Florence Mills
Encyclopedia
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.
. She began performing as a child, when at six years old, she sang duets with her sister Minnie, using the name The Mills Sisters" ("Early Days Desperate, Says Flo," Pittsburgh Courier
, February 28, 1925, p. 14). She continued to entertain family and friends and then, as a teenager, her parents sent her to live with a family friend named Gertie Gordon in Chicago
, so that she could meet and study with Bill "Bojangles" Robinson (Rob Roy, "Florence Mills Phenominal [sic] Reign," Chicago Defender
, April 9, 1955, p. 7). It was in Chicago where she made her first professional appearances. She later 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 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 acclaimed reviews in London
, Paris
, Ostend
, Liverpool
, and other Europe
an venues. Mills told the press that despite her years in vaudeville, she believed that "Shuffle Along" launched her career ("Early Days Desperate, Says Flo," Pittsburgh Courier, February 28, 1925, p. 14). She then became an international superstar, starring in 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 (Rob Roy, "Florence Mills Phenominal [sic] Reign," Chicago Defender
, April 9, 1955, p. 7). 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" ("Florence Mills," Pittsburgh Courier, November 12, 1927, p. A8).
Featured in Vogue and Vanity Fair
and photographed by Bassano
and Edward Steichen
, her signature song and her biggest hit was her renditions of "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 250 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
and mainstream publications including The New York Times
and Boston Globe reported that she had died of complications from appendicitis (for example "Final Curtain," Chicago Defender, November 5, 1927, p1; "Florence Mills Dies of Appendicitis," New York Times, November 2, 1927).
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 ("10,000 Pay Tribute to Florence Mills," New York Times, November 3, 1927, p. 27); 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 ("Scores Collapse At Mills Funeral," New York Times, November 7, 1927, p. 25).
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.
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
cabaret
Cabaret
Cabaret is a form, or place, of entertainment featuring comedy, song, dance, and theatre, distinguished mainly by the performance venue: a restaurant or nightclub with a stage for performances and the audience sitting at tables watching the performance, as introduced by a master of ceremonies or...
singer, dancer, and comedian known for her effervescent stage presence, delicate voice, and winsome, wide-eyed beauty.
Life and career
A daughter of former enslaved parents, Nellie (Simon) and John Winfrey, she was born Florence Winfrey in Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
. She began performing as a child, when at six years old, she sang duets with her sister Minnie, using the name The Mills Sisters" ("Early Days Desperate, Says Flo," Pittsburgh Courier
Pittsburgh Courier
The Pittsburgh Courier was an American newspaper published in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, which was published from 1907 to 1965. Once the country's most widely circulated Black newspaper, the legacy and influence of the Pittsburgh Courier is unparalleled.A pillar of the Black Press, it rose...
, February 28, 1925, p. 14). She continued to entertain family and friends and then, as a teenager, her parents sent her to live with a family friend named Gertie Gordon in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, so that she could meet and study with Bill "Bojangles" Robinson (Rob Roy, "Florence Mills Phenominal [sic] Reign," Chicago Defender
Chicago Defender
The Chicago Defender is a Chicago based newspaper founded in 1905 by an African American for primarily African American readers.In just three years from 1919–1922 the Defender also attracted the writing talents of Langston Hughes and Gwendolyn Brooks....
, April 9, 1955, p. 7). It was in Chicago where she made her first professional appearances. She later joined Ada Smith
Ada Smith
Ada L. Smith served as a New York State Senator from 1989 to 2006. She represented the 10th Senate District, centered in the Jamaica, Queens section of New York City....
, Cora Green, and Carolyn Williams in a group called the "Panama Four," with which she had some success.
Mills became well-known as a result of her role in the successful Broadway musical Shuffle Along
Shuffle Along
Shuffle Along is the first major successful African American musical. Written by Flournoy Miller and Aubrey Lyles, with music and lyrics by Noble Sissle and Eubie Blake, the musical premiered on Broadway in 1921.-Plot:...
(1921) at Daly's 63rd Street Theatre
Daly's 63rd Street Theatre
Daly's 63rd Street Theatre was a Broadway theater, which was active from 1921 to 1941. It was built in 1914 as the 63rd Street Music Hall and had several other names between 1921 and 1938. The building was demolished in 1957.-History:...
(barely on Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
), one of the events credited with beginning the Harlem Renaissance
Harlem Renaissance
The Harlem Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned the 1920s and 1930s. At the time, it was known as the "New Negro Movement", named after the 1925 anthology by Alain Locke...
, as well acclaimed reviews in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, Ostend
Ostend
Ostend is a Belgian city and municipality located in the Flemish province of West Flanders. It comprises the boroughs of Mariakerke , Stene and Zandvoorde, and the city of Ostend proper – the largest on the Belgian coast....
, Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
, and other Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
an venues. Mills told the press that despite her years in vaudeville, she believed that "Shuffle Along" launched her career ("Early Days Desperate, Says Flo," Pittsburgh Courier, February 28, 1925, p. 14). She then became an international superstar, starring in the hit show Lew Leslie's Blackbirds
Lew Leslie
Lew Leslie was a Broadway writer and producer. Although white, he was the first impressario to present black artists on stage...
