Research Catalog

Title

Interview with Leonard Reed [sound recording]

Author

Reed, Leonard.

Publication

1997.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

Strickler, Fred.

Description

6 sound cassettes (5 hr., 15 min.) +

Summary

• Cassette 1. Recorded Feb. 11, 1997. Mr. Reed discusses his childhood; getting into show business; learning the charleston; competing in dance contests; performing with Lassus White's minstrel show; the Hoofers' Club; the importance of the Whitman Sisters' show in helping develop young talent; touring with Travis Tucker; performing with the Whitman Sisters; how the shim sham developed; leaving the Whitman Sisters show; producing shows at Dave's Café in Chicago; Eddie Rector's dance act; touring with Cholly Atkins; and Cholly's innovations as a producer of nightclub shows. He recites dialogue from his new show called Show people, and then describes meeting and proposing to his wife; Barbara da Costa; racism in the Professional Golf Association; and getting married.
• Cassette 2. Recorded Feb. 11, 1997. Mr. Reed reminisces about his friendship with the prizefighter Joe Louis; going into the restaurant business; being in a car accident; producing the 1937 Cotton Club show; some of the acts in that show; stealing ideas from other producers and artists; the flash dancer Dynamite Hooker; the difference between show girls and "ponies"; his ancestry; racism in various parts of the United States; and working as a carnival barker. He explains what a "bally" is and then discusses managing striptease artists, his voice student, Angela Teek; and his philosophy of performer etiquette.
• Cassettte 3. Recorded Feb. 18, 1997. Mr. Reed discusses his first jobs in Los Angeles; producing a show at Shep's Playhouse; his songwriting; creating unusual theatrical effects; his admiration for the dancing of his partner Willy Bryant; dance routines of the past compared to those of the present; the structure of a variety show; leaving show business; the decrease in nightclub activity after World War II; doing an act with Joe Louis; his teaching; managing striptease artists. He plays piano and sings songs from Show People, which he writes and directs, and then discusses New York's Apollo Theatre.
• Cassette 4. Recorded Mar. 27, 1997. Mr. Reed discusses stealing danc steps from other dancers; the rhythms of shim sham; the debate about the originator of the shim sham; and criticizes improvising in performance. He explains what a "cutting contest" is and then describes the act [of Carnell Lyons, L.D. Jackson, and Cecil Groves] called The Three Gentlemen of Rhythm; his three marriages; his experience of racism in show business; auditioning participants of the Quincy Jones workshop; being financially supported by women; his one professional regret; hosting a television variety and talk show.
• Cassette 5. Recorded Mar. 27, 1997. He continues discussing his television show; describes his first foster parents; surviving as a runaway; being raised by his second foster father; his admiration for the dancer Johnny Nit; theaters and clubs in 1920s Harlem; his admiration for the trio King, King and King; the dancing of Eddie Rector; the origins of Rector's routine to the song Bambalina; the dancers John Bubbles and Harry Mayes; his admiration for the dancing of his partner, Willie Bryant; the activities of the Theater Owners Booking Association; the Whitman Sisters; and his responsibilities as a producer.
• Cassette 6. Recorded Mar. 27, 1997. (Side A only, 10 min.) Mr. Reed discusses the Cotton Club Boys.

Donor/Sponsor

National Initiative to Preserve American Dance.

Alternative Title

• Dance Oral History Project.
• Dance Audio Archive.

Subjects

• Apollo Theater (New York, N.Y. : 125th Street)
• Variety dancing > United States
• Bubbles, John W
• Nit, Johnny
• Audiotapes > Strickler, F
• Audiotapes > Reed. L
• Atkins, Cholly
• Hoofers' Club
• Bryant, Willie
• Charleston (Dance)
• Rector, Eddie
• Shim sham (Dance)
• Cotton Club
• Whitman Sisters (Dance group)

Note

• Interviewed by Fred Strickler, Feb. 11-Mar. 27, 1997, at Mr. Reed's home in West Covina, Calif.
• For transcript, see: *MGZMT 3-2098.

Access (note)

• Transcripts may not be photographed or reproduced without permission.

Call Number

*MGZMT 3-2098 (transcript)

OCLC

NYPY97-R18

Author

Reed, Leonard. Interviewee

Title

Interview with Leonard Reed [sound recording]

Imprint

1997.

Local Note

Preservation master cassettes: *MGZTCO 3-2098.

Archival transcript: *MGZMTO 3-2098.

Interview funded by the National Initiative to Preserve American Dance (NIPAD)

Restricted Access

Transcripts may not be photographed or reproduced without permission.

Local Subject

Variety dancing -- United States.

Audiotapes -- Reed. L.

Audiotapes -- Strickler, F.

Added Author

Strickler, Fred. Interviewer

Research Call Number

*MGZMT 3-2098 (transcript)

*MGZTC 3-2098 (sound cassette)