This chapter explores Eubie’s collaboration with Andy Razaf for the score of Lew Leslie’s Blackbirds of 1930; difficulties of working with Leslie; the show’s poor reception and short run on Broadway; the success of Blake and Razaf’s song, “Memories of You,” and its recording by Ethel Waters and Louis Armstrong; and the show’s troubled life on the road. The chapter further discusses Eubie’s return to working with Fanchon and Marco; Eubie’s breakup with Lottie Gee; his attempts to land work recording and on the radio; the formation of his own big band; the band’s recordings for the small Crown label; and Eubie’s difficulties dealing with his band members. Then the chapter examines Eubie’s appearance in the short film, Pie, Pie, Blackbird, with Nina Mae McKinney and the Nicholas Brothers; his breakup with Broadway Jones; Noble Sissle’s return to the United States and his reunion with Blake; the creation of Shuffle Along of 1933, with a new plot and new songs; and how Eubie briefly worked for W.C. Handy’s publishing company and published a few new songs and instrumentals with Handy.
Debs v. The United States. A Judicial Milepost on the Road to Absolutism