Shuffle Along Washington, Fredi performer Davis, Charles "Charlie" performer Baker, Josephine performer Mills, Florence performer Theatrical Performance 1921-05-23 63rd Street Bordman writes: An All-Negro Musical Comedy in Two Acts, 9 scenes. book by Flournoy Miller and Aubrey Lyles. Music by Eubie Blake. Lyrics by Noble Sissle. Staged by Walter Brooks. Original choreography by Laurence Deas and Charles Davis. Opened 23 May 1921 at the 63rd Street Music Hall and closed 15 July 1922 after 484 performances. Although blacks had performed on Broadway and all-Negro shows had played in principal houses, in some respects there was more discrimination since the war. All the show could book was a dilapidated theatre, far from the main Broadway crowds. Steve Jenkins (Miller) and Sam Peck (Lyles) are partners in a Jimtown grocery store and rivals for the mayoralty - though each has assured the other he will be the winner's chief of police, Jenkins, helped by a sharper of a campaing manager, wins. True to his word, he appoints Peck chief of police. But Peck soon realizes he has nothing to do, and the two fall out. Their corruption and inefficiency, topped off now by their noisy squabbling, are too much even for lackadaisical Jimtown. Harry Walton (Roger Matthews) announces he is a reform candidate, and every citizen responds, "I'm Just Wild About Harry." Jenkins and Peck are given the boot. The book represented no step forward for the musical theatre, but the music certainly did. Blake's was a foot-stomping score. Its rhythms provoked an orgy of giddy dancing that had audiences shouting for more tap routines, soft shoes, buck and wing, and precision numbers. The hit, of course, was "I'm Just Wild About Harry." Originally conceived as a waltz, it was much more at home as a fast-moving fox trot. Romberg and Frimi tried the same trick for several years, but so innate was the waltz to their thinking that nothing productive resulted. But for Blake the waltz was alien, and his native rhythms, just coming to be understood by the more advanced critics and public, offered the more logical frame for his melodies. Though "I'm Just Wild About Harry" alone is remembered, the score was first class all the way. Whether in a stunning, ahead-of-its-time love ballad like "Love Will Find A Way" (sung by Matthews and Lottie Gee as his girl, Jessie) or in the racy festivity of "Bandana Days" (essentially a chorus number), Blake's melodic gift and taste were unfailing. The brighter critics hailed the show, and the public slowly began to find its way uptown. Then midnight performances were added on Wednesdays. Theatre and society people caught these late shows and spread the word. Suddenly Shuffle Along was a smash. By the time it was through it had reached 504 performances on Broadway alone. The show launched a flock of great names - Florence Mills, Josephine Baker, Hall Johnson. Singlehandedly, Shuffle Along made black shows voguish, or at least, acceptable. A 1951-52 "revival" with new music and a different plot lasted half a week. Performing Arts Encyclopedia http://www.loc.gov/performingarts Bordman, Gerald: American Musical Theatre: A Chronicle. New York: Oxford University Press (1992). Tap Dance America http://lcweb2.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/html/tda/tda-home.html tda IHAS 151216 loc.music.tda.330