Bill "Bojangles" Robinson (May 25, 1877 – November 25, 1949) was an American tap dancer and actor, the best known and most highly paid African American entertainer in the first half of the twentieth century. His long career mirrored changes in American entertainment tastes and technology, starting in the age of minstrel shows, moving to vaudeville, Broadway, the recording industry, Hollywood radio, and television. According to dance critic Marshall Stearns, “Robinson's contribution to tap dance is exact and specific. He brought it up on its toes, dancing upright and swinging”, giving tap a “…hitherto-unknown lightness and presence.” His signature routine was the stair dance, in which Robinson would tap up and down a set of stairs in a rhythmically complex sequence of steps, a routine that he unsuccessfully attempted to patent. Robinson is also credited with having introduced a new word, copacetic, into popular culture, via his repeated use of it in vaudeville and radio appearances.A popular figure in both the black and white entertainment worlds of his era, he is best known today for his dancing with Shirley Temple in a series of films during the 1930s, and for starring in the musical Stormy Weather (1943), loosely based on Robinson's own life, and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry. Robinson used his popularity to challenge and overcome numerous racial barriers, including becoming the following:one of the first minstrel and vaudeville performers to appear without the use of blackface makeupone of the earliest African American performers to go solo, overcoming vaudeville's two colored rulea headliner in the first African-American Broadway show, Blackbirds of 1928the first African American to appear in a Hollywood film in an interracial dance team (with Temple in The Little Colonel)the first African American to headline a mixed-race Broadway productionDuring his lifetime and afterwards, Robinson also came under heavy criticism for his participation in and tacit acceptance of racial stereotypes of the era, with critics calling him an Uncle Tom figure. Robinson resented such criticism, and his biographers suggested that critics were at best incomplete in making such a characterization, especially given his efforts to overcome the racial prejudice of his era. In his public life Robinson led efforts to:persuade the Dallas police department to hire its first African American policemenlobby President Roosevelt during World War II for more equitable treatment of African American soldiersstage the first integrated public event in Miami, a fundraiser which, with the permission of the mayor, was attended by both black and white city residentsDespite being the highest-paid black performer of the era, Robinson died penniless in 1949, and his funeral was paid for by longtime friend Ed Sullivan. Robinson is remembered for the support he gave to fellow performers, including Fred Astaire, Lena Horne, Jesse Owens, and the Nicholas brother
What success I achieved in the theater is due to the fact that I have always worked just as hard when there were ten people in the house as when there were thousands. Just as hard in Springfield, Illinois, as on Broadway.
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Fact
1
Ebbets Field, April 15, 1947: In celebration of Jackie Robinson's first appearance breaking the color barrier in professional baseball, was tapdancing on top of the Brooklyn Dodgers dugout.
2
Two scenes featuring Bill Robinson were cut from the final version of 'Café Metropole (1937)': a solo tap dance performance in black tie by the dancing legend and a Danse Apache duet with Geneva Sawyer. Both scenes are included in a DVD released by Fox as part of "Tyrone Power, Matinee Idol".
3
He died penniless. Ed Sullivan quietly paid for his funeral because he thought he deserved a dignified burial.
4
In 1982, a pair of his tap shoes were on display in the National Museum of American History at the Smithsonian Institute.
Though it borrowed his name, Jerry Jeff Walker's 1968 song "Mr. Bojangles" (covered by many other artists, including Sammy Davis Jr. in 1972) was about a fantasy character who had little in common with Robinson. Robinson did not drink, was never a down-and-outer and was always a fastidious dresser. His dancing style was always close to the ground, never "leap . . . and lightly touch down.".
10
He was very dedicated to the people of Harlem and often donated his time and money to the people, in an era when it was much needed. The people of Harlem showed their appreciation, to someone they saw as a great gentleman, when they lined the streets in their thousands on the day of his funeral. Having lived a generous and fun-loving lifestyle he died almost penniless and his funeral was paid for by a collection of his celebrity colleagues (including Frank Sinatra).
11
Once set a world's record in the backwards 75-yard dash (in 8.2 seconds).
12
Married three times. Second wife, Fanny Clay, was his business manager. Third wife, Elaine Plaines, was a dancer.
13
His father was a machine-shop worker and mother a choir singer/director. Both died while he was an infant.
14
His manager from 1908 until his death was Marty Forkins who eventually had him working in nightclubs for up to $3500 per week.
15
A one-time honorary mayor of Harlem and mascot of the New York Giants baseball team.
16
Often credited white dancer James Barton as an influence in his dancing style.
17
The 1932 all-black movie titled Harlem Is Heaven (1932) was supposedly based on Robinson's life.
18
Fred Astaire paid homage to him in the movie Swing Time (1936) by dancing one of his routines in a song called "Bojangles of Harlem" in black-face.
19
Grandson of a slave.
20
One of the first blacks to act on Broadway, he also appeared in the first all-black motion picture called Harlem Is Heaven (1932) in which he played a mayor.
