Mable Lee: “Queen of the Soundies”
If you love watching vintage jazz dance clips, you’ve probably seen those “million-dollar legs.” From 1940-1946, Mable Lee made over 100 soundies, such as “The Chicken Shack Shuffle” (1943) and “The Cat Can’t Dance” (1945). A star on Broadway and at the Apollo Theatre, Ms. Lee has performed with the many of the greatest entertainers and musicians in show business, including Pigmeat Markham, Spider Bruce, Butterbeans & Susie, Cook & Brown, Bubba Gaines, Chuck Green, Lon Cheney, Buster Brown, Honi Coles, Fats Waller, Harold Nicholas, Eubie Black, Noble Sissle, Louis Jordan, Cab Calloway, and Count Basie.
A Harlem sweetheart and international sensation, she appeared on the March 1947 cover of Ebony Magazine. Among many honors, Ms. Lee has been awarded the Flo-Bert Award for lifetime contribution to tap dancing and is an inductee to the American Tap Dance Foundation’s Hall of Fame. “I love being feminine, being a woman,” she says. At age 88, Mable Lee is still inspiring dancers the world over. We are thrilled and honored to host the “Queen of the Soundies” at this year’s Northeast Girl Jam.
Film Credits (partial listing):
- “Swanee Showboat” (1940)
- “Old Man Mose” (1942)
- “The Chicken Shack Shuffle” (1943)
- “Beat Me Daddy” (1943)
- “The Cat Can't Dance” (1945)
- “Pigmeat Throws the Bull” (1945)
- “Half Past Jump Time” (1945)
- “Brother Bill” (1945)
- “Sizzling with Sissel” (1946)
- “Reet, Petite & Gone” (1946)
- “Baby Don’t Go Away From Me” (1946)
- “Everybody’s Jumpin' Now” (1946)
- “Sugar Babe” (1946)
- “O'Voutie O'Rooney” (1947)
- “The Dreamer” (1948)