- Description
Tap Dance America is a reference work of bibliographic information and does not point to digitized versions of the items described. The Library of Congress may or may not own a copy of a particular film or video. To request additional information Ask a Librarian.
See Also:
From:
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Lew Leslie's Blackbirds of 1930 / Buck and Bubbles [theatrical performance]
- Title
- Lew Leslie's Blackbirds of 1930 [Theatrical Performance]
- Performers
- Buck and Bubbles
- Bubbles, John
- Washington, Ford Lee "Buck"
- The Berry Brothers
- Berry, Ananias
- Berry, James
- Berry, Warren
- Bailey, Bill
- Davis, Charles "Charlie"
- Johnson, Foster "Stretch"
- Published/Created
- 1930-10-22
- Genre
- Theatrical Performance
- Venue
- Broadway
- Abstract
- The second in the American series of black musical revues conceived by Lew Leslie beginning in 1928. A musical revue in two acts, 18 scenes. Sketches by Flournoy Miller. Music by Eubie Blake. Lyrics by Andy Razaf. Entire production conceived and staged by Lew Leslie. Dances by Al Richards. Settings by Ward & Harvey. Opened 22 October 1930 at the Royale Theatre and closed 13 December 1930 after 62 performances. Cast included Ethel Waters, Buck & Bubbles (Ford Lee "Buck" Washington and John W. Bubbles), Flournoy Miller, Berry Brothers (Ananias, Warren and James), Mantan Moreland, Neeka Shaw, Mercia Marquise, Jazzlips Richardson. Chorus of sixteen dancers included Bill Bailey and Howard "Stretch" Johnson.
All singing and dancing revue beginning with Act I with "The Levee on the Mississippi" and ending with Act II Scene 11 "1930 Minstrel episode" with Ethel Waters as Interlocutor. Act I included Minto Cato singing "Memories of You" ; the Berrys in "Shadow Dance" (Scene 4) and "We're the Berries" (Scene 9); Bill Bailey and Crawford Jackson as Two Pals in "My Best Gal" specialty"; in Act II Buck and Bubbles in "All Quiet on the Darkest Front"(Scene 5) and "A Few Minutes with Buck and Bubbles" (Scene 9); Bubbles, Bailey and the Chorus in "Blackbirds on Parade" (Scene 6);
Lew Leslie's Blackbirds advertised itself as "the world's funniest and fastest revue" dedicated to "Glorifying the American Negro." Exactly how American Negros were glorified by another eye-popping jungle number is debatable. "Mozambique" offered seventeen scantily dressed girls (in brightly colored wigs and sporting luxurious feather tails) stomping against a gaudy, stylized setting filled with lush tropical plants and native carvings. Leslie assembled a fine cast including Ethel Waters, Flournoy Miller (appearing without Lyles) and Buck and Bubbles. Most of the music was by Eubie Blake and most of the lyrics by Andy Razaf. (Norton 1930.34)
- Source
- Norton Anthology of Drama: Norton Anthology of Drama: Nineteenth Century to the Present (Vol. 2). W.W. Norton & Company (2009).
- Billman, Larry: Film Choreographers and Dance Directors: An Illustrated Biographical Encyclopedia, 1893-1955. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland (1997).
Last Updated: 12-16-2015