HOME
*



picture info

Blackbirds Of 1928
''Blackbirds of 1928'' was a hit Broadway musical revue that starred Adelaide Hall, Bill Bojangles Robinson, Tim Moore and Aida Ward, with music by Jimmy McHugh and lyrics by Dorothy Fields. It contained the hit songs "Diga Diga Do", the duo's first hit, "I Can't Give You Anything But Love", "Bandanna Babies" and "I Must Have That Man" all sung by Hall. History ''Blackbirds of 1928'' was the idea of impresario Lew Leslie, who planned to build the show around Florence Mills in New York City after her success in the hit 1926 show ''Blackbirds'' in London. Mills died of appendicitis in 1927 before rehearsals for the new show had started and Hall was enlisted to replace her. ''Blackbirds of 1928'' started its life as a floorshow at Les Ambassadeurs Club on 57th Street, New York with songs written by Jimmy McHugh and Dorothy Fields. Fields recalled, ‘''Lew Leslie (the producer) hired us to do a show called Blackbirds of 1928. First, we’d written songs for a show of his in a cl ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Liberty Theatre
The Liberty Theatre is a former Broadway theater at 234 West 42nd Street in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Opened in 1904, the theater was designed by Herts & Tallant and built for Klaw and Erlanger, the partnership of theatrical producers Marc Klaw and A. L. Erlanger. The theater has been used as an event venue since 2011 and is part of an entertainment and retail complex developed by Forest City Ratner. The theater is owned by the city and state governments of New York and leased to New 42nd Street, which subleases the venue to Forest City Ratner. The Liberty consisted of an auditorium facing 41st Street and a lobby facing 42nd Street. The facade on 42nd Street is largely hidden but was designed in the neoclassical style, similar to the neighboring New Amsterdam Theatre, which was designed by the same architect. The lobby from 42nd Street led to the auditorium in the rear, as well as men's and women's lounges in the basement. The auditorium, des ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Joe Nanton
Joe "Tricky Sam" Nanton (February 1, 1904 – July 20, 1946) was an American trombonist with the Duke Ellington Orchestra. Early life Joe Nanton was born Joseph Irish Nanton in New York City, United States. His parents were John Barzly Nanton and Emily Irish, both immigrants from the British West Indies. Nanton began playing professionally in Washington, D.C., with bands led by Cliff Jackson and banjoist Elmer Snowden. From 1923 to 1924, Nanton worked with Frazier's Harmony Five. A year later, he performed with Snowden. At the age of 22, Nanton found his niche in Duke Ellington's Orchestra, when he reluctantly took the place of his friend Charlie Irvis in 1926, and remained with Ellington until his early death in 1946. Nanton, along with Lawrence Brown, anchored the trombone section. The wah-wah Nanton was one of the great pioneers of the plunger mute. In 1921, he heard Johnny Dunn playing the trumpet with a plunger, which Nanton realized could be used to similar effect on ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Freddie Jenkins
Freddie Jenkins (October 10, 1906 – 1978) was an American jazz trumpeter. Life and works He was born in New York City, United States. Jenkins played in the Jenkins Orphanage Band when young, and attended Wilberforce University. Following this he played with Edgar Hayes and Horace Henderson (1924–1928), before taking a position in Duke Ellington's Orchestra in 1928. As a member, he soloed in the 1930 film, ''Check and Double Check'', during a performance of the song "Old Man Blues". He remained with the Ellington Orchestra until 1935, when lung problems forced him to quit. He recovered and formed his own group in 1935, recording one session as a leader; sidemen included Ward Pinkett, Albert Nicholas and Bernard Addison. After this he played with Luis Russell in 1936. In 1937–38 he played with Ellington again, and for a short time thereafter played with Hayes Alvis. After 1938, his lung ailment returned and he retired from performance. In later years he worked in songwriting ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Bubber Miley
Bubber is a nickname and surname which may refer to: People: * Bubber or Bubba Brooks (1922-2002), American jazz tenor saxophonist * James Bubber Epps (born 1943), American politician * Clarence James Bubber Jonnard (1897-1977), American Major League Baseball catcher * James "Bubber" Miley (1903-1932), American jazz trumpet and cornet player * Charles M. Murphy (coach) (1913-1999), American football, basketball and baseball player and Middle Tennessee State University head coach * Riva Bubber, Indian television actress * Bubber or Niels Christian Meyer, Danish television host Fictional characters: * Charlie "Bubber" Reeves, a main character in the 1966 film '' The Chase'', played by Robert Redford * John Bubber, a main character in the 1992 film ''Hero'', played by Andy Garcia See also * Bubba In American usage, "Bubba" is a term of endearment mainly given to boys. Being formed from the word "brother", it often indicates that someone is a "little brother". Etymology and histo ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Duke Ellington
Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and leader of his eponymous jazz orchestra from 1923 through the rest of his life. Born and raised in Washington, D.C., Ellington was based in New York City from the mid-1920s and gained a national profile through his orchestra's appearances at the Cotton Club in Harlem. A master at writing miniatures for the three-minute 78 rpm recording format, Ellington wrote or collaborated on more than one thousand compositions; his extensive body of work is the largest recorded personal jazz legacy, and many of his pieces have become standards. He also recorded songs written by his bandsmen, such as Juan Tizol's " Caravan", which brought a Spanish tinge to big band jazz. At the end of the 1930s, Ellington began a nearly thirty-year collaboration with composer-arranger-pianist Billy Strayhorn, whom he called his writing and arranging companion. With Strayhorn, he composed multipl ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Moulin Rouge
Moulin Rouge (, ; ) is a cabaret in Paris, on Boulevard de Clichy, at Place Blanche, the intersection of, and terminus of Rue Blanche. In 1889, the Moulin Rouge was co-founded by Charles Zidler and Joseph Oller, who also owned the Olympia (Paris), Paris Olympia. The original venue was destroyed by fire in 1915. Moulin Rouge is southwest of Montmartre, in the Paris district of Quartier Pigalle, Pigalle on Boulevard de Clichy in the 18ème arrondissement, Paris, 18th ''arrondissement'', it has a red windmill on its roof. The closest métro station is Blanche (Paris Métro), Blanche. Moulin Rouge is best known as the birthplace of the modern form of the can-can dance. Originally introduced as a seductive dance by the courtesans who operated from the site, the can-can dance revue evolved into a form of entertainment of its own and led to the introduction of cabarets across Europe. Today, the Moulin Rouge is a tourist attraction, offering predominantly musical dance entertainment ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  




