Jump to content
 







Main menu
   


Navigation  



Main page
Contents
Current events
Random article
About Wikipedia
Contact us
Donate
 




Contribute  



Help
Learn to edit
Community portal
Recent changes
Upload file
 








Search  

































Create account

Log in
 









Create account
 Log in
 




Pages for logged out editors learn more  



Contributions
Talk
 



















Contents

   



(Top)
 


1 Biography  





2 References  














Butler May






Deutsch
 

Edit links
 









Article
Talk
 

















Read
Edit
View history
 








Tools
   


Actions  



Read
Edit
View history
 




General  



What links here
Related changes
Upload file
Special pages
Permanent link
Page information
Cite this page
Get shortened URL
Download QR code
Wikidata item
 




Print/export  



Download as PDF
Printable version
 
















Appearance
   

 






From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 


Butler May
Butler and Sweetie May
Butler and Sweetie May
Background information
Birth nameButler May Jr.
Also known asString Beans
"The Elgin Movements Man"
Born(1894-08-18)August 18, 1894
Montgomery, Alabama, U.S.
DiedNovember 17, 1917(1917-11-17) (aged 23)
Jacksonville, Florida, U.S.
GenresVaudeville, blues
Occupation(s)Entertainer, comedian, singer, songwriter
Instrument(s)Piano
Years active1909–1917
Formerly ofWill Benbow
Sweetie May
Butterbeans and Susie

Butler "String Beans" May (August 18, 1894 – November 17, 1917) was an American vaudeville performer, singer, pianist and comedian. He has been described as "the greatest attraction in African-American vaudeville, the first recognizable blues star," and was known "for his streetwise humor, contortive vernacular dancing, and outrageous blues piano playing."[1] He was said to have been the highest-paid black entertainer in the country at the time of his accidental death at the age of 23, and has been claimed as "the model for Jelly Roll [Morton], at least as a stage entertainer and perhaps even as a blues pianist".[2] No recordings of May exist.

Biography[edit]

May was born in Montgomery, Alabama, one of a family of eight. His father died when he was a child, and his mother worked in menial jobs. During his childhood, Butler May developed his musical talents by singing and playing piano. By the age of fourteen he had become an accomplished performer, and he joined Will Benbow's "Chocolate Drops Company" on the vaudeville touring circuit. Based in Pensacola, Florida, the troupe also included Jelly Roll Morton and Ma Rainey.[3]

When interviewed by Alan Lomax in 1938, Morton recalled May as "the greatest comedian [he] ever knew", describing him as "a very, very swell fellow, over six feet tall, very slender with big liver lips, and light complexioned. His shoes were enormous and he wore trousers impossible to get over his feet without a shoe horn. He always had a big diamond in his front tooth. He was the first guy I ever saw with a diamond in his mouth, and I guess, I got the idea for my diamond from him".[4]

In 1909, May appeared as half of a double act with comedian Kid Kelly in Atlanta, and acquired the stage name "String Beans" (or "Stringbeans") for his lanky appearance. The following year, he formed a personal and professional relationship with New Orleans-born Sweetie Matthews. They married, and performed regularly together in Benbow's company. In 1911, they played in Chicago at the Monogram theater, one of the top black vaudeville venues in the city, and, according to writers Lynn Abbott and Doug Seroff, "opened the floodgates for other Southern acts, and ensured a prominent place for the blues in American entertainment."[4]

In one of his most popular songs, "Titanic Blues", Stringbeans sang about surviving the catastrophe because of his athleticism. He originated the much-copied blues metaphor of "Elgin movements", and was known as "The Elgin Movements Man".[1] He was known for his originality in composition and performance, and his improvisational skills with lyrics.[1] One newspaper critic, however, Perry Bradford in Atlanta, claimed that Stringbeans' act was "the smuttiest in the business".[4]

Writer W. L. James, who saw Stringbeans perform around 1914, said of him:

As he attacks the piano, Stringbean's head starts to nod, his shoulders shake, and his body begins to quiver. Slowly, he sinks to the floor of the stage. Before he submerges, he is executing the Snake Hips..., shouting the blues and, as he hits the deck still playing the piano, performing a horizontal grind which would make today's rock and roll dancers seem like staid citizens.[4]

Although their relationship was punctuated by occasional acrimonious separations during which May performed with other partners, Stringbeans and Sweetie toured together intermittently until the end of 1915. Earlier in 1915, they debuted in New York City at the Lafayette TheaterinHarlem, later returning for an unprecedented three-week engagement there. As a husband and wife team, they directly inspired Butterbeans and Susie,[4] and May was also credited as an inspiration by Ethel Waters.[1]

In February 1916, May formed a new act with Benbow, initially as a four-piece with singers Robbie Lee Peoples and Ebbie Burton, but soon expanding into the "Beans and Benbow's Big Vaudeville Review", with fifteen performers. May was called by one critic "the blues master piano player of the world.... Much of his present popularity is due to his oddities, his eccentricities, differing wholly from anything ever seen on a public stage.... His strange comedy and blues, especially when at the piano, create a furor." After the Review broke up in early 1917, May continued touring as a solo act, before joining "C.W. Park's Colored Aristocrats", another review managed by Benbow. However, he soon left, and teamed up with the pairing of Butterbeans and Susie in a new act.[4]

May died in November 1917, in Jacksonville, Florida, from a broken neck. It is believed that his death was the result of a botched initiation ceremony at a Freemasonry lodge, after a rope was put round his neck. He was paralyzed and died a week later.[4]

References[edit]

  • ^ William Benbow: WWI Draft Registration Card, DoctorJazz.co.uk. Retrieved 7 March 2017
  • ^ a b c d e f g Erwin Bosman, "Butler May: was he the real Father of the Blues?", NoDepression.com, June 4, 2012 Archived March 8, 2017, at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 7 March 2017

  • Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Butler_May&oldid=1227671735"

    Categories: 
    1894 births
    1917 deaths
    American blues singers
    African-American male comedians
    American male comedians
    20th-century American comedians
    Musicians from Montgomery, Alabama
    Vaudeville performers
    20th-century American singers
    20th-century African-American male singers
    20th-century American male singers
    Accidental deaths in Florida
    Comedians from Alabama
    Hidden categories: 
    Webarchive template wayback links
    Articles with short description
    Short description is different from Wikidata
    Articles with hCards
    Articles with VIAF identifiers
    Articles with CINII identifiers
     



    This page was last edited on 7 June 2024, at 04:55 (UTC).

    Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 4.0; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.



    Privacy policy

    About Wikipedia

    Disclaimers

    Contact Wikipedia

    Code of Conduct

    Developers

    Statistics

    Cookie statement

    Mobile view



    Wikimedia Foundation
    Powered by MediaWiki