Here we have a superlative trio of sinewy minstrels from the palette of Colin, one that doesn’t waste its time wallowing in any form of political correctness, opting rather to allow exaggerated Jazz Age caricature to entertain as well as inform. And though one might naturally assume that Josephine Baker once more was taking center stage, that wouldn’t be the case. “Two months after she opened at the Folies-Bergère, Josephine’s domination of the review scene was threatened by Florence Mills’s arrival as one of the stars of Lew Leslie’s Blackbirds of 1926... Blackbirds opened at the Théâtre-Restaurant des Ambassadeurs... The first night, a gala special was scheduled for 12am, so the working show people of Paris could come. Josephine drifted in half an hour late, accompanied by eight white men in tails... wearing this white ermine floor-length coat, and a black velvet evening gown with a hood around her face. By October, Blackbirds had moved to London, and with Florence Mills no longer on the scene, Josephine was once again the biggest black star in Paris” (Josephine, p. 138-139 & 143).

Also known as the “Queen of Happiness”, Mills was one of the most successful entertainers of the 1920s. Many spoke about her enchanting qualities, but it was her singing that was most spellbinding. When the Blackbirds moved to London’s Pavilion Theatre, they enjoyed 276 performances. The Prince of Wales was said to have seen the show more than twenty times and Mills became so popular that she became to London what Josephine Baker was to Paris. Sadly, she perished in 1927 after a delayed surgery for appendicitis. She was only thirty-two years old.