre before finally completely dissolving. Minnie Brown returned to Germany and Jennie Scheper adopted the pseudonym, Madagascar Girl and departed for her own solo tour. 

At the beginning of 1904, as the Russo-Japanese War raged, Pearl and Ollie Fitch returned to St. Petersburg to pursue their solo careers. On February 18th, Pearl opened successfully at Helsinki's Nymark & Stavenow Restaurant (February 18-March 19). On April 15, she returned to St. Petersburg and applied for a new passport at the American Embassy. Immidiately afterwards, she began traversing across the Russian Empire as a popular American variety artist around musichalls between St. Petersburg, Odessa and Moscow. On January 22, 1905, a large public demonstration outside of the Tsar's palace escalated into the Bloody Sunday riots. Chaos quickly ensued across the Imperial capital and soon across the Russian Empire. Throughout 1905, serfs and radicals took to the streets and engaged in armed struggle with soldiers and the gendarmerie, sailors of the Potemkin battleship muntinied at the Black Sea port of Odessa. Tsar Nikolai badly misjudged the Russo-Japanese War in the Far East, which soon lost public support and exposed the many weaknesses of the Russian military and political institutions. Defeat at the hands of 'inferior' Asians served to speed up public unrest that was becoming so serious that the Tsar was forced to end the war with the Treaty of Portsmouth on September 5, 1905. To overcome the heartbreak due to the loss of the war, St. Petersburg was overcome with forced gaiety, which Pearl joined in.

During the spring of 1906, Pearl was entertaining in Moscow as noted by her visit to the American Consulate on April 28th. That summer, despite increasing violence across Russia, Pearl was in the seaside Ukrainian city of Odessa entertaining audiences at the popular famous North Hotel-Restaurant, which had a beautiful open-air café chantant in the back gardens. Odessa was a polyglot city and a cosmopolitan city, and theatrical life there was in full swing. Its population numbered 630 thousand people, a third of whom were Jews and 30 thousand of whom were foreigners - Greeks, Armenians, Germans, Romanians, Italians and many others. With its wide, straight, shady streets and elegant stone houses, it would not be out of place anywhere in the Mediterranean. The city was an important trading center and, despite its distance from two capitals, it was never a quiet or provincial city. Trendy restaurants and hotels, gourmet shops, popular cafes and several theaters enjoyed the attention of many wealthy citizens. Sailors from exotic ports mixed up with the city robbers in noisy taverns next to the commercial port. On the outskirts of the city, the coast of the estuaries was littered with villas, looking at the sparkling sea surface. Meanwhile, throughout the summer, the violence prompted many of the elite to flee to the comfort of their country homes. Soon, these same estates were being torched and pillaged nightly, sometimes entire villages would out for the looting. On the horizons, nobleman and their families could see the glow of fires and the cries of the savage mobs. That autumn, as Russia became isolated due to the sudden halt of telegraph and postal services, many American expatriates began boarding trains and ships in the chaos back towards America, or at least other safer European countries. Around September 1906, Pearl sailed to New York to wait until the violence of the revolution died down. She eventually decided to visit her relatives, spending ten months in Bluefield with her brother Pompey, a brakeman with the Pocahontas division. She also made trips to visit her other brothers, Claude in Columbus and Romeo in Roanoke. Pearl attracted considerable attention in West Virginia for owning many valuable gems and wearing a $1500 fur coat. While in Bluefield, she also took the liberty of taking out a $800 life insurance policy with the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company. 

On June 6, 1907, the 1905 Revolution was finally extinguished with brutal force. Although order was established, the issues that sparked the violence remained and fueled the peasants' desire for revenge. A tense atmosphere gripped the country. There was the constant presence of the strongly emerging left-wing movement which was bent on purging the decadence of Tsarist Russia. This was, of course, the infant Bolshevik movement, but despite this business was booming again. After the revolution, a small suffragette movement swelled across Russia. The emancipation of women brought a shift in Russian society, billowing Victorian gowns were thrown aside and replaced by fashionable unimpeding svelte dresses designed by designer Lamanova. Divorce laws were eased in response to feminine demands for freedom of choice in marriage. Throughout the summer, theaters and cabarets reopened, foreigners returned and entertainers resumed their tours through the major cities. Throughout the year, Black entertainers traveled to Russia in droves. With the exception of random artists touring Europe, very few black people have ever been to Russia, and very few of them have remained in it to live. All across the Russia, Black performers such as Belle Davis, Abbie Mitchell, Josephine Morcashani, the Black Troubadours, and the popular duo Johnson & Dean filled the musichalls with excitement every night. They treated each other cordially and invited each new fellow Negro performer into their hotel rooms for breakfasts consisting of neckbones and beans to feel more at home. In St. Petersburg, a confectioner exploited the popularity of Ragtime by issuing the latest Negro minstrel hits on records pressed into discs of hard baker’s chocolate. 

