Eubie Blake
Background information
Birth name	James Hubert Blake
Born	February 7, 1887(1887-02-07) Baltimore, Maryland, USA
Died	February 12, 1983 (aged 96) Brooklyn, New York, USA
Genre(s)	Jazz, popular, ragtime
Occupation(s)	Composer, pianist
Label(s)	Emerson
Associated acts	Noble Sissle

James Hubert Blake (February 7, 1887 – February 12, 1983), was a composer, lyricist, and pianist of ragtime, jazz, and popular music. With long time collaborator Noble Sissle, Blake wrote the Broadway musical Shuffle Along in 1921; this was one of the first Broadway musical ever to be written and directed by African Americans. Blake's compositions included such hits as, "Bandana Days", "Charleston Rag", "Love Will Find A Way", "Memories of You", and "I'm Just Wild About Harry". The musical Eubie!, which featured the collective works of Blake opened on Broadway in 1978. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... is the 38th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1887 (MDCCCLXXXVII) is a common year starting on Saturday (click on link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar or a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar. ... Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... Baltimore redirects here. ... is the 43rd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1983 (MCMLXXXIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays the 1983 Gregorian calendar). ... For other meanings, see Brooklyn (disambiguation). ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... For other uses, see Jazz (disambiguation). ... Popular music is music belonging to any of a number of musical styles that are accessible to the general public and are disseminated by one or more of the mass media. ... Look up ragtime in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... A composer is a person who writes music. ... A pianist is a person who plays the piano. ... In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. ... Emerson Records was a record label active in the United States of America from 1916 to 1928. ... Noble Sissle (born July 10, 1889 in Indianapolis, Indiana, died December 17, 1975 in Tampa, Florida) was an American jazz composer, lyricist, bandleader, singer and playwright. ... is the 38th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1887 (MDCCCLXXXVII) is a common year starting on Saturday (click on link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar or a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar. ... is the 43rd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1983 (MCMLXXXIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays the 1983 Gregorian calendar). ... A composer is a person who writes music. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Look up ragtime in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... For other uses, see Jazz (disambiguation). ... Popular music is music belonging to any of a number of musical styles that are accessible to the general public and are disseminated by one or more of the mass media. ... Noble Sissle (born July 10, 1889 in Indianapolis, Indiana, died December 17, 1975 in Tampa, Florida) was an American jazz composer, lyricist, bandleader, singer and playwright. ... Shuffle Along premiered in 1921, written and composed by Noble Sissle and Eubie Blake, and was the first major African American hit musical of the 1920s. ... For other uses of Broadway, see Broadway. ... An African American (also Afro-American, Black American, or simply black) is a member of an ethnic group in the United States whose ancestors, usually in predominant part, were indigenous to Africa. ... Eubie! was a 1978 Broadway musical, featuring the music of Eubie Blake. ... For other uses of Broadway, see Broadway. ...

Birth

Born James Hubert Blake at 319 Forrest Street in Baltimore, Maryland, on February 7, 1887, to former slaves Emma (1861-1927) and John Blake (1838-1917). He was their only surviving child; seven others died in infancy. In 1894, the family moved to 414 North Eden Street, and later to 1510 Jefferson Street. John Blake worked as a stevedore on the Baltimore docks, earning $9.00 a week. Baltimore redirects here. ... is the 38th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1887 (MDCCCLXXXVII) is a common year starting on Saturday (click on link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar or a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar. ... Stevedores on a New York dock loading barrels of corn syrup onto a barge on the Hudson River. ...

Music

Blake's musical training began when he was just four or five years old. While out shopping with his mother, he wandered into a music store, climbed on the bench of an organ, and started "foolin’" around. When his mother found him, the store manager said to her: "The child is a genius! It would be criminal to deprive him of the chance to make use of such a sublime, God-given talent." The Blakes purchased a pump organ for US$75.00 making payments of 25 cents a week. When Blake was seven, he received music lessons from their neighbor, Margaret Marshall, an organist from the Methodist church.^[1] At age fifteen, without knowledge of his parents, he played piano at Aggie Shelton’s Baltimore bordello. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... The United States dollar is the official currency of the United States. ...