Will Vodery
Will Vodery (October 8, 1885 – November 18, 1951) was an American composer, conductor, orchestrator, and arranger, and one of the few black Americans of his time to make a name for himself as a composer on Broadway, working largely for Florenz Ziegfeld. He had offices at the Gaiety Theatre office building in Times Square.Bloom, Ken''Broadway: An Encyclopedia'' Routledge; 2nd edition (November 11, 2003), . Early life Vodery was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on October 8, 1885; his mother Sarah J. Vodery was a pianist and his father was a teacher at Lincoln University. From an early age Vodery's family rented rooms to theatrical performers, exposing Will to many talented black performers at the turn of the 20th century, including members of the Williams & Walker Co. He attended the University of Pennsylvania on scholarship, where he studied with Hugh A. Clark.Peterson, Bernard L. "Will Vodery." ''The American Mosaic: The African American Experience''. ABC-CLIO, 2015. Web. ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Nina Mae McKinney
Nina Mae McKinney (June 12, 1912 – May 3, 1967) was an American actress who worked internationally during the 1930s and in the postwar period in theatre, film and television, after beginning her career on Broadway and in Hollywood. Dubbed "The Black Garbo" in Europe because of her striking beauty,Bourne, Stephen. ''Nina Mae McKinney: the Black Garbo''. BearManor Media, 2011. McKinney was both one of the first African-American film stars in the United States and one of the first African-Americans to appear on British television. Biography Early life McKinney was born June 12, 1912, in Lancaster, South Carolina, to Georgia Crawford and Hal Napoleon McKinney. Shortly after McKinney's birth, her mother often hid from her abusive husband in the house of Colonel Leroy Springs (of Springs Industries), for whom she worked as a domestic. By 1920, Crawford relocated to Savannah, Georgia, to work as a cook for Cynthia Withers, her daughter Irene, and other white lodgers. McKinney s ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Cecil Mack
Cecil Mack (November 6, 1873 – August 1, 1944) was an American composer, lyricist and music publisher. Biography Born as Richard Cecil McPherson in Portsmouth, Virginia, he attended the Norfolk Mission College and Lincoln University in Pennsylvania (class of 1897) before leaving to go to New York City where the 1900 Federal Census lists his occupation as a stenographer. Mack started writing song lyrics, starting with "Good Morning, Carrie" in 1901. He co-founded the Gotham-Attucks Music Publishing Company in May 1905, in New York City; it was likely the first black-owned music publishing company. In July 1906, an article in ''The New York Age'' referred to Mack as the company's "secretary and treasurer and general business director." In 1907 he wrote the lyrics for the musical ''The Black Politician''. In 1925 he co-wrote the book for the musical ''Mooching Along''. Mack also formed a choir, the Southland Singers, that year. In 1931 he co-wrote the music for the musical ''Rhap ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Mantan Moreland
Mantan Moreland (September 3, 1902 – September 28, 1973) was an American actor and comedian most popular in the 1930s and 1940s. He starred in numerous films. His daughter Marcella Moreland appeared as a child actress in several films. Early years He was born in Monroe, Louisiana, to Frank, an old-time Dixieland bandleader, and Marcella. Moreland began acting by the time he was an adolescent; some sources say he ran away to join a minstrel show in 1910, at age eight, but his daughter told Moreland's biographer she doubts this date is correct. She and other sources agree it is more likely he left home when he was fourteen. Career After "nearly ten years of working the small, small time", Moreland gained an opportunity in 1927 when he was hired as a comedian in ''Connie's Inn Frolics'' in Harlem. He next worked in the musical revue ''Blackbirds of 1928'', which ran for 518 performances. By the late 1920s, Moreland had made his way through vaudeville, working with various sh ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Elisabeth Welch
Elisabeth Margaret Welch (February 27, 1904July 15, 2003) was an American singer, actress, and entertainer, whose career spanned seven decades. Her best-known songs were " Stormy Weather", " Love for Sale" and "Far Away in Shanty Town". She was American-born, but was based in Britain for most of her career. Early life According to her birth certificate, Welch was born at 223 West 61st Street in New York City. Her father was chief gardener of an estate in Englewood, New Jersey. Her father was of indigenous American and African American ancestry; her mother was of Scottish and Irish descent. Welch was brought up in a Baptist-Christian family, and began her singing in a church choir. She first intended to go from high school into social work, but instead chose to become a professional singer. She started her career in New York in 1922, but in 1929 she went on to Europe – first to Paris and then to London. Professional career After her first appearance in America in ''Liza'' in ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]