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The Copasetics Club Founded / LeRoy Myers [social event]

Title

The Copasetics Club Founded [Social Event]

Performers

Myers, LeRoy

Coles, Charles "Honi"

Atkins, Charles "Cholly"

Bates, Clayton "Peg Leg"

Black, Paul

Branker, Paul

Brown, Ernest "Brownie"

Cook, Charles "Cookie"

Copasetics

Published/Created

1949-12-05

Genre

Social Event

Abstract

The Copasetics Club, in memory of the late Bill "Bojangles" Robinson (who died on November 25, 1949), organized by a group of friends and colleagues in show business. The name of the Club taken from Robinson's favorite expression, "Everything is Copasetic" meaning everything is okay. The Club's colors were Black, Brown and Beige; the Club's Flower was the yellow rose; the Club's motto "Everything's Copasetic."

"The Copasetics is a social, friendly benevolent club. Its members pledge themselves to do all in their power to promote fellowship and to strengthen the character within their ranks. With these thoughts ever foremost in our minds, it should be our every desire to create only impressions that will establish us in all walks of life as a group of decent, repectable men. Bearing in mind that these achievements can only become a reality by first seeking the aid of God."

The original 21 members of this largely tap fraternity included Cholly Atkins, Peg Leg Bates, Paul Black, pianist Paul Branker, Ernest Brown, Honi Coles, Chink Collins, Charles Cook, Emery Evans, Francis and Frank Goldberg, trumpeter Milton Larkin, Leroy Myers (the organization's first President), Pete Nugent, Luther Preston, Henry Phace Roberts, John E. Thomas, James Walker, Elmer Youngblood Waters, Eddie West, and composer and arranger Billy Strayhorn, who served as President from the early 1950s until his death in 1967, at which time the club abolished the presidency in his honor.

The club became a stabilizing organization for continuing the performance of tap dance through the lean years of the 1950s; and as a fundraising social club with yearly boat rides and annual balls that raised money for needy organizations.

[On a flier that awarded Savion Glover with Robinson's tap shoes at Showmans on November 19, 2000, it states that The Copasetics were founded on December 30, 1949]

Source

www.copasetics.com: www.copasetics.com. ().

Schlesinger, Carl and Renee: The Carl and Renee Schlesinger collection of tap dance programs and fliers 1995-2006. Personal collection of postcards, fliers, programs ().

Last Updated: 12-16-2015