All things Eubie Blake from the authors of Eubie Blake: Rags, Rhythm, and Race!
My coauthor Ken Bloom and I will be presenting on our book EUBIE BLAKE: RAGS, RHYTHM, AND RACE at the Maryland Historical Society, whose archives hold Eubie’s papers, in a virtual online discussion that is open to all. The presentation will be on Thursday, May 6th, at noon. Here’s a link with info about it:http://MCHC …
Continue reading “Don’t Forget Our Presentation this Thursday!”
Here’s the inaugural of our projected podcast series, EubieCast. In this episode, we discuss the life and career of Lottie Gee, the now-forgotten star of Shuffle Along. https://soundcloud.com/richard-carlin-444852616/lottie-gee-ep1-complete-rc-assembly-bh-compression-normalization-mp3-mono
My coauthor Ken Bloom and I will be presenting on our book EUBIE BLAKE: RAGS, RHYTHM, AND RACE at the Maryland Historical Society, whose archives hold Eubie’s papers, in a virtual online discussion that is open to all. The presentation will be on Thursday, May 6th, at noon. Here are links with info about it: …
YOUR DAILY DOSE OF EUBIE!!!! Gee was an ideal performer to play the controversial role of a romantic lead in Shuffle Along. Besides her great talents as an actress and singer, she was fair-skinned with straight hair, which she wore in the popular style of the day. She could easily have passed for white. In …
YOUR DAILY DOSE OF EUBIE!!!!! When Shuffle Along opened in May 1921, it was a surprise commercial and artistic success. The first musical comedy with a script, songs, and dance numbers written by African-Americans—and an all-black cast—Shuffle Along revolutionized the Broadway musical. It was the first musical to present Blacks as “real people”—going far beyond …
YOUR DAILY DOSE OF EUBIE!!!! Before leaving to serve in World War I, James Reese Europe’s band was signed to Pathé Records to make a series of recordings. Sissle joined the group as its vocalist for the group’s recordings in spring 1917 in between attending training camp with Europe’s regiment. Among the numbers he recorded …
YOUR DAILY DOSE OF EUBIE!!!! After the failure of the Broadway revival of Shuffle Along in 1952, Flournoy Miller and Eubie continued to collaborate together on new songs, hoping to launch another show. In 1955, Miller’s brother Irvin invited the duo to score the latest edition of his long-running Brown Skin Models revue. These revues …
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 …
YOUR DAILY DOSE OF EUBIE!!! Songwriters live off the income generated by a major hit song—sometimes enjoying a payoff for decades to come. Similarly, sometimes an old song will be a surprise hit decades later—bringing its writers an unexpected boost in revenue. This is what happened with Sissle and Blake’s song “I’m Just Wild About …
YOUR DAILY DOSE OF EUBIE!!! One of the most revealing experiences we had writing Eubie Blake: Rags, Rhythm, and Race, was in reading the contemporary reviews of Shuffle Along and the other musicals that Eubie scored. The (mostly white) reviewers in the mainstream press—whether intentionally or not—often revealed their own strong racial prejudices in their …
