(1878 - 1949)
"Mr. Bojangles, shall we dance?" The lyrics of Jerry Jeff Walker song memorialize Bill "Mr. Bojangles" Robinson as a cultural icon. The African American tap dancer was on of the great dancers and entertainers of the twentieth century. He hoofed his way across the county in the vaudeville circuit, eventually leading to Broadway and Hollywood.
Born Luther Robinson, he was orphaned in 1885 and raised by his grandmother Bedikia Robison, a former slave. He changed his name (allegedly in a fist fight with his brother who succumbed to switching names) and began dancing for a living at the age of six. At age nine, Robinson launched his professional career by joining Mayme Remington's troupe, and he joined the traveling company of The South before the War at twelve. In 1902 or (possibly 1905) he teamed up with George W. Cooper and played together on the Keith and Orpheum vaudeville circuits.
In 1912-1913 the first all-black circuit was formed by Sherman H. Dudley. Dudley formed the Theater Owners' Booking Association (TBOA), a circuit covering more than eighty theaters, and booked all-black touring shows that helped popularize blues and jazz. Robinson joined Dudley's circuit with legendary blues singer Ma Rainey and endured brutal touring schedules, substandard performing conditions and segregation in the South. 1 He performed in vaudeville until 1927 when he joined the Broadway review Blackbirds of 1928 and achieved instantaneous success. Other Broadway shows followed: Brown Buddies (1930), Blackbirds of 1933, The Hot Mikado (1930), All in Fun (1940), and Memphis Bound (1945).
In 1930 Robinson made his first film, Dixiana, and continued making films in which he danced with many stars including Lena Horne, Cab Calloway, and Katherine Dunham. On of his most famous dancing partners was Shirley Temple; he teamed up with her in many films including The Little Colonel (1935), The Littlest Rebel (1935), Just Around the Corner (1938), and Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (1938).
Robinson was a founding member of the Negro Actors Guild of America and co-founded the New York Black Yankees baseball team in Harlem in 1936. With generosity and wit he battled stereotypes and racism in the entertainment industry. He was also known for a quick temper and a destructive gambling habit. Bill Robinson was a man of his age, a Harlem Renaissance dandy. In honor of Bill Robinson's birthday, the Congress declared May 25 as National Tap Dance Day. Surely Robinson would find that "copasetic," his legendary favorite expression.
1. Wertheim, 180.
Resources
Haskins, James, and N.R. Mitgang. Mr. Bojangles: The Biography of Bill Robinson. New York: William Marrow, 1988.
"Bill Bojangles Robinson." American Tap Dance Foundation. Soaring Steps. http://www.soaringsteps.org/artistbase/dance/distinguished-leaders/bill-bojangles-robinson/details/ 8 October 2007.
"Bill Robinson." IMBd. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0732408/ 8 October 2007.
Wertheim, Arthur Frank. Vaudeville Wars: How the Keith-Albee and Orpheum Circuits Controlled the Big-Time and Its Performers. New York: Palgrave MacMillian, 2006.