The show's four writers were African-American Vaudeville veterans who first met in 1920 at a NAACP benefit held at the newly opened Dunbar Theatre in Philadelphia.[8] None had ever written a musical, or even appeared on Broadway.[9] Promoters were skeptical that a black-written and produced show would appeal to Broadway audiences. After finding a small source of funding, Shuffle Along toured New Jersey and Pennsylvania. However, with its limited budget, it was difficult to meet travel and production expenses. Cast members were rarely paid, and were "trapped out of town when the box-office receipts could not cover train fare".[10] The budget was so low that cast members had to wear damaged and worn leftover costumes from other shows. For some time, the entire set could fit in one taxicab, and was transported between theaters by that means (Krasner 244). When the show returned to New York about a year later, during the Depression of 1920–21, the production owed $18,000 and faced strong competition on Broadway in a season that included Florenz Ziegfeld's Sally and a new edition of George White's Scandals. It was able to book only a remote theater on West 63rd Street with no orchestra pit.[11] In the end, however, the show earned $9 million from its original Broadway production and three touring companies, an unusual sum in its time.[12]
Miller and Lyles wrote thin, jokey dialogue scenes to connect the songs: "The plot of ... Shuffle Along was mainly to allow an excuse for the singing and dancing."[2] Miller and Lyles also wore blackface in Shuffle Along. In the 21st century, this may seem unfathomable and offensive; however, the “audiences understood” the “makeup” only “suggested a portrayal of broad comedic characters”.[13] The use of blackface was simply a starting point, not the finish line. Miller and Lyles used the context they were given to captivate and appeal to audiences; however, they maintained their voices rather than resorting to typically exaggerated blackface characterizations. For instance, “rather than entirely embrace the lingering vestiges of minstrelsy” the duo “found ways to alter the formula”.[14] Their act initially appeared to imitate traditional minstrelsy; however, the characters they created were clever, complex, and defied traditional stereotypes.
The plot of Shuffle Along was based on Millers' and Lyles's previous play, "The Mayor of Dixie." (Bordman 624), and in Shuffle Along, they incorporated “their well-beloved characters that they had been playing for years in vaudeville”.[15] Breaking with minstrel tradition, the principal characters wore tuxedos, conveying their dignity. In minstrel shows, characters in tuxedos and blackface typically played the “Zip Coon” type, a stock character which mocked black people who were free from slavery (Harold 75). Shuffle Along rejected this image by presenting its characters as community-oriented men seeking to run for mayor of their city. Furthermore, Miller believed “that the only way to put Negro performers into white theatres with any kind of dignity was through musical comedy”.[16]
The musical drew repeat audiences due to its jazzy music styles, a modern, edgy contrast to the mainstream song-and-dance styles audiences had seen on Broadway for two decades. The show's dancing and 16-girl chorus line were more reasons why the show was so successful.[8][17] According to Time magazine, Shuffle Along was the first Broadway musical that prominently featured syncopated jazz music, and the first to feature a chorus of professional female dancers.[11] It introduced musical hits such as "I'm Just Wild about Harry"; "Love Will Find a Way", the first African American romantic musical duet on a Broadway stage; and "In Honeysuckle Time". It launched or boosted the careers of Josephine Baker, Paul Robeson, Florence Mills, Fredi Washington and Adelaide Hall,[2] and contributed to the desegregation of theaters in the 1920s, giving many black actors their first chance to appear on Broadway. Once it left New York, the show toured for three years and was, according to Barbara Glass, the first black musical to play in white theaters across the United States.[8][17] Its appeal to audiences of all races, and to celebrities such as George Gershwin, Fanny Brice, Al Jolson, Langston Hughes and critic George Jean Nathan, helped unite the white Broadway and black jazz communities and improve race relations in America.[8][9][18]
Composer and lyricist duo Noble Sissle and Eubie Blake created the revolutionary music of Shuffle Along. They incorporated music and visual spectacle with the preexisting narrative to create a unique show. While stereotypes were indeed present, Sissle and Blake worked "within a parallel performance form," replacing "the negative stereotypes… with a vastly more positive image."[14] The musical score was also used to create an exceptional show. Eubie Blake's score was a way to demonstrate his "command of every important genre of contemporary commercial" music without disguising "his individuality or race."[13] His genius used classical musical styles to complement the uniqueness of African-American music, creating a distinctly novel sound. In addition to presenting refined subject matter, the music of Shuffle Along expressed the African-American masteries of music and performance.
