Before Modeste Abdallah Guillaume Between Williams Walker Glee Club Bel Canto Studio
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See also: Historical Photographs of Dr. Modeste Abda’llah Guillaume (Abdullah): Neville Goddard’s Teacher Before Atlantic City knew him as “Dr. Modeste Abda’llah Guillaume, D.M.,” the baritone Doctor of Music with a Bel Canto studio, he was a working member in the biggest Black musical machine of the 1900s. Williams & Walker wasn’t a nightclub act or a simple vaudeville show; it was a full-scale touring company that even hit London. This was top Black musical theater that featured epic scores, choreography, and a men’s glee club during the summer months to keep the cast employed. If you were in, you had credentials. Most members of this glee club were picked from top conservatories and were serious musicians. Our first clear glimpse is 1905, where Modeste Bel Guillaume appears among the “Williams & Walker Gentlemen” the all-male glee club. Bert Williams and George Walker built the most ambitious Black musical-comedy company of their time. Their Broadway runs of In Dahomey (1903), Abyssinia (1906), Bandanna Land (1907) were not vaudeville acts. They picked their members from classically trained Black talent, graduates of Fisk, Howard, Oberlin, and the National Conservatory of Music and worked with composers like Will Marion Cook and the Johnson brothers.n2215 ¶2
THE STAGE. By “WOODBINE. WILLIAMS AND WALKER GLEE CLUB. By DOROTHY.n2215 ¶3
In order that he might keep the young men of his company in touch with each other during the summer months and also to furnish them employment, George Walker organized the Williams & Walker Glee Club at the close of the season in the summer of 1905. The members were chosen from the male chorus and are graduates of the best music schools. At that time the following composed the club: William C.n2215 ¶4
Elkins, director; J. L. Hill, Henry Green Tapley, Sterling C. Ray, Charles Henry Young, Charles Henry Moore, Charles Lincoln, Theodore Lawrence Pankey, James Escort Lightfoot, J. Mantell Thomas, Adolph Manuel Henderson, Arthur H. Payne, Lloyd E. Gibbs, Lewis Henry Saulsbury, and Modeste Bee Guillaume. Some few changes have been made.n2215 ¶5
In August, 1905, this club visited Dr. and Mrs. Washington at their summer home at South Weymouth, Mass., near Boston, and their presence was highly appreciated by the great educator. The club has appeared in vaudeville with much success and has been a headliner over Caucasian artists of note and have therefore proved themselves to be one of the best choruses seen in this line for many years. Their repertoire consists of both popular and classical musical numbers, which are received enthusiastically by the public everywhere, and the absence of rag-time is quite a surprise, while their version of high class music is enviable. The conductor, William C. Elkins, is a trained musician, who has studied in New York and London, and the success of the club is due to his superior knowledge of this art and his ability to bring out the talent of the young men of the chorus. It has always been conceded to the Negro that he can sing. He is blessed with this marvelous gift and with training he is wonderful. There is that quality in their voices that appeals to the hearts of the world and to the minds of the more critical. A commendable trait of the men who form his chorus and entertain so splendidly audiences everywhere, is the high regard they have for women and their appreciation of goodness. They have high ideals and are striving to live up to them. The press has been generous to them, not in a flattering way, but giving the plain facts about the organization. It was the purpose of Mr. Walker also when he organized this chorus to further and advance the art of music among his race, not only the acquisition of money and fame, but to develop them along artistic lines. And the result has been the fulfillment of the lofty purpose and the promoters are well pleased.n2215 ¶6