(1926). Among her fans when she toured Europe was the Prince of Wales, who told the press that he had seen Blackbirds eleven times (Rob Roy, "Florence Mills Phenominal [sic] Reign," Chicago Defender
Chicago Defender
The Chicago Defender is a Chicago based newspaper founded in 1905 by an African American for primarily African American readers.In just three years from 1919–1922 the Defender also attracted the writing talents of Langston Hughes and Gwendolyn Brooks....
, April 9, 1955, p. 7). 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" ("Florence Mills," Pittsburgh Courier, November 12, 1927, p. A8).
Featured in Vogue and Vanity Fair
Vanity Fair (magazine)
Vanity Fair is a magazine of pop culture, fashion, and current affairs published by Condé Nast. The present Vanity Fair has been published since 1983 and there have been editions for four European countries as well as the U.S. edition. This revived the title which had ceased publication in 1935...
and photographed by Bassano
Bassano
-Places:*Communes in Italy:**Bassano Bresciano, in the Province of Brescia**Bassano del Grappa, in the Province of Vicenza**Bassano in Teverina, in the Province of Viterbo**Bassano Romano, in the Province of Viterbo**San Bassano, in the Province of Cremona...
and Edward Steichen
Edward Steichen
Edward J. Steichen was an American photographer, painter, and art gallery and museum curator. He was the most frequently featured photographer in Alfred Stieglitz' groundbreaking magazine Camera Work during its run from 1903 to 1917. Steichen also contributed the logo design and a custom typeface...
, her signature song and her biggest hit was her renditions of "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 250 performances of the hit show Blackbirds in London in 1926, she became ill with tuberculosis
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
. 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
Chicago Defender
The Chicago Defender is a Chicago based newspaper founded in 1905 by an African American for primarily African American readers.In just three years from 1919–1922 the Defender also attracted the writing talents of Langston Hughes and Gwendolyn Brooks....
and Pittsburgh Courier
Pittsburgh Courier
The Pittsburgh Courier was an American newspaper published in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, which was published from 1907 to 1965. Once the country's most widely circulated Black newspaper, the legacy and influence of the Pittsburgh Courier is unparalleled.A pillar of the Black Press, it rose...
and mainstream publications including The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
and Boston Globe reported that she had died of complications from appendicitis (for example "Final Curtain," Chicago Defender, November 5, 1927, p1; "Florence Mills Dies of Appendicitis," New York Times, November 2, 1927).
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 ("10,000 Pay Tribute to Florence Mills," New York Times, November 3, 1927, p. 27); thousands attended her funeral, including James Weldon Johnson, president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, usually abbreviated as NAACP, is an African-American civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909. Its mission is "to ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons and to...
and numerous stars of stage, vaudeville and dance. Honorary pall bearers including vocalists Ethel Waters
Ethel Waters
Ethel Waters was an American blues, jazz and gospel vocalist and actress. She frequently performed jazz, big band, and pop music, on the Broadway stage and in concerts, although she began her career in the 1920s singing blues.Her best-known recordings includes, "Dinah", "Birmingham Bertha",...
and Lottie Gee, both of whom had performed with Mills in the past. Dignitaries and political figures of both races sent their condolences ("Scores Collapse At Mills Funeral," New York Times, November 7, 1927, p. 25).
After her death, Duke Ellington
Duke Ellington
Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington was an American composer, pianist, and big band leader. Ellington wrote over 1,000 compositions...
memorialized Mills in his song "Black Beauty." Fats Waller
Fats Waller
Fats Waller , born Thomas Wright Waller, was a jazz pianist, organist, composer, singer, and comedic entertainer...
also memorialized Mills in a song. "Bye Bye Florence" was recorded in Camden, New Jersey
Camden, New Jersey
The city of Camden is the county seat of Camden County, New Jersey. It is located across the Delaware River from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city had a total population of 77,344...
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
Harlem
Harlem is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan, which since the 1920s has been a major African-American residential, cultural and business center. Originally a Dutch village, formally organized in 1658, it is named after the city of Haarlem in the Netherlands...
's Sugar Hill
Sugar Hill, Manhattan
Sugar Hill is a neighborhood in the northern part of Hamilton Heights, which itself is a sub-neighborhood of Harlem, a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The neighborhood is defined by 155th Street to the north, 145th Street to the south, Edgecombe Avenue to the east, and...
neighborhood is named after her.
See also
- Florence Mills HouseFlorence Mills HouseFlorence Mills House at 220 West 135th Street was believed to be where Florence Mills, 1896–1927, lived from 1910 to 1927. She was a leading African-American actress and entertainer during the 1920s. She lived at this address, or a similar address a few blocks away, during her most productive years...
house in New York CityNew York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
now maintained as a landmark by the National Park ServiceNational Park ServiceThe National Park Service is the U.S. federal agency that manages all national parks, many national monuments, and other conservation and historical properties with various title designations... - Flo-Bert Awards, named in honor of Florence Mills and Bert Williams
External links
- Bill Egan, Florence Mills: Harlem Jazz Queen (2005) ISBN 0-8108-5007-9
- Florence Mills tribute website