FLORENCE MILLS
Estamos delante de una figura indiscutible en su época, una mujer que causaba sensación por su belleza , su forma de interpretar y de moverse en el escenario, su manera de vestir etc. una adelantada a su tiempo sin duda. aquí tenéis una pequeña reseña y el acceso a unos videos en donde se explica su historia con imágenes descriptivas de gran valor histórico por WeallBe TV
Florence Mills (nacida en Florencia Winfrey) fue uno de las más grandes artistas y cantando, bailando intérpretes de jazz del mundo jamás haya visto.
Ella fue una gran estrella del teatro negro, la primera superestrella femenina internacional negro del siglo XX y una figura importante del renacimiento de Harlem
Florence Mills estaba impregnada de las tradiciones de África a base de la música y el baile negro que dió al mundo los Espirituales , los Blues, Ragtime, el jazz y la base de gran parte de la cultura popular de hoy
También era una mujer realmente adorable, caritativa, social e intelectualmente consciente, que habló por los derechos de sus compañeros de los afroamericanos.
Florence Mills es olvidada en gran parte y descuidada hoy, sobre todo porque las técnicas de grabación primitivas de principios del siglo XX no podían siempre capturar su voz y sus imágenes escasean debido tambien a los medios existentes.
NOTE: This Is Three Of Three Segments. To View The Entire Video Please Click On The Following Links:
Part One:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCMoQ_...
Part Two:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMb9KN...
Florence Mills is the greatest superstar you never heard of. Her larger than life talents and persona set the path for those to follow. This daughter of former slaves was without a doubt the first international Black female superstar from America. Talented as well as an outspoken advocate for her people at home and abroad, Florence was a proud product of the Harlem Renaissance. She was able to dine and entertain royalty and heads of state and yet still keep touch and break bread with the common folk. Her charity and generosity was as equal as her gargantuan talents. W.E A.L.L. B.E. created this documentary and interviewed Bro. Bill Egan, the author of the definitive Florence Mills: Harlem Jazz Queen to get a better understanding about this forgotten legend and her place in history. Also included is an interview from Florences husband, the dance great U.S. Kid Thompson who colorfully tells how Florence got started in show business.
The Official Florence Mills website
http://www.florencemills.com
21 Questions with R2C2H2: Author Bill Egan shines spotlight back on The Blackbird and Jazz Queen of Harlem after 79 years in obscurity:
http://weallbe.blogspot.com/2006/07/2...
Florence Mills (born Florence Winfrey; January 25, 1895 – November 1, 1927), known as the "Queen of Happiness", was an African-American cabaret singer, dancer, and comedian known for her effervescent stage presence, delicate voice, and winsome, wide-eyed beauty.
A daughter of formerly enslaved parents, Nellie (Simon) and John Winfrey, she was born Florence Winfrey in 1895 in Washington, D.C.. She began performing as a child, when at the age of six she sang duets with her two older sisters. They eventually formed a vaudeville act, calling themselves "The Mills Sisters". The act did well, appearing in theaters up and down the Atlantic seaboard. Florence's sisters eventually quit performing, but Florence stayed with it, determined to pursue a career in show business. In time, she joined Ada Smith, Cora Green, and Carolyn Williams in a group called the "Panama Four," with which she had some success.
Mills became well known in New York as a result of her role in the successful Broadway musical Shuffle Along (1921) at Daly's 63rd Street Theatre (barely on Broadway), one of the events credited with beginning the Harlem Renaissance, as well as acclaimed reviews in London, Paris, Ostend, Liverpool, and other European venues. Mills told the press that despite her years in vaudeville, she credited Shuffle Along with launching her career.
In 1924 she headlined at the Palace Theatre, the most prestigious booking in all of vaudeville, and became an international superstar with the hit show Lew Leslie's Blackbirds (1926). Among her fans when she toured Europe was the Prince of Wales, who told the press that he had seen Blackbirds eleven times.
Many in the black press admired her popularity and saw her as a role model: not only was she a great entertainer but she was also able to serve as "an ambassador of good will from the blacks to the whites... a living example of the potentialities of the Negro of ability when given a chance to make good".
Mills was featured in national magazines, Vogue and Vanity Fair, and photographed by Bassano's studios and Edward Steichen. She made a signature song from her biggest hit, "I'm a Little Blackbird Looking for a Bluebird"; another of her hit songs was "I'm Cravin' for that Kind of Love". From 1921 until her death in 1927, she was married to Ulysses "Slow Kid" Thompson (1888–1990), whom she met in 1917 as the dancing conductor of a black jazz band known as the Tennessee Ten.
Exhausted from more than 300 performances of the hit show Blackbirds in London in 1926, she became ill with tuberculosis. Her condition further weakened her, and she died of infection following an operation at the Hospital for Joint Diseases in New York City, New York on November 1, 1927. She was 32 years old. Most sources, including black newspapers such as the Chicago Defender and Pittsburgh Courier as well as mainstream publications including The New York Times and Boston Globe, reported that she had died of complications from appendicitis.
Her death shocked the music world. The New York Times reported that more than 10,000 people visited the funeral home to pay their respects;[6] thousands attended her funeral, including James Weldon Johnson, president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and numerous stars of stage, vaudeville and dance. Honorary pall bearers including vocalists Ethel Waters and Lottie Gee, both of whom had performed with Mills in the past. Dignitaries and political figures of both races sent their condolences. She is buried at Woodlawn Cemetery, Bronx, New York.
Her widower, Ulysses "Slow Kid" Thompson, a native of Prescott, Arkansas, was Florence's devoted husband from 1921 until her death in 1927. A dancer and comedian in his own right, he learned his trade in the tough world of circuses and traveling medicine shows in the early years of the century. He subjugated his own career to be her manager, promoter, minder and companion. After her death, he continued performing, traveling around the world, including China and Australia, until the late 1930s. In later years he married Dr. Gertrude Curtis, noted as New York's first black woman dentist (1911) and the widow of lyricist Cecil Mack (né R.C. McPherson). Thompson outlived both of his wives, dying at age 101 in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1990.
Mills is credited with having been a staunch and outspoken supporter of equal rights for African Americans, with her signature song "I'm a Little Blackbird" being a plea for racial equality, and during her life Mills shattered many racial barriers.
After her death, Duke Ellington memorialized Mills in his song "Black Beauty". Fats Waller also memorialized Mills in a song. "Bye Bye Florence" was recorded in Camden, New Jersey, on 14 November 1927, featuring Bert Howell on vocals with organ by Waller, and "Florence" was recorded with Juanita Stinette Chappell on vocals and Waller on organ. Other songs recorded the same day include "You Live on in Memory" and "Gone But Not Forgotten — Florence Mills", neither of which were composed by Waller.
A residential building at 267 Edgecombe Avenue in Harlem's Sugar Hill neighborhood is named after her.
A children's book, Baby Flo: Florence Mills Lights Up the Stage, written by Alan Schroeder, was published by Lee and Low in 2012.
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