- unitid
-
{"value"=>"20858", "type"=>"local_mss"}
{"value"=>"Sc MG 599", "type"=>"local_call"}
- unitdate
-
{"value"=>"1928-1971", "type"=>"inclusive", "normal"=>"1928/1971"}
{"value"=>"1941-1951", "type"=>"bulk", "normal"=>"1941/1951"}
- unittitle
-
{"value"=>"Flournoy Miller collection"}
- physdesc
-
{"format"=>"structured", "physdesc_components"=>[{"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"4 archival boxes", "unit"=>"containers"}, {"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"1.3 linear feet", "unit"=>"linear_feet"}]}
- repository
-
{"value"=>"<span class=\"corpname\">Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division</span>"}
- abstract
-
{"value"=>"Flournoy Miller (1889-1971) was an actor, comedian, playwright, lyricist and producer. Collection contains personal papers that include biographical information and correspondence; professional papers, including contracts, memberships, writings and production files."}
- langmaterial
-
{"value"=>"English"}
- origination
-
{"value"=>"Miller, Flournoy E., 1886-1971", "type"=>"persname"}
- bioghist
-
{"value"=>"<p>Flournoy Miller, actor, comedian, playwright, lyricist and producer was born in Columbia, Tennessee. He began his entertainment career while attending Fisk University where he met and began collaborating with his soon to be long time partner, Aubrey Lyles. During their time at Fisk, they formed a comedy act which produced amateur shows that ultimately helped to fund a science building on campus. Miller was not the only member of his family to pursue a career in the entertainment business. His brothers Irvin and Quintard, also spent their lives in the entertainment business as playwrights and comedians. His wife Bessie (1888-1974), whom he met while they were both performing in <span class=\"title\">Charity Girl</span>, was a chorus girl; and their daughter Olivette was a renowned jazz harpist.</p> <p>In 1906, Miller and Lyles were offered their first professional positions as playwrights for the Pekin Stock Company in Chicago. They were hired by theater owner Robert Motts and remained with the company for four years, until around 1909. The first play they wrote was <span class=\"title\">The Man from 'Bam</span>, followed by <span class=\"title\">The Mayor of Dixie</span>. Some years later portions of this latter play were rewritten and produced as the Broadway sensation <span class=\"title\">Shuffle Along</span> (1921). Another Pekin Stock Company production written by Miller, Lyles and Irvin Miller, in which they also appeared, was <span class=\"title\">The Colored Aristocrats</span> (1909). The play featured two characters, Steven Jenkins (Flournoy Miller) and Sam Peck (Aubrey Lyles) who would later reappear in <span class=\"title\">Shuffle Along</span>. The comedic duo utilized the Jenkins and Peck characters as the core for many of their vaudeville skits. Prior to the staging of <span class=\"title\">The Colored Aristocrats</span> in April 1908, Miller joined with Marion A. Brooks to form the Bijou Stock Company in Montgomery, Alabama, which produced <span class=\"title\">Queen of the Jungle</span> and <span class=\"title\">Ephraham Johnson from Norfolk</span>. After the company closed in May 1908, Miller reunited with Lyles and began touring the vaudeville circuits.</p> <p>In 1915, Miller and Lyles found success while starring in <span class=\"title\">Darkydom</span>, the first major black musical comedy. That same year they toured the Keith vaudeville circuit increasing their popularity. Their biggest success came in 1921. Miller and Lyles joined with Eubie Blake and Noble Sissle to write and produce <span class=\"title\">Shuffle Along</span> which had a successful three-year run on Broadway. <span class=\"title\">Shuffle Along</span> was the first Broadway musical produced entirely by African Americans. The next year Miller and Lyles produced a three-act drama, <span class=\"title\">The Flat Below</span>, and Miller's production of <span class=\"title\">Going White</span> which premiered at the Lafayette Theater in Harlem. Both shows also received great reviews. Following the closing of <span class=\"title\">Shuffle Along</span> in 1924, the team's popularity continued to grow and they produced a variety of Broadway musical comedies which included <span class=\"title\">Runnin' Wild</span> (1924), <span class=\"title\">Backbiters</span> (1925), <span class=\"title\">Honey</span> (1925), <span class=\"title\">Rang Tang</span> (1927) and <span class=\"title\">Keep Shufflin'</span> (1928). After the unsuccessful run of <span class=\"title\">Keep Shufflin'</span>, Miller and Lyles broke up ending a twenty-five year partnership. Lyles traveled to Africa and stayed for a year. Upon his return he produced <span class=\"title\">Runnin' De Town</span>, which also closed without success. During this time Miller wrote and appeared in Lew Leslie's <span class=\"title\">Blackbirds</span> (1930). One year later, the team reunited for one last time and produced <span class=\"title\">Sugar Hill</span> in conjunction with James P. Johnson. In 1932, Aubrey Lyles died in New York leaving the entertainment world to suffer a great loss.</p> <p>After Lyles' death, Miller teamed up with comedian Mantan Moreland and they toured the vaudeville circuits. In 1936 they appeared in the motion picture \"Harlem on the Prairie,\" the first all-black western. During the 1940s and 1950s they were featured in other black cast pictures, and in the 1950s Miller wrote for the television show \"Amos and Andy.\" In the 1930s, Miller and Lyles had appeared on the radio version of \"Amos and Andy.\" Flournoy Miller died in a California hospital in 1971.</p>"}
