Brandon Bedore

“Broadway’s Shuffle Along into The Jazz Age”

Shuffle Along was an all African American show on Broadway that experienced

tremendous success due to jazz influence. It also marked the beginning of the Harlem

Renaissance and a change in social status for African Americans. The plot was frivolous and

provided little more than a means to jump between songs and it had plenty of dance. It follows

Sam and Steve, two deceitful grocery store owners, who both run for mayor of Jimtown with the

winner promising to appoint the other chief of police. Through the assistance of a corrupt

campaign manager, Sam is elected and appoints Steve his chief of police. The two begin to

disagree over small things and they have a drawn out comedic fight. Meanwhile, Harry Walton

and Jessie Williams are the love plot with their marriage dependent on Harry winning the

aforementioned election. He sweeps the position out from under Sam in the next election. He

also wins the girl Jessie and Sam and Steve are run out of town for their corrupt ways. It is

important to distinguish that the revival of this show in 2016 was vastly different from this. It

focused more on the creation of Shuffle Along with pieces of the original show being used as the

show within the show and it had a fifth of the performances as the original.

It is important to understand the socioeconomic events that made this show a surprise

success in a time where African Americans in theatre were looked down on. World War I had

just ended and the following two years were a period of low morale as well as a drop in the

economic prosperity of America. While many soldiers returning from war were hailed as heroes,

this did not transfer for African Americans. Instead, many believed that their time in the service
had molded them into unstable “white man killing machines.”1 World War I was an extremely

bleak event for the world and coupled with a miniature depression it was obvious that a

distraction was necessary. This could be seen as a preview of The Great Depression soon to

come but America managed to bounce back and enjoy the Roaring Twenties. Shuffle Along had

found it’s perfect entry point, the first “colored show” to be on Broadway in 10 years. Huggins

explains the reason for Shuffle Along’s timely attraction saying, “The world needed cheering up

in 1921, and it appeared that Shuffle Along was just the right tonic.”2 With its lighthearted story

and catchy dance music, America soon caught a sort of jazz fever. This is what allowed Shuffle

Along to reach hit status among a titanic show like Ziegfeld’s Sally. Shuffle Along provided the

latest trendy sound that more establish composers were slow and downright unwilling to

embrace. The public taste not only shifted, but their disposition to accept new ideas also grew.

This allowed for an all-black musical like Shuffle Along to attract interracial crowds and maintain

success. Shuffle Along’s influence paved the way for several other “colored shows” by showing

to producers that the risk of this style of show was worth investing the money. With jazz

influence being a new musical concept, many composers soon began to lose their audience due

to their inability or unwillingness to change with the times.

“The Jazz Age had arrived. The postwar hangover that encouraged a generation of Americans to

lose themselves in cabarets, rhythms, dances, and exotica could not help but approve this lively

1
Valencia, Brian D., Dr. "Musical of the Month: Shuffle Along." The New York Public Library.
New York Public Library, 10 Feb. 2012. https://www.nypl.org/blog/2012/02/10/musical-month-
shuffle-along
2
Huggins, Nathan Irvin. Harlem Renaissance. Cary, GB: Oxford University Press, USA, 2007.
http://site.ebrary.com/lib/wrlc/reader.action?docID=10460699 Pg. 289
Negro musical. The jazz-hungry public was ecstatic about Shuffle Along, which was produced on

a shoe-string, and which thrived at a makeshift theater on 63rd Street.”3

Shuffle Along was produced by John Cort at Daly's 63rd Street Theatre in 1921 with

music by Eubie Blake, lyrics by Noble Sissle, and book by F. E. Miller and Aubrey Lyles. Aside

from Cort, every other member of the creative team and cast was an African American; Sissle,

Miller and Lyles also performed in the show. In an interview with Eubie Blake, he explains how

they had found financial backing from John Cort, a major producer on Broadway. Prior to this,

Blake and Sissle had been trying to make money by selling their songs, but no one would buy

them leaving them broke. Cort, as it turned out, was also broke and he only had one theatre

available, which was the less than ideal Daly’s Theatre. He took the risk on them not even

expecting to break even let alone reach a final ticket price of a historic $3.00 for a run of 504

performances.”4

The Daly’s theatre, which had just been changed from the Cort Theatre, was a rag tag

excuse for a theatre. It was originally built to be for small religious gatherings and had no

orchestra pit, no room for dancing and sets, and had fallen into a great state of disrepair. If that

was not enough it was also a little over a mile away from the designated Broadway theatre

district. That did not stop deter droves of patrons from journeying to the theatre. In fact, they

caused massive traffic backups after performances let out and the road soon became a one way to

avoid such events.4 The theatre was renovated with the removal of three rows of seats to

