Profile of Bill Robinson on Famous Like Me

Bill "Bojangles" Robinson (May 25, 1878 – November 25, 1949) was a pioneer and pre-eminent African-American tap dance performer.

Childhood and early career

Born Luther Robinson in Richmond, Virginia, his parents died when he was still an infant and he was raised by his grandmother. A child prodigy in dance, he was only a boy of nine when he ran away to Washington D.C. where he survived as a street performer. His extraordinary dancing skills eventually brought work in the city's clubs and taverns. Given the nickname "Bojangles," as a young adult he went on to perform at nightclubs and musical comedy venues in New York City before going on to Chicago.

Robinson's Style

In Robinson's day, tap dancing was primarily a flat footed dance referred to as the "buck and wing" style. Robinson transformed the art by doing his dancing on the balls of the feet, becoming best known for his famous "stair dance." His dancing skills made him a star amongst the black population and a headlining favorite at the Hoofer's Club in Harlem.

Racism and Robinson's Rise to Fame

However, overcoming even a part of the racism that existed took a long time. At a point in history when segregation was the accepted norm in the United States, Robinson initially was made to perform for white audiences in blackface. However, his popularity led to a tour of Canada where he could appear without having to hide behind make-up. Nevertheless, at home, Robinson performed almost exclusively for black audiences until a Broadway producer in need of something different to help arrest the decline in popularity of vaudeville acts hired him for a revue called "Blackbirds of 1928." The all-white audiences loved the show and the then 50-year-old Robinson soon became much in demand, said to be the highest paid black performer of the time. Acclaimed for his innovative and complex dance style, he personified the happy-go-lucky image of a dapper gentleman, often appearing on stage in tails and top hat while swinging a cane.

Film Career

Whether he was performing in 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. 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.

Partial filmography:

• Harlem Is Heaven (1932)
• The Little Colonel (1935)
• The Littlest Rebel (1935)
• In Old Kentucky (1935)
• Hooray For Love (1935)
• One Mile From Heaven (1937)
• Cotton Club Revue (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. 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. Robinson had spoken out against being stereotyped by Hollywood and in 1942 he went back there to star opposite Lena Horne and Cab Calloway in the quality film musical, Stormy Weather.

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 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. 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 the intersection.

Bojangles co-founded the New York Black Yankees baseball team in Harlem in 1936 with financier James "Soldier Boy" Semler. The team was a successful member of the Negro National League until it disbanded in 1948.

Death

In 1949, Bill "Bojangles" Robinson died penniless in New York City at the age of 71 from heart disease. Television host Ed Sullivan is said to have personally paid for the funeral. 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.

Mr. Bojangles Memorialized

Fred Astaire paid tribute to Bill Robinson in the tap routine Bojangles of Harlem from the 1936 classic Swing Time. In it he famously dances to three of his shadows. Bill Robinson's character was memorialized in Jerry Jeff Walker's 1968 folk song "Mr. Bojangles" that was later recorded by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Bob Dylan, Nina Simone, John Denver, David Bromberg, Neil Diamond, Sammy Davis, Jr, and Robbie Williams. His biography was published in 1988 and a made-for-television film titled Bojangles was released in 2001. The film earned the NAACP Best actor Award for Gregory Hines' performance as Bill Robinson.

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