Shuffle Along (1921), a musical comedy by Flournoy Miller, Aubrey Lyles (book), Eubie Blake (music), Noble Sissle (lyrics). [63rd Street Theatre, 504 perf.] Two partners in a Jimtown grocery store, Steve Jenkins (Miller) and Sam Peck (Lyles), become opposition candidates for mayor. Each promises the other that if elected he will make his partner chief of police. Jenkins wins and keeps his word, but Peck soon realizes he has nothing to do. Noisy fights and public charges of corruption follow, so before long Harry Walton (Roger Matthews) announces he will run as a reform candidate. He ousts the partners, who ramble off seeking new worlds to conquer. Notable songs: I'm Just Wild About Harry; Love Will Find a Way; Bandana Days. Although there had been a number of turn‐of‐the‐century black musicals, most starring Bert Williams and his partner George Walker, the vogue for such shows had died off until the raging popularity of this show set off a new boom that survived into the 1930s. Its superb, rhythmic dancing was a major attraction and set a pattern that caused most African‐American musicals of the decade to be looked upon primarily as dancing shows. Except for Blackbirds of 1928, none of the period's similar musicals matched its success. The Baltimore‐born composer [James Hubert] Eubie BLAKE (1883–1983) and his lyricist‐singer partner Noble SISSLE (1889–1975) spent 1915–19 with the famous African‐American conductor James Reese Europe. After Europe's murder, the pair enjoyed success as a vaudeville act that shunned traditional black stereotypes. After Shuffle Along, the team's songs were heard in Elsie (1923) and The Chocolate Dandies (1924). With Andy Razaf, Blake wrote the songs for Blackbirds of 1930, then was reunited with Sissle on two failed attempts to recapture the appeal of their first hit: Shuffle Along of 1933 and Shuffle Along of 1952. A revival of ragtime and interest in early African‐American music in the 1970s brought Blake renewed attention, and in 1978 a retrospective revue, Eubie!, further rekindled his popularity as a performer and raconteur. His songs were also featured in the musicals Doctor Jazz (1975) and Bubbling Brown Sugar (1976). Biography: Eubie Blake, Al Rose, 1979.
Shuffle Along
| American Theater Guide: Shuffle Along |
| Wikipedia: Shuffle Along |
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| Shuffle Along | |
| Music | Eubie Blake |
|---|---|
| Lyrics | Noble Sissle |
| Book | F. E. Miller Aubrey Lyles |
| Productions | 1921 Broadway 1933 Broadway revival 1952 Broadway revival |
Shuffle Along is the first major successful African American musical.[1] Written by Flournoy Miller and Aubrey Lyles, with music and lyrics by Noble Sissle and Eubie Blake, the musical premiered on Broadway in 1921.
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Plot
The plot centers on the characters Sam and Steve who run for mayor in Jimtown, USA. If either one wins, he will appoint the other his chief of police. Sam wins with the help of a crooked campaign manager. Sam keeps his promise to appoint Steve as chief of police, but they begin to disagree on petty matters. They resolve their differences in a rousing, humorous 20-minute fight scene. As they fight, their opponent for the mayoral position, Harry Walton, vows to end their corrupt regime, underscored in the song “I’m Just Wild about Harry.” Harry wins the next election as well as the girl and runs Sam and Steve out of town.
As the show closed, one character explains that the lighter the skin, the more desirable an African American woman was.
Songs
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Productions
The musical premiered on Broadway at the 63rd Street Music Hall on May 23, 1921 and closed on July 15, 1922 after 484 performances. It was directed by Walter Brooks, with Eubie Blake playing the piano. The cast included Lottie Gee as Jessie Williams, Adelaide Hall as Jazz Jasmine, Gertrude Saunders as Ruth Little, Roger Matthews as Harry Walton, and Noble Sissle as Tom Sharper. Gertrude Saunders was replaced by Florence Mills. Josephine Baker, who was deemed too young at age 15 to be in the show, joined the touring company in Boston, and then joined the Broadway cast when she turned 16.[2]
- Other productions
- Road versions toured successfully throughout the country up to 1924.
