Born 100 years ago today, Norma Miller (1919-2019). Remarkably, this Harlem Renaissance Woman (who came a long a shade too late for the Harlem Renaissance) nearly lived to see this day. She passed away back in May. While mostly known as a dancer and choreographer, Miller was also an actress, comedian, author, and teacher.
As a kid, Miller hung around outside Harlem clubs like the Savoy Ballroom and the Apollo Theatre dreaming of nothing bigger than the chance to perform there. She'd studied dancing since she was five years old. In 1934 she and dance partner Sonny Ashby won the Savoy Lindy Hop Contest at the Apollo, with the result that she was invited to join Whitey's Lindy Hoppers. And this is his how I know about her -- this dance company was featured prominently in the 1937 Marx Brothers A Day at the Races. By this point she had already toured the U.S. with Ethel Waters, toured Europe, and played Madison Square Garden. After the Marx Brothers movie, she was on Broadway in Lew Leslie's Blackbirds and Swinging' the Dream (both 1939) and then in the 1941 film version of Hellzapoppin'. In 1942 she toured with Pearl Bailey and Cootie Williams, appeared in the movie short Hot Chocolate with Duke Ellington, and then quit Whitey's Lindy Hoppers over a money dispute. The following year she returned to Broadway in Run, Little Chillun, in an all-black cast directed by Clarence Muse.
Over the next decade, Miller produced shows for Harlem nightclubs while continuing to take formal instruction in modern dance. In the '50s and '60s she toured with her own groups Norma Miller Dancers and Norma Miller and Her Jazzmen. She performed in shows with the likes of Count Basie, Cab Calloway, and George Kirby, and lived mostly in Miami and Las Vegas.
By the early '70s Miller was in her 50s and realized the need to shift gears. At this juncture, with the help of her old friend Redd Foxx, she transition into being an actress and comedian. Starting in 1972 she toured Vietnam entertaining troops with a solo stand-up routine. From 1973 to 1977, she guest starred in five episodes of Sanford and Son and its spinoffs Grady and Sanford Arms. She was also on the 1977 Richard Pryor comedy special, and had a role in the 1976 film Sparkle with Irene Cara and Philip Michael Thomas. In 1977 she co-wrote The Redd Foxx Encyclopedia of Black Humor. Later she penned a memoir, and a book about swing dancing, from its origins to its revival in the '80s, both of which she played a role in. She was still acting in films as late as the 1990s.
Much more about Norma Miller can be found on her official website here.
For more on show biz history, please see my book No Applause, Just Throw Money: The Book That Made Vaudeville Famous.
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