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world.... Much of his present popularity is due to his oddities, his eccentricities, differing wholly from anything ever seen on a public stage.... His strange comedy and blues, especially when at the piano, create a furor." After the Review broke up in early 1917, May continued touring as a solo act, before joining "C.W. Park's
Colored Aristocrats", another review managed by Benbow. However, he soon left, and teamed up with the pairing of Butterbeans and Susie in a new act.
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248:-born Sweetie Matthews. They married, and performed regularly together in Benbow's company. In 1911, they played in Chicago at the Monogram theater, one of the top black vaudeville venues in the city, and, according to writers Lynn Abbott and Doug Seroff, "opened the floodgates for other Southern acts, and ensured a prominent place for the blues in American entertainment."
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in 1938, Morton recalled May as "the greatest comedian ever knew", describing him as "a very, very swell fellow, over six feet tall, very slender with big liver lips, and light complexioned. His shoes were enormous and he wore trousers impossible to get over his feet without a shoe horn. He always
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In
February 1916, May formed a new act with Benbow, initially as a four-piece with singers Robbie Lee Peoples and Ebbie Burton, but soon expanding into the "Beans and Benbow's Big Vaudeville Review", with fifteen performers. May was called by one critic "the blues master piano player of the
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As he attacks the piano, Stringbean's head starts to nod, his shoulders shake, and his body begins to quiver. Slowly, he sinks to the floor of the stage. Before he submerges, he is executing the Snake Hips..., shouting the blues and, as he hits the deck still playing the piano, performing a
209:, one of a family of eight. His father died when he was a child, and his mother worked in menial jobs. During his childhood, Butler May developed his musical talents by singing and playing piano. By the age of fourteen he had become an accomplished performer, and he joined
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Although their relationship was punctuated by occasional acrimonious separations during which May performed with other partners, Stringbeans and
Sweetie toured together intermittently until the end of 1915. Earlier in 1915, they debuted in
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had a big diamond in his front tooth. He was the first guy I ever saw with a diamond in his mouth, and I guess, I got the idea for my diamond from him".
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performer, singer, pianist and comedian. He has been described as "the greatest attraction in
African-American vaudeville, the first recognizable
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Lynn Abbott and Doug Seroff, ""They Cert'ly Sound Good to Me": Sheet Music, Southern
Vaudeville, and the Commercial Ascendancy of the Blues",
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Mister Jelly Roll: The
Fortunes of Jelly Roll Morton, New Orleans Creole and "inventor of Jazz"
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horizontal grind which would make today's rock and roll dancers seem like staid citizens.
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In one of his most popular songs, "Titanic Blues", Stringbeans sang about surviving the
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lodge, after a rope was put round his neck. He was paralyzed and died a week later.
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in
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because of his athleticism. He originated the much-copied blues metaphor of "
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In 1909, May appeared as half of a double act with comedian Kid Kelly in
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Erwin Bosman, "Butler May: was he the real Father of the Blues?",
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181:(August 18, 1894 – November 17, 1917) was an American
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star," and was known "for his streetwise humor, contortive
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133:Entertainer, comedian, singer, songwriter
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462:American vaudeville performers
307:May died in November 1917, in
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482:Accidental deaths in Florida
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179:Butler "String Beans" May
74:"The Elgin Movements Man"
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410:. Retrieved 7 March 2017
374:. Retrieved 7 March 2017
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487:Comedians from Alabama
437:American blues singers
406:March 8, 2017, at the
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52:Background information
46:Butler and Sweetie May
309:Jacksonville, Florida
294:Butterbeans and Susie
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168:Butterbeans and Susie
109:Jacksonville, Florida
228:When interviewed by
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92:Montgomery, Alabama
215:Pensacola, Florida
191:vernacular dancing
286:Lafayette Theater
219:Jelly Roll Morton
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16:(Redirected from
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399:NoDepression.com
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149:Years active
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72:String Beans
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313:Freemasonry
268:W. L. James
253:catastrophe
246:New Orleans
211:Will Benbow
195:Jelly Roll
165:Sweetie May
162:Will Benbow
158:Formerly of
421:Categories
319:References
242:stage name
230:Alan Lomax
183:vaudeville
138:Instrument
120:Vaudeville
85:1894-08-18
58:Birth name
34:Butler May
223:Ma Rainey
201:Biography
404:Archived
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238:Atlanta
290:Harlem
116:Genres
111:, U.S.
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187:blues
142:Piano
124:blues
221:and
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