James Hubert Blake (1887 - 1983)

Biography

Eubie Blake was an American pianist and composer of ragtime, jazz, and popular music. He co-wrote the first hit musical on Broadway written by and about African-Americans.^[1]

James Hubert Blake was born in Baltimore, Maryland on 7 February 1887.^[2] His parents were former slaves John Sumner Blake and Emily "Emma" (Johnstone) Blake.^[1][3] In interviews he recalled having ten siblings, none living past a few months of age.^[4] When Eubie was five years old, his family purchased a small organ, and he began to take lessons from a neighbor, who taught him to read and play music.^[4]

He began playing professionally in a Baltimore brothel while still young.^[4] In 1899, when he was twelve years old, Eubie wrote "The Charleston Rag." It would be three years before he learned how to write it down.^[1] Eubie himself provided the introduction to this performance of The Charleston Rag. At that time he was living on East Jefferson Street in Baltimore's 8th Ward.^[5]

In 1902 he got his first job in New York theater, as a dancer with a show called Old Kentucky.^[4] From 1907 to 1914, he played at the Goldfield Hotel in Baltimore during the winters, and spent his summers playing clubs in Atlantic City. During this period, he also studied composition with Baltimore composer Llewellyn Wilson.^[1]

He married Avis Lee in New Jersey in 1910.^[6] Eubie (under his given name James) and Avis were recorded in the Atlantic City city directory for 1910.^[7] On 16 or 17 July 1910, Eubie was recorded on the U.S. census as James H. Blake, living in Atlantic City, New Jersey, married to Avis.^[8] On 18 July 1910 he was also recorded on the U.S. census as Herbert Blake, living with his parents in Baltimore, unmarried.^[9]Perhaps his parents didn't yet know. The records agree that he was a musician.

He began a partnership with the lyricist Noble Sissle in 1915 with the release of a song they wrote together titled “It’s All Your Fault.”^[4] Sissle brought Eubie to New York that year, introducing him to James Reese Europe, and Europe's Clef Club booking agency for Black musicians.^[4] Eubie would later refer to Europe as "the Martin Luther king of music."^[10] Blake, Sissel, and Europe began work on the show Shuffle Along in 1916, but were briefly interrupted when Sissel and Europe were called up for service overseas in WWI.^[11] Work continued when Europe and Sissel returned in 1919.^[11] After Europe was murdered later that year, Eubie and Sissel formed a vaudeville team,^[4] touring for two years.

Sissle and Blake met comics Flournoy Miller and Aubrey Lyles at a NAACP fundraiser in Philidelphia.^[12] Miller and Lyle developed a story for Shuffle Along and wrote the book for the show.^[12] In late March 1921 Shuffle Along premiered at the Howard Theater in Washington, D.C.,^[13] beginning a two-month tryout.^[12] On 23 May 1921 the show opened on 63rd Street in New York.^[12] Shuffle Along was a surprise hit, and reintroduced Black musical theater to Broadway after a decade of its absence.^[14] It was not the first show with an all-Black creative team and all-Black cast, but its success with mixed-race audiences and "embodiment of all things jazz"^[12] were groundbreaking. It ran for 504 performances on Broadway,^[14] and toured for three years after leaving New York.^[13]

Blake and Sissle can be seen performing in this 1923 clip: Eubie Blake (piano) & Noble Sissle (vocals) The Library of Congress has audio recordings from the original Victor 78 rpm records, pressed in the 1920s, of nine Eubie Blake songs available online, several with Eubie performing.

Eubie's wife Avis died in 1939.^[15] In 1940 the census recorded the widower living in a boarding house in New York City.^[16]

During WWII, Eubie served as a musical director for the USO.^[4] After the war he married, in Richmond City, Virginia on 27 December 1945, as her second husband, Marion Louise (Gant) Tyler.^[3] She became his business manager until her death in 1982.^[1]

In 1965, ASCAP recognized the 50th anniversary of the release of "It's All Your Fault."^[4] Four years later, in 1969, Eubie was nominated for a Grammy in the Best Instrumental Jazz Performance, Small Group Or Soloist With Small Group category, honoring his album The 86 Years Of Eubie Blake.^[17]

Eubie was an important participant in the ragtime revival of the 1970s.^[11]

In 1981 Eubie was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Ronald Reagan.^[18]

James Hubert Blake died in Brooklyn on 12 February 1983.^[19][20] His body was cremated. He shares a marker with Marion at Cypress Hill Cemetery in Brooklyn, Kings County, New York.^[21]

On 16 September 1995 the United States Postal Service issued a commemorative 32 cent Eubie Blake stamp.^[22]

In 2016 a revival and update of Shuffle Along ran for a total of 138 performances on Broadway, and was nominated for ten Tony awards.^[23] Over thirty years after his passing, Eubie Blake still had Broadway shuffling along.

