Editing Bob Cole (composer) (section)

==Black Patti's Troubadours: from fame to unemployment==
Later, Cole became an important player in the first shows by [[Black Patti’s Troubadours]] in 1896. Black Patti Troubadours was an American vaudeville group founded by [[Matilda Sissieretta Joyner Jones|Sissieretta Jones]]’ (“The Black Patti”); their performances consisted of blackface minstrel songs and “coon songs,” also featuring acrobats and comedians. Cole's association with this group allowed him to become involved with the Isham shows through the two groups' coalition – the partnered shows predominantly consisted of comedy sketches, vaudeville specialty acts (i.e. jugglers, singers, and comedians), and ending with a variety of opera-like singers. 

Cole also managed his own Troubadour show in which he starred as Willy Wayside (in this case, his character was the tramp) in the musical ''At Jolly Coon-ey Island'' and performed a routine with Stella Wiley. The musical incorporated two of his own songs: "4-11-44" and "The Four Hundred's Ball", and music arrangements by its music director [[J. A. Raynes]]. Although Cole became the top performer amongst his peers, his significant contributions to the Troubadours did not result in higher pay, and he left the company, taking away his own written scripts and songs. Denounced as a thief and troublemaker by the company's white managers, Voelckel and Nolan, his reputation was damaged, and no production manager would hire him. Cole was forced to publish songs under a pseudonym – he used the name Will Handy for his later works after his own name was tainted.