| Bojangles - Bill Robinson | |
 Bill Robinson photo taken by Carl Van Vechten, 1934
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| Born | May 25, 1878 Richmond, Virginia, U.S. |
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| Died | November 25, 1949 (aged 71) New York, New York, U.S. |
| Occupation | Dancer |
Bill "Bojangles" Robinson (May 25, 1878 – November 25, 1949) was a pioneer and pre-eminent African-American tap dance performer. Carl Van Vechten ( June 17, 1880 &ndash December 21, 1964) was an American Writer and Photographer who was a Events 1085 - Alfonso VI of Castile takes Toledo Spain back from the Moors. Year 1878 ( MDCCCLXXVIII) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common This article is about the city of Richmond the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the Events 1034 - Máel Coluim mac Cináeda, King of Scots dies Donnchad, the Year 1949 ( MCMXLIX) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. The City of New York The United States of America —commonly referred to as the Dance (from French danser, perhaps from Frankish) is an Art form that generally refers to movement of the body usually rhythmic Events 1085 - Alfonso VI of Castile takes Toledo Spain back from the Moors. Year 1878 ( MDCCCLXXVIII) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Events 1034 - Máel Coluim mac Cináeda, King of Scots dies Donnchad, the Year 1949 ( MCMXLIX) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. African Americans or Black Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have origins in any of the black populations of Africa Tap dance was developed in the United States during the nineteenth century and is popular nowadays in many parts of the world
Contents |
Childhood
Born in Richmond, Virginia on May 25, 1878, to Maxwell Robinson, a machine-shop worker, and Maria Robinson, a choir singer, Bill Robinson was brought up by his grandmother after the death of his parents when he was still a baby: his father died of a chronic heart disease, and his mother died of a natural cause. This article is about the city of Richmond the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Events 1085 - Alfonso VI of Castile takes Toledo Spain back from the Moors. Year 1878 ( MDCCCLXXVIII) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common The details of Robinson's early life are known only through legend, much of it perpetuated by Bill Robinson himself. He claims he was christened "Luther" - a name he did not like. He suggested to his younger brother Bill that they should exchange names. When Bill objected, Luther applied his fists, and the exchange was made (The new 'Luther' later adopted the name Percy and became a well-known drummer, and died by poison that a so called "hater" put in his drink).
Career
At the age of six, he began dancing for a living appearing as a "hoofer" or song-and-dance man in local beer gardens. Busking is the practice of performing in Public places for Tips and Gratuities. At seven, Bill dropped out of school to pursue dancing. He invented a type of dancing called stair dancing in 1884. Two years later in Washington, DC, He toured with Mayme Remington's troupe. In 1891 (Ed: another source-1892), at the ripe age of 12, he joined a traveling company in The South Before the War, and in 1905 (Ed: another source 1902) worked with George Cooper as a vaudeville team. Vaudeville was a Genre of variety entertainment prevalent on the stage in the United States and Canada, from the early 1880s He gained great success as a nightclub and musical comedy performer, and during the next 25 years became one of the toasts of Broadway. Not until he was 50 did he dance for white audiences, having devoted his early career exclusively to appearances on the black theater circuit.
(There is an urban legend in Richmond, Virginia that Robinson was discovered while working as a bellhop at the Jefferson Hotel. An urban legend or urban myth is a form of modern Folklore consisting of stories thought to be factual by those circulating them A bellhop, also bellboy ( or bellman, is a Hotel porter, who helps Patrons with their Luggage while checking in The Jefferson Hotel is a luxury hotel in Richmond Virginia. It is one of 27 American hotels with Mobil Five Star and the AAA Five Diamond Hotel ratings However, this is most likely untrue. When the Jefferson Hotel opened in 1895, Robinson (then 16) was already touring with traveling shows. )
In 1908 in Chicago, he met Marty Forkins, who became his lifelong manager. Under Forkins' tutelage, Robinson matured and began working as a solo act in nightclubs, increasing his earnings to an estimated $3500 per week. The publicity that gradually came to surround him included the creation of his famous "stair dance" (which he claimed to have invented on the spur of the moment when he was receiving some honor--he could never remember exactly what-- from the King of England. The King was standing at the top of a flight of stairs, and Bojangles' feet just danced up to be honored), his successful gambling exploits, his bow ties of multiple colors, his prodigious charity, his ability to run backward (he set a world's record of 8. 2 seconds for the 75-yard backward dash) and to consume ice-cream by the quart, his argot--most notably the neologism copacetic--and such stunts as dancing down Broadway in 1939 from Columbus Circle to 44th St. The quart is an imperial and US customary unit of Volume equal to a quarter of a Gallon. Copasetic, also spelled copacetic, copesetic or - less commonly - kopasetic means very satisfactory or acceptable in celebration of his 61st birthday.
