YOUR DAILY DOSE OF EUBIE!!! James Reese Europe was a key figure in the development of African-American popular music on the New York scene. He was born in Mobile, Alabama, on Feb. 22, 1880, to a middle-class black family. The family moved to Washington when Europe was 10, and as a young teen he established …
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“Truckin’ on Down”: Working for W C Handy in the Mid-’30s
YOUR DAILY DOSE OF EUBIE!!! In the mid-‘30s, Eubie took a job in the offices of music publisher W. C. Handy, working as an arranger as well as weeding through the submissions of would-be songwriters. He may have crossed paths with Handy’s secretary, Marion Tyler, who would later become Eubie’s second wife, although Blake did …
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Johnny Hudgins: “Unique and Extraordinary”
YOUR DAILY DOSE OF EUBIE!!! Comedian Johnny Hudgins was hired by the producers of Sissle and Blake’s Shuffle Along followup, In Bamville when it became apparent that the production needed additional comedic talent. Hudgins was a talented mime and eccentric dancer who had established himself by touring with several editions of the Town Scandals revue …
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The Ragtime Revival: Recording for Stereo-Oddities
YOUR DAILY DOSE OF EUBIE!!! A key ragtime revivalist who helped promote Eubie in the early ‘60s was the Detroit-born performer/pianist “Ragtime” Bob Darch, who first wrote to Eubie to introduce himself in fall 1958. Like other performers of this era, Darch was primarily an entertainer, mixing humorous anecdotes, nostalgic songs, and showy and fast …
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Marion Gant Tyler Blake: Part 1
YOUR DAILY DOSE OF EUBIE!! During World War II, Eubie led a band touring USO camps and hospitals in the US. After leaving the USO in mid-1946, Eubie settled into his new Brooklyn home with his new wife, Marion Gant Tyler. Like his first wife, Avis, Marion was light skinned—so light skinned that she could …
Sissle and Blake Go to England
YOUR DAILY DOSE OF EUBIE!! Sissle and Blake spent the summer of 1925 touring on the Gus Sun vaudeville circuit in the Midwest, earning $1000 for 6-7 shows a week, working off their remaining debt from the debacle of Chocolate Dandies. They followed with a 6-week tour of motion picture houses, during which their agents …
The Songs from Chocolate Dandies
YOUR DAILY DOSE OF EUBIE!! Sissle and Blake created an new set of songs for Chocolate Dandies, and Eubie would remain adamant throughout the rest of his life that they far surpassed their original hits from Shuffle Along. However, most of the critics found the songs not to be as catchy as those in the …