3
Huggins, Nathan Irvin. Harlem Renaissance. Cary, GB: Oxford University Press, USA, 2007.
http://site.ebrary.com/lib/wrlc/reader.action?docID=10460699 Pg. 289
4
Valencia, Brian D., Dr. "Musical of the Month: Shuffle Along." The New York Public Library.
New York Public Library, 10 Feb. 2012. https://www.nypl.org/blog/2012/02/10/musical-month-
shuffle-along
accommodate a larger stage equipped for dancing as well as an orchestra pit for fourteen. Despite

a less than ideal space, Shuffle Along continued to rival well-established shows in better-

furnished theatres.

Eubie Blake and Noble Sissle had been competent, if not yet recognized, writers but they

had never tried to bring anything to Broadway before. They had been in vaudeville prior to

Shuffle Along and the idea for the story sparked off one of their popular skits. In fact, most of the

music written for the show was also originally intended for vaudeville. Eubie recounts how the

music was chosen for the show

“I told you we’d been hustling our songs for some time without much luck. Well, when we hit on

Shuffle Along, what we actually did was to take those same songs that no one had wanted to

publish and that we had originally written for vaudeville and fit them into our show, Shuffle

Along.”5

For this show then it was clear that the plot was written to serve this predetermined song

list. Despite the inability to sell these songs prior to the show, once they were performed in

Shuffle Along they became instant hits. This was partly due to the jazz rhythms that were so in

fashion and the concept that “Negro shows” were the hot new style. The idea of an African

American show was already very popular prior to Shuffle Along but, often times none of the

actors or writers were actually African American. Instead, they were famous white actors in

black face. Langston Hughes recalls the fascination

5
King, Bobbi, Eileen Southern, and Eubie Blake. "A Legend in His Own Lifetime." The Black
Perspective in Music 1.2 (1973): 151-56.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/1214451?seq=2#page_scan_tab_contents
“It was a period when white writers wrote about Negroes more successfully (commercially

speaking) than Negroes did about themselves. It was the period (God help us!) when Ethel

Barrymore appeared in blackface in Scarlet Sister Mary! It was the period when the Negro was

in vogue.”6

This was done because black talent was rarely on stage and there was a restriction on

African Americans showing romance on stage. Black male actors, like Bert Williams, were not

allowed to be on a stage with white women, as it was believed they were incapable of controlling

themselves. They were viewed as base and wild closer to dogs in heat than people capable of

love. If an audience were to see Bert and a white woman together, it would make them very

uncomfortable and doom the show. Shuffle Along was innovative in this regard too as the broke

the mold for how African American men and women interact on stage. Eubie says

“I think the one single biggest novelty was in the song called ‘Love Will Find A Way.’ This was

a real romantic number, and at first, they did not want it in the show. See, the thing was that

Negroes had never been permitted romance before on the stage. This song was really the first of

it’s kind in a big Negro show.”7

This was another risk taken by the creators of Shuffle Along and thankfully, the audiences

had emerged from the war more willing to accept this statement. It did help that the lovers were

both black as it lessened the scandal. The statement not only slowly eased the racial divide in the

6
Hughes, Langston. The Big Sea: An Autobiography. New York: Hill and Wang, 1993.
7
King, Bobbi, Eileen Southern, and Eubie Blake. "A Legend in His Own Lifetime." The Black
Perspective in Music 1.2 (1973): 151-56.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/1214451?seq=2#page_scan_tab_contents
theatre but the positive reception made the actors in Shuffle Along stars. Langston Hughes gives a

review of some of the standouts

“…Eubie Blake and Noble Sissle wrote the music, played, and acted in the show. Miller and

Lyles were the comics. Florence Mills skyrocketed to fame in the second act. Trixie Smith sang

"He May Be Your Man But He Comes to See Me Sometimes. And Caterina Jarboro, now a

European prima donna, and the internationally celebrated Josephine Baker were merely in the

chorus.”8

Many of the stars of this show were unknown just as Blake and Sissle, who also starred,

were relatively unknown prior. Every aspect of this show granted success to its creator and it

became everyone’s big break. The reviews for the show for the most part sing high praises to the

show and everyone who was involved.

