Harlem Playgirls was an

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

swing band Swing music is a style of jazz that developed in the United States during the late 1920s and early 1930s. It became nationally popular from the mid-1930s. The name derived from its emphasis on the off-beat, or nominally weaker beat. Swing bands u ...

active in the

Midwest The Midwestern United States, also referred to as the Midwest or the American Midwest, is one of four Census Bureau Region, census regions of the United States Census Bureau (also known as "Region 2"). It occupies the northern central part of ...

and throughout the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

from the mid-1930s to the early 1940s.

History

Organized by

Milwaukee Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee is ...

-based drummer and band leader Sylvester Rice (1905–1984)''Late Eli Rice, Prominent Midwest Bandleader, Once was an Oshkoshian'',

Oshkosh Northwestern The ''Oshkosh Northwestern'' is a daily newspaper based in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. The ''Northwestern'' was owned by the Schwalm and Heaney families until 1998, when it was sold to Ogden Newspapers; Ogden traded the paper to Thomson Newspapers two ...

, June 28, 1962 in 1935 and drawing from members of the popular Dixie Sweethearts, the group toured TOBA circuits, performing in

picture house A movie theater (American English), cinema (British English), or cinema hall (Indian English), also known as a movie house, picture house, the movies, the pictures, picture theater, the silver screen, the big screen, or simply theater is a ...

s, jazz clubs,

ballroom A ballroom or ballhall is a large room inside a building, the primary purpose of which is holding large formal parties called balls. Traditionally, most balls were held in private residences; many mansions and palaces, especially historic man ...

s and variety theatres. In the tradition of prior

all-female band An all-female band is a musical group in popular music that is exclusively composed of female musicians. This is distinct from a girl group, in which the female members are solely vocalists, though this terminology is not universally followed. While ...

s led by musical theater stars, headliners Eddie Crump and Neliska Ann "Baby" Briscoe both led the band as dancing, singing front women. Briscoe had gained prominence in

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

and had worked with

Lil Hardin Armstrong Lillian Hardin Armstrong (née Hardin; February 3, 1898 – August 27, 1971) was an American jazz pianist, composer, arranger, singer, and bandleader. She was the second wife of Louis Armstrong, with whom she collaborated on many recordings in ...

’s all-female band and

Joe Robichaux Joseph Robichaux (March 8, 1900 – January 17, 1965) was an American jazz pianist. He was the nephew of John Robichaux. Life and career Robichaux was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States, and played piano from a young age and studied at ...

and his Rhythm Boys. Trombonist Lela Julius and saxophonist Vi Burnside were two of the group’s leading soloists. The group appeared at the

Apollo Theater The Apollo Theater is a music hall at 253 West 125th Street between Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard (Seventh Avenue) and Frederick Douglass Boulevard (Eighth Avenue) in the Harlem neighborhood of Upper Manhattan in New York City. It is a not ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

in 1937 and competed in the prestigious battle of the bands contest at

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

’s Savoy ballroom against Johnny Long’s group in 1938. Many members later went on to perform with the

International Sweethearts of Rhythm The International Sweethearts of Rhythm was the first integrated all-women's band in the United States. During the 1940s the band featured some of the best female musicians of the day. They played swing and jazz on a national circuit that incl ...

and the Prairie View Co-eds.

References

Sources

* *F. Driggs. 1977. “Women in Jazz, A Survey” Liner Notes to Jazz women, A Feminist Retrospective. New York: Stash Records. * *H. Rye: “What the Papers said: the Harlem Play-Girls and Dixie Rhythm Girls (and Dixie Sweethearts),” Storyville 1996/7, ed. L. Wright (Chigwell, England, 1997) *S. Tucker. Swing Shift: All-Girl Bands of the 1940s. (Durham, NC: Duke University Press 200). *L. Wright: “Pieces of the Jigsaw: Harlem Playgirls,” Storyville 1998/9 (Chigwell, England, 1999), 178 {{authority control Musical groups established in 1935 Musical groups disestablished in the 1940s African-American girl groups African-American musical groups American girl groups American swing musical groups

History

See also

References

Sources