Plot
Two dishonest partners in a grocery store, Sam Peck and Steve Jenkins, both run for mayor in Jimtown, USA. They agree that if either wins, he will appoint the other his chief of police. Steve wins with the help of a crooked campaign manager. He keeps his promise and appoints Sam chief of police, but they begin to disagree on petty matters. They resolve their differences in a long, comic fight. As they fight, their opponent for the mayoral position, virtuous Harry Walton, vows to end their corrupt regime ("I'm Just Wild about Harry"). Harry gets the people behind him and wins the next election, as well as the lovely Jessie, and runs Sam and Steve out of town
Songs
Act I
"Election Day" - Chorus
"I'm Simply Full of Jazz" - Ruth Little and Syncopation Steppers
"Love Will Find a Way" - Jessie Williams and Harry Walton
"Bandana Days" - Alderman and Company
"Sing Me to Sleep, Dear Mammy" - Harry Walton and Board of Aldermen
"(In) Honeysuckle Time (When Emmaline Said She'd Be Mine)" - Tom Sharper
"Gypsy Blues" - Jessie Williams, Ruth Little and Harry Walton
Act II
"Shuffle Along" - Jimtown Pedestrians and Traffic Cop
"If You Haven't Been Vamped by a Brownskin, You Haven't Been Vamped at All" - Steve Jenkins, Sam Peck and Jimtown Vamps
"Uncle Tom and Old Black Joe" - Uncle Tom and Old Black Joe
"Everything Reminds Me of You" - Jessie Williams and Harry Walton
"Oriental Blues" - Tom Sharper and Oriental Girls
"I Am Craving for That Kind of Love"/ "Daddy (Won't You Please Come Home)" - Ruth Little
"Baltimore Buzz" - Tom Sharper and Jimtown's Jazz Steppers
"African Dip" - Steve Jenkins and Sam Peck
Original production
Photo of the cast and crew, early 1920s
The show premiered on Broadway at the 63rd Street Music Hall on May 23, 1921, and closed on July 15, 1922, after 504 performances.[5] 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. Saunders was later replaced by Florence Mills. Josephine Baker, who was deemed too young at the age of 15 to be in the show, joined the touring company in Boston, and then joined the Broadway cast when she turned 16.[19]Bessie Allison's first professional performance was in Shuffle Along.[20][21] The orchestra included William Grant Still and Hall Johnson.[22] The musical toured successfully throughout the country up to 1924.[2]
The show was made up of an entirely African American cast and creative team and ran for, “504 performances, generated multiple traveling companies, and sparked the careers of several acclaimed performers” such as Florence Mills and Josephine Baker.[23]
Historical effect and response
The show was "the first major production in more than a decade to be produced, written and performed entirely by African Americans."[7] According to the Harlem chronicler James Weldon Johnson, Shuffle Along marked a breakthrough for the African-American musical performer and "legitimized the African-American musical, proving to producers and managers that audiences would pay to see African-American talent on Broadway."[24] Black audiences at Shuffle Along sat in orchestra seats rather than being relegated to the balcony.[25] It was the first Broadway musical to feature a sophisticated African-American love story, rather than a frivolous comic one.[11][26]
According to theatre historian 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."[7] Nevertheless, the African-American community embraced the show, and performers recognized the importance of the show's success to their careers. "Shuffle Along was one of the first shows to provide the right mixture of primitivism and satire, enticement and respectability, blackface humor and romance, to satisfy its customers".[27]