Of course, with the glowing reviews from those who embraced jazz and Negro shows,

there were reviewers who found issue with the show. Primarily with the crude humor that

pervaded the book. This is one of the issues faced with looking back on this show post-Civil

Rights. The shows treatment of their African American characters was hardly anything above the

crude stereotypes they had been portrayed as in white theatre. They still kept with the tradition of

wearing black face and the script and score is filled with intentionally broken English and

characters who cannot read or write. One character tells a joke about his inability to spell the

8
Hughes, Langston. The Big Sea: An Autobiography. New York: Hill and Wang, 1993.
word “cat” for example.9 A particularly blunt article from the New York Times reveals that

while the show did find success not everyone was a fan.

“It (Shuffle Along) has here and there a broad comedy scene that is effective, but little or none of

it is conspicuously native and all of it is extremely crude-in writing, playing and direction.

Unfortunately, also, the limited stage facilities at the renascent Sixty-third Street playhouse

enhance the crudities of production until the general effect is about that of a fair-to-middling

amateur entertainment.”10

What this review fails to mention at all is the dance element of this show, which was also

a huge success. Negro shows were always revered for their dancing and Shuffle Along was no

exception. They incorporated and helped popularize the Charleston, which became the new

sensation for young dancers.11 This would later develop into the trend of theatregoers choosing a

night of dancing over a night at the theater but at this point, it was a major attraction. The New

York Herald Tribune features the dancing of the show

“…review from the New York Herald Tribune: It is when the chorus and principals of a company

that is said to contain the best negro troupers in these parts gets going in the dances that the

world seems a brighter place to live in. They wriggle and shimmy in a fashion to outdo a

9
Valencia, Brian D., Dr. "Musical of the Month: Shuffle Along." The New York Public Library.
New York Public Library, 10 Feb. 2012. https://www.nypl.org/blog/2012/02/10/musical-month-
shuffle-along
10
"Shuffle Along Premiere Negro Production Opens at Sixty-Third Street Music Hall." The New
York Times 23 May 1921: n.pag.
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9A01EEDC1F3FEE3ABC4B51DFB366838A63
9EDE&url=http:%2F%2Ftimesmachine.nytimes.com%2Ftimesmachine%2F1921%2F05%2F23
%2F98693946.html&legacy=true
11
Bloom, Harold. The Harlem Renaissance. Philadelphia: Chelsea House, 2004. Pg. 124
congress of eels, and they fling their limbs about without stopping to make sure that they are

securely fastened on.”12

This newspaper certainly features a more positive review of the show and specifically

mentions the dance aspect. When reviving the show one of the important highlights of the show

was the choreography, which was nominated for a Tony award. The score, which we have

mentioned was mostly trunk songs taken from vaudeville, also worked to serve the dance. I

listened to several of the original recordings on Spotify.13 This recording does include songs

intended for a 1950’s revival but I am only focusing on the songs in the original Shuffle Along.

The jazzy style and the syncopated rhythm of the score lent itself perfectly to dance with many

songs incorporating a dance break. The up-tempo songs feature a brassy sound with the melody

being repeated after a chorus to allow for the dance sections that were energized and

rhythmically playful. When the song was not for dancing it was a ballad sung with a shortened

range with evidence of jazz influence. For instance, blue notes pervaded the songs and often the

singer would slide up or down from a non-chord tone to end a phrase. Most of the singing also

featured a more forward placement rivalling that of operetta.

Shuffle Along was a massively important show not only for the advancement of musical

theatre as an art form but also, for the advancement of black cultural achievement. It is

commonly linked to the Harlem Renaissance for that very reason. Soon black writers, poets,

12
Valencia, Brian D., Dr. "Musical of the Month: Shuffle Along." The New York Public Library.
New York Public Library, 10 Feb. 2012. https://www.nypl.org/blog/2012/02/10/musical-month-
shuffle-along
13
Blake, Eubie, and Noble Sissle, writers. Sissle and Blake Sing Shuffle along. Original
Broadway Cast of Shuffle Along. Harbinger Records, 2016, CD.
https://open.spotify.com/album/2MODYdsfTURqS154dxrDuv.
playwrights, songwriters, musicians etc. flooded the scene with their creation. This was the first

time blacks were finding profound success with their art in America. Shuffle Along’s influence

brought more artists who in turn created and brought more thus creating the movement. This

explosion of culture not only added to the vast catalogue of art being made but it helped the

public image of African Americans. No longer were they wholly seen as inarticulate or illiterate,

instead they were creating art that whites and blacks could enjoy together. Eubie Blake and

Noble Sissle made great strides with their show but unfortunately, we cannot smoothly celebrate

the show in the original form as it did still suffer from the racism and ignorance of the time. The

revival took the original show and updated it to be more in line with society today while

preserving all of the landmark achievements.