Noble Sissle

Noble Sissle was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, on July 10, 1889. While still a teenager, he toured in vaudeville in the Midwest with a male quartet. In 1915, he organized his own orchestra at a hotel in Indianapolis; the same year, he moved to Baltimore where he met pianist Eubie Blake, and joined him onstage and as a songwriting partner, providing the lyrics to his compositions. Sissle and Blake wrote “It’s All Your Fault,” which Sophie Tucker introduced in her act and made a hit. Their association would continue, off and on, for the rest of Sissle’s life. The following year, Sissle and Blake joined the Clef Club in New York City under the direction of James Reese Europe. At the beginning of World War I, Noble Sissle enlisted with Europe as a member of the 369th Infantry Regimental Band (the “Harlem Hellfighters”) and served overseas until 1919. Back in the US, Sissle recorded with Europe, and performed with him until Europe’s untimely death. Sissle rejoined Eubie Blake for a successful vaudeville tour, performing in formal attire and without the stereotypical stage conventions of the day. In 1920, Sissle and Blake met Flournoy E. Miller and Aubrey Lyles and together they conceived their own all-black musical comedy, Shuffle Along, which opened in New York on May 23, 1921. The show, which was the first production to feature romantic love between African-American