Based on extensive interviews, Reminiscing With Noble Sissle And Eubie Blake recounts the lives and music of singer-lyricist-bandleader Noble Sissle (1889-1975) and ragtime pianist-composer Eubie Blake (1883-1983). Their fifty-seven year partnership began in 1915, when Broadway beckoned with a wealth of opportunity: thriving theatre companies performed vaudeville, revue, musical comedy and operetta to enthusiastic audiences.

It was an unprecedented time for black musical theatre, and this book captures all of the optimism and vibrancy of early twentieth-century black performers and musicians. In 1921, Sissle and Blake's breakthrough musical, Shuffle Along, brought authentic ragtime and jazz dancing to the Broadway stage for the first time - a combination that opened up new avenues in musical theatre for black and white performers alike.

Richly illustrated with a rare collection of photographs, theatre posters, playbills, sheet music and reviews, this book forms a portrait of an important era in musical theatre and of the creative partnership that contributed so immensely to it.

CONTENTS:
Introduction
First Meeting, 1915
Noble Sissle: Early Years, 1889-1915
Eubie Blake: Early Years, 1883-1915
Sissle and Blake with James Reese Europe: 1915-1919
Sissle and Blake in Vaudeville, 1919-1921
Shuffle Along, 1921-1923
Summer, 1923
The Chocolate Dandies, 1924-1925
European Tour, 1924-1925
Sissle and Blake: Separation, 1926-1932
Lew Leslie's Blackbirds of 1930
Sissle and Blake Reunited - Shuffle Along of 1933
Sissle and Blake 1933-
Conclusions and Questions

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