A few weeks ago while doing a profile on the great pianist and composer Eubie Blake, I was reacquainted with the short but brilliant life of Florence Mills, who starred in Blake and Noble Sissle’s musical “Shuffle Along” in 1921.
Activities
Find out more: The Encyclopedia Britannica has a wonderful profile on Mills, and there are several books that capture her vibrancy and her determination to open doors for other Black performers. In his autobiography “The Big Sea,” Langston Hughes offers a vivid description of Mills’ unforgettable funeral.
Discussion:“Shuffle Along” had a number of memorable songs and a political plotline that is worth reviewing for its book, lyrics, music, and of course the breakthrough it made for Black entertainers on and off Broadway
Place in context: When the Harlem Renaissance is cited, the focus is mainly on the literature and not the dancers, singers, actors or other artists outside the literary realm. Mills came along in the ’20s and was undaunted by the racism and discrimination.
Mills, born Jan. 25, 1895, the year Booker T. Washington delivered that speech in Atlanta the propelled him forever into the spotlight, died on Nov. 1, 1927, at the age of 32 with many of her dreams and aspirations unfulfilled. Celebrated for her commanding stage presence and song stylings, Mills was known for her version of “I’m a Little Blackbird Looking For a Bluebird”—whose mournful lyrics were in stark contrast to her bubbly personality. She was planning to start her own all-Black revue when she died, obviously a vehicle through which she would be the most luminous of the performers.
A native of the District of Columbia (or the near environs), Mills was a child prodigy, taking to the stage at 5 years of age as “Baby Florence.” She practically stole the stage from the fabulous comedy team Bert Williams and George Walker in their road production of “Sons of Ham.” In effect, she was an ebony-hued Shirley Temple who was an equally superb singer and dancer, even though she was still a tot. For a while, she performed with a white dance team. Her talent was so impressive that even white vaudevillians were in awe.
In 1903, perhaps with the aim of promoting their child’s promising career, the Mills family moved to Harlem. This was at a time when Harlem was just beginning to receive a large influx of African-Americans, a flow stimulated by pioneering Black realtors such as Philip Payton and “Pig Foot Mary,” or Lillian Harris Dean.
Seven years after arriving in Harlem, Mills, with her two older sisters, formed a song and dance troupe that played the vaudeville circuit to some acclaim and recognition. Their revue was extremely popular in Harlem.
Her reputation may have preceded her when she was tapped to be the lead in the Sissles’ musical. Many historians conclude that with her in a leading role, it was no wonder the musical is often construed as the signal event that sparked the legendary Harlem Renaissance. Her voice, according to the eminent chronicler of Harlem and incomparable artist and intellectual James Weldon Johnson, was “in the upper range … full of bell-like, bird-like tones.”
After her star turn in “Shuffle Along,” she began to concentrate on cabaret venues and was eventually hired at the Panama Cafe on State Street in Chicago by impresario Ada “Bricktop” Smith, who would go on to greater renown in Paris as a hostess and entrepreneur. Mills and Smith, along with Cora Green and pianist Tony Jackson, formed a group called the Panama Trio. This stint only lasted for a short while because the club, which was located in a red light district, soon closed.
This Week in Black History
June 23, 1997: Dr. Betty Shabazz, the widow of Malcolm X (El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz), dies on this date after suffering burns from a fire.
June 25, 1941: After President Franklin Delano Roosevelt accedes to the demands made by A. Philip Randolph and his cohorts, the threatened march on the nation’s capital is called off.
June 27, 1991: The esteemed jurist Thurgood Marshall steps down from the Supreme Court bench on this date
Mills was back in vaudeville by 1916, and it was during this return to the circuit that she met her second husband, Ulysses Thompson, a dancer famed for his extremely flexible “rubber legs.” They remained together for the rest of her life.
But her greatest success occurred when she replaced Gertrude Sanders in “Shuffle Along.” It was Mills’ dancing that was most memorable, according to Langston Hughes. So stunning was her presence and performance that esteemed songwriter Irving Berlin was engrossed, insisting that if he could find a white woman with Mills’ energy and charisma, he would compose a song a week, clearly revealing an element of racism.
With Thompson by her side, Mills continued to wow audiences, especially when she was hired by Lew Leslie at the Plantation Club. Their act morphed into a revue featuring a number of notables and emerging performers such as Josephine Baker and Paul Robeson. An invitation to appear in London was honored by the troupe despite the intense racial tension that prevailed. Things went reasonably well, but there was nothing like home, and Mills returned in 1923 for an engagement in “Greenwich Village Follies.” It was the first time an African-American woman had been offered such an opportunity. She was also offered a chance to perform in the all-white Ziegfeld Follies but turned it down for some unexplained reason.
In 1924, the Harlem Renaissance was gathering steam, particularly in the musical realm, with the arrival of Duke Ellington and his orchestra. One of the first compositions from his enormous repertoire was “Black Beauty,” which was dedicated to Mills.
Two years later, the Leslie staged his “Blackbirds.” Now Mills had the format to launch her all-Black revue at the Alhambra Theater in Harlem. The show then was mounted in London’s Pavilion Theatre, where 276 performances were presented. It was reported that the Prince of Wales saw the show more than 20 times. What Baker had achieved in Paris was now Mills’ territory in London.
The schedule was exhausting and wore down the seemingly indefatigable Mills, who journeyed to Germany to regain her stamina. But her health deteriorated. After receiving a royal welcome upon her return to the states, she underwent an appendectomy operation that she had delayed for much too long.
The doctors were not optimistic about her chances, and she succumbed a week later.
Thousands attended Mills’ funeral at Mother Zion AME Church in Harlem. When the procession reached 145th Street, a low-flying plane released a flock of blackbirds. She is buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx with a countless number of other music greats, including Ellington.