Final Years

The final chapter examines Eubie’s revived career on stage and record in the 1970s and 1980s. Furthermore, the chapter discusses key figures who played a role in promoting his career, including historian Robert Kimball; composer/pianist William Bolcom and his wife, singer Joan Morris; recording engineer Carl Seltzer, who partnered with Eubie in forming Eubie Blake Music (Eubie’s record label and publishing company); and lawyer Elliot Hoffman, who championed and protected Blake’s work. The chapter also explores the impact of the mental decline and deaths of Noble Sissle and Andy Razaf on Eubie; Julianne Boyd’s production of a new musical review, Eubie!, which brought his return to Broadway; the show’s development and casting, including bringing Maurice and Gregory Hines to Broadway and their subsequent success; and difficulties dealing with the show’s producer, Ashton Springer. Finally, the chapter relates Eubie’s complex feelings about racism; his work with two biographers, African American journalist Lawrence Carter and jazz writer Al Rose; Rose’s fights with Elliot Hoffman over the writing and publication of his biography; late accolades; and Eubie’s final performances and death.

Hard Times

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.

Chocolate Dandies and the End of Sissle and Blake

This chapter describes how, after touring, In Bamville arrived in New York in debt and with a new name: Chocolate Dandies; the successful introduction of the dance craze, The Charleston, in Miller and Lyles’s competing show, Runnin’ Wild; the mixed reception and short run of Chocolate Dandies on Broadway; successful reception of comedian Johnny Hudgins and the lawsuit by the show’s producers when he left the show for a better-paying gig. The chapter further examines how the show returned to the road to try to work off its debt; Sissle and Blake’s trouble with the law when they were arrested at an after-party for another touring show in Toronto; their successful tour of England; their return to vaudeville in America; and their appearance in a now-lost Vitaphone short. Then the chapter explores the duo’s breakup over Eubie’s refusal to return to Europe; Eubie’s new partnership with comedian/singer Broadway Jones; their touring of an abbreviated form of Shuffle Along in vaudeville under the name of Shuffle Along Jr.; and other touring work, including appearances with Fanchon and Marco’s revues.

A Partial List of Eubie Blake’s Compositions

This list was compiled from ASCAP and copyright records for Eubie Blake’s instrumentals and songs. As such, some titles vary slightly from the published sheet music, and occasionally a title is all that exists for a song that we cannot otherwise identify. Note that the year of copyright may not correspond to the year of a work’s actual composition. For scores for shows, we have listed only songs that were newly written for each production, not those carried over from previous productions or older songs that were interpolated/added to a show’s score during its run. There are many unpublished manuscripts for songs and instrumentals in Eubie Blake’s papers at the Maryland Historical Society that still need to be crosschecked against his known copyrights to establish a more complete list; some of these may be duplicates of other works under different names....

After the War

This chapter opens with background on Eubie’s second wife’s family and their courtship. After World War II, Eubie formed partnerships with several new lyricists. Among them was Ernie Ford, a newspaper advertising executive from Houston, Texas. The chapter also looks at the return of Milton Reddie to New York and Reddie and Blake’s work on the show Cleo Steps Out, which was never produced; Sissle’s continuing interest in reviving Shuffle Along on Broadway; the unexpected success of the song “I’m Just Wild about Harry” when it was adopted as Harry Truman’s campaign song; and their attempts to find a producer/backer, ultimately finding Irving Gaumont, a minor Broadway figure, who was willing to stage the show. The chapter further explores Gaumont’s decision to bring in play doctors and new songwriters to help modernize the show; Shuffle Along of 1952’s disastrous premier on Broadway; Flournoy Miller’s and Sissle’s anger at the way the show was produced and their breakup as partners for future shows.

Blake Meets Sissle

This chapter describes Eubie’s first meeting with Noble Sissle; Sissle’s early life and training; Sissle and Blake’s initial song writing; and their efforts at pitching their song “It’s All Your Fault” to singer Sophie Tucker, who made it a local success. The chapter also discusses Eubie’s travel to New York to join Sissle as assistant to James Reese Europe; his work leading Europe’s band to entertain New York’s society at dinners and parties; and the racism he encountered while performing. Furthermore, the chapter explores the recording of “Charleston Rag”; the outbreak of World War I and Eubie’s lack of desire to serve abroad; the good treatment of black musicians in France as opposed to what they encountered at home; and the death of Europe and its impact on Sissle and Blake.

Becoming an Established Musician

This chapter relates Blake’s first trip to New York and his professional work there. Blake initially did not enjoy life in the big city, so returned to Baltimore for work at a series of social clubs. He finally found a good-paying job working for boxer Joe Gans at his hotel, The Goldfield, where he met the best elements of black society. A lifelong learner, Eubie took lessons from local musician/teacher Llewelyn Wilson, who taught him to compose without sitting at the piano. He courted Avis Lee, who came from a distinguished Baltimore family, eventually marrying here. He also found work in the booming entertainment capital of Atlantic City, NJ, where he met other pianists, including James P. Johnson and Luckey Roberts, and entertainers like Irving Berlin. Through Roberts, Eubie had his first two publications, the rags “Fizz Water” and “Chevy Chase.”

Family and Early Life

This chapter tells the story of Blake’s childhood in Baltimore. It relates his family lineage and his father’s life as a slave, and the life of the Blake family in Somerset County, Maryland. It highlights his father’s work as a stevedore, beginning in the Civil War period, on Baltimore’s docks. This chapter also discusses the upbringing of his strict and religious mother, beginning with her life in an orphanage. Eubie’s first encounters with racism are described, particularly as he was taunted by neighboring white children as he made his way to school. It also describes Eubie’s early interest in and talent for music; his early keyboard training by a neighboring woman and his first attempts to create his own music. The chapter also discusses his first professional work playing at Aggie Shelton’s bawdy house.

Lean Times to Revival

This chapter explores the beginnings of the rediscovery of early jazz and blues musicians by a dedicated band of collector/scholars; Rudi Blesh and Harriet Jans’s research on early ragtime that led them to Eubie; Blake’s partnership with Flournoy Miller to write Hit the Stride (not produced) and Brown Skin Models of 1955, staged as a touring show by Miller’s brother Irvin; and Flournoy Miller and Noble Sissle’s continuing attempts to revive the original Shuffle Along. The chapter also examines the ragtime revival that led to Blake recording two albums for 20th Century Fox with a small Dixieland jazz-flavored ensemble; his appearance at the 1960 Newport Jazz Festival; and how he met ragtime revivalist Bob Darch, leading to a few appearances and a mid-1960s recording. Finally, the chapter discusses John Hammond’s interest in recording Blake and how the recording and success of The Eighty-Six Years of Eubie Blake kick-started Eubie’s late career.

Shuffling On

This chapter discusses the aftermath of the success of Shuffle Along; Eubie’s ten-year relationship with lead actress Lottie Gee and the strains it put on his marriage and his partnership with Sissle; and the first touring companies. It also describes how Josephine Baker joined the main company in Boston and made a success as a comic chorus girl and the troupe’s grand reception in Chicago after their successful Boston run. Furthermore, the chapter examines white critics’ discomfort with the success enjoyed by the show’s writers and their concerns about black actors breaking from stereotypical roles; Blake’s triumphant return to Baltimore and his mother’s continuing disapproval of his secular career; Sissle and Blake’s recordings for Victor Records; growing tensions with Miller and Lyles that led to a breakup of their partnership; and how Sissle and Blake’s next show, In Bamville, hit the road to mixed receptions.