After Shuffle Along, nine African-American musicals opened on Broadway between 1921 and 1924.[citation needed] In 1928, Lew Leslie's Blackbirds of 1928, starring Adelaide Hall and Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, became the longest running all-black show on Broadway (up to that point), running for 518 performances.[28] In 1929, Harlem, a drama by Wallace Thurman and William Rapp, introduced the Slow Drag, the first African-American social dance to reach Broadway.[citation needed] However, the success of the show set limits on the black-themed shows that followed. "Any show that followed the characteristics of Shuffle Along could usually be assured of favorable reviews or at least a modest audience response. Yet, if a show strayed from what had become the standard formula for the black musical, disastrous reviews became almost inevitable. ... The result of this critical stranglehold on the black musical was that ... black authors and composers prepared shows within extremely narrow constraints."[29] Nevertheless, scholar James Haskins stated that Shuffle Along "started a whole new era for blacks on Broadway, as well as a whole new era for blacks in all creative fields."[30]Loften Mitchell, author of Black Drama: The Story of the American Negro in the Theatre, credited Shuffle Along with launching the Harlem Renaissance,[citation needed] as did Langston Hughes.[2]
The story in Shuffle Along also presented a romance between two Black characters that was presented as equal to that of a white romance in other Broadway shows. "Negroes had never been permitted romance before on the stage" and there was real fear that people would respond harshly (Blake 152). The song “Love Will Find A Way” portrayed the love between these two characters and was well received by audiences despite the initial concerns. This was a huge step in Black entertainment, that “song was really the first of its kind” but was widely accepted (Blake 152). Shuffle Along was able to break away from the status quo for Black stage productions of its time.[32]
Previous Black drama that was popular in America during the early 1900s had impacts on most African American shows. Many Negro stereotypes had been developed by white directors that had “parodied from carefully selected aspects of real African American Life” (Hay 16). These stereotypes were enjoyed by white audiences and became expected when going to a show with an African American character. This mix of “reality and make-believe was that in each case the latter quality reinforced the former” creating absurdly comedic black characters and situations (Hay 17). Shuffle Along was not immune to these influences. At the end of the show the community apprehends the two corrupt political candidates who were stealing from their own grocery to fund their campaign against each other throughout the story. Unfortunately, “the tomfoolery overshadows the election of a reform candidate” and the audience forgets the “theme of crime does not pay” (Hay 20).[33]
Subsequent productions
Two Broadway revivals were staged, unsuccessfully, in 1933 and 1952, with the latter including additional music by Joseph Meyer.
At the Mansfield Theatre, from December 26, 1932, to January 7, 1933, starring Sissle, Blake, Miller, Mantan Moreland, and Bill Bailey: the production closed after 17 performances.[34] Despite its quick closure in New York City, the revival began touring, including a young Nat King Cole in the cast, eventually ending in Los Angeles in 1937.
During World War II, Sissle and Blake adapted and performed Shuffle Along for USO shows, with an ensemble that included pianist and vibraphonist Sylvester Lewis.[35]
An excerpt of Shuffle Along, the musical fight between the two leading characters, was made into a short talkie film by Warner Bros. in the late 1920s. This footage was discovered in the studio's archives in 2010, along with another similar short featuring Miller and Lyles. The two shorts, "The Mayor of Jimtown" (1928) and "Jimtown Cabaret" (1929), had been previously misfiled.[36]
The 1978 musical review Eubie! repurposed over a dozen songs from Shuffle Along.
James Hubert "Eubie" Blake was an American pianist and composer of ragtime, jazz, and popular music. In 1921, he and his long-time collaborator Noble Sissle wrote Shuffle Along, one of the first Broadway musicals written and directed by African Americans. Blake's compositions included such hits as "Bandana Days", "Charleston Rag", "Love Will Find a Way", "Memories of You" and "I'm Just Wild About Harry". The 1978 Broadway musical Eubie! showcased his works; in 1981, President Ronald Reagan awarded Blake the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Noble Lee Sissle was an American jazz composer, lyricist, bandleader, singer, and playwright, best known for the Broadway musical Shuffle Along (1921), and its hit song "I'm Just Wild About Harry".
