Brown Skin Models of 1955

YOUR DAILY DOSE OF EUBIE!!! The 1950s were lean times for Eubie.  After the failed revival of Shuffle Along on Broadway in 1952, it seemed like there were few opportunities to compose for the stage.  However, in 1955, Flournoy Miller’s brother Irvin invited the duo to write and score the latest edition of his long-running …

“It’s All Your Fault”

YOUR DAILY DOSE OF EUBIE!!! Sissle and Blake first worked together through the summer and early fall of 1915 in Joe Porter’s group in Baltimore.  During this period, the duo wrote their first song, “It’s All Your Fault,” with some help from white singer Eddie Nelson on the lyrics.  (Nelson was singing at River View …

“Bandanaland” Revue

YOUR DAILY DOSE OF EUBIE!!! On May 3, 1922, the New York Clipper ran this notice about a new after-hours revue being staged at Reisenweber’s restaurant/cafe, a famous nightspot located on the edge of the theater district at 58th Street and Columbus Circle: “BANDANALAND CLEVER SHOW.  The invasion of Broadway cabarets by negro performers proves …

THE CLEF CLUB: Part 1

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 …

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 …

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 …

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