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4} Wikipedia contributors, "Eubie Blake," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Eubie_Blake&oldid=1141547369 (accessed March 30, 2023).
2. ↑ "United States World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918", database with images, FamilySearch (Draft record: accessed 3 August 2020), James Hubert Blake, 1917-1918.
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1} "Virginia, Marriage Records, 1936-2014," database with images, Ancestry.com (Shareable record: accessed 3 August 2020), James Hubert Blake, Marriage date 27 Dec 1945.
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 4.7 4.8} Max Morath, "The 93 Years Of Eubie Blake," American Heritage (Web page: accessed 3 August 2020); reprinted from American Heritage magazine, October 1976.
5. ↑ "United States Census, 1900," database with images, FamilySearch (Census record: accessed 03 August 2020), Hubert Blake in household of John Blake, Precinct 8 Baltimore city Ward 8, Baltimore, Maryland, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 103, sheet 12B, family 277, NARA microfilm publication T623 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1972.); FHL microfilm 1,240,611.
6. ↑ "New Jersey, Marriage Index, 1901-2016," database with images, Ancestry.com (Shareable record: accessed 3 August 2020), James Blake, spouse of Avis Lee.
7. ↑ "U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995," database with images, Ancestry.com (Shareable record: accessed 3 August 2020), James H Blake, Atlantic City, New Jersey, City Directory, 1910.
8. ↑ "United States Census, 1910," database with images, FamilySearch (Census record: accessed 5 August 2020), James H Blake, Atlantic City Ward 3, Atlantic, New Jersey, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 18, sheet 6B, family 138, NARA microfilm publication T624 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1982), roll 867; FHL microfilm 1,374,880.
9. ↑ "United States Census, 1910," database with images, FamilySearch (Census record : accessed 03 August 2020), Herbert Blake in household of John Blake, Baltimore Ward 6, Baltimore (Independent City), Maryland, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 76, sheet 2A, family 36, NARA microfilm publication T624 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1982), roll 554; FHL microfilm 1,374,567.
10. ↑ "James Reese Europe, 1881–1919," Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
11. ↑ ^{11.0 11.1 11.2} "Eubie Blake, 1883-1983," Library of Congress (Web page: accessed 3 August 2020).
12. ↑ ^{12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 12.4} "Musical of the Month: Shuffle Along," New York Public Library ([ Web page] : accessed 4 August 2020).
13. ↑ ^{13.0 13.1} "Shuffle Along: All-Black Broadway Musical of 1921," Black Then (Web page : accessed 4 August 2020).
14. ↑ ^{14.0 14.1} "Shuffle Along: The Musical at the Center of the Harlem Renaissance," The Kennedy Center Artsedge, Drop Me Off in Harlem (Web page : accessed 4 August 2020).
15. ↑ "New York, New York City Municipal Deaths, 1795-1949", database with images, FamilySearch (Death record: accessed 3 August 2020), Avis Blake, 1939.
16. ↑ "United States Census, 1940," database with images, FamilySearch (Census record: accessed 03 August 2020), James H Blake in household of Carrie H Mccray, Assembly District 21, Manhattan, New York City, New York, New York, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 31-1863, sheet 61A, line 33, family 18, Sixteenth Census of the United States, 1940, NARA digital publication T627. Records of the Bureau of the Census, 1790 - 2007, RG 29. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2012, roll 2669.
17. ↑ "Eubie Blake," Recording Academy Grammy Awards (tm) (Web page: accessed 3 August 2020).
18. ↑ "Recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, 1981-1989," Ronald Reagan Presidential Library & Museum (Web page : accessed 3 August 2020).
19. ↑ "United States Social Security Death Index," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VSJH-Q3B : 7 January 2021), James Blake, Feb 1983; citing U.S. Social Security Administration, Death Master File, database (Alexandria, Virginia: National Technical Information Service, ongoing).
20. ↑ "Eubie Blake Dies in Brooklyn at 100," The Baltimore Sun (Baltimore, Maryland), 13 February 1983, online archives (Shareable clipping: accessed 3 August 2020), column 1, citing page 1.
21. ↑ Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com: accessed 06 August 2020), memorial page for Eubie Blake (7 Feb 1883–12 Feb 1983), Find A Grave: Memorial #6201608, citing Cypress Hills Cemetery, Brooklyn, Kings County (Brooklyn), New York, USA; Maintained by Find A Grave.
22. ↑ "2988," Mystic Stamp Company (Web page: accessed 3 August 2920).
23. ↑ "Celebrate the Anniversary of the Original Shuffle Along With a Look Back at Its 2016 Broadway Musical Adaptation," Playbill (Web page: accessed 3 August 2020).

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