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 They
were a couple of teenage chorus dancers in a T.O.B.A. vaudeville show in
1917 when a publicity agent offered them $50 to get married on stage at
the Standard Theatre in Philadelphia. It started out as a joke for Jodie
Edwards and Susie Hawthorne, but they stayed together for life.
As "Butterbeans and Susie," they battled and bickered
their way to stardom with earthy, racy humor. They were masters of the
"hokum blues," sparring with each other on numbers like "My
Daddy’s Got the Mojo, But I Got the Say So" and “I Wanna Hot
Dog for My Roll.”
Speaking of their influence, the black comedian Godfrey
Cambridge said, "Butterbeans and Susie originated the routine…that
later was translated into  George Burns and Gracie Allen."
Butterbeans and
Susie spent decades performing on the circuit known as T.O.B.A., or the
Theater Owners’ Booking Association. In a deeply segregated era,
it was the top booking agency for black performers. A contract with the
“Toby” circuit meant steady work. But, performers called it
"doing Tobytime" because living conditions were so rough, and complained
that T.O.B.A. stood for "Tough on Black Asses."
In a career that spanned 40 yrs,
Butterbeans and Susie were still performing in the 1960s, appearing at
the Apollo Theater in Harlem with rhythm and blues bands and Motown
recording artists. In true vaudeville tradition, Butterbeans died,
October 28, 1967, as he walked on stage in Chicago.
  This week on Riverwalk Jazz, the comic
interplay
between Butterbeans and Susie is brought to life by Broadway's Vernel
Bagneris and acclaimed jazz vocalist Topsy Chapman. The Jim Cullum Jazz
Band provides a musical backdrop steeped in jazz and blues of black
vaudeville of the ‘20s.
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