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Rang Tang

Swedish article

Scenen (Swedish magazine)

N:o 1: 14.e årg

1 Jan. 1928

REDAKTION

Karduansm.-g -11 A

Redaktör

Erik Ljungberger

träffas säkr. 2–3

Utkommer 1 o. 15 varje månad

Prenumeration:

Helår krona 10: — halvår kr. 5:50. lyxuppl. helår krona 15:—. Utom Sverige

van: uppl. krona 15:— pr år: lyxuppl. krona 20:—.

Postadress: Stockholm 1. Telefoner: Norr 81 66, Norr 243 33

Scenen

Svensk Negerrevy På Broadway

ett litet Amerikabrev från en svensk skådespelerska

Scenbild från Rang-Tang på Majestic Theatre i Newyork

New York har mycket att bjuda på ifråga om teater och biografer. Det finns en hel del att välja på, musical-comedies, shows och allt som kan tänkas både vitt och svart, men att få se en hel negerrevy och därtill en som är skriven av en svenska hör till ovanligheterna.

På Majestic theatre har sedan fyra månader en negerrevy Rang-Tang, skriven av stockholmskan Kaj Gynt, gått för pukor och trumpeter.

Ett annat svenskt inslag är dekorationsmålaren Olle Nordmark, känd från Stockholm, vilken fått mycket beröm för sina färgglada och verkligt vackra dekorationer.

Inför scener som Afrika, Sambos-Jambo och andra satt man stum, och den ena applåden avlöste den andra. Revyn räknas som en av de största succéerna i New York under senare år. Musiken av Ford Dabney är melodios och vacker.

Bland de uppträdande togo paret Miller & Lyles priset, de voro storartade och tog publiken med storm så fort de visade sig. Dessa båda lär vara det bästa man kan få tag uti i komikerväg.

Samspelet var briljant, och inte minst roade två små negerflickor Lavinia Mack och Mary Baines med sina lustiga danser. Evelin Preer svarade för skönheten tillsammans med Zaidiee Jackson, som var storartad i en scen, kallad Sambos Jambo.

Baletten, bestående av flickor under sexton år, utgjorde enaast ögonfägnad och det var en fröjd att se dem dansa, antingen det var solo eller i ensemble.

En annan sak att notera är att man slipper se de nakna benen längre, utan alla ha strumpor eller trikåer, detta på alla teatrar.

Miss Gynt skall ut på turné med sin revy till London—Paris—Berlin och så hem till Stockholm. Det skulle nog vara något för Rolf att få som gästspel.

Det är nämligen inte det vanliga negersprattlet och skränet, utan en rolig komedi med lagom avvägd sentimentalitet och kärlek för att bliva fullt njutbar, därtill goda artister och vacker musik. Och det svenska inslaget, Kaj Gynt och Olle Nordmark, behöver inte skämmas för sig.

Rosa Tillman

History

Acts

• Act I

Scene 1 — Public Square, Jimtown

A — Daybreak

Mrs. Jenkins ......... Lillian Westmorland

Laborers, washwomen, cottonpickers

B — Barbershop business

Customer ......... James Strange

Villagers ......... B. Jackson, A. Allen, E. Thompson

Cast Principals (keep)

1. Flournoy E. Miller (1885–1971), as Sam Peck, a barber ‡
2. Aubrey Lyles (1884–1932), as Steve Jenkins, a barber ‡
3. Josephine Hall, as Queen of Sheba and singer
4. Evelyn Preer (1896–1932)
5. Daniel L. Haynes (1889–1954), as King of Madagascar and chorus member
6. Inez Draw, singer
7. Lillian Westmoreland (maiden; 1906–1935), a so-called "double-voiced" talent – the ability to sing both soprano and alto

   Dancers

   Barnes, Mack, Jones dance trio

   Mae Barnes, dancer

   Byron Jones

   Lavinia Mack (born about 1908), dancer

10. Zaidee Jackson (1898–1970), as Magnolia
11. Crawford Jackson
12. Joe Willis
    • Bryson & Jones
13. Ralph Bryson, dancer

Who are these people?

