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• Bill Bailey

From:

• Performing Arts Encyclopedia
• Tap Dance America

Dates: 1912-1978
Birth Date: Dec 8, 1912
Death Date: Dec 12, 1978

Place of Birth: Newport News, VA
Place of Death: Philadelphia, PA

Bill Bailey, considered to be one of the best rhythm dancers of his time, was born William Norton Bailey, his father a preacher in a "Holy Roller Church," where he began dancing; Bailey was older brother to actress and singer Pearl Bailey. As a child, he sang and danced professionally, sometimes dancing with Blanche Calloway, Cab Calloway's sister. He was an avid admirer of Bill Robinson's "up on the toes" and upright style of tap dancing, and also of the flat-footed, paddle-and-roll style of King Rastus Brown; and both style fused in his work. A frequent performer at the Apollo Theatre, Lafayette Theater, and Savoy Ballroom in Harlem, he was a featured performer with Duke Ellington on his first European tour (1933) Dan Healy's Cotton Club Parades at the downtown Cotton Club in 1936 and 1937. He also performed on radio at the debut of the Louis Armstrong Radio Show (1937), the first all-colored coast-to-coast commercial radio program under the sponsorship of the Fleischmann Yeast Company headed by Louis Armstrong and his orchestra; and Ralph Cooper's Jumpin' Jive Show (1942). On television, he appeared on Ed Sullivan's Talk of the Town (1952) and Toast of the Town (1955). On Broadway he was a fetured performer in Lew Leslie's Blackbirds of 1930; and played the role of Cupid in the musical adaptation of William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, in Swingin' the Dream (1939), choreographed by Agnes DeMille, with swing choreography by Lyn Murray.

The move known as the "moonwalk" was Bailey's stage exit for years, and can be seen on the black musical short, Harlem Variety Revue, 1950-1954 (1955); hosted by Ralph Cooper, Bailey performs at the Apollo Theatre in a Bill Robinson-styled routine in which he finished doing a "Moon Walk" off the stage, which he called "Backslide." Bailey also appeared in the films Going Native (1936), The World Is Waiting for the Sunrise (1952), The Rhythm and Blues Revue (1955), and Showtime at the Apollo (1955). His tap and softshoe dance to "Taking A Chance On Love," sung by star Ethel Waters in the 1942 musical film Cabin in the Sky is a stellar example of his flippingly nuanced rhythm-tapping style.

[Sources: Constance Valis Hill, Tap Dancing America Database; Swing Street. Com; Jacqui Malone and Cholly Atkins, Class Act: The Jazz Life of Choreographer Cholly Atkins (1991)