YOUR DAILY DOSE OF EUBIE!!! While the original Shuffle Along was a major success in New York and in Northern and Midwestern cities on tour, the show never ventured into the racially segregated south. This spot was taken by a “second company,” licensed by the original producers for touring more widely. Under the direction of …
Author Archives: CharlesWHEAT901@#
The Shuffle Along Baseball Team
YOUR DAILY DOSE OF EUBIE!!!!! Here’s a unique item from Eubie’s scrapbooks: A photo of the Shuffle Along ball team at a game they played against a team led by white vaudevillians Van and Schenck. Life on the road was often boring and there were few opportunities for fun. Touring companies often formed ball teams …
Elsie
YOUR DAILY DOSE OF EUBIE!!!! The success of the Shuffle Along score led to many new opportunities for Sissle and Blake in 1922, including a chance to provide songs for a “mainstream” (white) musical, Elsie. Produced by John Scholl, the shows numbers were split about equally between Sissle and Blake and Carlo and Sanders (whose …
Eubie’s First Ragtime Publications
YOUR DAILY DOSE OF EUBIE!!!!!! Eubie met several piano “professors” while working summers in Atlantic City from 190-1915, including Charles “Luckey” Roberts. Born in Philadelphia approximately the same year as Eubie (like Eubie, Roberts gave different stories at different times as to his actual birthdate), Roberts was one of the most accomplished of the East …
Louis Mitchell’s Jazz Kings
YOUR DAILY DOSE OF EUBIE!!!!! Following World War I, James Reese Europe and his band played several concerts in Paris to celebrate the recent victory. They were entranced by the city, where they could move freely, be seated in any restaurant or bar with other patrons, and find work at the same or better pay …
Stage and Cinema Raves about EUBIE BLAKE: RAGS, RHYTHM, AND RACE
Here’s another great review for our book: https://www.stageandcinema.com/2021/01/18/eubie-blake-rags-rhythm-race/ Have you bought your copy yet?
Eubie’s Parents
YOUR DAILY DOSE OF EUBIE!!!!! Eubie Blake’s father, John Sumner Blake, was born into slavery on July 7, c. 1838, in Middlesex county, Virginia. Through his life, Blake idolized his father who he viewed as a “man’s man.” His charcoal-dark skin color stood out to the younger Blake, who noted that “My father was a …
Gertrude Saunders
YOUR DAILY DOSE OF EUBIE!!!!!! Shuffle Along’s two female leads, Lottie Gee and Gertrude Sanders, saw their careers boosted thanks to the show. They were given different types of tunes to perform to suit their different characters. Good-girl Gee performed “Love Will Find a Way” and “I’m Just Wild about Harry.” Modern woman Saunders’s songs …
Sissle and Blake on Vaudeville
YOUR DAILY DOSE OF EUBIE!!!! Following Europe’s death, Pat Casey—the agent who had booked Europe’s band on vaudeville—asked Noble Sissle to continue touring with the Europe band as its leader: [Casey] wanted me to go on vaudeville and probably take 12 or 15 of the band. I said, “No, no, this band’s too great. We …
“Good Night, Angeline”
YOUR DAILY DOSE OF EUBIE!!! Sissle and Blake’s association with bandleader James Reese Europe introduced them to the world of music publishing. Europe had cowritten popular songs with several black lyricists throughout his career, and had a strong relationship with major publishers, including Julius Witmark and Sons. Upon returning from World War I, he and …