Because his public image became preeminent, little is known of his first marriage to Fannie S. Clay in Chicago shortly after World War I, his divorce in 1943, or his marriage to Elaine Plaines on January 27, 1944, in Columbus, Ohio. World War I (abbreviated WWI; also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All Ohio ( is a Midwestern state of the United States. As part of the Great Lakes region, Ohio has long been a cultural and geographical crossroads
Toward the end of the vaudeville era, a white impresario, Lew Leslie, produced Blackbirds of 1928, a black revue for white audiences featuring Robinson and other black stars. From then on, his public role was that of a dapper, smiling, plaid-suited ambassador to the white world, maintaining a tenuous connection with the black show-business circles through his continuing patronage of the Hoofers Club, an entertainer's haven in Harlem. The Hoofers Club was an African - american entertainment establishment and dancers club hangout in Harlem, New York, in the early to mid twentieth century Consequently, blacks and whites developed differing opinions of him. To whites, for example, his nickname "Bojangles" meant happy-go-lucky, while the black variety artist Tom Flatcher claimed it was slang for "squabbler. " Political figures and celebrities appointed him an honorary mayor of Harlem, a lifetime member of policemen's associations and fraternal orders, and a mascot of the New York Giants major league baseball team. Harlem is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan, long known as a major African American cultural and business center The San Francisco Giants are a Major League Baseball team based in, that currently play in the National League West Division. Robinson reciprocated with open handed generosity and frequently credited the white dancer James Barton for his contribution to Robinson's dancing style.
After 1930, black revues waned in popularity, but Robinson remained in vogue with white audiences for more than a decade in some fourteen motion pictures produced by such companies as RKO, 20th Century Fox and Paramount Pictures. Shirley Jane Temple (born April 23, 1928) is an Academy Award -winning Actress and Tap dancer, most famous for being an iconic Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm ( 1938) is a 20th Century Fox musical Feature film starring Shirley Temple and Randolph Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American motion picture production and Distribution company, based in Hollywood California. Most of them had musical settings, in which he played old-fashioned roles in nostalgic romances. His most frequent role was that of an antebellum butler opposite Shirley Temple in such films as The Little Colonel (1935), The Littlest Rebel (1935), Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (1938) and Just Around the Corner (1938), or Will Rogers in In Old Kentucky. " Antebellum " is an expression derived from Latin that means "before war" ( ante, "before" and bellum Shirley Jane Temple (born April 23, 1928) is an Academy Award -winning Actress and Tap dancer, most famous for being an iconic The Little Colonel is a 1935 movie starring Shirley Temple, Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, Lionel Barrymore and the Academy-Award The Littlest Rebel is a 1935 comedy drama film directed by David Butler, starring child-actress Shirley Temple. Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm ( 1938) is a 20th Century Fox musical Feature film starring Shirley Temple and Randolph Just Around the Corner is a 1938 movie musical starring Shirley Temple, Joan Davis, Charles Farrell, Bill "Bojangles" This page is about the humorist for others with similar names see William Rogers. Rarely did he depart from the stereotype imposed by Hollywood writers. In a small vignette in Hooray For Love (1935) he played a mayor of Harlem modeled after his own ceremonial honor; in One Mile From Heaven (1937), he played a romantic lead opposite African American actress Fredi Washington after Hollywood had relaxed its taboo against such roles for blacks. Fredi Washington (Fredericka Carolyn Washington ( December 23 1903 - June 28 1994) was an African-American Film Actress Audiences enjoyed his style, which eschewed the frenetic manner of the jitterbug. In contrast, Robinson always remained cool and reserved, rarely using his upper body and depending on his busy, inventive feet and his expressive face. He appeared in one film for black audiences, Harlem Is Heaven (1931), a financial failure that turned him away from independent production.
