The 1920s saw a shift both in music, and in the way it was performed. In New York, there was a shift towards the acceptance of black performers, and one musical particularly stands out. “Shuffle Along” was written by Noble Sissie and Eubie Blake and debuted in 1921. It featured not only an all-black cast, but black writers and producers as well. It was an incredibly influential pieces of work, and there are many components that I would like to discuss, as based upon the article “”Shuffle Along”” and the Lost History of Black Performance in America”, written by John Jeremiah Sullivan and published March 24, 2016 by The New York Times Magazine.

Despite dispelling some minstrelsy tropes, for example, by having the characters show their emotions through romance, “Shuffle Along” also reinforced some of these ideas. Many of the actors darkened their faces artificially, using burned cork, greasepaint, etc. This was done to assuage the uncomfortable feelings of the white people attending these musicals. At the time, for black people to perform on a stage, as themselves, would be considered too high a power over the white community. However, the painting of blackface on white performers was still commonplace, so the black performers used this as a kind of façade. They hid their race and individuality behind their make-up, so as to succeed in entertaining their largely white audience. In addition, the musical served primarily as a comedy, which relied heavily on the minstrel tropes used to degrade black culture. However, while the use of blackface in this production may have reinforced its use at the time, the success garnered played a major role in the acceptance of black performers. As a result, in present-day, blackface is considered unacceptable and racist, and while racial prejudice still exists in the musical world, significant progress has been made towards equality.

In addition to an unease around the individuality and power a black performer holds, there was also a taboo surrounding black romance and sexuality. “Shuffle Along” features not only a romance between two black characters, but an affair at that. Pair that with songs exclaiming love, and the, albeit tame, on-stage touching of two romantically involved black characters (Green, 2016), and it’s clear to see that the show truly pushed the envelope in this regard.

Another way that “Shuffle Along” was innovative in its time was through the music itself. Typical musical scores generally consisted of song-and dance style songs and ballads. “Shuffle Along” featured a score of jazzy, ragtime music. This went well with the 16-girl chorus line featured, and these two are largely responsible for the show’s success. The chorus line helped to foster an acceptance of black performers in “burlesque” roles (Tanner) and to provide syncopation.

While many of the show’s songs became quickly popular, one stands out. “I’m Just Wild About Harry” grew to such popularity that during his campaign, Harry S. Truman used it as promotional material. The song is catchy, with close rhymes and short melodic phrases, which led to its success. I have heard this song before, but I believe I have only heard the Judy Garland and plain instrumental versions before, never a true performance as intended in the score.

As mentioned previously, many minstrel tropes were utilized by the writers to help ensure the success of their show. However, in my opinion, the use of “patting juba” does not fall into this category. Patting juba refers to dancing in which the performs slap their body, particularly hands and feet, to provide rhythm as they dance. It is largely considered to be a minstrel trope, as it was common practice in those performances in the late 1800s. However, patting juba began years earlier, when a black boy known as Juba performed the dance in a minstrel show. It harkens back to the days of African slavery, where slaves were not permitted instruments, and so used their bodies for rhythm instead (The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2014). Its use in “Shuffle Along” strikes me not as reaffirmation of a trope, but rather, reclamation of an important cultural symbol. Patting juba eventually evolved into modern day tap dancing, through the incorporation of some Celtic elements.

“Shuffle Along”, while an incredibly important point in history, does not live up to much of the credit allotted to it. Many dub this show as the first all-black musical, but this is untrue. That title belongs to the show “In Dahomey”, written by George Walker and Bert William, and performed in 1903 (Rylatt). The show began on Broadway, but due to its success toured the United States and parts of Britain. “Shuffle Along” has also been referred to as the beginning of the Harlem Renaissance. While the show helped to further this movement, it was by no means its start.

In 2016, a kind of revival of “Shuffle Along” was born. Rather than perform simply an updated version of the original show, director George Wolfe wanted to take the new show in a different direction. He wanted to tell the story of “Shuffle Along”, calling the new show ““Shuffle Along”, or the Making of the Musical Sensation of 1921 and All That Followed.” Because “Shuffle Along” was such an influential and groundbreaking show, it deserves a true tribute, and for those who worked to make it so great, to be remembered and appreciated.

This clip features the cast of the 2016 revival performing at the Tony Awards. The clip features the jazzy rhythm and syncopation the musical is known for, as well as tap dance and a take on the signature chorus line.

Reading this article made me really aware of the constant struggle that black performers faced, and the lengths they were forced to go to simply to be judged as would their white counterparts, let alone to succeed and be accepted. I was aware of “Shuffle Along” before taking this course, but I had no idea how important it was toward the equality movement, nor did I realize that so many important black performers got their start here (e.g. Josephine Baker, Florence Mills, etc.). I think it’s incredibly important that this particular musical be discussed in depth in this course when learning about the history of black music, and the role that blackface played in it. Personally, I had no idea that black performers were forced to darken themselves to hide their individuality, and it really brings a new light to modern blackface and the connotations that it has. I think that while the textbook is not inaccurate in its depiction of blackface, I don’t think it goes into enough detail regarding its history, and the effect it would have on the future, nor the reasons behind its “requirement” in minstrelsy.

