 FERD MORTON
As New Orleans Jelly Roll. Jelly Roll Morton is shown in blackface and is dressed as a tramp with a bowler hat and baggy trousers. This typifies the tramp character that made movie actor Charles Chaplin world famous. Chaplin first wore a similar outfit for the 11-minute 1914 silent movie Kid Auto Races at Venice.
The photograph of Jelly Roll was first published in The Indianapolis Freeman dated 13th June 1914 and accompanied a review for an appearance of Ferd and Rose (Rosa) Morton, at the black-owned New Crown Garden Theatre, Indianapolis, Indiana.
The only known source for the picture of Jelly Roll Morton above is from The Indianapolis Freeman newspaper. [30]
Ferd and Rosa appeared at vaudeville theatres in Greenville, Texas (August 1913); Oklahoma City, Oklahoma (August 1913); Louisville, Kentucky (May 1914); Cincinnati, Ohio (May 1914); Dayton, Ohio (May 1914); Indianapolis, Indiana (June 1914); Detroit, Michigan (June 1914); Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (July 1914), and Chicago, Illinois (August 1914).
Not shown in Mr. Jelly Lord (1980) by Laurie Wright. Shown in Oh, Mister Jelly (1999) edited by William Russell, page 476. courtesy of Prof. Alan Wallace
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