From Bute Street to the Big Apple
When Josephine Baker first took to the stage at the Theatre des Champs-Elysees in Paris, performing alongside her was Sadie Hopkins. When Paul Robeson performed at the Drury Lane theatre in London in the production of showboat (1928), ‘Little Eva’ was there. When Ken ‘Snakehips’ Johnson was tragically killed when the Cafe de Paris in London took a direct hit during the Blitz, the man playing the Guitar that he danced to, was Joe Deniz. When Adelaide Hall married her husband Bert Hicks, it was from Cardiff (Via London) that he came to America.
Tiger Bay is famed for it’s talent. With Iconic Singers such as Shirley Bassey, Patti Flynn and Lorne Lesley singing their way from the Cabaret circuit and onto our screens, it comes as no surprise that the talent runs deep.
So who were some of those early performers and where did they perform?
To answer this question, we have scoured Archives in Wales, London, Paris, Harlem, Vienna & Berlin, watched hours of footage, and read countless Biographies, in order to find further information about Cardiff’s performers.
This project has been set up in order to record Welsh Performers who may appear within Archival material.
We would like to encourage you to come forward if you have any information about any of the following performers, or have any formation that you would like to add.
The following information will place many performers right at the heart of the 1920’s ‘Jazz Age’, and the Harlem Renaissance. It is thanks to the significant interest in this field, and the extensive biographical information available, written by Band leaders, Theatre owners, Show producers etc that we have been able to find sources for many of the memories that have been shared among family members, even when their names don’t appear on the record.
Sadie Hopkins
Sarah Hortencia Francisco was born in 1894 in Liverpool, England. Following the death of her Father William, her mother Annie remarried and Sadie (or Sally as she was known in Wales) took on the Hopkins name.
Sadie was spotted when a talent scout came to Cardiff, as they often did, looking for talent, when she was between 14 and 16 years old. There is little evidence of what performances Sadie did prior to 1911, however she described touring with a couple of shows including the Georgia Coons, before touring the American South, with Matilda Sissieretta Joyner Jones ‘Black Patti’. Sadie recalled travelling through the American South and her time sleeping in Railway Wagons but she didn’t enjoy her time with the troupe.
Images of Sadie Hopkins (Sarah Hortensia Francisco), Courtesy of her family.
Sadie appears on two 1911 Census records, as a Music Hall Artist, in both Cardiff and Hull (She was in Hull at the time). Her Daughter was born in Cardiff in 1913 and Sadie is on an Incoming Passenger List at Liverpool in 1919.
Sadie’s own memories help us fill in some of the gaps as she recalled becoming stuck in Vienna/Berlin when a troupe she performed in disbanded and they were stranded with no wages. Two Managers had split the troupe and hers became unsuccessful. While stuck there, she received some help from 2 German performers who showed her how to Dance and they directed her to a local Cabaret where she managed to get some work. Sadie befriended some Russian Trapeze Artists, who performed as a trio. They helped each other get to America before the Outbreak of War. When looking for the Broadway she had heard so much about, she bumped into her old manager and he encouraged her to go to Harlem for employment. Sadie Recalled working in Harlem’s Lafayette Theatre and others in the area.
Sadie is first recorded as Performing with the Southern Syncopated Orchestra (SS0) in Nottingham, Teeside and London in 1920 (Incuding in the Eighth Sales race Concert, for Mr Harry Gordon Selfridge and His Staff) and in Paris in 1921 .
Sadie appears as Sadie Thompson in an original Programme for La revue Negrè in Paris’ Theatre des Champs-Élysées in 1925 and was placed there by some of the recollections of surviving troupe members.
It remains unclear whether Sadie was in Paris before the show arrived at the theatre in 1925, or whether she came over to Paris from New York or Europe. Her recollection of working with Elvera Sanchez and being present at the Birth of Sammy Davis Jnr however places her at the Lafayette Theatre after the Groups’ initial 7 weeks in Paris (December 1925). It remains unclear whether she was present for the whole 7 weeks of the show. Sadie returned regularly to Paris for other shows, often living there for a few months of the year.
Sadie next appears in a series of Images of the Blackbirds revue in London. Taken on the Rooftop of the London Pavillion in 1926, Sadie appears (first in the Chorus line) on an image which features Gwendolyn Graham and Dancers and also with Florence Mills and Johnny Hudgins (Directly behind Florence Mills).
In 1927, Sadie appears at Chez Vouz Cabaret in the Excelsior Hotel, Lido, Venice where she is said to have come from the Mascotte Palace in Berlin.
During the 1930’s Sadie performed in England, at the Florida Club, with many other ‘Tiger Bay’ Expatriates and in 1938, Sadie performed at the Drury Lane Theatre in ‘The Sun Never Sets’.
In 1940, Sadie is advertised as singing with Al Jennings and his Band at the Ritz.
Finally, in 1947, Sadie is recorded as Sarah Hortencis Francisco on a passenger list, arriving in America. The place she is residing is interesting as she lists her friend Hilda Greenlee, and the address of 265 Dixwell Avve, New Haven Connecticut. Sadie lists Dress Maker as her occupation and it remains unclear whether she performed at the Club the Greenlee’s owned, The Monterey.
Sadie retired from performing and became a hairdresser after the war. Sadie lived to the grand age of 100.
Sources
https://www.hcearchive.org.uk/
Lefferts, Peter M. 2018. Will Marion Cook and the Tab Show, with particular emphasis on Hotsy Totsy and La revue Negre. University of Nebraska. Lincoln.
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1076&context=musicfacpub
https://elvirabarney.wordpress.com/2012/02/15/blackbirds-revue-of-1926/
https://catalogue.royalalberthall.com/
https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/34/article/397640
https://www.jstor.org/stable/20640678