Copyright Streetswing.com - No Duplication authorized
Streetswing.com Dance History Archives
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X X Y Z
$(Purchase), N/A (Not Available), * (Connected)
Home Archives
Tap Dancer Clayton Peg Leg BAtes History and Bio

Stage Name

Birth Name

'Peg Leg' Bates Clayton P. Bates

--Bates was a very talented, one legged tap dancer in his time. Bates would dance for nickels and dimes when he would dance on the streets at the very young age of 5. Bates lost his leg in an accident when it was mangled in the conveyor belt of a cotton separator at a mill where he was working, his leg was amputated on the table in his mother's kitchen when he was just twelve years old. He started to dance again using two broomsticks under his arm until his uncle, Whitt Stewart, made his 'peg leg'.

--His signature dance step, known as the 'Imitation American Jet Plane,' in which he would jump five feet in the air and land on his peg leg, with his good leg sticking straight out behind him (like a giant Pigeon Wing.) He toured with many road shows and performed in plays and many

Night Clubs

both here (USA) and abroad.

--Peg Leg Bates and his wife transformed their 60 acre farm and founded his 'Peg Leg Bates country club' in the Catskils of New York in 1951.
More to Come!

Photos

Birth Place

Birth Date

Spouse

Offspring

Fountain Inn, SC 10/11/1907-12/6/1998 Alice Melodye Bates
                   
 

Dance Types

Dance Partners

Music Titles

Tap  Bill Robinson   Peg Leg Bates
                 
                 
 

Night Clubs

Theaters

Stage

Cotton Club (NY) Adams, (1942, Newark, NJ) 1947 - Ken Murray's Blackouts
Peg Leg Bates Country Club Apollo Theater 1951 - The Biggest Show of 1951
Savoy Ballroom (NY) Colonial (Ohio, 1942)  
      Earle, (1942, Phil., PA)  
      Fox (1942, Brooklyn)  
      Greenville Black Liberty (1927)  
      Lafayette Theater (NY)  
      Oriental Theater (1920S)  
      Palace Theatre, (various Ohio locations 1941 & 42)  
      Rialto (1943, Joiliet, IL)  
      RKO (1942, Boston)  
      Stanley (1942, Pittsburgh)  
      Temple (1942, Rochester, NY)  
 

Films

Television

Publications

Broadway Highlights (1930s) 1991 - Dancin' Man (PBS) 5/1955 - Ebony Magazine
The Dancing Man: Peg Leg Bates Ed Sullivan Show $ Knockin' On Wood   
        Links
            Greenville Cultural Museum
            African American History
NOTE: Daughter - Melodye Bates-Holden
December 14, 2005
http://www.Streetswing.com/histmain/d5index.htm

©1999 www.StreetSwing.com