Cora Green (December 10, 1895 – died after 1949) was an American actress, singer, and dancer, billed as "The Famous Creole Singer".

Early life

Cora Chambers was born in

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

, in 1895, the daughter of Alexander Chambers and Elizabeth Sorrell Chambers. Swing_poster

Career

Chambers began singing professionally by her early teens.

Alberta Hunter Alberta Hunter (April 1, 1895 – October 17, 1984) was an American jazz and blues singer and songwriter from the early 1920s to the late 1950s. After twenty years of working as a nurse, Hunter resumed her singing career in 1977. Early life Hu ...

described her voice as being "between sweet and jazz". In 1931 she was considered "the highest paid colored woman in vaudeville." She sang in Harlem with blueswoman Mattie Hite in 1914. She was part of the Panama Trio with

Florence Mills Florence Mills (born Florence Winfrey; January 25, 1896 – November 1, 1927), billed as the "Queen of Happiness", was an American cabaret singer, dancer, and comedian. Life and career Florence Mills (Florence Winfrey) was born a daughter of for ...

and Ada "Bricktop" Smith at the Panama Club in Chicago, until the club was closed in early 1917. She had vaudeville acts with Hamtree Harrington and Earl Dancer, and appeared in two revues on Broadway, ''Strut, Miss Lizzie'' (1922) and ''Dixie to Broadway'' (1924–1925). Her other stage shows included ''Broadway Rastus'' (1917), ''Put and Take'' (1921), ''Ebony Showboat'' (1929), ''Great Day'' (1929), ''Harlem after Dark'' (1930), ''Red Light Mazie'' (1931), ''Ballyhoola'' (1932), and ''Ace in the Hole'' (1932). She was billed as "Harlem torch singer Cora Green" in a 1933 show in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

Green sang on a national radio program titled ''Negro Achievement Hour'' in 1929. She starred in two musical films,

Oscar Micheaux Oscar Devereaux Micheaux (; January 2, 1884 – March 25, 1951) was an author, film director and independent producer of more than 44 films. Although the short-lived Lincoln Motion Picture Company was the first movie company owned and controlled ...

's ''Swing'' (1938), and

Edgar G. Ulmer Edgar Georg Ulmer (; September 17, 1904 – September 30, 1972) was a Jewish- Moravian, Austrian-American film director who mainly worked on Hollywood B movies and other low-budget productions, eventually earning the epithet 'The King of PRC', ...

's ''

Moon Over Harlem ''Moon Over Harlem'' is a 1939 American race film directed by Edgar G. Ulmer. Plot summary A gangster, Dollar Bill Richards, seduces a wealthy widow, Minnie, to get his hands on her money. Cast * Bud Harris as Dollar Bill * Cora Green as ...

'' (1939). She also appeared in a musical short, ''Cora Green: The Famous Creole Singer'' (1929). During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, she toured with the

USO The United Service Organizations Inc. (USO) is an American nonprofit-charitable corporation that provides live entertainment, such as comedians, actors and musicians, social facilities, and other programs to members of the United States Armed F ...

in the

Persian Gulf The Persian Gulf ( fa, خلیج فارس, translit=xalij-e fârs, lit=Gulf of Persis, Fars, ), sometimes called the ( ar, اَلْخَلِيْجُ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Khalīj al-ˁArabī), is a Mediterranean sea (oceanography), me ...

, entertaining African-American troops.

Personal life

She married her vaudeville partner Earl Dancer. She attempted suicide in 1918, and divorced Dancer in 1919, but they were working together in 1929, and were said to be planning a reunion in 1949. She was in a relationship with musician

Horace Henderson Horace W. Henderson (November 22, 1904 – August 29, 1988), the younger brother of Fletcher Henderson, was an American jazz pianist, organist, arranger, and bandleader. Henderson was born in Cuthbert, Georgia, United States. While later a ...

in 1932. Nothing else is known of Green following news of her planned remarriage to Earl Dancer in 1949 or when she died. Dancer's death however would occur in September 1963 in

Lake Elsinore, California Lake Elsinore is a city in western Riverside County, California, United States. Established as a city in 1888, it is on the shore of Lake Elsinore, a natural freshwater lake about in size. The city has grown from a small resort town in the l ...

. It is unknown if the two were married by this point or if Green died before or afterwards.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Green, Cora 1895 births 20th-century deaths Year of death unknown People from Baltimore Vaudeville performers American women civilians in World War II 20th-century African-American women singers