James Reese Europe was an American ragtime and early jazz bandleader, arranger, and composer. He was the leading figure on the African American music scene of New York City in the 1910s. Eubie Blake called him the "Martin Luther King of music".
Theatre Owners Booking Association, or T.O.B.A., was the vaudeville circuit for African American performers in the 1920s. The theaters mostly had white owners, though about a third of them had Black owners, including the recently restored Morton Theater in Athens, Georgia, originally operated by "Pinky" Monroe Morton, and Douglass Theatre in Macon, Georgia owned and operated by Charles Henry Douglass. Theater owners booked jazz and blues musicians and singers, comedians, and other performers, including the classically trained, such as operatic soprano Sissieretta Jones, known as "The Black Patti", for black audiences.
Blue Monday was the original name of a one-act "jazz opera" by George Gershwin, renamed 135th Street during a later production. The English libretto was written by Buddy DeSylva. Though a short piece, with a running time of between twenty and thirty minutes, Blue Monday is often considered the blueprint to many of Gershwin's later works, and is often considered to be the "first piece of symphonic jazz" in that it was the first significant attempt to fuse forms of classical music such as opera with American popular music, with the opera largely influenced by Jazz and the African-American culture of Harlem.
African-American musical theater includes late 19th and early 20th century musical theater productions by African Americans in New York City and Chicago. Actors from troupes such as the Lafayette Players also crossed over into film. The Pekin Theatre in Chicago was a popular and influential venue.
Eubie! Is a revue featuring the music of jazz/swing composer Eubie Blake, with lyrics by Noble Sissle, Andy Razaf, Johnny Brandon, F. E. Miller, and Jim Europe. As with most revues, the show features no book, but instead showcases 23 of Eubie Blake's best songs. The idea of the show was conceived by Julianne Boyd. It opened in 1978, receiving positive reviews from Time, Newsweek, Variety, Backstage, and The Today Show.
Babes in Arms is the 1939 American film version of the 1937 coming-of-age Broadway musical of the same title. Directed by Busby Berkeley, it stars Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland, and features Charles Winninger, Guy Kibbee, June Preisser, Grace Hayes, and Betty Jaynes. It was Garland and Rooney's second film together as lead characters after their earlier successful pairing in the fourth of the Andy Hardy films. The film concerns a group of youngsters trying to put on a show to prove their vaudevillian parents wrong and make it to Broadway. The original Broadway script was significantly revamped, restructured, and rewritten to accommodate Hollywood's needs. Almost all of the Rodgers and Hart songs from the Broadway musical were discarded.
Flournoy Eakin Miller, sometimes credited as F. E. Miller, was an American entertainer, actor, lyricist, producer and playwright. Between about 1905 and 1932 he formed a popular comic duo, Miller and Lyles, with Aubrey Lyles. Described as "an innovator who advanced black comedy and entertainment significantly," and as "one of the seminal figures in the development of African American musical theater on Broadway", he wrote many successful vaudeville and Broadway shows, including the influential Shuffle Along (1921), as well as working on several all-black movies between the 1930s and 1950s.
Aubrey Lee Lyles, sometimes credited as A. L. Lyles, was an American vaudeville performer, playwright, songwriter, and lyricist. He appeared with Flournoy E. Miller as Miller and Lyles as a popular African-American comedy duo from 1905 until shortly before his death. in 1929 they appeared on film as grocers in the Vitaphone Varieties short comedy film They Know Their Groceries.
"I'm Just Wild About Harry" is a song written in 1921 with lyrics by Noble Sissle and music by Eubie Blake for the Broadway show Shuffle Along.
