Despite the quiet Quaker ideals of the Fell family, there was one member who heard the siren call of the stage and left Illinois for something other than more land or new mercantile businesses. Charles Carroll Fell, a son of Kersey Fell, left Bloomington with his friend Jacob Welby to form a song and dance team called Welby and Pearl, for of course, Charles would not bring his family name into disrepute on the stage. Welby had given up a fine career as a barber in Quincy, and Charles had given up the pressures of achieving as much as his illustrious forebears.
Welby & Pearl started out with a dancing and acrobatic routine. They began their careers by moving to Chicago as teens and stayed together for some 25 years according to the Pantagraph. They were acrobats, dancers, singers and actors. Charles was known as an expert clog dancer, and on the strength of this, they became black face minstrels a few years into their careers.
The first mention of the duo in the Pantagraph came in 1877 when they wrote home about a performance in Pennsylvania. In 1878 a notice of their appearance at Bloomington's Durley Hall was made, and everyone was encouraged to be kind to the duo because of problems they had had with managers. They traveled on to Texas in 1878 and expected to stay there throughout the winter. Over the years they became strong favorites in Bloomington and Quincy.
A 1902 Pantagraph article disclosed that life on the vaudeville circuit was not a bed of roses, mostly because Pearl had managing as well as acting duties.
The Gorton Company travel in their own car (railroad car), have their own chef and waiters. The placing of the car, the planning of the parade, the concert attraction and the looking after the financial end of the business are parts of the duties of the manager-actor, so that the time spent on the stage is but a small percent of the whole.
The railroad car had to have been a large one, because the Gorton company was a large one with well over thirty performers, including band instruments.
Charles must have had the Fell business sense, because he became the manager of the Gorton Minstrels as well as a part owner. Even as manager Charles was known as C C Pearl, rather than "Fell." The Gorton Minstrels traveled all over the United States -- in 1904, for example, they were announced in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, North Dakota, Montana, Oregon, California and Louisiana newspapers! Traveling with the Gorton Minstrels was Cleone Pearl Fell, a juvenile comedienne and dancer. She first appeared with the family in 1901, when only six or seven years old: "Little Cleone Pearl Fell, a member of the dancing quartet who does not look to be over six years old, showed herself to be what was advertised -- a phenomenon."
She was the daughter of Charles and his wife, Nellis Cook. (The photo is of Cleone at age 10.) Cleone remained on the stage at least until 1916, when she was about twenty-two years old. It is suggested in one newspaper that when Cleone became heir to a mysterious estate, she learned that she was not the daughter of the Fells, but their adopted daughter. Once she inherited, she disappeared from the papers. She had been working at that time as a exhibition ball room dancer in Wisconsin.
Despite his fame, Charles' death was not noted in Bloomington until his brother, Kersey Jr., died about a month later in July of 1925. Once this death came to the attention of the Pantagraph a long article was published extolling Charles' long career. "And now the voice of the minstrel is still. The silvery chords that enthralled thousands during the 40 years of his stage career, will be heard no more. The curtain has fallen, but for many hearts, the memory of this sweet singer and Adonis of the stage, can never fade."