Saturday, April 13, 2013

Images For Critique: Harvey Johnson, 4/13/2013, Bill “Bojangles” Robinson


Bill Robinson Playground


Bill Robinson Statue


Bill Robinson Theater

Mr. Bill “Bojangles” Robinson was born on May 25, 1878 in Richmond VA and passed on November 25, 1949. He became the most famous and beloved of tap dancers in the first half of the twentieth century.   Mr. Robinson was reared by his grandmother who had been a slave after the death of his parents in 1885. Mr. Robinson invented the phrase “Everything’s Copasetic”, meaning tip-top.


The first image depicts Bill Robinson Playground in Richmond VA, which is one of three dedicated to the entertainer, with the others located in New York City and Los Angeles CA respectively. The second is a portrait of Mr. Robinson’s statue sculpted by Jack Witt in Richmond VA at the intersection of Adams and Leigh Streets. The last is a photograph of Robinson Theater, built in the Church Hill area of Richmond VA in 1937 and named in honor of the man who grew up to be known as “the toast of Broadway”.  Mr. Robinson performed in the movies The Littlest Rebel and The Little Colonel with Shirley Temple to name a few.



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