Bob Cole (composer)

Robert Allen "Bob" Cole (July 1, 1868 – August 2, 1911) was an African American composer, actor, playwright, and stage producer and director.

In collaboration with Billy Johnson, he wrote and produced A Trip to Coontown (1898), the first musical entirely created and owned by black showmen. The popular song La Hoola Boola (1898) was also a result of their collaboration. Cole later partnered with brothers J. Rosamond Johnson, pianist and singer, and James Weldon Johnson, pianist, guitarist and lawyer, which resulted in over 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 committed suicide by drowning himself in a creek in the Catskills in 1911 after a nervous breakdown and period of clinical depression that worsened in 1910.

Cole was the pre‑eminent leader in the world of black musical theater. As a composer, and even a performer, Cole influenced the development of black musical theater. 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.

As stated in Thomas L. Riis’ “‘Bob’ Cole: His Life and His Legacy to Black Musical Theater,” Bob Cole’s early biography – the details of his past life before the transition into the development of black musicals – were never found in research materials, including historical articles on black theater and encyclopedias. This reveals the difficulty in tracking early African American icons that, even though quite discretely, altered the social climate of blacks in the early ages after the Emancipation Proclamation. However, through the use of Thomas L. Riis’ article, an understanding of Bob Cole’s early life is revealed.

The composer originated from Athens, Georgia, where his father (Robert Allen Cole, Sr.) and mother (Isabella Thomas Weldon) settled after the freedom of blacks through the Emancipation Proclamation. Although Athens, Georgia was shattered by the surrounding war in the South and the racist environment of Southern society at the time, it became a prosperous city dominated by African American families and consisted of several teachers and other skilled, professionally taught individuals. The town was significantly more progressive and advanced rapidly in all parts of the community, maybe on par in development with that of white communities. For example, there were a large number of preachers in the black community – Athens bore thirteen churches, an amount that exceeded those of the supposedly higher-class white churches. In the end, the town was predominantly of African American race where barbers, blacksmiths, shoemakers, and other sorts of community professionals were black; also, most notably, the people of Athens developed one of the earliest black newspapers, indicating the advancement and progression in education of early blacks in the late 19th century. Cole’s father, Robert Cole, took advantage of the opportunities provided in Athens, Georgia, and became well-known through his political activism during the Reconstruction era of the South, where he gained much credibility through his leadership. Robert Cole’s political role may have influenced his son’s own beliefs in the age of social and political distraught, especially in regards to the conditions of the African American race. During his involvement in politics, from 1867 to 1873, Robert Cole became a part of the black Athenians and assisted the Georgia State Legislature. In the end, Bob Cole’s father, with his political side in the background, became a carpenter, supporting his family and his house on Broad Street.

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