introduced in Nashville Tennessee.

    The stage Play "Dinah" in 1924 introduced the Black Bottom to the public and almost overnight became as popular as the Charleston. Ann Pennington and Tom Patricola did a famous rendition of the black bottom in the George White Scandals of 1926 which he bought from the earlier show Dinah. White hired Desylva, Henderson and Brown to write the song for the show, however it was based on the Charleston dance rhythm and the songs lyrics were vague for the dance, however it did become popular but Bradford's song was the base for all to come and even Jelly Roll Morton wrote a song called 'Black Bottom Stomp.' There was a town called 'Black Bottom' in Detroit, Michigan from 1900 to 1960 (it's supposed birth place, Marshall Stearns [1964] says Atlanta, but more has been found since 1964).

    The Black bottom was basically a solo challenge dance. Predominately danced on the "Off Beat" and was the prototype for the modern Tap dance phrasing. The Dance featured the slapping of the backside while hopping forward and backward, stamping the feet and gyrations of the torso and pelvis/Hips like the Grind, while occasionally making arm movements to music with an occasional 'Heel-Toe Scoop' which was very erotic in those days. The dance eventually got refined and entered the ballroom with ballroom couples doing the dance.

     In 1926 the "Black Bottom" became the rage and replaced the Charleston all together with the exception of it being done in the Breakaway, with the Lindy Hop eventually replacing the Black Bottom all together. The Black Bottom was also done at the Apollo theater in 1927 with the George White Scandals. The Roseland Ballroom (New York) hosted a Black Bottom endurance (marathon) contest in 1927. Some original pattern names for this dance are "The Flick, The Side Shuffle, The Walk." The Dance called the Five Step is said to be a variation of the Black Bottom Dance around 1928.

     In 1942 dancer and actress Ginger Rogers does a very good Black Bottom in the RKO film Roxie Hart which was the original film version of the 2002 movie 'Chicago that featured Renée Zellweger, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Richard Gere. The 2002 Chicago film has no Black Bottom but Roxie Hart does and it is not just a brief screenshot of her doing it but a full routine, it is very good. If your interested in the Black Bottom dance it is a good film to get.

     The Five Step, Varsity Drag and the Lowdown tired to replace the Black Bottom, but only the Low Down (a sensuous shiver and a flutter of the hips) actually made a real attempt. The Lowdown and Five Step were actually just variations of the Black Bottom.

Birth Place

Creation Date

Creator

Dance Type

Detroit / New Orleans

1905?

Echo Dance

African-American

Black Bottom Sheet Music & Covers

Black Bottom Music Titles

1919 - Original Black Bottom Dance

$ Birmingham Black Bottom (Charlie Johnson)

1926 - Black Bottom

$ Black and Blue Bottom (1927) [Venuti]

1926 - Original Black Bottom Dance - a new dance sensation

$ Black Bottom (1926) ($Berigan) ($Layton) ($Melly)

1926 - Original Black Bottom of the Swanee River (UK)

Black Bottom (Hamp)

1926 - Don't Take That Black Bottom Away

$ Black Bottom Blues (Heywood, Coleman)

1926 - George Whites Scandals

$ Black Bottom Hop (Trixie Smith)

1927 - Deep River

$ Black Bottom Stomp (1919) [Morton]

Irish Black Bottom

$ Black Bottom Strut

$ Blue Black Bottom (1927 - Waller)

$ Blue Black Bottom Blues

Dinah, Take your Black Bottom Outside

Black Bottom Music at Amazon

$ Do the Black bottom with me (1927) Briggs

$ Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (CD)

$ Don't Go Down in Black Bottom

$ Black Bottom - Robert Ward (CD)

$ Don't Take that Black Bottom Away (7 aces, Bell Hops) Sam Coslow

$ Black Bottom Stomp

$ Down in Black Bottom (Blackwell)

$ Down in Black Bottom - Joe Evans (CD)

Dusty Bottom ? (Possible)

$ Enigma Soundtrack

$ Georgia Black Bottom (Crackers)

$ Irish Black Bottom

$ I Like That Thing (Called Black Bottom)

$ The History of Radio Box Set (1920-1951)

$ Irish Black Bottom [Ellington, Ella, others]

$ 'Ma' Rainey's Black Bottom

$ Original Black Bottom Dance (1919)

Original Black Bottom of the Swanee River (1926)

$ Shake It Black Bottom (Clarence Williams)

$ Take Your Black Bottom Dance Outside (Martin)

...See Larger BLACK BOTTOM List

Night Clubs / Ballrooms

Theaters

Locations

Apollo Theater (1926)

Apollo Theatre (1926)

Cinderella Ballroom (Wisconsin 2/1927)

Cort Theater (1985)

Royale Theater (2003)

Films

Television

Stage

1926 - Let's Do the Black Bottom

1927 - The Black Bottom (Sylvester)

3/8/1927 - Pathe Newsreel: "Real Black Bottom Dance"

$1928 - Our Dancing Daughters

$1929 -

$1939 - The Roaring 20's (era)

$1942 - Roxie Hart (Ginger Rogers)

Birmingham Black Bottom: (1st all Black soundies - No Dance)

$1960 - The Jazz Age (documentary about the 1920s)

Other Dances of the time...