The Chocolate Dandies is a Broadway musical in two acts that opened September 1, 1924, at the New Colonial Theatre and ran for 96 performances – finishing November 22, 1924.
Mark Gross is an American jazz alto saxophonist of the hard bop tradition. He studied at the Berklee College of Music, graduating in 1988, then worked in the band of Lionel Hampton and performed in Five Guys Named Moe on Broadway. He has since worked with a variety of other artists, including the bands of Delfeayo Marsalis, Nat Adderley and the Dave Holland Big Band. Gross first recorded as a solo act with 1997's Preach Daddy, followed in 2000 by The Riddle of the Sphinx, in 2013 with "Blackside", Mark Gross + Strings (2018) and The Gospel According to Mark: A Jazz Suite (2024).
Felix Weir was an active African-American violinist during the early 20th century. He was a prominent performer, winning recognition for his virtuosity at a young age. He studied at the Chicago Musical College and the Conservatory at Leipzig, Germany.
Daly's 63rd Street Theatre was a Broadway theatre, which was active from 1921 to 1941. It was built in 1914 as the 63rd Street Music Hall and had several other names between 1921 and 1938. The building was demolished in 1957.
Irvin Colloden Miller was an American actor, playwright, and vaudeville show writer and producer. He was responsible for successful theater shows including Broadway Rastus (1921), Liza (1922), Dinah (1923), which introduced the wildly popular black bottom dance, and Desires of 1927 starring Adelaide Hall. For thirty years he directed the popular review, Brown Skin Models, influenced by the Ziegfeld Follies but exclusively using black performers. "In the 1920s and 1930s, he was arguably the most well-established and successful producer of black musical comedy."
The Colonial Theatre in New York City was at Broadway and 62nd Street in what was then the San Juan Hill neighborhood on the Upper West Side, Manhattan. Originally named the Colonial Music Hall, it was opened in 1905 by Frederic Thompson and Elmer "Skip" Dundy. Designed by George Keister, the theater had a seating capacity of 1,293.
Shuffle Along, or, the Making of the Musical Sensation of 1921 and All That Followed is a musical with a score by Eubie Blake and Noble Sissle and a libretto by George C. Wolfe, based on the original book of the 1921 musical revue Shuffle Along, by Flournoy Miller and Aubrey Lyles. The story focuses on the challenges of mounting the original production of Shuffle Along and its effect on Broadway and race relations.
Gertrude C. Saunders was an American singer, actress and comedian, active from the 1910s to the 1940s.
Caroline “Lynnie” Godfrey is an American actress, singer, author, director and producer.
↑ Sutton, Allan (August 29, 2007). "Black Swan's Other Stars". Articles. Wilmington, Delaware: Mainspring Press. Archived from the original on 9 May 2008. Retrieved March 8, 2010.
↑ Krasner, David. A Beautiful Pageant: African American Theatre, Drama and Performance in the Harlem Renaissance, 1910-1927, Palgrave MacMillan, 2002, pp. 263–67.
↑ Shuffle Along, Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance, Cary D. Wintz, Paul Finkelman (eds.)
↑ Woll, Allen. Black Musicals: From Coontown to Dreamgirls (1989), Da Capo Press, p. 78.
Bordman, Gerald, and Thomas S. Hischak. The Oxford Companion to American Theatre. Oxford University Press, 2011.
Gaines, Caseen (2021). Footnotes: the Black artists who rewrote the rules of the Great White Way. Naperville: Sourcebooks. ISBN9781492688815
Glass, Barbara S. (2012). African American Dance, an Illustrated History, MacFarland & Company, Inc., Jefferson, North Carolina, and London. ISBN978-0-7864-7157-7
Haskins, James (2002). Black Stars of the Harlem Renaissance. John Wiley and Sons. ISBN0-471-21152-4
Hill, Errol (1987). The Theater of Black Americans. Hal Leonard Corporation. ISBN0-936839-27-9
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