Blake said he first composed the melody to the "Charleston Rag" in 1899, which would have made him 12 years old, but he did not commit it to paper until 1915, when he learned to write in musical notation.

In 1912, Blake began playing in vaudeville with Jimmy Europe's "Society Orchestra" which accompanied Vernon and Irene Castle's ballroom dance act. The band played ragtime music which was still quite popular at the time. Shortly after World War I, Blake joined forces with performer Noble Sissle to form a vaudeville music duo, the "Dixie Duo." After vaudeville, the pair began work on a musical revue, Shuffle Along, which incorporated many songs they had written. When it premiered in 1921, Shuffle Along became the first hit musical on Broadway written by and about African-Americans. The musical also introduced such hit songs as "I'm Just Wild About Harry" and "Love Will Find a Way."^[2] This article does not cite any references or sources. ... James Reese Europe (22 February 1881–9 May 1919) was a United States ragtime and early jazz bandleader, arranger, and composer. ... Vernon and Irene Castle in 1914 Vernon and Irene Castle were a husband-and-wife team of ballroom dancers of the early 20th century. ... Look up ragtime in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... “The Great War ” redirects here. ... Noble Sissle (born July 10, 1889 in Indianapolis, Indiana, died December 17, 1975 in Tampa, Florida) was an American jazz composer, lyricist, bandleader, singer and playwright. ... Shuffle Along premiered in 1921, written and composed by Noble Sissle and Eubie Blake, and was the first major African American hit musical of the 1920s. ... For other uses of Broadway, see Broadway. ...

In 1923, Blake made three films for Lee DeForest in DeForest's Phonofilm sound-on-film process. They were Noble Sissle and Eubie Blake featuring their song "Affectionate Dan", Sissle and Blake Sing Snappy Songs featuring "Sons of Old Black Joe" and "My Swanee Home", and Eubie Blake Plays His Fantasy on Swanee River featuring Blake performing his "Fantasy on Swanee River". These films are in the Library of Congress collection. Lee De Forest Lee De Forest, (August 26, 1873 - June 30, 1961), was an American inventor with over 300 patents to his name. ... In 1919, Lee De Forest, inventor of the audion tube, filed his first patent on a sound-on-film process, DeForest Phonofilm, which recorded sound directly onto film as parallel lines. ... Sound-on-film refers to a class of sound film processes where the sound accompanying picture is physically recorded onto photographic film, usually, but not always, the same film strip of film carrying the picture. ... Construction of the Thomas Jefferson Building, from July 8, 1888 to May 15, 1894. ...

Personal life

In July 1910, Blake married Avis Elizabeth Cecelia Lee (1881–1938), proposing to her in a chauffeur-driven car he hired. Blake and Lee met around 1895 while both attended Primary School No. 2 at 200 East Street in Baltimore. In 1910 Blake brought his newlywed to Atlantic City, New Jersey, where he had already found employment at the Boathouse nightclub. Atlantic City redirects here. ...

In 1938 Avis was diagnosed with tuberculosis and died later that year at 58. Of his loss, Blake is on record saying, "In my life I never knew what it was to be alone. At first when Avis got sick, I thought she just had a cold, but when time passed and she didn’t get better, I made her go to a doctor and we found out she had TB … I suppose I knew from when we found out she had the TB, I understood that it was just a matter of time."^[1] Tuberculosis (abbreviated as TB for tubercle bacillus or Tuberculosis) is a common and deadly infectious disease caused by mycobacteria, mainly Mycobacterium tuberculosis. ...

Blake continued to play and record until shortly before what everyone considered his 100th birthday (see below), actually his 96th. He died in 1983 in Brooklyn just five days after celebrating his 96th birthday. He was interred in the Cypress Hills Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York. This article is about the borough of New York City. ... Cypress Hills Cemetery, the first nonsectarian cemetery corporation organized in the Brooklyn/Queens area of New York, is located at 833 Jamaica Avenue in Brooklyn, New York. ... For other meanings, see Brooklyn (disambiguation). ...

