Jean Grinnell Veloz ( Phelps, March 1, 1924 – January 15, 2023) was an American

lindy hop The Lindy Hop is an American dance which was born in the Black communities of Harlem, New York City, in 1928 and has evolved since then. It was very popular during the swing era of the late 1930s and early 1940s. Lindy is a fusion of many danc ...

dancer and actress, best known for her roles in 1940s and 1950s musicals. She innovated a style of swing dance that was "silky smooth", now known as "Hollywood style" contrasting the more

jitterbug Jitterbug is a generalized term used to describe swing dancing. It is often synonymous with the lindy hop dance but might include elements of the jive, east coast swing, collegiate shag, charleston, balboa and other swing dances. Swing danc ...

style prevalent during the 1930s-1940s.

Early life

Jean Grinnell Phelps was born in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

, on March 1, 1924 as the second of three children. She was raised in

Santa Maria, California Santa Maria (Spanish language, Spanish for "Mary, mother of Jesus, St. Mary") is a city near the Central Coast (California), Central Coast of California in northern Santa Barbara County, California, Santa Barbara County. It is approximately no ...

by her mother, who encouraged Veloz's early interest in dance. As a child, Phelps practiced

dance with her brothers and their friends. She later won a

competition with her brother, Raymond, in

Santa Monica Santa Monica (; Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 U.S. Census population was 93,076. Santa Monica is a popular resort town, owing to ...

against more than 500 other participants.

Career

After winning a dance contest at the Hollywood Legion Stadium, Phelps earned herself a

Screen Actors Guild The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) was an American labor union which represented over 100,000 film and television principal and background performers worldwide. On March 30, 2012, the union leadership announced that the SAG membership voted to m ...

card and a role in the musical comedy '' Swing Fever'' (1943) at age 19, dancing opposite swing dancers portraying servicemen. Other credits include '' Where Are Your Children?'' (1943), ''

Jive Junction ''Jive Junction'' is a 1943 American comedy film directed by Edgar G. Ulmer and written by Irving Wallace, Walter Doniger and Malvin Wald Malvin Daniel Wald (August 8, 1917 – March 6, 2008) was an American screenwriter most famous for writin ...

'' (1943), and ''

The Horn Blows at Midnight ''The Horn Blows at Midnight'' is a 1945 comedy fantasy film directed by Raoul Walsh, and starring Jack Benny. Following its poor box-office, Benny often exploited the film's failure for laughs over the next 20 years in his radio and television c ...

'' (1945). Veloz also appeared with Arthur Walsh in ''Groovie Movie'' (1944), a short film depicting the history of swing dance. She continued to work on and off throughout a long career. For example, in 2017, Veloz appeared on NBC on Little Big Shots hosted by Steve Harvey, where she danced to "One Girl and Two Boys". At age 95, Veloz danced at the Spanish Ballroom in Glen Echo Park and at the Rock That Swing festival in Munich.

Personal life and death

In 1947, Phelps married Harold Davi, but the two later divorced. In 1963, she married her dance partner Frank Veloz, of

Veloz and Yolanda Frank Veloz (1906–1981) and Yolanda Casazza (1908–1995) were a self-taught American ballroom dance team, husband and wife, who became stars in the 1930s and 1940s, and were among the highest paid dance acts during that era. They performed on ...

. They remained together until his death in 1981. She had no children, with her only survivor being her niece, Stacey. Veloz died at her home in Los Angeles on January 15, 2023, at the age of 98, after suffering from declining health.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Veloz, Jean 1924 births 2023 deaths 20th-century American actresses 21st-century American women American female dancers American film actresses American swing dancers Actresses from Los Angeles Burials at Hollywood Forever Cemetery