Tappin' at the Apollo : the African American female tap dance duo Salt and Pepper / Cheryl M. Willis.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Willis, Cheryl M.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Welch, Jewel.

Evelyn, Edwina, 1922-2011.

Evelyn, Edwina.

Salt and Pepper.

Tap dancers--United States--Biography.

Tap dancers.

Women tap dancers--United States--Biography.

Women tap dancers.

African American women tap dancers--United States--Biography.

African American women tap dancers.

United States.

Genre:

Biographies.

Physical Description:

ix, 243 pages : illustrations ; 26 cm

large print

Other Title:

Tapping at the Apollo

Place of Publication:

Jefferson, North Carolina : McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, [2016]

Summary:

In the 1920s and 1930s, Edwyna "Salt" Evelyn and Jewel "Pepper" Welch learned to tap dance on street corners in New York and Philadelphia. By the 1940s, they were black show business headliners, playing Harlem's Apollo Theater with the likes of Count Basie, Fats Waller and Earl "Fatha" Hines. Their exuberant tap style, usually performed by men, earned them the respect of their male peers and the acclaim of audiences. Based on extensive interviews with Salt and Pepper, this book chronicles for the first time lives and careers of two overlooked female performers who succeeded despite the racism, sexism and homophobia of the Big Band era. Book jacket.

Contents:

1 A Look at the Years That Roared 7

2 Dancing on the Corner 11

3 Steppin' on Stage 17

4 Candi and Pepper 35

5 Salt and Pepper 52

6 The Apollo Theater 64

7 The Best Year of My Life 78

8 All Aboard for the East Coast 91

9 Crossing the Line 106

10 Down in Dixie 121

11 Chicago 133

12 On Midwestern Soil 151

13 "The Girls" 165

14 Canadian Jazz 174

15 A Sweet Moment Slips Away 181.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 230-236) and index.

ISBN:

9781476662701

1476662703

OCLC:

944935330