In 1939, he returned to the stage in The Hot Mikado, a jazz version of the Gilbert and Sullivan operetta produced at the 1939 New York World's Fair, and was one of the greatest hits of the fair. The Hot Mikado was a 1939 Musical theatre adaptation of Gilbert and Sullivan 's The Mikado with an African-American The Hot Mikado was a 1939 Musical theatre adaptation of Gilbert and Sullivan 's The Mikado with an African-American Gilbert and Sullivan refers to the Victorian era partnership of Librettist W Operetta is a genre of light Opera, light in terms both of music and subject matter The 1939-40 New York World's Fair, Flushing Meadows-Corona Park (also the location of the 1964-1965 New York World's Fair) was one of the largest His next performance, in All in Fun (1940), failed to attract audiences. His last theatrical project was to have been Two Gentlemen From the South with James Barton, in which the black and white roles reverse and eventually come together as equals, but the show did not open. Thereafter, he confined himself to occasional performances, but he could still dance in his late sixties almost as well as he ever could, to the continual astonishment of his admirers. He explained this extraordinary versatility--he once danced for more than an hour before a dancing class without repeating a step--by insisting that his feet responded directly to the music, his head having nothing to do with it.
Robinson died of a chronic heart condition at Columbia Presbyterian Center in New York City in 1949. The City of New York His body lay in state at an armory in Harlem; schools were closed, thousands lined the streets waiting for a glimpse of his bier, and he was eulogized by politicians, black and white--perhaps more lavishly than any other African American of his time. A bier is a stand on which a corpse, or Coffin containing a corpse is placed to Lie in state or to be carried to the Grave. "To his own people", wrote Marshall and Jean Stearns, "Robinson became a modern John Henry, who instead of driving steel, laid down iron taps. " He was buried in the cemetery of the Evergreens in New York City.
Film career
Whether he was performing in get a small town theater or a grand Broadway playhouse, Robinson gave his best and his national popularity became such that he was invited by studio executive Darryl F. Zanuck to come to Hollywood to appear in motion pictures, albeit limited to stereotypical roles. Darryl Francis Zanuck ( September 5, 1902 &ndash December 22, 1979) was an Academy Award -winning producer, Writer In all, he appeared in more than a dozen films but is best remembered for a number of 1930s film performances with the child star Shirley Temple including director Allan Dwan's very successful 1938 production of Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm. The 1930s were described as an abrupt shift to more radical and conservative lifestyles as countries were struggling to find a solution to the Great Depression. Shirley Jane Temple (born April 23, 1928) is an Academy Award -winning Actress and Tap dancer, most famous for being an iconic Allan Dwan (April 3 1885 &ndash December 28 1981 was a pioneering Canadian -born American motion picture director, producer and screenwriter Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm ( 1938) is a 20th Century Fox musical Feature film starring Shirley Temple and Randolph
Filmography
- Hello, Bill (1929)
- Dixiana (1930)
- Harlem Is Heaven (1932)
- King for a Day (1934)
- The Little Colonel (1935)
- The Littlest Rebel (1935)
- In Old Kentucky (1935)
- Hooray For Love (1935)
- One Mile From Heaven (1937)
- Up the River (1938)
- Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (1938)
- Stormy Weather (1943)
Other notable performances
In 1939 Robinson returned to the New York stage to take on the lead role in The Hot Mikado, a jazz version of the Gilbert and Sullivan operetta. Dixiana is a 1930 lavish American Musical film directed by Luther Reed produced by Radio Pictures (later known as RKO) The Little Colonel is a 1935 movie starring Shirley Temple, Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, Lionel Barrymore and the Academy-Award The Littlest Rebel is a 1935 comedy drama film directed by David Butler, starring child-actress Shirley Temple. Up the River is a 1938 prison Comedy film starring Preston Foster and Arthur Treacher and featuring Bill "Bojangles" Robinson Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm ( 1938) is a 20th Century Fox musical Feature film starring Shirley Temple and Randolph Stormy Weather is the title of an American musical Motion picture produced and released by 20th Century Fox in 1943 Gilbert and Sullivan refers to the Victorian era partnership of Librettist W The much-loved performer brought his show great publicity when in his sixties, he danced his way backwards down Broadway from Columbus Circle to 44th Street. Broadway theater, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 39 large professional theaters with 500 seats or more located Robinson had spoken out against being stereotyped by Hollywood and in 1943 he went back there to star opposite Lena Horne and Cab Calloway in the film musical, Stormy Weather. Lena Mary Calhoun Horne (born June 30, 1917) is an iconic American singer and Actress. Cabell "Cab" Calloway III ( December 25, 1907 &ndash November 18, 1994) was a famous American Jazz Singer Stormy Weather is the title of an American musical Motion picture produced and released by 20th Century Fox in 1943
