Saint Suttle

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Saint Suttle
Still from Something Good Negro Kiss.jpg
Film still with Suttle (on left) and Brown from Something Good – Negro Kiss (1898)
BornFebruary 1870
DiedFebruary 4, 1932
NationalityAmerican
Occupationcomposer, performer
"Old Jasper's Cake Walk sheet music

Saint Suttle (February 1870 – 4 February 1932), was an American composer and performer. Suttle was well known as a cakewalk artist and vaudeville performer in Chicago.[1][2] An African American, he was a pioneering performer in early film of the late 19th-century.[3]

Biography[]

Suttle holds hands and kisses Gertie Brown in the short film Something Good – Negro Kiss (1898), made by William Selig.[3][4] It is the earliest known kiss between African Americans captured on film.[3][5] This example of African American intimacy on film displayed joy, and push backed against the dehumanizing stereotypes often seen in film at this time period.[5]

Suttle and Brown are pictured on the 1898 sheet music for William H. Krell's "Shake Yo' Duster".[6]

Suttle, Brown, John Brewster and Maud Brewster performed as a group called, "The Rag-Time Four" that was responsible for popularizing a variation of the cakewalk dance.[1] In 1901, one of Suttle's cakewalk performances that toured was called the Coontown 400.[7] He was also involved in developing plans to build a theater that fell through.[8]

Musical compositions[]

  • "Old Jasper's Cake Walk" published by S. Brainard's Sons[9][10]
  • "That Creole Gal of Mine" published by S. Brainard's Sons[11]
  • "She's Ready Money" published by , Milwaukee, Wisconsin[12]

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ a b "Library Of Congress Honors Groundbreaking 1898 Film Depicting Black Joy: Lulu Garcia-Navarro interviews Allyson Nadia Field". National Public Radio. December 16, 2018.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  2. ^ "Colored People Want Theater". Newspapers.com. The Inter Ocean (Chicago, Illinois), vol. XXX, no. 49. 12 May 1901. p. 13. Retrieved 2021-11-04.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  3. ^ a b c Metz, Nina (June 23, 2019). "In Black & White, Chicago Scholar Examines Early American Cinema For Clues To Help Untangle Minstrelsy Woven Into Our Pop Culture". Newspaper.com. Chicago Tribune (Chicago, Illinois). p. 1, 8. Retrieved 2021-11-04.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  4. ^ Field, Allyson Nadia (2021). "Archival Rediscovery and the Production of History: Solving the Mystery of Something Good—Negro Kiss (1898)". Film History. 33 (2): 1–33. doi:10.2979/filmhistory.33.2.01. ISSN 0892-2160. JSTOR 10.2979/filmhistory.33.2.01. S2CID 236779328.
  5. ^ a b Bowean, Lolly (4 January 2019). "Recently Discovered Film Clip Shows Historic Kiss From 1898". Newspapers.com. The News Tribune. p. G12. Retrieved 2021-11-04.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  6. ^ "Shake yo' dusters, or, Piccaninny rag". NYPL Digital Collections.
  7. ^ "The Elks' Carnival Bulletin, Amusements". Newspapers.com. The Champaign Daily Gazette. 16 July 1901. p. 2. Retrieved 2021-11-04.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  8. ^ Travis, Dempsey Jerome (October 16, 1983). An Autobiography of Black Jazz. Urban Research Institute. ISBN 9780941484039 – via Google Books.
  9. ^ Old Jasper's Cake Walk. [Song.] Words and music by S. Suttle. October 16, 1899. OCLC 498821141 – via Open WorldCat.
  10. ^ "143.033 - Old Jasper's Cake Walk". The Lester S. Levy Sheet Music Collection, Johns Hopkins University.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  11. ^ "Saint Suttle | Levy Music Collection". The Lester S. Levy Sheet Music Collection, Johns Hopkins University.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  12. ^ "She's Ready Money, for Voice and Piano by Saint Suttle sheet music on Library".

External links[]

Retrieved from ""