Ziegfeld Follies of 1931 Bubbles, John performer Washington, Ford Lee "Buck" performer LeRoy, Hal performer Mayfair, Mitzi performer Buck and Bubbles performer Theatrical Performance 1931-07-01 Broadway Musical revue in two acts, 22 scenes. Assembled by Florenz Ziegfeld. Sketches by Mark Hellenger, J.P. Murray., Gene Buck. Lyrics by Gene Buck, Joseph McCarthy, Charles Farrell, Mack Gordon, J.P. Murray, Dances staged by Bobby Connolly, Albertina Rasch. Opened 1 July 1931 at the Ziegfeld Theatre and closed 21 November 1931 after 165 performances. Hal LeRoy makes his Broadway debut at the age of sixteen in Ziegfeld Follies of 1931. With Ford Lee "Buck" Washington and John "Bubbles" Sublett. Ziegfeld Follies of 1931 was the most important experience for Bubbles. Two better-known dancers were cast--Mitzi Mayfair and Hal LeRoy--along with Harry Richman, Ruth Etting, Jack Pearl, and the Albertina Rasch troupe, all performing amid lavish surroundings. When their turn came, Buck and Bubbles simply walked out on the bare stage in front of the painted backdrop, as if it was time for the audience to take a cigarette break. During rehearsals the survival of the act seemed doubtful: they ran into trouble from both sides: Bill Robinson (a bit envious at this gig) advised them to insist on a better dressing room; and the wisdom of quitting vaudeville and taking a salary cut from $17,500 to $8,500 a week just for the privilege of appearing with "white folks" on Broadway seemed questionable. After a dress rehearsal in Pittsburgh, they were advised to cut their act down to eight minutes. Right in the middle of the act, as Bubbles was dancing over to the wings, the manager yelled, "You're overtime" and Bubbles thought they would turn out the lights; because Buck at the piano did not hear the manager's warning, he went on playing and the duo went ahead and finished in exactly eight minutes. The audience sat stunned. After a few moments the applause began and went on and on. When Harry Richman came out to make the gratuitous announcement that Buck and Bubbles had left for a speakeasy, someone in the balcony shouted, "Then go get 'em!" they were brought up from the basement dressing room to take bows in order to quiet the audience. After that night, nobody in the show wanted to follow Buck and Bubbles. "They changed our spot almost every night" says Bubbles, "Finally they put us next to closing-- the feature spot-- and kept us there." (Norton 1931.19) Performing Arts Encyclopedia http://www.loc.gov/performingarts Stearns, Marshall and Jean Stearns: Jazz Dance: The Story of American Vernacular Dance. New York: Macmillan (1968). Billman, Larry: Film Choreographers and Dance Directors: An Illustrated Biographical Encyclopedia, 1893-1955. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland (1997). Norton Anthology of Drama: Norton Anthology of Drama: Nineteenth Century to the Present (Vol. 2). W.W. Norton & Company (2009). Tap Dance America http://lcweb2.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/html/tda/tda-home.html Hal LeRoy (biography) loc.music.tdabio.127 John "Bubbles" Sublett (biography) loc.music.tdabio.41 tda IHAS 151216 loc.music.tda.440