Call Number:

F0936

Repository:

University of Delaware Library Special Collections

Extent:

1 item (9 pages)

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

MSS 0099, F0936, Noble Sissle and Langston Hughes, Swingtime at the Savoy : good time no. 1 : radio transcript, Special Collections, University of Delaware Library, Newark, Delaware.

Date:

1948 july 28 (inclusive)

Creator:

Sissle, Noble, 1889-1975

Form:

Transcripts

Abstract:

Noble Sissle was the moderator, and Langston Hughes the primary author, of this radio transcript for the debut installment of the National Broadcasting Company program, "Swingtime at the Savoy."

American musician Noble Sissle, who was born on July 10, 1889, in Indianapolis, Indiana, was also an actor, publisher, lyricist, and author.

A singer with touring bands in the early 1900s, Sissle later teamed up with Eubie Blake for vaudeville acts and wrote the lyrics for several Blake scores, including "Shuffle Along," a successful Broadway production. Among the many songs that Sissle and Blake wrote are "I'm Just Wild About Harry," "Hello Sweetheart, Hello," and "I Was Meant for You."

Sissle, who was a member of the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers, appeared in several motion pictures and founded the Negro Actors Guild. Sissle continued performing until 1972, when he received Yale's Ellington Medal for a distinguished career in music. Noble Sissle died on December 17, 1975, in Tampa, Florida.

"Noble Sissle." Contemporary Authors Online. (reproduced in Biography In Context). http://ic.galegroup.com/ic/bic1/ (accessed May 2, 2013).

American poet Langston Hughes, who was born on February 1, 1902, in Joplin, Missouri, also wrote novels, stories, plays, as well as edited several anthologies.

Regarded as a pioneer of modern black literature, Langston Hughes frequently wrote about the attitudes and experiences of everyday black Americans. In 1926, his first book of poems,

The Weary Blues, was published by Knopf. During the 1960s, Hughes's poetry reflected the racial turbulence of the times. Ask Your Mama: 12 Moods for Jazz contained poems offered scenarios for resolving racial segregation.

On May 22, 1967, Langston Hughes died of congestive heart failure in New York City.

The Panther and the Lash, Hughes's final book of poetry, was published posthumously, and included such protest poems as "Black Panther" and "The Backlash Blues."

"Langston Hughes."Contemporary Black Biography. Vol. 4. Detroit: Gale, 1993. (reproduced in Biography In Context). http://ic.galegroup.com/ic/bic1/ (accessed May 2, 2013).

Noble Sissle was the moderator, and Langston Hughes the primary author, of this radio transcript for the debut installment of the National Broadcasting Company program, "Swingtime at the Savoy."

The half-hour program "Swingtime At The Savoy" was broadcast on NBC radio Wednesday evenings as a 13-week replacement show during the summer of 1948. It was a sustaining program, which meant it had no sponsor and was cancelled by the fall. The program was hosted by early Jazz legend Noble Sissle and took place at The Savoy Ballroom in Harlem.