21
Founding member of the Negro Actors Guild of America (NAGA).
22
At one point in his career he made $6,500 a week in vaudeville billed as the "World's Greatest Tap Dancer" and headlined New York's Palace Theater, which was the top vaudeville house at the time.
23
A native of Richmond, Virginia, Robinson once paid to have a traffic light installed at the corner of Adams and West Leigh Streets, so that the local children could cross the street safely on their way to school. In appreciation, the City of Richmond presented him with an engraved key to the City. Today, a statue of Robinson stands at the corner of Adams and West Leigh Streets.
During World War I, Robinson was the drum major of the 369th Infantry Regiment, the so-called "Harlem Hellfighters."
26
He took his brother's name (William); his real name was Luther.
27
The world's preeminent tap dancer of his day, he is remembered for his appearances as trouper with the moppet Shirley Temple in four of her 1930s films.
Actor
Title
Year
Status
Character
Stormy Weather
1943
Bill Williamson
Road Demon
1938
Zephyr
Up the River
1938
Memphis Jones
Just Around the Corner
1938
Corporal Jones
Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm
1938
Aloysius
One Mile from Heaven
1937
Officer Joe Dudley
Captain January
1936
Uncle Billy (uncredited)
The Littlest Rebel
1935
Uncle Billy
In Old Kentucky
1935
Wash Jackson
The Big Broadcast of 1936
1935
Specialty
Hooray for Love
1935
Bill Robinson
The Little Colonel
1935
Walker
King for a Day
1934
Short
Bill Green
Harlem Is Heaven
1932
Bill
Dixiana
1930
Specialty Dancer
Soundtrack
Title
Year
Status
Character
Hollywood Singing and Dancing: A Musical History - The 1920s: The Dawn of the Hollywood Musical
2008
Video documentary performer: "Mr. and Mrs. Sippi" - uncredited
That's Dancing!
1985
Documentary performer: "Organ Grinder's Swing", "The Old Folks at Home", "Smiles"
Stormy Weather
1943
"There's No Two Ways About Love" 1943, uncredited / lyrics: "Rang Tang Tang" - uncredited / performer: "Rang Tang Tang", "At a Georgia Camp Meeting" 1897, "De Camptown Races" 1849, "Linda Brown" 1937, "African Dance" 1939, "I Can't Give You Anything But Love" 1928, "My, My, Ain't That Somethin'" 1933 - uncredited
Let's Scuffle
1942
Short performer: "Let's Scuffle"
Just Around the Corner
1938
performer: "This Is a Happy Little Ditty" 1938, "Brass Buttons and Epaulettes" 1938, "I Love to Walk in the Rain" 1938 - uncredited
Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm
1938
performer: "Parade of the Wooden Soldiers"
The Littlest Rebel
1935
music: "She and I" 1936 - uncredited / performer: "Polly Wolly Doodle" 1880, "Turkey In The Straw" - uncredited
The Big Broadcast of 1936
1935
performer: "Miss Brown To You"
Hooray for Love
1935
performer: "I'm Livin' in a Great Big Way" 1935 - uncredited
The Little Colonel
1935
performer: "My Old Kentucky Home" 1853 - uncredited
King for a Day
1934
Short performer: "Old Folks at Home", "Old Black Joe", "Bill Robinson's Stomp", "Love's Old Sweet Song Just a Song at Twilight", "Smiles", "Harlem Honeymoon" - uncredited
Dixiana
1930
performer: "Mr. and Mrs. Sippi" 1930 - uncredited
Miscellaneous
Title
Year
Status
Character
Dimples
1936
dances directed by
Self
Title
Year
Status
Character
Della
1969
TV Series
Himself
Texaco Star Theatre
1948-1949
TV Series
Himself - Dancer / Himself
The R.C.A. Thanksgiving Show
1948
TV Movie
Himself
The Ed Sullivan Show
1948
TV Series
Himself
By an Old Southern River
1942
Himself
Let's Scuffle
1942
Short
Himself
Medicus Film of New York World's Fair
1940
Documentary
Himself
Cotton Club Revue
1938
Documentary
The Big Benefit
1933
Short
Himself (as Bill 'Bojangles' Robinson)
Hello, Bill
1929
Himself
The Delicatessen Kid
1929
Short
Himself
Archive Footage
Title
Year
Status
Character
Hollywood Singing and Dancing: A Musical History - The 1930s: Dancing Away the Great Depression
2009
Video documentary
Himself
Follow the Fleet: The Origins of Those Dancing Feet
2005
Video short
Broadway: The American Musical
2004
TV Mini-Series documentary
Omnibus
2001
TV Series documentary
Himself
Kings of the Ring: Four Legends of Heavyweight Boxing
2000
TV Movie documentary
Himself
Small Steps, Big Strides: The Black Experience in Hollywood
1998
TV Movie documentary
Himself (as Bill 'Bojangles' Robinson)
Hidden Hollywood: Treasures from the 20th Century Fox Film Vaults