Whitey's Lindy Hoppers

Whitey's Lindy Hoppers was a professional performing group of Savoy Ballroom swing dancers, started in 1935 by Herbert "Whitey" White. The group took on many different forms, with up to 12 different groups performing under this name or one of a number of different names used for the group over the years, including Whitey's Hopping Maniacs, Harlem Congeroo Dancers, and The Hot Chocolates. In addition to touring nationally and internationally, the group appeared in a number of feature films and Broadway productions, and counted Dorothy Dandridge and Sammy Davis Jr. among their celebrity regulars. By the summer of 1943, with most of its best male dancers having been drafted, Whitey's Lindy Hoppers had pretty much disbanded. The Savoy Ballroom closed in 1958.

Of all the members of Whitey's Lindy Hoppers, Al Minns, Leon James, and Frankie Manning are among the most famous -- Minns and James in part for their role in the research of Jean and Marshall Stearns's influential book Jazz Dance, Minns for his work with The Rhythm Hot Shots during the 1980s' swing revival, and Manning for his role, starting in 1986, in contributing to the swing and Lindy Hop revival after Minns died in 1985. Manning, Lennie Bluett, and Norma Miller were among the few members of Whitey's Lindy Hoppers still alive during the 1990s and 2000s and were some of that era's most influential Lindy Hop performers and instructors. With Manning's death in April 2009, Miller alone remains to teach and lecture at dance workshops and Lindy Hop conventions.

Members

(partial list)

  • Louise "Pal" Andrews
  • Pettis Dotson "Snooky" Beasley[1]
  • Lennie Bluett
  • John "Tiny" Bunch
  • Eunice Callen
  • Wilda Crawford
  • Mildred Cruse
  • Joe "Big Stupe" Daniels
  • Joyce "Little Stupe" Daniels
  • Eddie Davis
  • William Downes
  • Elnora Dyson
  • "Long-legged George" Greenidge
  • Connie Hill
  • Leon James
  • Ann Johnson
  • Dorothy "Dot" Johnson
  • Frances "Mickey" Jones
  • Thomas "Tops" Lee
  • Maggie McMillan
  • Frankie Manning
  • Lucille Middleton
  • Norma Miller
  • Al Minns
  • Mildred Pollard
  • Billy Ricker
  • Willamae Ricker
  • Eleanor "Stumpy" Watson
  • Naomi Waller
  • Esther Washington
  • Freida Washington
  • Billy Williams[1]
  • Jerome Williams
  • Russell Williams/Rasul Ali Ibm Aleem
  • Jimmy Valentine
  • Ruthie Reingold
  • Harry Rosenberg

Filmography

Broadway features

See also

Further reading

  • Frankie Manning and Cynthia R. Millman, Frankie Manning: Ambassador of Lindy Hop, Temple University Press, 2007, ISBN 1-59213-563-3.
  • Norma Miller and Evette Jensen, Swingin' at the Savoy: The Memoir of a Jazz Dancer, Temple University Press, 1996, ISBN 1-56639-494-5.
  • Norma Miller, Stompin' at the Savoy: the story of Norma Miller, Candlewich Press, 1996, ISBN 0-7636-2244-3.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Manning, Frankie; Millman, Cynthia (2007). Frankie Manning: Ambassador of Lindy Hop. Philadelphia PA: Temple University Press. p. 73. ISBN 978-1-59213-563-9.
  2. ↑ The Soundies Distributing Corporation of America: a history and filmography of their "jukebox" musical films of the 1940s. Terenzio, MacGillivary, Okuda. 1954. page 72. ISBN 0-89950-578-3
  3. ↑ The Soundies Distributing Corporation of America: a history and filmography of their "jukebox" musical films of the 1940s. Terenzio, MacGillivary, Okuda. 1954. page 96. ISBN 0-89950-578-3
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