This article is about the 1924 Broadway musical. For jazz combos by the same name, see The Chocolate Dandies (jazz combos).
1924 Broadway musical
The Chocolate Dandies is a Broadway musical in two acts that opened September 1, 1924, at the New Colonial Theatre and ran for 96 performances – finishing November 22, 1924.[1][2]
The 1924 debut of The Chocolate Dandies was produced by Bertram Cecil Whitney (1870–1929). Eubie Blake composed the music; Noble Sissle wrote the lyrics and co-authored the book; Lew Payton was also co-author; Julian Mitchell staged it; Lorenzo C. Calduel (aka Lawrence Caldwell; born 1888, Mexico) scored the orchestral and vocal parts; John Newton Booth, Jr. (1890–1949), Kiviette,[Note 1] and Hugh Willoughby (1891–1973) designed the costumes; Tony Greshoff (né Anton Greshoff; 1870–1943) did the lighting design.
. . . without doubt the most picturesque product that a colored company ever presented to Broadway, with the possible exception of Williams and Walker's classical production Abyssinia [1906]; and it is not overstepping bounds in comparing its beautiful settings with the best that Broadway affords.
— F. J. Accoe, New York Interstate Tattler, 1924[3]
(the Interstate Tattler was published by the Hotel Tattler Pub. Co. Inc., New York City, 201 W. 138th Street; the publication is accessible in the newspaper collection at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture)