Butterbeans and Susie
Butterbeans and Susie was a vaudeville and blues duo .
Butterbeans and Susie consisted of Jodie Edwards (* July 19, 1895, † October 28, 1967) and Susie Edwards (born Susie Hawthorne, * 1896, † 1963). Edwards began his career as a singer and dancer in 1910, while Hawthorne appeared in African American theaters. The two met in 1916 when Hawthorne sang in the choir on the Smart Set Show; the couple married the following year. From the beginning of the 1920s they performed as a duo of comedians and toured as part of the Theater Owners Booking Association (TOBA) with the comedian couple Stringbeans and Sweetie May . After the death of Stringbeans (actually Butler May or Budd LeMay), the TOBA promoter asked Edwards if he wanted to use the stage name Butterbeans . Shortly thereafter, they appeared as Butterbeans and Susie . Their program consisted of a combination of weird marriage fight numbers, dancing and singing, as was popular on the TOBA tours. They later switched to vaudeville and performed with the blackface minstrel troupe Rabbit's Foot Company . Butterbeans and Susie also recorded a number of blues songs for Okeh Records from 1924 to 1930 , including a. accompanied by Clarence Williams ("A Married Man's a Fool"), Joe King Oliver ("Kiss Me Sweet"), Tosh Hammed and Eddie Heywood ; In 1926 they took part in recordings of Louis Armstrong and His Hot Five ("He Likes It Slow"). The last recordings were made in 1960 for the Festival label; the accompanying musicians included u. a. Dick Vance , Sidney De Paris , Dicky Wells , Earl Warren , Eddie Heywood, Leonard Gaskin and Jimmy Crawford .
After retiring from the music business, the couple lived in Chicago. The well-known titles of the duo included "Construction Gang", "Elevator Papa, Switchboard Mama", "I Want a Hot Dog for My Roll", "Jelly Roll Queen", "Papa Ain't No Santa Claus", "'Tain 't None O'Your Business ”,“ There'll Be Some Changes Made ”and“ Yes, I''ve Been Cheatin' ”.
Jazz musician Sonny Parker is a son of Jodie and Susie Edwards.
Discographic notes
- Complete Recorded Works, Vol. 1 (1924-1925) ( Document Records )
- Complete Recorded Works, Vol. 2 (1926-1927)
- Butterbeans & Susie 1924-1930: The Vocal Duets, Volume 1 (Clifford)
literature
- Mel Watkins: On the Real Side: Laughing, Lying, and Signifying - The Underground Tradition of African-American Humor that Transformed American Culture, from Slavery to Richard Pryor . New York: Simon & Schuster 1994