Jerry Mills

Le 'Etta Revelle

In September 1927, "The Witch Doctor," a new scene by Trent and Dabney was added to the show.

‡ Member of the 1921 Shuffle Along cast

Post Broadway productions

After closing on Broadway, Rang Tang opened in

• Brooklyn at Werba's Theater
• Ford's Theatre, Baltimore, opened October 24, 1927, for a 1-week engagement
• Tremont Theatre, Boston, November 28, 1927
• Shubert Theatre, New Haven, opened December 29, 1927
• Jamaicia Cort Theater, January 1928 – John Cort's theater, designed by Eugene DeRosa, on 175th Street at Jamaica Avenue; opened August 22nd, 1927, with the American stage premier of Mr. What's His Name
• Lafayette Theatre, Harlem, opened February 13, 1928
• Ford Theatre, Baltimore, around September 1927

Music notes

The lyrics to "Brown," according to author Samuel A. Floyd, expresses optimistically the hopes and aspirations of the 'New Negro' during the Renaissance.

Side notes

Kaj Gynt's real name – Karin Cederstrand, who emigrated in 1907

1918: Lived at 599 West 178th Street, Manhattan (per husbands WWI Draft Registration)

Husband (married 1907 in Manhattan): Harold Gustav Frederic Matthiessen (born 1883)

Kaj Gynt (aka Miss Kay; born abt. 1895) sued Daniel L. Haynes in 1935 for making false statements in 1934 (about bankruptcy) related to The Green Pastures.

She acted for three years with the Royal Dramatic Theatre in Stockholm

Acted in a role supporting Ethel Barrymore in The Eternal Mother

Effie King & Lottie Gee

• In 1914, Gee and King were one of the first African American acts to tour the Lowe Circuit.

Black vaudeville circuit

• Comedy Theater, Brooklyn
• F.T. Kearney's Fairyland Theater, 1838 L Street, N.W., Washington, D.C.
• Dabney's Theater
• Daly Theater, 936 Pennsylvania Avenue, Baltimore
• Deas Theater, Wilmington, Delaware

African African American Theater Buildings: An Illustrated Historical Directory, 1900–1955, by Eric Ledell Smith (born 1949), McFarland & Company (2003); ISBN 978-0-7864-4922-4

Profiles of African American Stage Performers and Theatre People, 1816–1960 (re: "Effie King"), by Bernard L. Peterson, Jr., Greenwood Press (2001); ISBN 0-313-29534-4

Critic's reviews

• Oakland Tribune, "Percy Hammond's Letter on the Theater" (column), "Stage Swarms With Undressed Virgins," by Percy Hammond (né Percy Hunter Hammond; 1873–1936), Vol. 107, No. 31, July 31, 1927, p. W-2 (Newspapers.com)

Note: Percy Hammond – drama critic for the New York Herald Tribune from 1921 until his death – was regarded a conservative, with respect to theater

• New York Age, "Miller & Lyles Ignore Negro Press," Vol. 40, No. 44, July 16, 1927, p. 6, col. 6 (of 8) (Newspapers.com)

"The New York Age is unable to comment because of the failure of the management to remit the usual press tickets."

• New Yorker Theatrical Magazine (positive), August 4, 1927 (repeated in the Pittsburgh Courier at Newspapers.com)

• New York Times, "Rang Tang Opens at the Royale Theatre," Vol. 76, Whole No. 25,372, July 13, 1927, p. 20, col. 1 (mixed positive and negative) (link)

The article is unsigned, but could have been J. Brooks Atkinson (1894–1984), theater critic at the New York Times from 1922 to 1960

The New York Times critic was displeased when Miller and Lyles in their book show, Rang Tang (1927), attempted to imitate what he felt were dance practices for white shows only, "in this case dividing its ensemble into show girls, ponies and ballet." The critic even makes a sly dig, "Indeed, there was around the entertainment last night the suspicion that it might be in the language of Mr. Van Vechten [the white patron of black artists], passing.

