They called him Mr Bojangles

If you had been in the United States in the first half of the twentieth century, you would most likely have known about this man. Since that time, and certainly in the rest of the world, his name is not as readily known about.

But, for several decades, Bill 'Bojangles' Robinson was the highest profile, and certainly highest paid, black entertainer in the US. He was a singer, actor and a pioneer of modern tap dancing. Given the fact that this was a country that still had massive segregation issues, his success was incredible, although as we shall see, he did leave himself open to some criticism.

Luther:

He was born Luther Robinson in Richmond, Virginia, in 1878, to Maxwell (a machinist) and Maria (a choir director), with a younger brother, William. In 1884, tragedy struck the young Robinsons, with both parents dying that year - Maxwell from heart disease, and Maria from unknown causes - leaving Luther and William to be brought up by their grandmother Bedalia.

Luther was already dancing for money from the age of five, in local beer gardens and in front of theatres. It was outside the Globe Theatre that Luther was spotted by a promoter, who offered him a job as a 'pick' on a minstrel show.

Pick is short for pickaninny - a problematic racial slur used for African-American children, used as a derogatory characterisation. But they were also the name given to children employed as an entertainment feature for white audiences in these equally problematic minstrel shows. The shows involved white actors donning 'black face' for the main routines, but usually with a number of 'picks' at the side of stage, singing, dancing and telling jokes.

At some point in his youth, Luther, who did not like his given name, persuaded his younger brother to swap names, leading to him becoming known as Bill. William for his part, would later adopt the name Percy and make a name for himself as a musician.

Bill Robinson: Ain't Misbehavin' (Audio only)

Running Away:

In 1890, aged just 12 years, Bill ran away to Washington D.C., working odd jobs at the Benning Race Track and even briefly considering a career as a jockey. But by the following year, he was back in the entertainment sector, picking up work for Whallen & Martel, in one of their touring troupes led by Mayme Remington. The show was called The South Before The War, and Robinson was again cast as a 'pick'. But after a year of that, and now around 15, he was considered to be too old for such a role.

In the 1890's he befriended a young Al Jolson, and they would often team up - he dancing and Jolson singing - in order to try and earn a few extra pennies. By 1898 though, he had joined the US Army, just in time for the Spanish-American War broke out that year. He got wounded from the accidental discharge of a rifle when an officer was cleaning it and was discharged.

Buck & Wing:

Robinson entered a Buck & Wing contest in 1900, at the Bijou Theatre in Brooklyn, winning the gold medal and beating off competition from Harry Swinton, considered about the best dancer of his day.

Buck & Wing: this type of dancing is typified by gliding, sliding and stomping at high speeds. The wing bit of it, is when the dance continues while the dancer is in mid-air. Dancers would use softer soled shoes, but with metal plates added to make the percussive sound more pronounced.

Robinson again got work in a number of travelling shows. From 1902 to 1916 he was in a tap and comedy double act with George W. Cooper, who would go out on both the Keith and Orpheum circuits (both chains of vaudeville theatres).

Bill Robinson: Keep A Song In Your Soul (Audio only)

He was arrested for assault in 1908, following a dispute with a tailor over a suit. He didn't take the charges seriously to begin with and so didn't defend himself properly. Suddenly, he found himself staring down an 11 to 15 year sentence for hard labour at the notorious Sing Sing prison. Luckily, others stepped in to help him and get a proper defence, who soon found out that he had been falsely accused, and the charges were dropped.

An introduction to agent, Marty Forkins, helped him mature into a solo act, something pretty much unheard of for a black person in the early twentieth century, and who got his earnings heading towards $3,500 a week (which seems to equate to over $100k in 2025 money).

During World War I, Robinson volunteered to perform at the Liberty Theatres, sited at training camps to bring a bit of relief for recruits. As a result of those efforts, he received a commendation from the War Office.

From 1919 to 1923, he worked full time on the Orpheum circuit, and then did two years on the Keith circuit. In 1926, he undertook a short tour of the UK, which included performances at the Holborn Empire and Brighton Hippodrome.

Bill Robinson & Chorus: excerpt from King For A Day (short clip of him singing and tapping from this 1934 movie)

Tap Revolution:

It is said that Robinson totally revolutionised tap dancing in this era. Dance critic Marshall Stearns would later state that, "Robinson's contribution to tap dance is exact and specific. He brought it on its toes, dancing upright and swinging," which brought with it, "a hitherto unknown lightness and presence."

His contribution - moving tap from a more flat footed performance, up onto its toes. Movement was now mostly from the waist down, making the effort more demanding and meaning that an impressive amount of control was required. He was christened the 'father of tapology.'