- The show was revived at the Mansfield Theatre, New York City, from December 26, 1932 to January 7, 1933, closing after seventeen performances.
- In 1933 Blake, Sissle, Miller, and Lyles reunited but the production was not met with critical success.
- A 1952 revival, starring Sissle and Blake and choreographed by Henry LeTang, was also unsuccessful. It opened at the Broadway Theatre on May 8, 1952 and closed after 4 performances.
Historical effect and response
According to the Harlem chronicler James Weldon Johnson, the 1921 musical revue Shuffle Along marked a breakthrough for the African-American musical performer and made musical theatre history. This revue legitimized the African-American musical, proving to producers and managers that audiences would pay to see African-American talent on Broadway.
The musical brought black actors back to Broadway after a 10-year absence during a time when the prominent black actors and producers of the day had retired and/or died. Shuffle Along also brought black audiences to the orchestra rather than being relegated to the balcony, and featured the first sophisticated African-American love story. Moreover, Shuffle Along laid the foundation for public acceptance of African-American performers in other than burlesque roles.
The impact of Shuffle Along rippled through Broadway, with nine African-American musicals opening between 1921 and 1924. For the next few years, black theatre would pioneer several "firsts." In 1928, the first edition of Lew Leslie's Blackbirds featured Bill "Bojangles" Robinson as the first black dance star on Broadway. In 1929, Harlem, a drama by Wallace Thurman and William Rapp, introduced the Slow Drag, the first African-American social dance to reach Broadway.
As scholar James Haskins noted, Shuffle Along "started a whole new era for blacks on Broadway, as well as a whole new era for blacks in all creative fields." Loften Mitchell, author of Black Drama: The Story of the American Negro in the Theatre, credits Shuffle Along with launching the Harlem Renaissance.
According to theatre historian and teacher John Kenrick, "Judged by contemporary standards, much of Shuffle Along would seem offensive...most of the comedy relied on old minstrel show stereotypes. Each of the leading male characters was out to swindle the other."[3]
Trivia
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Lists of miscellaneous information should be avoided. Please relocate any relevant information into appropriate sections or articles. (May 2009) |
President Harry Truman chose the Shuffle Along song "I'm Just Wild About Harry" for his campaign anthem.
References
- ^ Haskins, James (2002). Black Stars of the Harlem Renaissance. John Wiley and Sons. ISBN 0471211524, p. 31
- ^ Hill, Errol (1987). The Theater of Black Americans. Hal Leonard Corporation. ISBN 0936839279, p. 132
- ^ Kenrick, John."History of The Musical Stage, 1920s Part III:Black Musicals",musicals101.com, accessed August 22, 2009
External links
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
 | Blake, James Herbert (American pianist and composer) |
| howdah |
| Schlarb (family name) |
 | How do you install professional shuffle board court along with new vct tile job? |
| How do you make your Ipod shuffle not shuffle? |
| How do you do the cleveland shuffle? |
Copyrights:
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 | American Theater Guide. The Oxford Companion to American Theatre. Copyright © 2004 by Oxford University Press, Inc. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Shuffle Along". Read more |
- Who wrote shuffle along?
- Write an adjective in this sentence the old man shuffled alonge?
- How do you do the shuffle?
- What is shuffling get?
- What was notable about the musical shuffle along in the 1920s?
- Can you shuffle?
- How do you get the shuffle off an Ipod shuffle?
Mentioned in
- Blake, James Herbert (American pianist and composer)
- howdah
- Schlarb (family name)
- Florence Mills (American Theater)
- Early Rare Recordings, Vol. 1 (2003 Album by Eubie Blake)
- Adelaide [Louise] Hall (American Theater)
- Eubie Blake and His Friends (1973 Album by Eubie Blake)
- John Cort (American Theater)
- shamble
- Noble Sissle (Jazz Artist, '20s-'50s)
- Mae Barnes (Vocal Music Artist, '50s)
- To Someone I Know (2001 Album by Brandon Wiard)
- Chicago Slide Guitar Legend (1998 Album by Homesick James Williamson)
- Sissle & Blake's Shuffle Along New World (1976 Album by Various Artists)
