Stage Name |
Birth Name |
| Joseph
Smith |
Joseph
C. Smith |
Joseph Smith was a Tango and Apache dancer in the early 1900s
as well as a Violinist. It has been written that it was he and
Francis Demerest who introduced the Tango to the United States,
danced the Apache dance with Louise Alexander as well as promoting
new dances of the time. Since a new era was emerging in dance
forms, Smith would become a musical pioneer as well as a dancer
(similar to Perry Bradford) helping to displace the marching
bands with 'dance bands' by creating his own dance Orchestra.
Smith's
Orchestra began recording for the Victor Talking Machine Company
on September 25, 1916 and Brunswick around 1923. Mr. Smith had
been an important factor in Metropolitan dancing circles. Smith
paved the way for Paul Whiteman and Isham Jones Orchestra's, and
others of the 1920's. Joseph C. Smith's music was to became out
of fashion though by February 1922.
The
1915 movie entitled 'the Apaches of Paris' portray him dancing
the infamous Apache dance with Laura Hamilton. Smith lost his
savings in the Wall Street crash of 1929 and spent his last years
in Florida.
|