That summer, the company’s glee club went to South Weymouth, Massachusetts to the home of Booker T. Washington and his wife. For readers outside the US, Washington was a national figure, a primary leader in the African-American community, a famous Black educator in the United States and Black elite. An invitation to sing in his living room was to be invited to one of the highest Black social rooms of the day. The list of singers printed with the visit includes “Modeste Bel Guillaume. Four years later the playbill gives him a Chicago Pekin Theatre (the first black owned musical and vaudeville stock theatre in the United States) program for January 21, 1909 credits a number “Arranged by M. Bel Guillaume. An abrupt change came quickly. George Walker had to leave the stage due to illness in early 1909; he died January 6, 1911. The Williams & Walker partnership practically ended the month he retired. The company unraveled, and its singers had to land somewhere. Trade notes that year describe Guillaume as “late of Williams & Walker’s Company” (July 1909) and add that he was writing for the Ditson publishing house. This was most likely a short composing/arranging stop as the troupe folded.n2215 ¶7
By April 1910, the federal census finds him in Atlantic City, entered as “Modeste Abdallah Guillaume,” age 40, born Morocco, mother tongue Arabic, immigrated 1889, ALIEN and, on that form, “married 20 years. He is listed in a widow’s house at 120 North Tennessee Avenue as a lodging manager. What is interesting is that on the 1910 schedule at 120 N. Tennessee Ave, Guillaume is one of the only adults on the page not marked B for Black but OT; the enumerator writes “OT” (Other) and lists born Morocco, mother tongue Arabic (all the other censuses with Abdullah say Algiers).n2215 ¶8
In Jim Crow times, that’s an interesting twist. But it shows how the “Abdallah” (more arabic) presentation when he landed in Atlantic City, may have been consciously chosen to open different doors than “vaudeville baritone, colored. It’s the lane he then monetized as “ Arabian composer and artist… Leschetizky method ” from the same address. Enumerators in 1910 were instructed to use W (White), B (Black), Mu (Mulatto), Ch (Chinese), Jp (Japanese), In (Indian). Some used Ot/Other for people they perceived as “Oriental/foreign. That’s what appears beside Abdallah Guillaume though in other census records the same man is “B”.n2215 ¶9
The same year, from that exact address, a small advertisement announces: Dr. Modeste Abda’llah Guillaume, D.M. Arabian composer and artist. Studio of music, 120 N. Tennessee Ave. Leschetizky method. Bell 2485-A.n2215 ¶10
And later in 1910 he marries Cora Contee; the county record writes him as “Modest Gwillanme,” but again gives 120 N. Tennessee Ave as his residence. The 1910 census is “married 20 years” and the new marriage in the same year sit side by side on paper; we’re noting this for future research. By the New Jersey State Census of 1915 the household is somewhat steady at 1708 Arctic Avenue with Guillaume, Cora, and her mother Ella at 1706 and his occupation is music teacher. What is fascinating is that his is one of the few names totally botched with ink and the only one with an impossible age for 1915 – (1889+36=1925)…was the enumerator dizzy? We added up the entire page. Just to recap: – 1910 reports Morocco; – 1915 and 1920 report Algiers/Algeria. By 1920 mother-in-law is at 1708.n2215 ¶11
That is the story we have for 1905–1910: a chorus professional with arranging credit leaves a great company as it collapses and is welcomed in the Washingtons’ home during its height, and within a year is in Atlantic City. As an aside, to consider, especially since we spent an enormous amount of time researching Ethiopia to no avail, is this: Isn’t it strange…maybe not so strange…that one of the last big titles wrapped around Modeste Bel Guillaume in this period was Abyssinia, a play about Ethiopia? This was a hit show that staged Ethiopia with full orchestra, pageant, and a drilled men’s chorus. Abyssinia (rehearsed out of the glee club in 1905, opened in New York in 1906) was about two Black Americans who come into money, sail to Abyssinia, and tumble into palace mix-ups under Emperor Menelik II before it all resolves in spectacle and song. So when “Ethiopia” keeps echoing around Abdullah later, let’s keep this playbill in mind.n2215 ¶12
About the name. If you’re tracking Modeste through programs, you’ll see him three ways: Modeste Bel Guillaume, Modeste Bee Guillaume, and H. B. Guillaume on a 1908 Bandanna Land bill. George Walker became well-known for his extravagant wardrobe, and Cole and Johnson wore black tie, as did the all-male Williams and Walker Glee Club. Such dress dignified the performances and Keith management rarely referred to them as “coon acts. A particularly successful tour of the glee club prompted a Pittsburgh manager to describe the fifteen formally dressed members as “the most gentlemanly colored people we have ever played,” and a New York manager to report that the choral group received “monster applause throughout the entire act.” [Sotiropoulos] The photo was not captioned (though his name mentioned) in the Booker T Washington reference. If we would have to guess, until we have further photos, we would say, back row second to the right. In the group photo above he is most likely standing next to John Leubrie Hill (newspaper typo) whose song Abdullah arranged “Chief Bungaboo” Appendix 1 An interesting note for further research.n2215 ¶13
