For sale recently on eBay, pictured below, the menu-style programme for Duke Ellington's 1959 revival of Jump For Joy.
As ever, David Palmquist's invaluable Duke Where And When gives context to this particular souvenir...
Jump for Joy revival
World première, two shows nightly, 8:30 and 11:30 pm.
Duke Ellington Music Society says the show was reviewed in the February 1959 newsletter of the Duke Ellington Jazz Society in Hollywood.
Pittsburgh Courier:
"Jump For Joy, the Duke Ellington musical which had its debut on the coast a few seasons ago, will get its first crack at the East when it opens the season at the Copa City in Miami Beach.
Under a deal set by Joe Glaser, the Sid Kuller show will star Duke Ellington for four weeks when it opens at the big nitery.
The Ellington booking assures the reopening of the Copa which was operated by Lou Walters as the Cafe De Paris last season..."
Library of Congress Performing Arts Encyclopedia:
Jump For Joy (revival) / James "Stumpy" Cross [theatrical performance]
Published/Created 1959-01-20
Abstract: Through Feb 8.
Revival of Ellington's 1941 revue, "Jump for Joy" with a modification of the original score for a cast of 50-plus. Musical numbers staged by Nick Castle; music composed by Duke Ellington; produced, written and directed by Sid Kuller.
Cast: Duke Ellington, Barbara McNair, James (Stump) Cross and Harold (Stumpy) Cromer, Timmie Rogers, Jimmy Randolph, Norma Miller and her Jazz Men, Lil Greenwood, The Miller Brothers, Othella Dallas, Malley Tore, and 30 Gorgeous Beige Beauties. The musical numbers featuring James (Stump) Cross and Harold (Stumpy) Cromer, included Walk It Off introduced by Ellington, with Timmie Rogers, Norma Miller and dancers; and Made to Order with Timmie Rogers.
By the time Ellington and Strayhorn returned from Europe, the Mine Boy/Saturday Laughter project was abandoned and Joe Glaser had signed the Copa City Jump For Joy contract on behalf of Duke Ellington, Inc.
Contract terms:
15 musicians led by "Duke Ellington Inc. presenting Duke Ellington"
Name and Address of Place of Engagement:
Copa City, Miami Beach, Florida
Date(s) of employment:
Commencing January 20, 1959 for four weeks with two four-week options
Hours of employment:
Two shows nightly, 7 days weekly, in Production JUPM [sic] FOR JOY
First option to be exercised by end of 2nd week of original term; second option to be exercised by end of fifth week. There shall be one week of rehearsals (commencing January 13, 1959) at minimum guarantee of $2,500 or Union Scale, whichever sum is the greater.
Type of engagement:
Night club
Standard top billing clause
Wage agreed upon:
$7,000 weekly to be paid at the end of each week.
Employer:
Copa City Inc. by Oscar Markovich, President, Copa City, Miami Beach, Fla.
On Feb 2, Copa City gave notice it would not exercise its option. The show closed on February 8 or 9 (a run of only 3 weeks), and Franceschina says the club remained closed for the rest of the season.
Background per Hajdu:
At Sid Kuller's urging and reportedly with the civil rights movement in mind, Ellington offered a revival of Jump For Joy.
Since Dorothy Kilgallen commented on them in her December 19 column, rehearsals seem to have started in mid-December even though the show was yet to be rewritten.
Tom Whaley:
"I went to Miami once with Strayhorn, and we stayed four days and three nights writing music for a different version of Jump for Joy...."
Strayhorn joined Kuller in Miami after Christmas to begin rewriting the show which was to begin in less than three weeks. By the time Ellington arrived the second week of January, they had written several new songs, including So The Good Book Says, If We Were Any More British, We Couldn't Talk At All and Walk It Off. With Duke, they wrote nearly another dozen songs and they continued writing new songs for a week after the show opened.
Nearly 30 dancers and singers were crammed onto Copa City's "modest" stage.
Kuller produced the show and cut and added songs and skits nightly.
The program showed the music was written by Ellington and Strayhorn is shown as the arranger.
The copyright registrations for So The Good Book Says, If We Were Any More British, We Couldn't Talk At All and Walk It Off were for Ellington and Strayhorn as co-composers.
