Biography
One of the acts represented by the infamous 1930s agent and manager Nat Nazarro, the dance team Buck and Bubbles joined piano virtuoso Eubie Blake and magnificent vocalist Ethel Waters in the cast of Blackbirds of 1930. Although historians regard the production as a landmark in black classical music, the show closed after just twenty-six performances, returning the dancers to unemployment. Throughout the 1930s and 1940s they led Buck and Bubbles and Their Bucket, a unit that became a fixture at New York City’s Apollo Theatre, while gaining wider visibility through roughly a dozen Hollywood film appearances and stage successes such as Porgy and Bess.
Ford Lee Washington performed as Buck, and John W. Sublett answered to Bubbles. Buck earned recognition as one of vaudeville’s finest all-around entertainers, equally adept at singing, tap dancing, and comedy. Sublett, a pianist, began accompanying him; when the two joined forces in 1926, Buck was ten years old and Bubbles only six. Their partnership produced lasting visual and rhythmic advances in tap dancing.
Ford Lee Washington performed as Buck, and John W. Sublett answered to Bubbles. Buck earned recognition as one of vaudeville’s finest all-around entertainers, equally adept at singing, tap dancing, and comedy. Sublett, a pianist, began accompanying him; when the two joined forces in 1926, Buck was ten years old and Bubbles only six. Their partnership produced lasting visual and rhythmic advances in tap dancing.