In other words, the show was trying too hard to be perceived as a "white" show. Even contemporary critics like Jean and Marshall Stearns appear to endorse the prejudice: "Unfortunately, the chorus girls imitated the Tiller Girls, in spite of the precedent of Shuffle Along (151). The jungle choreography of "Monkey Land" and the segment where the entire chorus strummed banjos, was deemed much more appropriate.

• New York Daily News, "Miller & Lyles Bring Rang Tang to Royal" (theater review), by M.L., July 13, 1927, p. 25 (accessible via Newspapers.com; subscription required)

• Brooklyn Daily Eagle, "Another Musical Comedy of Color – Rang Tang Is Offered at the Royale Theatre With Miller and Lyles, Black Bottoms and Other Native Talents," by Martin Dickstein (1900–1988), July 13, 1927, p. 30 (accessible via Newspapers.com; subscription required)

New York Times critics

J. Brooks Atkinson (1894–1984), theater critic at the New York Times from 1922 to 1960

Walter Kerr (1913–1996), theater critic for the New York Herald Tribune from 1951 to 1966, then the New York Times from 1966 to 1983

Algonquin Round Table seated critics – Alexander Woollcott (1887–1943), Dorothy Parker (1893–1967), Robert Benchley (1889–1945) – as well as theater folk Edna Ferber (1885–1968), Tallulah Bankhead (1902–1968)

Samuel Beckett (1906–1989), retired as Chief Critic at the Times

New York Daily News critics

James Whittaker (www.newspapers.com/image/615385357)

Burns Mantle (1873–1948), Chapman's predecessor, drama critic for the Daily News from 1922 to 1943

O. O. McIntyre (died 1938), Mantle's assistant (www.newspapers.com/image/375795349)

John Arthur Chapman (1901–1972), drama critic at the Daily News from 1943 to 1972, and Mantle's assistant since 1929

John Rosenfield, Jr. (né Max John Rosenfield, Jr.; 1900–1966), once Mantle's assistant, but went on to become film critic of the Dallas News

Fintan O'Toole (born 1958), drama critic at the Daily News from 1997 to 2001

Other New York critics

John Simon (1925–2019), critic for New York magazine

Martin Dickstein (1900–1988), Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Critics from Boston

Elliot Norton (1903–2003)

Critics of Chicago

Ashton Stevens (1872–1951)

Employment of African American actors

As mentioned earlier in the chapter, the first example of an integrated cast on Broadway was Will Marion Cook's musical The Southerners in 1904. While the idea of blacks and whites onstage together threatened to cause an uproar, no riots occurred, nor did a revolution. On the Broadway stage integrated casts remained rare, but they became worth counting in the 1920s.

Scratch pad

Inlines for Joe Jordan

• ASCAP Biographical Dictionary (re: "Jordan, Joe"), American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers

3rd ed., compiled and edited by the Lynn Farnol Group, Inc. (1966), p. 374; LCCN 66-20214

4th ed., compiled by Jaques Cattell Press, R.R. Bowker (1980), p. 256 OCLC 7065938, 12259500; ISBN 0-8352-1283-1, 978-0-8352-1283-0; LCCN 80--65351

• Biographical Dictionary of Afro-American and African Musicians (re: "Jordan, Joe"), by Eileen Jackson Southern (1920–2002), Greenwood Press (1982), pps. 222–223; LCCN 81-2586; OCLC 902119012; ISBN 0-313-21339-9 (borrowable online via Internet Archive)</ref>

Referencing:

1. ASCAP (3rd ed.) (1966)
2. Black press, including:
3. Chicago Defender, 20 Aug 1913
4. Chicago Defender, 26 Oct 1915
5. Chicago Defender, 24 Dec 1932
6. Chicago Defender, 11 Sep 1943
7. "Musical and Dramatic – Chicago Weekly Review," by Sylvester A. Russell (1864–1930), (re: "Joe Jordan, well-known musician, actor and composer," Indianapolis Freeman, August 12, 1916, p. 5
8. "The Hogan Testimonial Benefit" (citing "Joe Jordan"), New York Age, June 25, 1908, p. 6 (Newspapers.com; subscription required)
9. They All Played Ragtime (4th ed.), Rudi Blesh and Harriet Janis, (1950), Oak Publications (1971)
10. 100 Years of the Negro in Show Business, by Tom Fletcher (1873–1954), Burdge & Co., Ltd. (1954), pps. 129–131
11. JaTrRR
12. The Complete Encyclopedia of Popular Music and Jazz, 1900–1950, Roger D. Kinkle (1916–2000) (ed.), Arlington House (1974)
13. Jazz Records, 1897–1942 (2 Vols.), Brian Rust, Arlington House (1978)