- custodhist
-
{"value"=>"<p>Initial collection was given to Helen Armstead Johnson, by Bessie Miller, the widow of Flournoy Miller. It was subsequently donated by Helen Armstead-Johnson, along with other theater-related collections to the Schomburg Center in 1996. Additions were purchased from Fredi Gordon, Miller's granddaughter, in 2012.</p>"}
- scopecontent
-
{"value"=>"<p>The Flournoy Miller Papers, 1928-1971, documents Miller's life as a show writer, producer and entertainer. The collection consists of correspondence, contracts, skit scripts and clippings.</p>"}
{"value"=>"<p class='list-head'>The Flournoy Miller collection is arranged in three series:</p>\n<ul class='arrangement series-descriptions'>\n<li><div class='series-title'><a href='/scm/20858#c1520516'>Personal Papers</a></div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>Within the PERSONAL PAPERS, 1937-1971 (bulk dates 1944-1954) series are materials that focus on Miller's personal and family life. The series contains three subseries, Biographical, Correspondence and Miscellaneous. The biographical documents include a funeral program and obituary for Miller and the incomplete manuscript (64 pages) of his autobiography. The correspondence contains general and personal correspondence 1943-1965, and includes love letters between Miller and his wife Bessie.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/scm/20858#c1520517'>Professional Papers</a></div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>The PROFESSIONAL PAPERS, 1924-1966 (bulk dates 1940-1959) series makes up the bulk of the Miller papers. This series is divided into seven subseries, Contracts, Memberships (e.g., ASCAP, Songwriter's Protective Association, Dramatists Guild, Authors League), Writings which contain lyrics and scripts for skits and manuscripts, Performance Teams, Production Files, and Printed Matter. The Performance Teams subseries documents the partnerships Miller formed with Aubrey Lyles and their collaboration with Eubie Blake and Noble Sissle. These files contain a team history for Miller and Lyles, letters, clippings, 1943-1954, contracts, skit scripts and programs. The largest of the subseries are the Production Files. These files include production materials for \"Amos and Andy\", <span class=\"title\"> Shuffle Along</span>, <span class=\"title\">Sugar Hill</span>, and an array of other productions. Within these files are handwritten histories of the \"Amos and Andy Show\" and <span class=\"title\">Shuffle Along</span>, scripts, letters, stage directions for <span class=\"title\">Mama Charlestons' Boarding House</span>; cast lists for <span class=\"title\">Queen of the Range</span>; news clippings, contracts for <span class=\"title\">Shuffle Along</span> and <span class=\"title\">Sugar Hill</span> and a broadside for <span class=\"title\">Shuffle Along</span>. The <span class=\"title\">Sugar Hill</span> files contain handwritten letters from James P. Johnson (collaborator on <span class=\"title\">Sugar Hill</span> to Miller.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/scm/20858#c1520577'>About Flournoy Miller</a></div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>This series contains material about Flournoy Miller, which includes information about his foundation, the Flournoy Miller Foundation for the Performing Arts; and biographies written by his wife, Bessie, and daughter, Olivette.</p></div></li></ul>\n", "type"=>"arrangement"}
- arrangement
-
{"value"=>"<p>The Flournoy Miller Collection are organized in the following series:</p> Personal Papers Professional Papers About Flournoy Miller", "supress_display"=>true}
- acqinfo
-
{"value"=>"<p>Donated by Helen Armstead-Johnson, December 1996. Additions purchased from Fredi Gordon, 2012.</p>"}
- processinfo
-
{"value"=>"<p>Compiled by Steven G. Fullwood; machine readable finding aid created by FAKER.</p><p>\"Blacks on Stage: African-American Theater Arts Collections Project,\" funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the City and State of New York</p>"}
- relatedmaterial
-
{"value"=>"<p> Bessie Miller, Helen Armstead-Johnson Miscellaneous Theatre Collection. Schomburg Center. Olivette Miller, Helen Armstead-Johnson Miscellaneous Theatre Collection. Schomburg Center. Aubrey Lyles, Helen Armstead-Johnson Miscellaneous Theatre Collection. Schomburg Center. Eubie Blake, Helen Armstead-Johnson Miscellaneous Theatre Collection. Schomburg Center. Noble Sissle, Helen Armstead-Johnson Miscellaneous Theatre Collection. Schomburg Center.</p>"}
- date_start
-
1928
- keydate
-
1928
- date_end
-
1971
- date_inclusive_start
-
1928
- date_inclusive_end
-
1971
- date_bulk_start
-
1941
- date_bulk_end
-
1951
- prefercite
-
{"value"=>"[Item], Flournoy Miller collection, Sc MG 599, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division, The New York Public Library"}