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Florence Mills
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Florence Mills |
Florence Mills[1] (January 25, 1896 - November 1, 1927) was an African-American cabaret singer, dancer, and comedian who was one of the all-time greatest stars of the black theatre, the first black international female superstar of the Twentieth century and a major figure of the Harlem Renaissance.
She started her career as "Baby Flo".[2] She won a dance contest in 1900, and officially made her debut as "Baby Florence" in 1903.
Mills became a star when Gertrude Saunders left Shuffle Along to make more money, and was replaced by Mills, who proved to be an even bigger sensation. After Mills died, Saunders admitted that Mills sang a song with soul, and that she in comparison was just a trickster who did tricks. Both Saunders and Mills are the "indirect" inspiration behind the "Boop-Boop-a-Doop" routine, that they had debuted in the 1921 musical Shuffle Along.
After Shuffle Along, Mills toured Europe and was very popular in London and Paris. She was so popular in France, that she once shared a bill with Paul Whiteman and his Orchestra. She was known by her nickname "Little Twinks".
According to the book "Florence Mills: Harlem Jazz Queen," Mills engaged in the "similar style of vocalizing" to Gertrude Saunders, and was compared to various instruments.
Mills would use a "Tooty-Tooty-Too" scat-singing rhythm in her songs. Florence's sister Maude Mills, who recorded several songs, can also be heard using a similar scat technique in her recorded songs which exist to this day. The great Josephine Baker is said to have studied her rival Florence Mills and sciously sought to emulate her.
Florence Mills was succeeded in 1928 by a young Florence Mills impersonator from Chicago known as Baby Esther Jones. Just like Helen Kane had a barrage of impersonators, Mills' imitators included, Baby Cox, Baby DeLeon, Josephine Baker, Baby DeLeon, Edith "Baby" Edwards,[3] Baby Selma and Baby Hilda.[4]
The successful 1926 performance Blackbirds in London gave entrepreneur Lew Leslie the idea for Blackbirds of 1928, a musical centered around Florence Mills in New York City.
Margie Hines covered the Blackbirds song "I Must Have That Man" in baby-talk in a Van Beuren Studios cartoon.
At one point the iconic "Nina Mae McKinney" was considered to be the "new" Florence Mills.
In the 2016 revival of Shuffle Along, Florence Mills was portrayed by Adrienne Warren. In the same musical Warren also played the role of Gertrude Saunders. Mills is referenced in the 2024 book The Life and Times of Betty Boop: The 100-Year History of an Animated Icon.[5]
Quotes
- Baby Flo: "No bracelet, no picture!" (Mills' quote as a child performer)
- Florence Mills: "I belong to a race that sings and dances as it breathes."
- Florence Mills: "I don't care where I am so long as I can sing and dance."
- Florence Mills: "The things you do best for other people are the things you would do just as well for yourself.
- Gertrude Saunders: "Florence Mills sang a song with soul. I was a trickster. I just did tricks."
- Alberta Hunter: "Florence Mills became just as big a star as Bessie Smith but she was the opposite. She was a hummingbird, and dainty and lovely. Her little voice was as sweet as Bessie's was rough, and it was like a cello."
Scat Sounds Originated by Florence Mills
Fleischer Studios (2021)
Florence Mills is one of the several "scat singing" performers to be given tribute by the Fleischer Studios and official Betty Boop page in 2021. You can find out more by clicking "The Battle Over Booping" and following the link to the Fleischer Studios article.
Baby Florence
Florence joined vaudeville star Bonita, as a dancing pick. Baby Flo was at one point arrested as an underage performer & institutionalized for a time. At age five, she won several dancing contests and was invited to do a dance exhibition for the diplomatic circle and the British Ambassador's wife presented her with a gold bracelet. When she was asked to remove the gold bracelet, Baby Flo said, "No bracelet, no picture!". Florence sang and danced her way through childhood and adolescence on vaudeville.
Florence's Successor Baby Esther
Mills' successor was Baby Esther Jones. Lil' Esther was a child performer who took on Mills' persona in 1928. A year after Mills' death, at the age of seven, later known as Little Esther.
At the Everglades Nite Club, Esther would impersonate Mills, while singing and dancing, and was dubbed the miniature Florence Mills.
In Esther's routine she would sing, dance roll her eyes, and would also scat sing. In 1934, Esther's ex-manager Lou Bolton brought Esther's name into Helen Kane's $250,000 suit as originator of "Boop-Boop-a-Doop." The actual scat singing style links back to the African-American musical Shuffle Along, which featured both Saunders and Mills, including Clarence Williams wife Eva. Other performers who wanted to be miniature Florence Mills included, Baby DeLeon, a 14-year-old African-American girl from Cleveland who performed regularly at the Cotton Club in New York City. And African-American performer Baby Cox, who was better known as Gertrude Cox, and five-year-old African-American performer Baby Selma.
Death
- After 300 performances of the hit show Blackbirds in London in 1926, Mills became ill with tuberculosis. She died of infection following an operation at the Hospital for Joint Diseases in New York City, New York on November 1, 1927.
Gallery
Trivia
- Ironically the parody of Betty Boop, "Toot Braunstein" also uses a "Tooty Toot" scat rhythm catchphrase.
- Florence Mills' funeral was the largest Harlem had ever seen.
- Mills was a good friend of Eva Taylor.
- Mills left behind no recordings.
- She taught a seal how to do the Charleston.
- When she turned 20, she moved to Chicago and joined the Panama Trio.
- Mills is credited with having been a staunch and outspoken supporter of equal rights for African Americans.
- Her signature song "I'm a Little Blackbird" was a plea for racial equality, and during her life she broke many racial barriers.
- Florence Mills would often use a "Tooty-Tooty-Too" in her song "Baby and Me," in a higher pitch obbligato, kind of like a flute.
Links
See Also
- ↑ https://www.florencemills.com/
- ↑ https://boopboopbedoop.wordpress.com/2022/09/01/florence-mills/
- ↑ https://philadancehistoryjournal.wordpress.com/tag/edith-baby-edwards-hunt/
- ↑ https://babyestherjones.blogspot.com/2019/02/baby-hilda-and-baby-selma.html
- ↑ https://bettyboop.fandom.com/wiki/The_Life_and_Times_of_Betty_Boop_by_Peter_Benjaminson