Legacy
Robinson was dogged by lifelong personal demons, enhanced by having to endure the indignities of racism that, despite his great success, still limited his opportunities. A favorite Robinson anecdote is that he seated himself in a restaurant and a customer objected to his presence. When the manager suggested that it might be better if the entertainer left, Robinson smiled and asked, "Have you got a ten dollar bill?" Politely asking to borrow the note for a moment, Robinson added six $10 bills from his own wallet and mixed them up, then extended the seven bills together, adding, "Here, let's see you pick out the colored one. " The restaurant manager served Robinson without further delay. [1]
A notorious gambler and a high liver but with a big heart, he was a soft touch for anyone down on their luck or with a good story. During his lifetime Robinson spent a fortune but his generosity was not totally wasted and his haunting memories of surviving on the streets as a child never left him. In 1933, while in his hometown of Richmond, Virginia, he saw two children risk speeding traffic to cross a street because there was no stoplight at the intersection. This article is about the city of Richmond the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Robinson went to the city and provided the money to have a safety traffic light installed. In 1973, a statue of "Bojangles" was erected in a small park at that intersection.
Robinson's favorite adjective was copasetic. Copasetic, also spelled copacetic, copesetic or - less commonly - kopasetic means very satisfactory or acceptable He claimed to have coined the word; in any event, there is little argument that he popularized the term sufficiently to make it part of the English vocabulary. [2].
Bojangles co-founded the New York Black Yankees baseball team in Harlem in 1936 with financier James "Soldier Boy" Semler. The New York Black Yankees was a professional Baseball team based in New York City, Paterson NJ, and Rochester NY which played in the Harlem is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan, long known as a major African American cultural and business center The team was a successful member of the Negro National League until it disbanded in 1948.
In 1989 a joint U.S. Senate / House resolution declared "National Tap Dance Day" to be May 25th, the anniversary of Bill Robinson's birth. Year 1989 ( MCMLXXXIX) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link displays 1989 Gregorian calendar) The United States Senate is the Upper house of the bicameral United States Congress, the Lower house being the House of Representatives National Tap Dance Day falls on May 25 every year and is a celebration of tap dancing as an artform Events 1085 - Alfonso VI of Castile takes Toledo Spain back from the Moors.
Death
In 1949, Bill "Bojangles" Robinson died penniless in New York City at the age of 71 from chronic heart disease. Television host Ed Sullivan personally paid for the funeral. Edward Vincent "Ed" Sullivan ( September 28, 1901 – October 13, 1974) was an American Entertainment Writer More than half a million people lined the streets when Robinson's funeral procession made its way through Harlem and down Broadway to Times Square on its way to his interment in the Cemetery of the Evergreens in Brooklyn. Times Square is a major intersection in Manhattan, New York City at the junction of Broadway and Seventh Avenue and stretching from West The Cemetery of the Evergreens is a non-denominational Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York and partly in Queens colloquially called Evergreen Cemetery Brooklyn (named after the Dutch town Breukelen) is one of the five boroughs of New York City.
Jerry Jeff Walker wrote a song called "Mr. Bojangles" which is often thought to have been inspired by Robinson. Jerry Jeff Walker (born March 16, 1942) is a Country music singer " Mr Bojangles " is a popular song written and initially recorded by Jerry Jeff Walker in 1968 and covered since by many other artists A friend of Mr. Bojangles said on the day of his funeral "He was the fastest tapper I knew. "
- Link Grave: Find a Grave
Mr. Bojangles memorialized
- There is a statue of Bill Robinson sculpted by Jack Witt in Richmond, Virginia at the intersection of Adams and West Leigh Streets. This article is about the city of Richmond the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia.
- Fred Astaire paid tribute to Bill Robinson in the tap routine Bojangles of Harlem from the 1936 classic Swing Time. Fred Astaire (born Frederick Austerlitz; May 10, 1899 &ndash June 22, 1987) was an American Academy Award In it he famously dances to three of his shadows. Duke Ellington composed 'Bojangles (A Portrait of Bill Robinson)', a set of rhythmic variations as a salute to the great dancer. Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29 1899 &ndash May 24 1974 was an American Composer, Pianist, and Bandleader.
