Biography
Richard McPherson produced a relatively modest catalog under the pseudonym Cecil Mack, yet the compositions have attracted repeated performances across generations. Observers have estimated that the number of recorded versions of “Charleston” equals the combined populations of the two cities bearing that name in West Virginia and South Carolina. Two decades of songwriting preceded the 1923 Broadway production Running Wild, in which both “Charleston” and “Old Fashioned Love” emerged as hits. The following year Mack added “Shine,” another work that accumulated extensive performance history. His achievements encompassed continued theatrical scoring into the 1930s, the formation of the Cecil Mack Choir, and the founding of the Gotham-Attucks Music Publishing Company, among the earliest firms to promote Black composers.
Mack’s initial efforts date to his teenage years, when he supplied “Good Morning, Carrie” and “Josephine, My Jo” in 1901, launching partnerships with Chris Smith, James P. Johnson, Eubie Blake, Ford Dabney, and Albert Von Tilzer. In 1903 he released “I Take Things Easy,” then created specialized material for the vaudeville duo Bert Williams and George Walker. Subsequent folios reflected passing fashions, including the exotica number “In the Shade of the Pyramids.” By 1910 Mack’s comic sensibility appeared in titles such as “You’re in the Right Church but the Wrong Pew” and “If He Comes in, I’m Going Out.” Administrative responsibilities occasionally interrupted his output before renewed visibility arrived with Broadway commitments. The Cecil Mack Choir performed in the 1931 production Rhapsody in Black, while the 1939 revue Swing It marked his final substantial stage contribution and included the song “Huggin’ and Muggin’ by the Sweat of Your Brow.”
Mack’s initial efforts date to his teenage years, when he supplied “Good Morning, Carrie” and “Josephine, My Jo” in 1901, launching partnerships with Chris Smith, James P. Johnson, Eubie Blake, Ford Dabney, and Albert Von Tilzer. In 1903 he released “I Take Things Easy,” then created specialized material for the vaudeville duo Bert Williams and George Walker. Subsequent folios reflected passing fashions, including the exotica number “In the Shade of the Pyramids.” By 1910 Mack’s comic sensibility appeared in titles such as “You’re in the Right Church but the Wrong Pew” and “If He Comes in, I’m Going Out.” Administrative responsibilities occasionally interrupted his output before renewed visibility arrived with Broadway commitments. The Cecil Mack Choir performed in the 1931 production Rhapsody in Black, while the 1939 revue Swing It marked his final substantial stage contribution and included the song “Huggin’ and Muggin’ by the Sweat of Your Brow.”