On August 8, 1907, Pearl returned to New York and immediately applied for a new passport before returning to Europe. Arriving back in Russia on September 17, Pearl re-established herself in St. Petersburg and by the winter had established a considerable following in Moscow during her successful engagement at the prestigious Yar restaurant. Located on the northwestern edge of Moscow, the Yar Restaurant, opened in the 19th Century, was among Moscow’s most celebrated restaurants and stood out because due to its age. The Yar was considered by many connoisseurs to be the finest in Russia and of the best in all of Europe. Whenever she wasn't performing, Pearl watched from the wings as the popular Sokolovsky Gypsy choir performed beautiful Russian romance songs led by the gypsy guitarist Nikolai Shishkin. The Yar's artistic director was Afro-American, Frederick Bruce Thomas, a former waiter whom immigrated to Russia in 1899 and had worked at the popular Aumont Theater since then. He too had fled Russia during the terrible 1905 revolution and upon his return had gained a position at the Yar. It was he, who had possibly arranged Pearl's engagement at the restaurant, and was soon even managing her career. Pearl became a well loved, wealthy and respected entertainer, performing in Russian, German and French, attending films, symphonies, operas and making conquests in high society. Thousands flocked to the theaters to hear this Virginia coloured girl perform, and soon the Rubles poured in.

During the summer of 1908, Pearl had returned to St. Petersburg, performing in a revue "Grand Concert Divertissement Cosmopolite" at the Bouff Theatre-Garden (May 20-June 14) on 114 Fontanka Embankment in the heart of the Izmailovo Gardens. Built in 1901 by Russian merchant,  Pyotr Tumpakov, the Bouff became a favorite recreation area for locals of the Russian capital. Mr. Tumpakov made it a tradition that the Bouff opened every spring and all true Petersburgers considered it their duty to attend the opening of the latest show. The wooden theater, completely flooded with light, greeted the audiences with a large curtain, which was entirely covered with advertisements. The ticket prices to the theater were quite affordable at the time, and those who could not afford them could, walking in the evenings along the Fontanka, listen to their favorite tunes for free. However, many were able to easily peek through the cracks of the wooden walls to catch the shows.

That winter, she moved over to the popular Theatre-Garden Aquarium located on 10-12 Kamennoostrovsky Avenue. In between the nonstop masquerade balls, fireworks and festivals, Pearl sang beautiful Russian Romances and performed her dramatically orchestrated dances nightly at the most fashionable venue in the capital of the Russian Empire (October 20-December 1).

In 1909, Pearl returned south, to her old stomping grounds at Odessa's North Hotel-Reataurant, where posters plastered everywhere proclaimed her as Russia's Mulatto Sharpshooter. 

By the beginning of 1910, Pearl was residing in a luxurious apartment at 20 Kamennoostrovsky Prospect, down the street from the Aquarium Theatre. Upkept by a team of servants and chauffeured around the city in her own personal car, Pearl Hobson had become a precursor to Josephine Baker. She was among the highest paid Black actresses in Russian cabarets and music halls. From January 18th to February 12th, 1910, she returned to Moscow for another season at the Yar Restaurant.

During this successful period, Pearl soon caught the eye of the illustrious Count Alexander Sheremetev. Born in St. Petersburg in 1859, Sheremetev attended the Corps des Pages before joining a guard regiment and being later named aide-de-camp to Tsar Nikolai II in 1902. Like his grandfather, Sheremetev had a passionate love of music. In the 1880s, he established his own symphony orchestra, which gave free concerts in St. Petersburg. He was himself a fine pianist and head of the Imperial Court Choir (since 1901) where he worked alongside composer, Mily Balakirev. His other love was firefighting. He even established at his Ulyanka estate the Peter the Great Firefighting Brigade, which was composed of six hundred strong men outfitted with the latest firefighting technology. Tsar Nikolai II granted him special permission to quit receptions at the court whenever there was a fire, so he could ride off with his brigade to battle the flames. From his father, Aleksandr inherited more than five hundred thousand acres in thirteen provinces, one fashionable mansion on the French embankment in St. Petersburg and ten homes in Moscow (including the extraordinary palatial estate of Ostankino) where he lived grandly with his wife, Countess Maria Geiden, and their four children. He never traveled without a large entourage of servants, personal musicians and even cows from his villages to assure a steady supply of fresh milk. Surprisingly Countess Maria wasn't angered by her husband's relationship with a negress, and in fact considered Pearl a friend. It wasn't unusual for the Countess to occupy a private box on one side of the theatre while Pearl occupied one on the other side. In Moscow, Sheremetev kept up another mistress, Dagmara Karozus, a dancer at the Moscow Arts Theatre and shared an apartment on 3, Sheremetevsky Lane with several other Russian dancers, such as Elizaveta Otten. With the help of Sheremetev, Pearl developed into a well-received singer and ballet dancer, that headlined nightly at the Aquarium Theatre. 

