30 Facts About Pat Chappelle

Pat Chappelle became known as one of the biggest employers of African Americans in the entertainment industry, with multiple tent traveling shows and partnerships in strings of theaters and saloons.

Pat Chappelle left school after the fourth grade and played guitar in traveling string bands.

Pat Chappelle started playing in hotels on the East Coast and was discovered by a prestigious vaudeville circuit owner, Benjamin Franklin Keith, who offered him bookings with the museum circuit in Boston and New York City.

In 1898, Pat Chappelle returned to Jacksonville and organised his first traveling show, the Imperial Colored Minstrels, which featured comedian Arthur "Happy" Howe and toured successfully around the South.

Pat Chappelle opened a pool hall in the commercial district of Jacksonville.

In 1903, while Pat Chappelle was traveling with his Rabbit's Foot Company, he left his brother Louis in charge of the Buckingham Theatre Saloon.

Pat Chappelle left his vaudeville company and rushed to Tampa to hire a lawyer who was able to gain pardon and release for Louis.

Pat Chappelle was fined, although the circumstances of the charge against him were deemed suspicious and the publicity did not seem to tarnish their reputations.

In 1904, the Buckingham Theatre Saloon changed its name and reopened as the Red Fox Music Hall with a pool hall and fancy cafe with the additional marketing help of a cousin, Mitchell Pat Chappelle, who helped secure liquor licenses and license renewals to be in compliance with regulations.

Pat Chappelle commissioned Frank Dumont of the Eleventh Street Theater in Philadelphia to write a show for the new company.

In summer 1900, Chappelle decided to put the show into theatres rather than under tents, first in Paterson, New Jersey, and then in Brooklyn, New York.

Pat Chappelle later won a lawsuit against a rival company, Holland's Georgia Minstrels, for taking away Clermont.

Pat Chappelle stored his equipment in the winter at the Chappelle family property in LaVilla, Florida.

Pat Chappelle was known for creating exciting shows, often coordinated with parades, or parades were organized around his show's appearances.

Pat Chappelle included drama and classic opera in his shows, such as works by Verdi, chorus show girls, and a musical band that included ten brass players, later doubled in size.

The black entertainers were known to be of high quality, and Pat Chappelle advertised in African-American newspapers to find and employ them, and develop their careers.

Pat Chappelle established an all-black baseball team, based in Jacksonville, but which toured with the company and played the local team in each city the company visited.

Pat's father Lewis Chappelle helped out as boss of the company since it had doubled in size, including the brass band that went from ten to twenty players.

In 1906, Chappelle launched travelling tent companies, the Funny Folks Comedy Company, managed by his cousin Mitchell P Chappelle.

Pat Chappelle was unharmed and quickly ordered a new carriage and eighty-foot round tent so the show could go on the following week.

Pat Chappelle tried to gather support to help lower the transportation rates of the Southern Railroad Association, as the high rates targeted the tour shows.

Pat Chappelle wrote, questioning why there were not more African-American owners of companies.

Pat Chappelle went with his wife Rosa to the countryside in Georgia, and then to Atlanta.

Pat Chappelle returned to the tour but then left again in the winter of 1910; his brother Lewis took over some of the day-to-day operations, and his other brother James returned to work in ticketing.

Pat Chappelle told The Freeman newspaper that he had enough money to retire, and announced that he would not take his show out that year due to his health.

Pat Chappelle died in October 1911 at his home in LaVilla, aged 42.

Pat Chappelle married Rosa around 1906; they had no children.

Chappelle died intestate, and his brothers Lewis and James claimed a share of his estate on the basis that the three had entered into a co-partnership in 1900, which remained extant, and that Pat was merely the manager of the touring part of the business while Lewis and James managed the businesses in Tampa.

In 1916 the Supreme Court of Florida found in favor of Rosa and Simuel McGill, so that the entirety of Pat Chappelle's estate, including business interests and a $10,000 life insurance policy, was left to Rosa and not to his brothers.

Pat Chappelle moved the headquarters to Port Gibson, Mississippi, and it continued to tour until the late 1950s.