Franceschina:
"Whatever the cause, Strayhorn made it clear that this was Duke's show, and that he was there simply to do a job and enjoy himself."
The contract was for four weeks with two optional extensions which the promoter did not use. While Stratemann and Vail have the show closing February 8, a Sunday, The Miami Times said it closed Monday night. Monday would round out the fourth week.
Recordings:
Timner and Franceschina say one complete show appears to have been recorded for Columbia but has not been released, and a tape is circulating among collectors.
There is conflicting information about the recording medium.
DEMS has a query from a "Friend of Andrew Homzy" who describes his/her copy of the recording as a professionally recorded acetate.
Sjef Hoesfmit's reply concludes by listing the titles "on the record."
Steven Lasker believes the recording was on tape, with the reel provided to the late Jerry Valburn by the late Al Celley, and that it is now in the Library of Congress Jerry Valburn collection.
A query was made to the Library of Congress Recorded Sound Research Center to confirm if the open-reel tape is in the collection.
The song titles on the record or tape per the various sources are:
Comedy Act [Nielsen only]
When I Trilly with My Filly
Medley: Don't Get Around Much Anymore, Do Nothin' Till You Hear from Me, In a Sentimental Mood, Mood Indigo, I'm Beginning To See the Light, Sophisticated Lady, Just Squeeze Me, It Don't Mean a Thing, Solitude, Things Ain't What They Used To Be
Walk It Off
Brown-Skin Gal [The Brown-Skin Gal in Nielsen]
Cotton Tail [Nielsen reports a segue to Oh, Yeah!]
Bad Woman (So the Good Book Says) [Nielsen shows Gimme Some Good Whiskey And A Bad Woman]
Strictly for Tourists [not in Nielsen]
The Gay Cowboy [only in Nielsen]
Show 'Em You Got Class
Three Shows Nightly
Syndicated columnist Dorothy Kilgallen:
"Those who have caught rehearsals of the Duke Ellington musical Jump For Joy (due to try out at Copa City in Miami, Fla.) report that Demita Jo, the feminine lead, is apt to steal all the notices when the show opens on Broadway next year."
In her column published in various papers between 1959-01-02 and 1959-01-07, Kilgallen said the show had been called off due to money problems, but her 1959-01-10 column says:
"Burnett Roth, representing the management of Copa City in Miami, vows that despite the rumors, Jump For Joy will open there as scheduled."
Syndicated columnist Jack Bell:
"Duke Ellington and Sid Kuller have written a musical, Jump for Joy. Duke wrote the music, Sid the lyrics and script–through long months of writing and re-writing. It goes into Copa City Jan. 20. Barbara McNair, Columbia records singing star, will sing the feminine lead.
The show opens with a number called Evolution of a Beat. It's Duke's music, starting with music of early savages and scenes to match and moving through to modern music."
The Nightlife with George Bourke column in the Jan 23 Miami Herald reviews the show describing some of the music briefly, but giving the show only lukewarm approval, calling it a polite and slick presentation.
Barney Waters, Fort Lauderdale News:
"Gold-plated Copa City...opened its many-splendored doors again this week and the music of Duke Ellington breathed new life into the palace that has laid dormant for several seasons.
Playing before a packed first night house, Tuesday Ellington's Jump for Joy production placed 350 people under visual arrest for more than two hours before releasing them to make room for another room full of willing prisoners.
The all-Negro cast, headed by Timmie Rogers, got maximum mileage out of Ellington's original songs and Nick Castle's musical numbers. Sid Kuller weaved the whole thing into lookability by writing, directing and producing the show.
For sheer enjoyment, it was Rogers who stole the show, especially with a hilarious skit called Made to Order. In it, Rogers wants a zoot suit that demands such measuring as "shoulders – sadistic; waist – murderistic.
And male singing lead Jimmy Randolph was an excellent pawn for the peronality of Barbara McNair in several twosomes, outstanding of which was a catch tune called But... .
As for the other comedy skits, they went only to prove why you don't see many Negro comics. Besides very, very mediocre dialogue, the actors' diction fell short of the goal line several times."
Teachout's single paragraph on the revival says the backers lost $100,000.
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