Source See our research: Rosicrucian Societies in NYC (1921–1933) and The Abdullah Investigation: The Hidden Teacher of Neville Goddard – Part 2: Obelisks, Lodges & Ethiopian Mystics SCOTTISH FREEMASONRY – ANOTHER DIFFERENCE Freemasonry admits men of any race, creed, colour, faith, political persuasion or social position. However, it cannot be denied that this has been a difficult position to maintain as we are all human beings with beliefs and prejudices that hamper that high and laudable aim. We do not wish to become embroiled in a debate about past (or even present) prejudicial and/or sectarian practices and attitudes. The whole point of this page is to provide information about and to discuss Scottish Freemasonry. With that cautionary note we wish to discuss something we consider important in the history of Scottish Freemasonry.n2215 ¶14
The photograph provided here was taken in 1905 after several African Americans were initiated in a Scottish Lodge. They were: 1) Egbert Austin Williams Aged 30 2) George William Walker Aged 31 3) Henry Troy Aged 28 4) John Edwards Aged 26 5) George Catlin Aged 37 6) Peter Hampton Aged 33 7) Green Henri Tapley Aged 29 8) John Leubrie Hill Aged 30 9) James Escort Lightfoot Aged 33 10) Alexander Rogers Aged 28 All are recorded as being ‘Theatrical Professionals’. ‘Bahamian-born African-American comedian and singer Bert Williams (1874–1922) was a phenomenally popular figure in the field of American theatrical entertainment during his heyday in the first two decades of the twentieth century’. This quote is from: In 1893, he signed on with Martin and Selig’s Minstrels where he met George William Walker and both became lifelong friends 1903 saw the Williams & Walker Co. arrive in Britain to tour the country giving performances of their very successful vaudeville act. Soon after their arrival, king Edward VII reportedly struck up a friendship with Williams, who attempted to teach him the cakewalk, the game of craps, and a few of his dialect comedy routines. Sadly, history does not record whether Williams was successful. Brothers Williams and Walker, together with eight other members of their vaudeville troupe were Initiated into Scottish Freemasonry on 2 May, Passed on 16 May and Raised on 1 June 1904.n2215 ¶15
The Scottish Lodge concerned was Lodge Waverley, No.597, which continues to meet in Edinburgh to this day. Resources Abbott, Lynn, and Doug Seroff. Ragged but Right: Black Traveling Shows, “Coon Songs,” and the Dark Pathway to Blues and Jazz. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2007. Cullen, Frank, with Florence Hackman and Donald McNeilly. Vaudeville, Old and New: An Encyclopedia of Variety Performers in America. New York: Routledge/Taylor & Francis, 2006. Cuney-Hare, Maud. Negro Musicians and Their Music. Washington, DC: The Associated Publishers, 1936. Dietz, Dan. “Abyssinia. In The Complete Book of 1900s Broadway Musicals. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2022. Forbes, Camille F. Introducing Bert Williams: Burnt Cork, Broadway, and the Story of America’s First Black Star. New York: Basic Books, 2008. Gatewood, Willard B. Aristocrats of Color: The Black Elite, 1880–1920. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1990. (Midland Book ed. Hill, Anthony D. “Abyssinia. In Historical Dictionary of African American Theater, 2nd ed. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2018. Jasen, David A., and Gene Jones. Spreadin’ Rhythm Around: Black Popular Songwriters, 1880–1930. New York: Schirmer Books, 1998. Mayes, Seán, and Sarah K. Whitfield. An Inconvenient Black History of British Musical Theatre: 1900–1950. London: Methuen Drama/Bloomsbury, 2021. Riis, Thomas L. Just Before Jazz: Black Musical Theater in New York, 1890–1915. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1989. Sampson, Henry T. Blacks in Blackface: A Sourcebook on Early Black Musical Shows, rev. ed. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2014. Sotiropoulos, Karen. “No Place Like Home: Africa on Stage. In Staging Race: Black Performers in Turn-of-the-Century America, 123–162.n2215 ¶16
Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2006. (2009 pbk. reprint used widely.)n2215 ¶17