As we begin March, Black History Month has just come to a close in the U.S. I felt this was a great opportunity to tell you about a man who once entertained the masses in France, mostly Paris, as the clown ‘Chocolat’.
Young Rafael becomes ‘Chocolat’
Rafael Padilla was born around 1868, the son of slaves working on a plantation in Cuba. For reasons unknown, he was taken from the plantation to Havana and placed under the care of a woman there. The woman then sold Rafael when he was about 10 years old to a wealthy merchant from Bilbao, Spain. He sailed for Europe and left Cuba behind.
In Spain, the poor kid had to work long hours for the merchant, without pay. Meanwhile, the merchant’s wife reportedly didn’t like the child at all and was cruel to him. Eventually, the teenaged Rafael ran away and found odd jobs to keep him going.
One day, when he was about 16 years old, an English clown spotted him and took the young teen under his wing, first as an assistant, and later as his apprentice. Rafael showed real talent in dancing and singing and learned how to clown! The two ended up touring Europe as a two-person act and somewhere along the way Rafael became Chocolat. They eventually landed in Paris.
The kid had talent!
Rafael/Chocolat had trouble fitting in in Paris, because:
At the time, there were very few black people in France. Given all the European colonialism, especially in Africa, what few black people existed in France were looked down upon.
There was a language barrier for young Rafael - he spoke mostly Creole.
Given these circumstances, being a black clown wasn’t a bad fit for Rafael, despite the racial undertones of the name ‘Chocolat’. However, his character would always be relegated to that of the bumbling buffoon, though he used it to his advantage and became very famous for it. And as far as the language barrier goes, being a clown was a good career for him — a very physical role that didn’t require him to speak!
Eventually, Chocolat met another English clown named Foottit, and the two went on to work as a popular duo: Foottit the dominant clown, Chocolat the silly black fool.
The two of them became a sensation, eventually took up a residency at the Nouveau Cirque on Rue Saint-Honoré in central Paris:
Circuses were once a major entertainment event — and the Nouveau Cirque happened to be where the crème de la crème of French society went for fun. So the fact that Chocolat was center stage there speaks volumes about his talent to entertain the masses. He and Foottit were so popular, the famous painter Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec was inspired to draw several sketches of them, like this one:
Things started to waver after the turn of the 20th century.
By 1905, Chocolat fell ill and it was through a public press campaign that money was raised for his care and support. There were questions over whether he and Foottit would be able to continue their partnership, but the two worked together again in late 1906 for another several years.
During the time, Chocolat would also visit sick children in local hospitals to cheer them up, for which he was awarded a medal of merit. Here he is in a Paris hospital with a clown named Orlando Averino:
Want to see a video of Chocolat doing his thing?
The end of the 19th century marked a change in the world of entertainment — with the invention of moving pictures. Luckily, the pioneers of cinema, the Lumière brothers, were on hand to film a few of Chocolat and Foottit’s sketches.
Watch this YouTube video courtesy of Lumière Films.
Foottit and Chocolat were a duo until 1910. Chocolat started getting flak from the public (I’m not sure why). In 1911, he was given a role in a play that was deemed a failure, partly owing to his poor French, and he was ridiculed in the press.
Meanwhile, the popularity of the circus gave way to other forms of entertainment, like cinema and sports like boxing. Chocolat continued to do some entertaining around France, but he eventually fell into alcoholism and desperation over the death of his 19-year-old daughter.
A sad ending, but a lasting legacy
Chocolat, né Rafael Padilla, died in Bordeaux in 1917 while on tour. Because his exact birth date was unknown, it’s believed he was around 49 years old (that’s how old I am = too young!).
However, he is remembered as the first black star in French history. (For context, his fame was decades before Josephine Baker came on the scene.)
Finally, any legend with such a unique story deserves a biopic on the big screen. In 2016, the amazing French actor Omar Sy played Chocolat in a film of the same name, with Charlie Chaplin’s (!) grandson, James Thiérrée, playing Foottit.
Sources:
BnF Gallica article on Chocolat (in French)
Fondation pour la Mémoire de l’Esclavage (in French)
Remezcla.com: ‘The Incredible Story of Chocolat’ (in English)
Respectrevolt.com: biography of Chocolat
Wikipedia: Chocolat
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