Jimmy Mordecai (July 11, 1905 - May 7, 1966) also known as James Mordecai was a Harlem-based

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

tap dancer Tap dance is a form of dance characterized by using the sounds of tap shoes striking the floor as a form of percussion. Two major variations on tap dance exist: rhythm (jazz) tap and Broadway tap. Broadway tap focuses on dance; it is widely perfo ...

in the 1920s and 1930s. He featured in the 1929 short film ''

St. Louis Blues (1929 film) ''St. Louis Blues'' is a 1929 American two-reel short film starring Bessie Smith. The early sound film features Smith in an African-American speakeasy of the prohibition era singing the W. C. Handy standard, "St. Louis Blues (song), St. Louis Bl ...

'' starred in the 1930

Vitaphone Varieties Vitaphone Varieties is a series title (represented by a pennant logo on screen) used for all of Warner Bros.', earliest short film "talkies" of the 1920s, initially made using the Vitaphone sound on disc process before a switch to the sound-on-film ...

musical short film '' Yarmekraw'' based on

James P. Johnson James Price Johnson (February 1, 1894 – November 17, 1955) was an American pianist and composer. A pioneer of stride piano, he was one of the most important pianists in the early era of recording, and like Jelly Roll Morton, one of the key ...

's song of the same name.

Career

Mordecai was born in New York City on July 11, 1905. His father was Samuel Mordecai and his mother Edith Wilhelm. His parents immigrated to the United States from British West Indies in 1901 through Cuba. He was in the cast of a 1924 touring show called "Cotton Land," with music by

. He was a member of a popular dance trio, Wells, Mordecai and Taylor – Dickie Wells ''(né'' Richard Wells; 1907–1949) and Ernest Taylor (died 1934) – the trio also was known as the Hot Feet Boys and the Three Klassy Kids, with whom he performed at the

Cotton Club The Cotton Club was a New York City nightclub from 1923 to 1940. It was located on 142nd Street and Lenox Avenue (1923–1936), then briefly in the midtown Theater District (1936–1940).Elizabeth Winter"Cotton Club of Harlem (1923- )" Blac ...

in 1930 with a

Duke Ellington Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and leader of his eponymous jazz orchestra from 1923 through the rest of his life. Born and raised in Washington, D.C., Ellington was based ...

revue called ''Brown Sugar (Sweet But Unrefined)''. In that revue, he danced wit
Cora LaRedd
a renowned tap dancer active at the time. In 1929, Mordecai began a brief film career, featured opposite

Bessie Smith Bessie Smith (April 15, 1894 – September 26, 1937) was an American blues singer widely renowned during the Jazz Age. Nicknamed the " Empress of the Blues", she was the most popular female blues singer of the 1930s. Inducted into the Rock and ...

Dudley Murphy Dudley Bowles Murphy (July 10, 1897 – February 22, 1968) was an American film director. Early life Murphy was born on July 10, 1897 in Winchester, Massachusetts, to the artists Caroline Hutchinson (Bowles) Murphy (1868-1923) and Hermann D ...

's short, "

St. Louis Blues The St. Louis Blues are a professional ice hockey team based in St. Louis. The Blues compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference. The franchise was founded in 1967 as one of the s ...

." Basically a vehicle for Smith (her only known film appearance) and for the music of

W.C. Handy William Christopher Handy (November 16, 1873 – March 28, 1958) was an American composer and musician who referred to himself as the Father of the Blues. Handy was one of the most influential songwriters in the United States. One of many musici ...

and the bandleader James P. Johnson, the film featured Mordecai as "Jimmy the Pimp," Smith's two-timing lover. Mordecai also played the lead role in Murray Roth's 1930 film
Yamekraw
" and a minor role in Dudley Murphy's 1933 "

The Emperor Jones ''The Emperor Jones'' is a 1920 tragic play by American dramatist Eugene O'Neill that tells the tale of Brutus Jones, a resourceful, self-assured African American and a former Pullman porter, who kills another black man in a dice game, is jailed, ...

," which starred

Paul Robeson Paul Leroy Robeson ( ; April 9, 1898 – January 23, 1976) was an American bass-baritone concert artist, stage and film actor, professional football player, and activist who became famous both for his cultural accomplishments and for his p ...

. By 1936, Mordecai was the host and master of ceremonies at The Theatrical Grill, a Harlem nightclub on West 134th Street managed by Dickie Wells (Mordecai's former dancing partner and a notorious Harlem gigolo—not to be confused with jazz trombonist

Dicky Wells William Wells (June 10, 1907 – November 12, 1985), known professionally as Dicky Wells (sometimes Dickie Wells), was an American jazz trombonist. Career Dickie Wells is believed to have been born on June 10, 1907 in Centerville, Tennessee, Uni ...

). A Jimmie Mordecai was cited, along with one Arizona Coffman, in a February 15, 1943 conviction in the City Magistrates Court of the City of New York, for selling liquor without a license from the basement of a Harlem establishment called the Frog Club, but it is unclear that this is the same Jimmy Mordecai. Mordecai died in New York City on May 7, 1966, from a heart attack. He left a wife, Lucille Graves, and four children. Richard (Junie), Lionel (snookie), Joyce and Paul. James Mordecai is survived by his son Paul Mordecai and his grandchildren Suzanne Mordecai, Lisa Mordecai and Hadrian Mordecai. He also has surviving grandchildren from his deceased daughter Joyce Ware. Darrylin Ware, Kevin Ware, Gail Ware, Kenneth Ware, Page Ware and Leah Ware.

Filmography

*''

'' (1929) *'' Yamekraw'' (1930)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mordecai, Jimmy American male dancers American tap dancers 1905 births 1966 deaths