During the summer of 1911, while engaged once again at Odessa's North Hotel, she applied for a new passport on August 5th. The following year, Pearl was in Kiev, performing for a week at the Apollo Theater (March 7-14). 

On June 28, 1914, Gavrilo Princip assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria in Sarajevo, setting in motion the events leading to the outbreak of World War I. On August 4, after Germany invaded Belgium, while simultaneously attacking France, Great Britain declared war on Germany. On August 23, Japan entered the war on the side of the Entente. Throughout the Russian Empire, the war was greeted with an eruption of patriotic fervor. Posters appeared everywhere, calling every able-bodied man to help defend their country. Men were seen standing in long lines to enlist (or to answer the draft), boys were boarded into trucks heading for their local regiment bases. On every street corner stood a soldier. Russia entered a period of unprecedented bloody savagery which would last for seven years and claim the lives of more than ten million people. No other country paid the price for the folly of 1914 as Russia did. Since the outbreak of the war, Russia's lack of arms and ammunition was quite apparent. The shortages became so severe that soldiers were sent to the front without guns and ordered to look for them amongst the dead. Many soldiers didn't even have boots. The officer corps, half of which were noblemen, suffered terrible losses in the first battles against the Germans. In the early months of war, many families began following the action closely on a large map of Europe. Most men were away fighting on the front lines, leaving the women and children behind alone in the villages and cities. Caring for the sick and wounded soldiers became a popular way for noblewomen to do their part for the war effort. Although most of their motives were honest and sincere, there was some elements of vanity and rivalry amongst the aristocratic women to see who could house, feed and care for the soldiers more splendidly than the rest. Other nobles, such as the Sheremetev family, converted several of their properties into hospitals, organized shipments of relief packages to Russian prisoners of war, helped bandage the wounded at private infirmaries and formed organizations dedicated to helping war orphans. On September 1st, the Tsar declared that St. Petersburg would from then onwards be known as Petrograd. Russian high society began basking in what would be the Russian Empire's last spectacular year and to be Russian society's greatest season. There was a feverish desire to have a good time to combat the undercurrent of nervousness. It was possibly a large distraction upon newspapers reporting on October 29 that the Ottoman Empire attacked Russia. All of Petrograd indulged in wild partying, amusement and merrymaking before the Tsarist government initiated prohibition that November (alcohol was banned for the remainder of the war). One highlight of the year was Countess Shuvalov's black and white ball, with the uniformed Chevalier Gardes in attendance. Everyone spent their evenings out at the opera and attending parties. Pearl entertained at the popular establishments, watching everyone dance the tango and downing champagne to the wailing of gypsy singers, red-clad Romanian violinists and clinking glasses. Everyone was spending money as quickly as they could because they weren't sure what was to happen next. 

In January 1915, in the middle of a very cold winter, the attention of Russians was riveted to another terrible wave, reports of war in Galicia. Austro-Hungarian troops launched a counter-offensive against the Russian forces in the Carpathians. But this attack was a fiasco, and by March the advancing Russians had taken the great fortress of Przemysl, thus preparing for the march along the pass to Budapest and Vienna - the two capitals of the Habsburg monarchy. Dramatic events unfolded in the south and the Russian populace watched them, experiencing a mixture of anxiety and arousal. At this time, Russia opened a second front - in the Caucasus Mountains and the Black Sea. The Ottoman Empire was its longtime enemy, which is now united with the Central Powers. Two months after the start of the war, Turkish warships shelled cities on the southern coast of Russia, including Odessa.

