Biography
Flournoy Eakin Miller's script for The Mayor of Dixie was the basis for Shuffle Along which premiered in 1921,a Broadway musical with music by Eubie Blake and lyrics by Noble Sissle. Although the book for Shuffle Along is credited to Miller and Lyles, it appears that the principal author of the book was Flournoy E. Miller. F.E. Miller and Aubrey Lyles also starred in Shuffle Along as Steve Jenkins (Miller) and Sam Peck (Lyles). Also in 1921, Orlando Kellum made a short film with Miller and Lyles performing their song "De Ducks" in Kellum's short-lived Photokinema sound-on-disc process. Miller and Lyles also worked on another Broadway production, Runnin' Wild (1923). Lyles broke up the act in 1929, but they reunited briefly in 1932 -- shortly before Lyles' death -- trying to put together a new show Shuffle Along of 1933. Miller also starred in the 1930 version of Lew Leslie's Blackbirds on Broadway, and in the all-black Western Harlem on the Prairie (1937). F.E. Miller was posthumously nominated for a Tony Award in 1979 for his contributions to musical theater as described in Eubie!, based on the life of Eubie Blake. Reminiscing with Sissle and Blake by William Bolcom and Robert Kimball; Viking Press April 12, 1973, tells the story of Flournoy Miller and Aubrey Lyles's involvement with Shuffle Along. The late jazz harpist Olivette Miller and playwright-librettist Sandra Seaton are descendants of Flournoy E. Miller.
Read more about this topic: Flournoy Earkin Miller
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