• Biographical Dictionary of American Music (re: "Jordan, Joe"), Charles Eugene Claghorn (1911–2005), Parker Publishing Company, Inc. (1973, 1976), p. 245; OCLC 499284774; ISBN 0-1307-6331-4, 978-0-1307-6331-0</ref>

Broadway era

January 11, 1927

When Rang Tang premiered, the recently built Royale Theatre had only been open 6 months and 1 day. When, in overruns, the production moved to the recently built Majestic one block south, that theater had only been open 5 months and 15 days.

The Royale, on the south side of West 45th Street, and the Majestic, on the north side of 44th Street, were back-to-back (contiguous) to each other. They were both built and owned by Chanin brothers and both designed by the prolific theater architect Herbert J. Krapp – the Royale being Channin's third of six theaters and the Majestic being their sixth and largest capacity.

All six of the Channin theaters were between Seventh and Eight Avenues, one on 44th, two on 45th, which between those two avenues is known as George Abbott Way, one on 46th, and two on 47th.

Also, when Rang Tang opened, there were more than fifty-two major theaters in Manhattan's Midtown Theater District, all of which had been built and opened over the previous twenty-three years. Ten of those theaters were on West 45th Street, in the same block, between Seventh and Eight Avenues. One block south, on West 44th Street, between the same avenues, there were five theaters. Completions and openings of three major theaters occurred while the Broadway Rang Tang was running.

Anecdotal footnote

Leon D. F. Paris, a Haitian aviator, flew from New York to Haiti around 1933.

Notes, copyrights, references

Copyrights

Original copyrights

Note: sheet music copyrighted in the U.S. (a) prior to 1925 with copyright renewal or (b) from 1925 through 1963 without copyright renewal is deemed public domain.

Catalog of Copyright Entries, Part 1, Group 3: Class D: Dramatic Compositions, Motion Pictures, New Series, Library of Congress, Copyright Office

Catalog of Copyright Entries, Part 3 Musical Compositions, New Series, Library of Congress, Copyright Office

Catalog of Copyright Entries, Third Series, Renewal Registrations – Music

Copyright renewals

General references

1. The ASCAP Biographical Dictionary (3rd ed.), American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (1966)
2. Biographical Dictionary of American Music, by Charles Eugene Claghorn (1911–2005), West Nyack: Parker Publishing Company, Inc. (1973)
3. The Oxford Companion to Popular Music, by Peter Gammond (1925–2019), Oxford Companions, Oxford University Press (1991)
4. Biography Index, A cumulative index to biographical material in books and magazines, Vol. 14, September 1984 – August 1986, H.W. Wilson Co. (1986)
5. Profiles of African American Stage Performers and Theatre People, 1816–1960, by Bernard L. Peterson, Jr., Greenwood Press (2001)
6. Biographical Dictionary of Afro-American and African Musicians, by Eileen Jackson Southern (1920–2002), Greenwood Press (1982)
7. In Black and White, A guide to magazine articles, newspaper articles, and books concerning black individuals and groups (3rd ed.; Vol. 1 of 2), Mary Mace Spradling (née Mary Elizabeth Mace; 1911–2009) (ed.), Gale Research (1980); OCLC 631458944
8. In Black and White (3rd ed.; supplement), Mary Mace Spradling (née Mary Elizabeth Mace; 1911–2009) (ed.), Gale Research (1985); OCLC 849767637

External links

• NYPL feature on Shuffle Along (2012)
• ​Rang Tang (1928) (show)​ at the Internet Broadway Database
• ​Rang Tang (1928) (production)​ at the Internet Broadway Database

Category:Broadway musicals

Category:All-Black cast Broadway shows

Category:1927 musicals