On September 3, shortly after moving into a new residence at 23 Kamennoostrovsky, Pearl made sure to renew her American passport. Around the same time, Tsar Nikolai II made the disastrous decision to replace Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich and assume supreme command of Russia's armed forces. From that point onwards, the military's mounting failures were blamed solely on the tsar. With the tsar off at the front, Tsarina Alexandra, along with the mysterious holy man Grigory Rasputin, took command of the government. Rasputin's murky influence and the negative public perception of the German-born Tsarina as an enemy spy fed talk of dark forces at work that destroyed Russian society's waning trust in the Romanovs. Everywhere, pamphlets were distributed claiming: "To be for the Tsar is to be against Russia!" Everyone, even Imperial family members, begged Tsar Nikolai for change and reforms to allow society a greater voice in the government, although it was likely to late by then to halt the drift towards revolution. Society's lack of trust in the government was matched by the government's distrust of the people. Convinced that the people, particularly the bourgeoisie, presented a grave threat to the crown, the Okhrana kept surveillance on the wealthy. Private homes were being monitored for subversive activities. The government feared many aristocratic women were inviting military officers in their salons and encouraging seditious talk. Government agents believed the elite's alienation from the throne a more serious threat than the one posed by the poor and disenfranchised. Many aristocrats found life in the city burdensome and many retreated to their country estates. 

By mid-1916, while the mood was falling in the country, the feverish atmosphere began to penetrate into the entertainment that civilians and military were looking for. On the eve of the war came from Argentina, flew to Paris and sped around the world a new dance fashion, the Tango. During the war years, the popularity of tango increased; however, some professional dancers and singers brought ominous notes to his elegant, stylized eroticism. One couple became famous for their "Tango of Death", in which a man, dressed in a flawless tail coat, was made up in such a way that his face looked like a skull. It was a melodramatic echo of the gloomy news coming from the front. Meanwhile, on July 10th, Pearl relocated again to 26 Kamennoostrovsky, this time with former troupe member, Minnie Brown residing with her.

Throughout the year, with millions of peasants sent off to the front, food shortages loomed over Russia and the rapid increase in the price of goods fueled larger and more frequent strikes in the cities. The gendarmes were becoming reluctant to repel the masses of protesters, instead many policemen began joining the crowds, shouting: "Down with the War!" Once, while Grand Duchess Xenia's automobile drove through the streets of Petrograd, a group of street kids chased the car and pelted it with snowballs, yelling, "Down with the filthy bourgeoisie!" On the night of December 16th, a group of men led by Prince Felix Yusupov murdered Rasputin in an attempt to free Russia from his mysterious influence. Profoundly shaken by his death, the Tsar and his family retreated into seclusion. Petrograd became a massive lunatic asylum, discontent rising with each day. The dire food shortages, combined with the 300% inflation left Russia on the brink of revolution on the part of the lower classes. 

On March 8 (O.S. February 23), 1917, over seven thousand female textile workers from St. Petersburg's Vyborg district, marched through the streets crying for bread. The shortages had left the lower class starving, cold and desperate. Banners were erected everywhere, denouncing both the war and the Tsar. The crowds began breaking shops windows and raiding bakeries. Before the day ended, as many as ninety thousand had marched through the streets before order was restored. The revolution, however, had just begun. Throughout the night, Bolshevik revolutionaries organized further strikes and marches into the city center. The following morning, more than three hundred thousand workers from the northern outlying neighborhoods, crossed the Neva river at Alexandrovsky Bridge where they pushed through several hundred Cossacks on their way towards Nevsky Prospect. The city's fine inner-city neighborhoods had not seen such chaos since the 1905 revolution. By March 11th, Cossacks patrolled the streets and machine guns were positioned everywhere. Street gatherings were banned and residents were warned that the authorities were ordered to confront any unrest with force. Despite these measures, protesters filled the streets only to be met by gunfire. All the blood spilling in the streets caused many soldiers to mutiny and join the mobs. On March 12th, half of the city's 160,000 man garrison had joined the revolutionaries. Prisoners across the city were released into the streets, gendarmes were murdered, courthouses, arsenals, shops, private homes and the Ministry of the Interior were looted and ransacked. Mobs killed any respectable looking men, causing many gendarmes to strip their uniforms and flee the city. At the Mariinsky Palace, government ministers met to resign from their positions before slipping out of Petrograd by nightfall. Towards the end of the day, a red flag was raised above the Winter Palace. The capital was now under Bolshevik control. On March 16th, Tsar Nikolai abdicated and as their world dissolved around them, many aristocrats fled to the countryside. The old order evaporated and anarchy spread. While the Duma met at the Tauride Palace to consider how to address the chaos, a rival political power, the Petrograd Soviet of Workers & Soldiers Deputies, held a meeting in the palace's right wing. The new provincial government, in order to win the support of the Soviet and it's the leader, Vladimir Lenin, agreed to an amnesty for all political prisoners, freedom of speech, press, and assembly. They also agreed to the abolition of all restrictions based on race, class, religion, and nationality. The Okhrana and corps de Gendarmes was also to be abolished. The Bolsheviks began attacking the Burzhúi (bourgeoisie), or anyone classified as privileged. All it took was a starched white shirt, smooth hands, eyeglasses, a woman's hairstyle or even any evidence of bathing could classify a person as Burzhúi, causing an angry mob to set upon you.

