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Pie, Pie, Blackbird

Eubie Blake & His Band
featuring Nina Mae McKinney

Eubie Blake, Nicholas Brothers, Nina Mae McKinney

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In this 1932 film short Eubie Blake and his Band and the gorgeous Nina Mae McKinney perform the following songs: "It Takes a Blackbird to Make the Sweetest Pie", "Memories of You", "Everything I've Got Belongs To You", "I'll Be Glad When Your Dead You Rascal You", and "China Boy."

Miss Nina's baking a pie but not just any ordinary kind her's is a "Blackbird Pie" (?) filled with all the sweet jazz music of "Eubie Blake and his Band", and Wow ! They're really cooking !

This production also marks the screen debut of two very young stars, the legendary dance duo of Fayard and Harold Nicholas, who later came to be known as "The Nicholas Brothers".

The music at the beginning of this short is a portion of the song (and arrangement) "Black Maria". The piece was most famously recorded by "Bubber Miley's Mileage Makers" for Victor quite a while after he left Ellington. It's a stock arrangement doctored with added notes and changed voicings by Eubie's band. -Daniel Weinstein