of John "Bubbles" Sublett tap dancing and Ford "Buck" Washington playing a piano. The duo performed a "Class Act", a routine in which the performers wore tuxedos, effectively distinguishing them from the older minstrel show concept of tap dancers as "grinning-and-dancing clowns."

Another notable figure during this period is Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, a protégé of Alice Whitman of The Whitman Sisters