Age discrepancy

In later years, Blake listed his birth year as 1883, and his 100th birthday was celebrated in 1983. Most sources, including the Encyclopædia Britannica,^[3] and a U.S. Library of Congress biography,^[4] incorrectly list his birth year as 1883. Every official document issued by the government records his birthday as February 7, 1887. This includes the 1900 Census, his 1917 World War I draft registration, 1920 passport application, 1936 Social Security application, and death records as reported by the United States Social Security Administration.^[5] Peter Hanley writes: "In the final analysis, however, the fact that he was only ninety-six years of age and not one hundred when he died does not in any way detract from his extraordinary achievements. Eubie will always remain among the finest popular composers and songwriters of his era." The Encyclopædia Britannica is a general English-language encyclopaedia published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. ... Construction of the Thomas Jefferson Building, from July 8, 1888 to May 15, 1894. ... “The Great War ” redirects here. ... The United States Social Security Administration (or SSA[1]) is an independent agency of the United States government established by a law currently codified at 42 U.S.C. Â§ 901. ...

Timeline

Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (2880x2904, 1285 KB) Eubie Blake in the 1900 US Census in Baltimore, Maryland Removed from the following pages: Eubie Blake --OrphanBot 21:19, 14 March 2006 (UTC) File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version... Noble Sissle (born July 10, 1889 in Indianapolis, Indiana, died December 17, 1975 in Tampa, Florida) was an American jazz composer, lyricist, bandleader, singer and playwright. ... is the 136th day of the year (137th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (830x570, 91 KB) Eubie Blake 1917 World War I draft registration Removed from the following pages: Eubie Blake --OrphanBot 21:32, 14 March 2006 (UTC) File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert... Image File history File links 1920_passport_Blake. ... Image File history File links 1920_passport_Blake_02. ... Shuffle Along premiered in 1921, written and composed by Noble Sissle and Eubie Blake, and was the first major African American hit musical of the 1920s. ... Image File history File links 1925_passport_Blake. ... Tuberculosis (abbreviated as TB for tubercle bacillus or Tuberculosis) is a common and deadly infectious disease caused by mycobacteria, mainly Mycobacterium tuberculosis. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... For other persons named John Carson, see John Carson (disambiguation). ... is the 27th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Eubie! was a 1978 Broadway musical, featuring the music of Eubie Blake. ... This article is about the American television series. ... William Gary Busey (born 29 June 1944) is an Academy Award- and Golden Globe Award-nominated American film and stage actor. ... March 10 is the 69th day of the year (70th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... The Presidential Medal of Freedom is the highest civilian award in the United States. ...

Legacy

In 1995 Eubie Blake was honored with a United States postage stamp. James Hubert Blake High School was built in Silver Spring, Maryland, in 1998. Eubie Blake HS has a strong focus on the performing arts, and its instrumental music ensembles are perennial award winners. He was inducted into the American Theatre Hall of Fame. His 1969 album, The Eighty-Six Years of Eubie Blake, was a 2006 entry into the Library of Congress' National Recording Registry.

A selection of Hong Kong postage stamps A postage stamp is evidence of pre-paying a fee for postal services. ... James Hubert Blake High School is a secondary school located in Silver Spring, an unincorporated section of Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. ... Not to be confused with Silver Springs. ... The American Theatre Hall of Fame in New York City was founded in 1971 by Earl Blackwell, Gerard Oestreicher, James M. Nederlander, and Arnold Weissberger. ... The 86 Years of Eubie Blake is a 1969 studio album by ragtime pianist Eubie Blake and marks a reunion for Blake with his longtime collaborator, Noble Sissle. ... Martin Luther King Jr. ... Construction of the Thomas Jefferson Building, from July 8, 1888 to May 15, 1894. ... The National Recording Registry is a list of sound recordings which are culturally, historically or aesthetically important, and/or inform or reflect life in the United States. ...

See also

• Age fabrication.

This article does not cite its references or sources. ...

References

Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... is the 48th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... is the 41st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... is the 180th day of the year (181st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Charles Honi Coles in his later years Charles Honi Coles (2 April 1911-12 November 1992) was a self-taught American tap dancer who was very influential during the 20th century. ...

External links

• Eubie Blake at the Internet Broadway Database
• Eubie Blake at the Internet Movie Database

• The Eubie Blake Collection at the Maryland Historical Society
• Eubie Blake at Find A Grave
• Eubie Blake & Ragtime includes transcription of 1970 interview with Blake
• Biographical article by Peter Hanley
• James Hubert Blake's WWI Draft Registration Card and essay