- Bill Robinson's biography was published in 1988 and a made-for-television film titled Bojangles was released in 2001. Bojangles is a biographical drama that chronicles the life of legendary Entertainer Bill "Bojangles" Robinson (1878-1949 The film earned the NAACP Best actor Award for Gregory Hines' performance as Bill Robinson. The NAACP Image Award winners for Outstanding Actor in a Television Movie Mini-Series or Dramatic Special: Gregory Oliver Hines ( February 14, 1946 – August 9, 2003) was an American Actor, Singer, Dancer
- Bill Robinson's character was, in effect, memorialized in Jerry Jeff Walker's 1968 folk song "Mr. Bojangles" that was later recorded by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Harry Nilsson, Harry Chapin, Chet Atkins, King Curtis, Jim Croce, Bob Dylan, Harry Belafonte, Arlo Guthrie, Nina Simone, John Denver, David Bromberg, Neil Diamond, Sammy Davis, Jr, Tom T. Hall, John Holt, Robbie Williams, the Nervous Rex, and David Campbell, it was also again preformed, by the 60/70s folk rock band The Byrds. Jerry Jeff Walker (born March 16, 1942) is a Country music singer " Mr Bojangles " is a popular song written and initially recorded by Jerry Jeff Walker in 1968 and covered since by many other artists The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band is an American country - folk - rock band that has existed in various forms since its founding in Long Beach California Harry Edward Nilsson III ( June 15, 1941 – January 15, 1994) was an American Songwriter, singer Pianist, and Harry Forster Chapin ( December 7, 1942 – July 16, 1981) was an American singer Songwriter, and Humanitarian Chester Burton "Chet" Atkins ( June 20, 1924 &ndash June 30, 2001) was an influential Guitarist and Record producer Curtis Ousley ( February 7, 1934 – August 13, 1971) who performed under the name King Curtis, was an American James Joseph Croce, pronounced (CROW-chee ( January 10, 1943 – September 20, 1973) popularly known as Jim Croce, was an Bob Dylan (born Robert Zimmerman, May 24 1941 in Duluth, Minnesota) is an American singer-songwriter author poet and painter who has been a major Harold George Belafonte Jr (born March 1 1927 is an American musician actor and Social activist. Arlo Davy Guthrie (born July 10 1947 is an American folk singer Eunice Kathleen Waymon, better known by her Stage name Nina Simone ( IPA: ninɐ sʌmɞnɑ (February 21 1933 – April 21 2003 was a fifteen-time John Denver (December 31 1943 &ndash October 12 1997 born Henry John Deutschendorf Jr David Bromberg (born September 19 1945, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is an American Guitarist. Neil Leslie Diamond (born January 24, 1941) is an American Singer-songwriter and occasional Actor. Samuel George “Sammy” Davis Jr (8 December 1925 &ndash 16 May 1990 was an American Entertainer. Tom T Hall (born May 25, 1936 in Olive Hill, Kentucky) is an American country balladeer, Songwriter, and John Holt (born John Kenneth Holt, 11 July 1947, Kingston Jamaica) is a Reggae Singer and Songwriter. Robert Peter Maximilian Williams (born 13 February 1974) is an English singer David Campbell (born 6 August 1973 in South Australia) is an Australian singer and stage performer The Byrds were a popular American rock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1964 The song, however, is not about Robinson himself. It is apparently about an obscure imitator, one of several reported, who danced for tips. In a sense, his influence passed into the "folk culture" by inspiring talented, but poor, individuals to dance, thus sharing in his legacy.
- In Tim Burton's Corpse Bride (2005), the character "Bonejangles" was named after him. Timothy "Tim" William Burton (born August 25 1958 is an American Film director, Screenwriter and Set designer, notable for the quirky The year 2005 in film involved some significant events Releases of sequels took place with movies like The Devil's Rejects, Cheaper
References
Some biographical material is from the International Tap Association Newsletter May/June 1993. The biographical material was extrapolated from The American Dictionary of Biography and Webster's American Biographies.
Haskins, James; Mitgang, N. R, Mr. Bojangles: the biography of Bill Robinson (New York: William Morrow, 1988) ISBN 0-688-07203-8
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