Symphony in Black: A Rhapsody of Negro Life Earl "Snake-hips" Tucker performer Dudley, Bessie performer Cotton Club Girls performer Film 1935-09-12 Paramount Pictures 10 min. b&w 16 mm film. Earl "Snake-hips" Tucker in a beautifully rhythmic and swinging Lindy Hop with Bessie Dudley in the Part Two: "A Triangle: Jealousy"; Dudley a shake dancer with Ellington troupe, also jazz and tap dancer, appeared several times with the Ellington troupe. Klaus Stratemann identifies the dancers as Tucker and Dudley, as does Terry Monahan. Steven Lasker however does not believe that these are the dancers and suggests the female dancer may be Florence Edmundson. In support of Lasker's point, the Bessie Dudley we see in "Bundle of Blues" is not the same dancer as we see in "Symphony in Black"; so too, the stature of Earl "Snake-hips" Tucker that we see in the last scene of "Symphony in Black" is not the more spindly physical type we see in the dancing scene. This is a debate that needs more research. "Harlem Rhythm" with Earl "Snake-hips" Tucker shows the rhythmic stepping of the Cotton Club girls who were pulled from the Cotton Club to film this short. Aimed to present "a "Rhapsody of Negro Life" in a portrait of four aspects and situations regarded as typical for the conditions and customs of the black race at the time, The cast in "Symphony in Black" is part of the Ellington's stage revue of the period. Dancer Bessie Dudley, a longtime regular of the Ellington troupe, was also in "A Bundle of Blue"; hers is a small part in this film, in tandem with her more famous colleague earl "Snake-hips" Tucker: the two of them are featured, in the film's second part, The Triangle, which tells the brief story of a woman (Billie Holiday) seeing her man (Tucker) dance with a rival (Dudley) in an upstairs living room ("Dance"). This is a loose and swinging Lindy hop with legomania (played to "Merry-G-Round") and beautifully executed partnering. She confronts the pair as they come into the street ("Jealousy"), only to be rudely rejected and thrown onto the ground by the man. Left alone distressed, she expresses her grief in song ("Blues"). Internet sources of this footage include: www.savoystyle.com/symphony_in-black.html www.depanorama.net/dems/052e.html Performing Arts Encyclopedia http://www.loc.gov/performingarts Strattemann, Klaus: Duke Ellington: Day by Day, Film by Film. Copenhagen: Jazz Media (1992). Smith, Ernie: The Ernie Smith Jazz Film Collection. The Ernie Smith Jazz Film Collection, Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of American History: Archives Center (). Best of Jazz & Blues: The Best of Jazz & Blues. Videorecording. Kinointernational (2001). Tap Dance America http://lcweb2.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/html/tda/tda-home.html Cotton Club Girls (biography) loc.music.tdabio.61 tda IHAS 151216 loc.music.tda.1287