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[Interview with Robert Kimball : raw footage]

Title: [Interview with Robert Kimball : raw footage] [2003-05-13] [videorecording] / [directed by Michael Kantor]
Publication: New York, 2003.

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Status	Vol/Date	Format	Access	Call Number	Item Location
Request Appointment Available - Can be used on site. Please visit New York Public Library - Performing Arts Research Collections to submit a request in person.	Videocassette 2	Moving image	Restricted use	NCOX 2155 Videocassette 2	Performing Arts Research Collections - TOFT
Request Appointment Available - Can be used on site. Please visit New York Public Library - Performing Arts Research Collections to submit a request in person.	Videocassette 1	Moving image	Restricted use	NCOX 2155 Videocassette 1	Performing Arts Research Collections - TOFT

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Additional Authors

Description

2 videocassettes (VHS) (43 min.) : sd., col. SP; 1/2 in.

Summary

Raw interview footage used for the documentary Broadway, the American musical. Robert Kimball, music critic and author of several books on the musical theater, speaks about the Broadway musical. Kimball discusses the all-Black musical comedy of 1921 Shuffle along, which through its success and popularity forged a permanent place for Black performance on Broadway. Kimball speaks of African American stage performers of the preceding period Bert Williams and George Walker, Bob Cole, The Johnson Brothers, Ernest Cogan, and of bandleader, arranger and composer James Reese Europe, all of whose deaths within a short period of time created an artistic void in the longstanding tradition of Black showmanship. He also discusses the overseas activities of Black artists like Noble Sissle and Eubie Blake, the authors of Shuffle along, who wrote and performed in an integrated wartime environment. Kimball discusses the creation of Shuffle along as a "book show," which incorporated the Vaudeville acts of F. E. Miller & Aubrey Lyles and Sissle & Blake, and which gave talented Black performers such as Paul Robeson, Josephine Baker, Florence Mills, and Adelaide Hall their first show business opportunities. He discusses the influence of the 1923 Black musical Runnin' wild which introduced the Charleston to Broadway, and speaks of the influence of Shuffle along on composers Irving Berlin and George & Ira Gershwin, who incorporated its syncopated rhythms into their songwriting. Kimball speaks of the musical sources of Shuffle along in Ragtime and piano music, and the influence of its composer Eubie Blake on subsequent musical generations. He also discusses the signficance of some of the show's songs like "Bandana days" and "If you've never been vamped by a Brown skin you've never been vamped at all," and how these songs came to be written.
Kimball goes on to discuss the wearing of blackface makeup, a tradition derived from minstrel shows by White performers such as Al Jolson and Eddie Cantor; George White's Scandals, a series of theatrical revues which were notable for the songwriting by composer George Gershwin, and for their dancing, especially as seen in the production number "I'll build a stairway to paradise." Kimball speaks about George White's astuteness in encouraging Black dancers to teach his White performers their popular dances like the Black Bottom, which they performed in his shows scored by the trio De Silva, Brown & Henderson. Kimball goes on to discusses the revue form, as exemplified by Ziegfeld's Follies, which in its variety represented all aspects of American culture, from the all American Will Rogers to the Yiddish tradition expressed by Fanny Brice, to the "sad and broken" persona of African American performer Bert Williams. Kimball speaks about the vibrancy of Broadway theater during the 1920s; and the songwriting of George & Ira Gershwin which "gave us a tremendously rich, exciting time in the theater." Discussion concludes on tape one with one minute of audio-only talk.
Discussion resumes on tape two with more on the production of Shuffle along. Kimball speaks about the show's energetic tunes such as Baltimore buzz, which he describes as "one of the most rhythmically vibrant numbers of the decade"; and the show's tours which displayed African American artistry throughout the country. Kimball goes on to discuss the Depression era anthem Brother, can you spare a dime? by E. Y. (Yip) Harburg and Jay Gorney; the impact of the 1929 stock market crash and ensuing Depression on the theater; songs like The varsity drag by De Silva, Brown & Henderson; the lyrics of Ira Gershwin written to accompany his brother George's melodies; and the song from Shuffle along entitled Love will find a way, which was considered risky in its expression of authentic love between Blacks. Kimball also discusses the songwriting of Irving Berlin for Annie get your gun, and that of Cole Porter, whose open and sophisticated songs candidly addressed love and sex; the optimistic musical comedy shows of the 1920s about women, exemplified in the melodies of Jerome Kern; and singing of star Marilyn Miller in Irving Berlin's revue As thousands cheer.

Alternative Title

Broadway, the American musical
Broadway: the American musical

Subjects

Genre/Form

Documentaries and factual works.
Musicals.
Unedited footage.

Note

The first interview conducted with Robert Kimball for this documentary is available on NCOX 2126.
This interview is one of a group of interviews with 90 individuals used in making the documentary Broadway, the American musical. The completed production is available on NCOX 2058.
Credits for completed production from pbs.org: A film by Michael Kantor ; produced by Jeff Dupre, Michael Kantor and Sally Rosenthal ; written by Marc Fields, Michael Kantor, Laurence Maslon, and JoAnne Young ; directed by Michael Kantor.
Time code on frame.
Contains various takes, at occasional brief intervals, audio continues without sound.

Credits (note)

Cameraman: Mead Hunt.

Performer (note)

Interviewer: Michael Kantor. Interviewee: Robert Kimball.

Event (note)

Videotaped in New York, N.Y. on May 13, 2003.

Biography (note)

Broadway, the American musical, which aired on PBS in October 2004, is a documentary chronicling the entire history of a unique American art form, the Broadway musical. Each of its six episodes covers a different era in American theater history, and features the Broadway shows and songs which defined the period. The series draws on feature films, television broadcasts, archival news footage, original cast recordings, still photos, diaries, journals, first-person accounts, and on-camera interviews with many of the principals involved in the development of the genre.

Call Number

NCOX 2155

OCLC

141262543

Title

[Interview with Robert Kimball : raw footage] [2003-05-13] [videorecording] / [directed by Michael Kantor]

Imprint

New York, 2003.

Credits

Cameraman: Mead Hunt.

Performer

Interviewer: Michael Kantor. Interviewee: Robert Kimball.

Event

Videotaped in New York, N.Y. on May 13, 2003.

Biography

Broadway, the American musical, which aired on PBS in October 2004, is a documentary chronicling the entire history of a unique American art form, the Broadway musical. Each of its six episodes covers a different era in American theater history, and features the Broadway shows and songs which defined the period. The series draws on feature films, television broadcasts, archival news footage, original cast recordings, still photos, diaries, journals, first-person accounts, and on-camera interviews with many of the principals involved in the development of the genre.

Local Note

Gift of Broadway Film Project, Inc. and Thirteen/WNET, 2005.

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Added Author

Kimball, Robert, interviewee.

Kantor, Michael, 1961- interviewer.

Kantor, Michael, 1961- director.

Squires, Buddy, cameraman.

Broadway Film Project, Inc, donor.

Thirteen/WNET, donor.

Research Call Number

NCOX 2155

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