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 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 Toba may refer to:
Languages
* Toba Sur language, spoken in South America
* Batak Toba, spoken in Indonesia
People
* Toba people, indigenous peoples of the Gran Chaco in South America
* Toba Batak people, a sub-ethnic group of Batak people from ...
circuits, performing in
picture houses,
jazz club
A jazz club is a venue where the primary entertainment is the performance of live jazz music, although some jazz clubs primarily focus on the study and/or promotion of jazz-music. Jazz clubs are usually a type of nightclub or bar, which is license ...
s,
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 theatre
Variety show, also known as variety arts or variety entertainment, is entertainment made up of a variety of acts including musical performances, sketch comedy, magic, acrobatics, juggling, and ventriloquism. It is normally introduced by a compèr ...
s. 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
Musical theatre is a form of theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, movement ...
stars, headliners Eddie Crump and
Neliska Ann "Baby" Briscoe both led the band as dancing, singing front women. Briscoe had gained prominence in
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 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 ...
in
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
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’s
Savoy ballroom
The Savoy Ballroom was a large ballroom for music and public dancing located at 596 Lenox Avenue, between 140th and 141st Streets in the Harlem neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City.
Lenox Avenue was the main thoroughfare through upper Harle ...
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
The Prairie View Co-eds were an all-female band that formed in the 1940s at the historically black Prairie View A&M University. The band formed in response to more and more males being drafted into the armed forces. The Prairie View Co-eds' succe ...
.
See also
*
Stecker Bros.
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
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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