Bill Robinson

This article is about the entertainer. For other people with the same name, see William Robinson (disambiguation).

Bill Robinson
Robinson in 1937
Born
Luther Robinson

(1878-05-25)May 25, 1878
Richmond, Virginia, U.S.
DiedNovember 25, 1949(1949-11-25) (aged 71)
New York City, New York, U.S.
Resting placeCemetery of the Evergreens, New York City
Other namesBojangles
Occupations
  • Dancer
  • actor
  • activist
Years active1890–1949
Spouses
Lena Chase
​
​
(m. 1907; div. 1922)​
Fannie S. Clay
​
​
(m. 1922; div. 1943)​
Elaine Plaines
​
(m. 1944)​

Bill "Bojangles" Robinson (born Luther Robinson; May 25, 1878 – November 25, 1949), was an American tap dancer, actor, and singer, the best known and the most highly paid black entertainer in the United States during the first half of the 20th century.[1][2] His long career mirrored changes in American entertainment tastes and technology. His career began in the age of minstrel shows and moved to vaudeville, Broadway theatre, the recording industry, Hollywood films, radio, and television.

According to dance critic Marshall Stearns, "Robinson's contribution to tap dance is exact and specific. He brought it on its toes, dancing upright and swinging," adding a "hitherto-unknown lightness and presence."[3]: pp. 186–187  His signature routine was the stair dance, in which he would tap up and down a set of stairs in a rhythmically complex sequence of steps, a routine that he unsuccessfully attempted to patent. He is also credited with having popularized the word copacetic through his repeated use of it in vaudeville and radio appearances.

He is famous 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 his own life and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry. He used his popularity to challenge and overcome numerous racial barriers. Robinson was one of the first minstrel and vaudeville performers to appear as black without the use of blackface makeup, as well as one of the earliest Black performers to perform solo, overcoming vaudeville's two-color rule.[4] Additionally, he was an early black headliner in Broadway shows. Robinson was the first black performer to appear in a Hollywood film in an interracial dance team (with Shirley Temple in The Little Colonel, 1935), and the first black performer to headline a mixed-race Broadway production.

Robinson came under heavy criticism for his apparent tacit acceptance of racial stereotypes of the era, with some critics calling him an Uncle Tom. He strongly resented this, and his biographers suggested that critics were underestimating the difficulties faced by black performers engaging with mainstream white culture at the time, and ignoring his many efforts to overcome racial prejudice. In his public life, Robinson led efforts to persuade the Dallas Police Department to hire its first black policeman; lobby President Franklin Delano Roosevelt during World War II for equal treatment of black soldiers; and stage the first integrated public event in Miami, a fundraiser which was attended by both black and white city residents.

Robinson was a popular figure in both black and white entertainment worlds of his era, and is remembered for the support that he gave to fellow performers, including Fred Astaire, Eleanor Powell, Lena Horne, Jesse Owens and the Nicholas Brothers.[5] [6] Sammy Davis Jr. and Ann Miller credited him as a teacher and mentor, Miller saying that he "changed the course of my life." Gregory Hines produced and starred in a biographical movie about Robinson for which he won the NAACP Best Actor Award.

Despite being the highest-paid black performer of the time, Robinson died penniless in 1949, his funeral paid for by longtime friend Ed Sullivan. In 1989, Congress designated Robinson's birthday of May 25 as National Tap Dance Day.[7][8]

  1. ^ Atkinson, Ted (2006). Faulkner and the Great Depression: Aesthetics, Ideology, and Cultural Politics. p. 223.
  2. ^ "Bill "Bojangles" Robinson | The Stars | Broadway: The American Musical | PBS". Broadway: The American Musical. Retrieved January 29, 2020.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference STEARNS was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Gloria Goodale. (February 2, 2001) Bojangles salutes tap dancer who broke race barriers Christian Science Monitor. Accessed July 15, 2017.
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference :1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ jburkepmc (February 24, 2023). "Forgotten Hollywood: Bill "Bojangles" Robinson". Golden Globes. Retrieved February 1, 2024.
  7. ^ 101st Congress (1989–1990) (November 8, 1989). "H.J.Res.131 - To designate May 25, 1989, as "National Tap Dance Day"". Library of Congress. Retrieved May 27, 2015.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  8. ^ Constance Valis Hill (2013). "Tap Dance in America: A Short History". Library of Congress. Retrieved May 27, 2015.