One particular thing that has been forever associated with him is the 'stair dance'. This is the act of tap dancing your way up some stairs, using a different rhythm on each step. Whether he actually invented this, or just popularised it, is up for debate. But he did try, and fail, to get the move patented.

Lew Leslie's Blackbirds of 1928 review, with black performers for white audiences, was doing poorly. After a few weeks, he persuaded Robinson to join the cast, leading to it selling out for a year.

Bill Robinson: Stair Dance (1932 performance of his famous dance)

Work was coming thick and fast. He was paired with Adelaide Hall in 1930's Brown Buddies at the Liberty Theatre, which they then took on tour. In 1939, he was in the Hot Mikado, a jazz version of the Gilbert & Sullivan operetta, with Robinson cast as the Emperor. His performance in that show of My Object All Sublime, on one occasion led to no less than eight standing ovations. Right through the 1930's he managed to also fit in regular appearances at Harlem's legendary Cotton Club.

At the Movies:

Bill Robinson was able to keep himself busy and in demand, even as the popularity of African-American revues declined, making his name in fourteen movies.

His first appearance was in 1930's Dixiana, a musical, while in 1932 he got a starring role in Harlem Is Heaven. But it was his inclusion in The Little Colonel that led to another interesting phase of his life.

In that film, he appeared with a young Shirley Temple, teaching her tap and becoming the first inter-racial dance partners in a Hollywood movie. This was something that most in the Southern US couldn't handle, with any scenes showing the pair physically touching being cut for those audiences! It led to three more movie appearances together - The Littlest Rebel, Rebecca Of Sunnybrook Farm and Just Around The Corner.

Robinson and Temple in Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm

The pair would become friends, and Temple would always remember him very fondly. "Bill Robinson treated me as an equal, which was very important to me. He didn't talk down to me, like a little girl. And I liked people like that. And Bill Robinson was the best of all."

Bill Robinson & Shirley Temple: Stair Dance (from The Little Colonel)

His final film performance came in 1943's Stormy Weather, with Lena Horne, and also including Fats Waller's last appearance, backed by Cab Calloway.

Personal Life and Legacy:

Bill Robinson was married three times. He married Lena Chase in 1907, with the couple separating in 1916 before divorcing in 1922. He was with second wife Fannie S. Clay from 1922 to 1943, and finally Elaine Paines from 1944 until his death, five years later. He never had any children.

Bill Robinson: Just A Crazy Song (audio only)

He would earn more than $2m over his lifetime ($2m in 1949 equates to around $26m in 2025), but still died pretty much penniless on 25 November 1949 from heart failure. It seems that much of his money was distributed throughout his lifetime to various Harlem charities.

With a lack of money available, his funeral was arranged and paid for by his friend, television host Ed Sullivan. An estimated 32,000 people filed past his open casket prior to the funeral and the pallbearers for that were, Duke Ellington, Joe Lewis, Bob Hope, Jackie Robinson, Joe DiMaggio and Irving Berlin.

Where did the Bojangles nickname come from? The believed origins seem to depend on what colour you were. White people thought that it meant he was happy go-lucky, while black variety artist Tom Fletcher said it was slang for 'squabbler'. It seems that Robinson, for his part, didn't actually know where it originated from.

He was sometimes criticised for playing stereotyped black roles and occasionally called an Uncle Tom (a derogatory slang for a subservient person, coming from the Harriet Beecher Stowe book). He took offence at that, and as the Reverend Adam Clayton Powell would later say at his funeral, that his talent as an entertainer transcended colour lines.

In fact, especially in later years, he actively refused roles that he thought might be stereotypical, taking on more positive ones, like playing the mayor of Harlem in Hooray For Love, and the romantic lead in One Mile From Heaven.

There were similar criticisms of his appearances with Shirley Temple, which seemed to miss the genuine chemistry that developed between the pair and that his gaining any such roles within Hollywood movies was in fact a major breakthrough for the times.

Robinson was successful despite the unbelievable levels of racism still openly displayed in American society at the time. He would co-found the New York Black Yankees in 1936, who played in the Negro National League until the desegregation of Major League Baseball in 1948. In his honour, on 25 May (his birthday) 1989, that day was declared by the US House and Senate, as being National Tap Dance Day.

The Kennedy Centre says of his legacy: "Tap dancing on his toes and moving his upper body with understated grace, Robinson displayed a lightness and finesse never seen before. He shunned the frantic style of his predecessors for a more elegant, precise form of tap."

Fred Astaire, perhaps the most famous performer of the middle twentieth century, considered Robinson to be the finest tap dancer he ever knew and something of a mentor for the young Astaire. Perhaps that is all we need to know about Robinson's legacy.