After the February Revolution, on March 28, Pearl registered with the American Embassy instead of bothering to renew her passport like Georgette Harvey, Minnie Brown or any other American citizen planning to flee the country. By May, Russia was already adapting to the country's new political reality, although most activities continued as before. Although it was noted at every prestigious venue, the 19th-century opera "A Life of the Tsar" was hastily dropped from the repertoire. The Provisional Government declared broad civil liberties, it also pardoned all political prisoners, including terrorists; in addition, about two thousand thieves and murderers were released from prisons. Russia was flooded with a wave of crime - there were looting in the streets, attacks on houses and businesses. The new militia, which consisted mainly of volunteer students, was ineffective, and homeowners were forced to organize their own associations for mutual protection.

On November 7, the Bolsheviks struck again in Petrograd. Two days earlier, having changed his appearance, Lenin left the temporary asylum in Finland and slipped into the capital; he managed to convince his comrades that it was time to take power. Red troops, coordinated by Leon Trotsky - a talented assistant of Lenin - occupied a number of strategic sites in the city. That night, the Bolshevik-led soldiers, sailors and factory workers attacked the Winter Palace, the former royal residence where the Provisional Government met. A small defense force in the palace, consisting of two or three junkers' mouths and a part of the women's battalion, was suppressed after several hours of confrontation. Bolsheviks arrested members of the government; Kerensky, who had become prime minister by that time, was able to escape by taking a car at the United States embassy. Throughout the course of the October Revolution, with her artistic career suddenly interrupted, Pearl spent her time with her servants packing up her silverware, linens, furnishings, expensive fur coats, jewelry, stage costumes and musical instruments valued at about two hundred thousand Rubles. 

Early December, after everything was loaded up, Pearl left Petrograd, traveling west along the Primorsky Highway into the Sestroretsky District. This narrow strip of coastal land was occupied by forests, parks and swamps with a much favorable climate compared to the Russian capital, and its beautiful beaches along the Gulf of Finland made it a popular resort destination for Russian nobility, who constructed numerous country villas throughout the area. She possibly arrived in the village of Tyurisevya (now Ushkovo), who's railway station had opened on November 1st, 1916, otherwise, she would've had to stop in the town of Terijoki. It was in this village, a little area known as Harjula stood a small mountain surrounded by deep ravines and covered in ferns and arbors decorated with hazel and blue flowers. Numerous narrow walking paths led up the mountain to several observation platforms and a beautiful country mansion that had been purchased the previous year by Count Sheremetev. It was already teeming with servants, preparing for the arrival of the Count and his wife. It was from here, Pearl continued along the Primorsky Highway towards the coastal village of Metsäkylä (now Molodyozhnoye), a small Finnish village first established in 1721. In the southern part of the village, in tiny Merila district sat a quaint two-story cottage with a four-story tower attached, which became known as, Dacha Hobson. The property, surrounded by acres of trees with a remarkable view of the Gulf of Finland and the mouth of the Vammelsuu River, was Sheremetev’s gift to his mulatto mistress. As she settled into her new home, she sent to America her last letter to her family, mentioning that she had survived the Revolutions and had recently purchased a new house. On December 6th, Finland declared independence from Russia, immidiatlely closing off its borders and completely absorbing the entire Sestroretsky District into the new nation. With Metsäkylä now apart of Finland, Pearl was safe from Russia's chaos. 

On January 27, 1918, Finland entered into a hectic Civil War, as the former Grand Duchy of the Russian Empire transformed into an independent state. The civil war was fought between the Reds, led by a section of the Social Democratic Party, and the Whites, conducted by the conservative-based Senate and the German Imperial Army. The paramilitary Red Guards, composed of industrial and agrarian workers, controlled the cities and industrial centers of southern Finland. The paramilitary White Guards, composed of farmers, along with middle-class and upper-class social strata, controlled rural central and northern Finland. The conflict finally ended on May 15th, as Finland emerged as an independent, democratic republic. 

In December 1918, Pearl adopted four children: Anselm (1904), Aina (1905), Vanya (1909) and Elina (1913). Their mother, Anna Maria Repatti, had lost her husband in 1914 from smallpox and was now struggling to feed all of her children. Pearl offered to adopt of the children and moved them into her home. Unfortunately, six months later, Pearl Lillian Hobson died on June 4, 1919 at age 39 due to Typhus, although Elina Repatti believes that Pearl instead died of the Spanish Flu.