"Negroes are at last on Broadway, and here to stay!" - Will Marion Cook, following the premiere of Clorindy
Original sheet music from the 1898 Broadway show Clorindy: The Origin of the Cake Walk, words by Paul Lawrence Dunbar, music by Will Marion. 6 pp. Upright folio. Together with a large 20 x 20 inch embroidered pillow with illustration based on the front cover of the sheet music, reading, "Who Dat Say Chicken in Dis Crowd?" with three measures of musical notation from the song. And with a rare Dunbar autograph on a 2.5 x 4.25 inch card, inscribed “Very Truly Yours, Paul Laurence Dunbar.” Card very fine, pillow with light wear and spots of soiling, sheet music heavily chipped and torn with pages fully separated. An intriguing grouping.
Who dat say chicken in dis crowd?
Speak de word agin’ and speak it loud–
Blame de lan’ let white folks rule it,
I’se a lookin fu a pullet,
Who dat say chicken is dis crowd.
"Who Dat Say Chicken in Dis Crowd" was the most popular song in Clorindy, or The Origin of the Cake Walk, the first Broadway musical with music and lyrics composed and written by African Americans, and performed by an all-black cast. A one-act comedy-musical that ran an hour-long and was the first all-black show to play in an upper class Broadway theater. The lyricist and librettist for this show was Paul Lawrence Dunbar who wrote (perhaps at Cook's insistence) in a dialect style. Cook managed to get Clorindy performed as an extended afterpiece at the Casino Roof Garden on Broadway. When the show began there were only 50 people in the rooftop audience but people coming out of the main show downstairs heard magnificent choral singing coming from the roof and rushed up to see who was performing. By the end of the opening chorus, the house was packed and the performers were given a 10-minute ovation. (blackworkbroadway.com)
It is not known by whom, when, or in what context the present pillow was made. At the time, there was no Broadway show "merchandise" in the current manner, sold at the show. The pillow here is handmade, presumed to be roughly contemporaneous, and apparently unique. It is possible that it was made by or for someone in the show or by an especially devoted audience member.
The poet Paul Laurence Dunbar, son of fugitives from slavery, was known for his colorful use of language and dialect and was active in civil rights and the uplifting of African Americans. He died of tuberculosis at the age of 33. His Lyrics of Lowly Life, enthusiastically supported by critics such as William Dean Howells, established his reputation.
Will Marion Cook was a prolific and accomplished composer and conductor; he studied at Oberlin College, the Berlin Hochschule für Musik, and under Antonin Dvořák at the National Conservatory for Music, and because racism prevented him from having a career in classical music he switched to composer popular music and was extraordinarily successful. Despite his traditional musical education in music schools in Europe and America, Cook believed that "Negroes should eschew white patterns" and work to create unique styles to reflect their unique culture, rather than imitating the music of whites. His musicals Clorindy (1898) and In Dahomey (1903), composed for the comedy duo Bert Williams and George Walker, were the first all-black composed, produced, and performed musicals on Broadway.
"Negroes are at last on Broadway, and here to stay!" - Will Marion Cook, following the premiere of Clorindy
Original sheet music from the 1898 Broadway show Clorindy: The Origin of the Cake Walk, words by Paul Lawrence Dunbar, music by Will Marion. 6 pp. Upright folio. Together with a large 20 x 20 inch embroidered pillow with illustration based on the front cover of the sheet music, reading, "Who Dat Say Chicken in Dis Crowd?" with three measures of musical notation from the song. And with a rare Dunbar autograph on a 2.5 x 4.25 inch card, inscribed “Very Truly Yours, Paul Laurence Dunbar.” Card very fine, pillow with light wear and spots of soiling, sheet music heavily chipped and torn with pages fully separated. An intriguing grouping.
Who dat say chicken in dis crowd?
Speak de word agin’ and speak it loud–
Blame de lan’ let white folks rule it,
I’se a lookin fu a pullet,
Who dat say chicken is dis crowd.
"Who Dat Say Chicken in Dis Crowd" was the most popular song in Clorindy, or The Origin of the Cake Walk, the first Broadway musical with music and lyrics composed and written by African Americans, and performed by an all-black cast. A one-act comedy-musical that ran an hour-long and was the first all-black show to play in an upper class Broadway theater. The lyricist and librettist for this show was Paul Lawrence Dunbar who wrote (perhaps at Cook's insistence) in a dialect style. Cook managed to get Clorindy performed as an extended afterpiece at the Casino Roof Garden on Broadway. When the show began there were only 50 people in the rooftop audience but people coming out of the main show downstairs heard magnificent choral singing coming from the roof and rushed up to see who was performing. By the end of the opening chorus, the house was packed and the performers were given a 10-minute ovation. (blackworkbroadway.com)
It is not known by whom, when, or in what context the present pillow was made. At the time, there was no Broadway show "merchandise" in the current manner, sold at the show. The pillow here is handmade, presumed to be roughly contemporaneous, and apparently unique. It is possible that it was made by or for someone in the show or by an especially devoted audience member.
The poet Paul Laurence Dunbar, son of fugitives from slavery, was known for his colorful use of language and dialect and was active in civil rights and the uplifting of African Americans. He died of tuberculosis at the age of 33. His Lyrics of Lowly Life, enthusiastically supported by critics such as William Dean Howells, established his reputation.
Will Marion Cook was a prolific and accomplished composer and conductor; he studied at Oberlin College, the Berlin Hochschule für Musik, and under Antonin Dvořák at the National Conservatory for Music, and because racism prevented him from having a career in classical music he switched to composer popular music and was extraordinarily successful. Despite his traditional musical education in music schools in Europe and America, Cook believed that "Negroes should eschew white patterns" and work to create unique styles to reflect their unique culture, rather than imitating the music of whites. His musicals Clorindy (1898) and In Dahomey (1903), composed for the comedy duo Bert Williams and George Walker, were the first all-black composed, produced, and performed musicals on Broadway.