#M3Q2

 

Works Cited

Green, Jesse. “Theatre Review: Shuffle Along Is a Gorgeously Staged, LifeChanging Show.” Vulture. April 28, 2016. http://www.vulture.com/2016/04/theater-review-shuffle-along.html

Rylatt, Eleanor. “In Dahomey at the Theatre Royal, Hull.” African Stories in Hull & East Yorkshire. https://www.africansinyorkshireproject.com/in-dahomey.html

Sullivan, John J. “Shuffle Along and the Lost Story of Black Performance in America.” The New York Times Magazine. March 24, 2016. https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/27/magazine/shuffle-along-and-the-painful-history-of-black-performance-in-america.html

Tanner, Jo. “Shuffle Along: The Musical at the Center of the Harlem Renaissance.” Faces of the Harlem Renaissance. http://artsedge.kennedy-center.org/interactives/harlem/themes/shuffle_along.html

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. “Juba.” Encyclopaedia Brittanica. November 27, 2014. https://www.britannica.com/art/juba-dance

 

 

‘Shuffle Along’ and the Lost History of Black Performance in America by John Jeremiah Sullivan provides a fascinating read regarding the history of the original 1921 Shuffle Along and the 2016 Shuffle Along, or, the Making of the Musical Sensation of 1921 and All That Followed. With the only disclaimer being one of positionality, this article being written by a white journalist.

Shuffle Along demonstrated a curious social effect, in which an assault on a people’s presence by an oppressor inadvertently creates a space for their voice to be heard. Blackface while intended as a mockery allowed black performers onto the stage, for “the stage had power in it, and someone who appeared there couldn’t help partaking of that power, if only ever so slightly”(Sullivan) a platform from which their voices might be heard. Their voices still ring out, for haven’t we all heard the tune of I’m Just Wild About Harry, I know I have, whether we can place it or not it is all around us in our media and culture.

Shuffle Along pushed the boundaries of it’s time, taking blackface from a symbol of oppression and using it to expand the spaces available to black performers. At the same time the play pushes the up against the taboo of black sexuality and instead of recoiling celebrates it. This progressive push can be compared to the dance style of patting Juba, a style of black inspired dance with Celtic influences used to entertain white audiences which later evolved into tap dancing. Much like the actors in Shuffle Along patting Juba was a venue in which blacks in blackface gained access to the stage such as the second Juba of P.T. Barnum’s circus (Sullivan).

Shuffle Along, however; did not showcase the first black performers to be successful on broadway, the path was already paved by Bert Williams who together George Walker started pushing back against the racial limits imposed on black performers and breaking into areas of performance previously dominated by white performers. Reflecting back on the title of the article, there truly is a lost history behind black performance in america within our collective memory.

Shuffle Along, or, the Making of the Musical Sensation of 1921 and All That Followed celebrates the legacy of Shuffle Along, tackling the challenge of “[bringing] the show into the future and [preserving] it at the same time and [doing] each perfectly at every minute”(Sullivan) Based only on what I have read in this article, the approach of exploring the shows background seems to have merit. Preserving the framilier songs while telling the story of their creators puts a fresh spin on this to appeal to contemporary audiences while paying homage to the original material.

After reading this article the perspectives offered in Popular Music In America: The Beat Goes On come across as correct, but a shallow correctness at best, where meaning may easily be lost. The textbook is correct that “ministrily would give blacks their first substantial opportunity to enter the entertainment business” (Campbell) and that blackface was used by the white majority as a tool to visually impose their biases. However, the textbook fails to elaborate on the black performers who used blackface as a tool to gain the stage, and from it their voice. Future editions of this book would be far richer if they included a deeper discussion on blackface and the performers who rose despite the opposition they faced.

Personally I found this article educational as while I had heard of blackface and the tune of I’m Just Wild About Harry I knew nothing about the influence Shuffle Along has had on our culture. In particular I was interested with how black performers used blackface, a symbol of oppression and mockery to give them access to the stage and a platform from which their voices would be heard. Reading this article helped inform my perspective and gain deeper understanding of the oppression black performers faced, and that minority performers still face today. I would recommend this article for those interested in American music history, or the history of oppression in America and of those who pushed back against it.

 

Bibliography

Campbell, Michael. Popular Music in America: The Beat Goes on. Cengage, 2019.

“John Jeremiah Sullivan.” Wikipedia. July 03, 2018. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Jeremiah_Sullivan.

Sullivan, John Jeremiah. “‘Shuffle Along’ and the Lost History of Black Performance in America.” The New York Times. March 24, 2016. https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/27/magazine/shuffle-along-and-the-painful-history-of-black-performance-in-america.html?mcubz=1.

Hi, my name is Olivia and I’m in my fourth year of Sociology.

Today I will be talking about the musical, ‘the Making of the Musical Sensation of 1921 and All That Followed’ from the New York Times Magazine article “’Shuffle Along’ and the Lost History of Black Performance in America.”

In early American theatre and much of the 19th century, African-American people were not allowed to perform onstage because, the physical stage itself had power in it. Blackface, a minstrel show practice, where white and (later) black performers applied burnt cork to darken their complexion. Black people who did black face to perform on stage, but had to hide their blackness behind a darker blackness. As white people placed boundaries for what black performers could express on stage, putting enormous pressure on black people go appear behind a mask previously worn by white performers. A mask which only mocked themselves, their own race, while at the same time giving up power all in order to entertain and please white audiences.

‘Shuffle Along’ reinforced the original purpose of blackface of mocking African Americans, through the continual use of burnt cork on performers faces. As a blacks-in-blackface production, the blackface mask prevented black people from being their own selves. However, it challenged the taboo black sexuality because, it made white people uncomfortable if black people indulged in too much lovemaking. ‘Shuffle Along’ also challenged the typical rhythms in musical theatre, through the the use of ragtime (by mixing European forms, harmony and textures with African-inspired syncopation) and jazz into the American musical. While the Chorus lines’s song-and-dance style to the syncopated and jazz songs, popularized songs such as “Love Will Find A Way,” “Bandana Days” and “In Honeysuckle Time” within the musical setting; which shifted the meaning of blackness, allowing the faces behind the blackface mask to gain some recognition as a performer.

Among the music in ‘Shuffle Along’, the song which remains the most well-known is “I’m Just Wild About Harry” which was written and composed by Eubie Blake and Noble Sissle. Although it was originally a love song, I had never heard of it before taking this course. It is a song that has since been recorded and performed by many different artists.

Here is one version of “I’m Just Wild About Harry” sung by Judy Garland:

“Patting Juba” is an African dance where the performer drums on their body, by slapping their chest and knees and the soles of their feet. By wearing hard-soled shoes on a wooden floor, it created a drum which could be used during the dance. Patting Juba was seen as a black thing, so it was performed in blackface. The second Juba dancer referred to as ‘Juba’ was a young black kid was the best in the world. His story is included, because he too based on his ‘race’ and skin colour could not find success with a broad white audience unless he was painted with blackface. Titled as the first great American tap dancer, his real identity will forever remain a mystery because, he was never able to be his true self. His image, painted in the only way ‘others’ could accept him; in a blackface mask. Juba’s image will always remain indistinguishable from the others, from the white men because, they are all painted the same. Only a caption can tell us which is him.

Among the claims of historical significance, “Shuffle Along” has often been called the first successful black broadway show. However, ‘success’ split less than two years after its opening on Broadway because its creators disagreed with the show’s profit as most was earned from the written songs of Eubie Blake and Noble Sissle. However, credit should be given to William and Walker productions like their 1907-9 show “Bandanna Land” which played in a more legitimate “broadway” house unlike the Sixty-Third Street Music Hall and attracted large white audiences before “Shuffle Along” came along. “Shuffle Along” has also been called the beginning of the Harlem Renaissance, an artistic movement deeply tied to and influenced by jazz, musical theatre and other popular styles of music at the time. A show based on past forms of stage entertainment of Minstrelsy and Vaudeville; “Shuffle Along” only introduced syncopation in the American Musical. So “Shuffle Along”, did not start but was a part of the Harlem Renaissance.The true beginning of the Harlem Renaissance should be the Great migration which occurred after the Civil War where African-Americans migrated from the south to northern cities such as New York, Chicago, Philadelphia and Detroit. The Great Migration allowed writers, musicians and artists to artistically express their culture and political, social, and economic conditions of being black in America to achieve equality and civil rights in American society.

The concept of the 2016 show was a transformation of black entertainment. Not doing “Shuffle Along” but what led to the making of “Shuffle Along.” By telling the story of the original creators and cast of the 1821 shows to show how they pulled it off, along with various white outsider perspectives who commented on the original show. Here are highlights from the 2016 show:

Prior to reading this article, I had no knowledge about the conditions and challenges faced by early African American performers. The physical stage itself had power in it. Blackface was the only way for black performers to be accepted in front of white audiences. Always under criticism for what they lack and no set expectations of ‘true acceptance’ by society, prevents black performers to be who need to be.

The textbook does not give a fair perspective on blackface in America because it only defines what is as a minstrel show practice of darkening their skin complexion with burnt cork. The text primarily focuses on white performers and briefly mentions African American performers. It never describes the context behind blackface and why it became a popular form of stage entertainment for white people or what blackface meant for black performers.

Sources:

Campbell, Michael. Popular Music in America: The Beat Goes On. 4th ed.* Boston: Schirmer/Cengage Learning, 2013.

History.com Staff. “Great Migration.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 2010, www.history.com/topics/black-history/great-migration.

History.com Staff. “Harlem Renaissance.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 2009, www.history.com/topics/black-history/harlem-renaissance.

Reign, April. “Broadway Black History: Shuffle Along.” Broadway Black, T&L Productions Andrew Shade, 14 May 2015, broadwayblack.com/shuffle-along/.

Sullivan, John Jeremiah. “’Shuffle Along’ and the Lost History of Black Performance in America.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 24 Mar. 2016, www.nytimes.com/2016/03/27/magazine/shuffle-along-and-the-painful-history-of-black-performance-in-america.html?mcubz=1.