Aeroplane Waltz

Charleston

Grizzly Glide

LuLu Fado

Shadow Dance

Apache Dance

Chicken Flip

Hesitation Waltz

March

Shimmy

Argentine Ardor

Collegiate

Hippohop

Maurice Tango

Shiver Shake

Arizona Anguish

Collegiate Foxtrot

Honey Bug

Maxixe

Skirt Dance

Bacchanalian waltz

Collegiate Shag

Hooche Cooche

Mooch, the

Slow Drag

Baltimore Buzz

Dewey Dip

Horsetrot

Mooch and Sugar

Syncopated Canter

Bambuca

Dizzy Drag

Hug-Me-Tight

Mule Walk, the ***

Tango

Eagle Rock

Innovation

Necktie Waltz

Terripan Toddle

Boll Weevil Wiggle

Echo, The

Jazzarimba

One Step

Texas Tommy

Boston Dip

Fado Foxtrot

Kangaroo Canter

Ostrich Stretch

Toddle

Break away

Kangaroo Waltz

Pavlova Gavotte

Turkey Trot

Bunny Hug

Foxtrot

Kitchen Sink

Peabody

Two-Step

Buzzard Lope

Funky Butt

Lambeth Walk

Pickaninny Dandle

Cabbage Clutch

Fuzzy-Wuzzy

Lame Duck

Pollywog Wiggle

Varsity Drag

Camel Walk

Gaby Glide

Lemon Squeeze

Puppy Snuggle

Walkin' The Dog

Cantor Waltz

Georgia Grind

Lindy Hop

Quickstep

Waltz

Cartel Waltz

Gilda Glide

Love Dance

Salome dance

Whirlwind Waltz

Castle Walk

Grizzly Bear

Wiggle-de-Wiggle

Dancers, Choreographers etc.

Alberta Hunter (1926)

Freddy Taylor

Ann Pennington

George White

Perry Bradford (c.1919)

Babette (dancer: Parisian Red Heads Orchestra)

Ginger Rogers

Bee Jackson

Henry 'Rubberlegs' Williams

Senia Gluck and Felicia Sorel

Black Dots, the (Johnson and Taylor)

Tom Patricola

Buddy Bradley

Jodie Edwards (Butterbeans & Susie)

Victor Sylvester (Mr.& Mrs.)

Joan Crawford

Mildred Melrose (Pathe Newsreel)

Dorothy Cole (1927)

E. Scott Atkinson (Deep River)

Books, Magazine Articles on the dance...

Title

Author

Date

Publisher

Modern Dancing

Castle, Mr. & Mrs. Vernon

1911

Harper & Bro's.

Down Memory Lane

Murray, Arthur

1954

Greenberg

$ Jazz Dance: The Story of American

Stearns, Marshall

1964

DaCapo Press

Black Dance In America

Haskins, James

1990

Harper & Collins

$ Dancing Till Dawn

Malnig, Julie

1992

New Press

Fashion Books... (Great for Costume Ideas)

$ 1920s Fashions: from B. Altman & CO.

Altman & CO.

1999

Dover Pub.

$ Sears - Everyday Fashions, 1909-1920

Altman & CO.

1995

Dover Pub.

$ French Fashion Illus.. of the 1920s: 634 cuts from La Vie Parisienne

Carol Belanger Grafton

1987

Dover Pub.

$ Designs by Erte: Fashion Drawings & Illus. from "Harpers Bazaar"

Erte (Romain de Tirtoff)

1976

Dover Pub.

Musicians / Leaders

Publications

$ Arthur Briggs (1899-1991)

$ Charlie Johnson's Org. Paradise 10 ()

$ Clarence Williams (1898-1965)

Cootie Williams (1908-1985)

Clarence Jones (1889-1949)

$ Duke Ellington (1899-1974)

$ Eddie Heywood (1915-1989)

$ Fats Waller (1904-1943)

$ Georgia Crackers (c.1930s)

Holy Modal Rounder's (c.1960s)

$ Jack Newman (c.1940s)

$ Jelly Roll Morton (1890-1941)

$ Joe Venuti (1903-1978)

Johnny Dodd's Black Bottom Stompers

$ Johnny Hamp (c.1920s)

$ Kid Ory (1886-1973)

King Coleman ()

$ Louis Armstrong (1901-1971)

Miller, Mitch & The Gang ()

Piccadilly Revels ()

$ Red Nichols & the Red Heads (1905-1965)

Richard M. Jones (1889-1945)

$ Scrapper Blackwell (1903-1962)

$ Warners Seven Aces ()

Singers

Composers

Alberta Hunter (1895-1984)

Bud DeSylva* (1895-1950)

Annette Hanshaw (c.1926)

Lew Brown* (1893-1958)

$ Perry Bradford (1893-1970)

$ Baby Bonnie (c.1921)

$ Ray Henderson (1893-1970)

Bessie Smith (1895-1937)

Bob Crosby (8/25/1913-3/9/1993) [in Roxie hart]

Ella Fitzgerald (1917-1996)

$ Ethel Waters (1896-1977)

$ Elvis Presley (1935-1977)

$ Katherine Henderson (b1909-) [w/ Williams]

$ Lizzie Miles (1895-1963)

$ Ma Rainey (1896-1937)

$ Sarah Martin (1884-1955)

$ Trixie Smith (1895-1943)

Misc. Research Words that may be related ... to help your searcheslack Bottom Recipes

Flappers

New Orleans

Scandals

Black Bottom Recipes

Harlem Renaissance

Palais

Ma Rainey

Basic Step ...

Basic Step: (9/1927 Dance Magazine):
     This, as with all other dances, is a mixture of Jazz steps. The Basic step,
however, is one dependent entirely on rhythm. This step is 2 long stamps,
first right, then left, followed by 4 short ones; they are done off the regular
beat of the music. Accompanying this, the index finger on both hands is
pointing up, and the eyes are rolling. Any other steps may be done to
lengthen the dance.

Black Bottom Lyric's: (George White Scandals - 1927):
Hop Down front and then you doodle (Slide) back,
Mooch to your left and then you mooch to your right,
Hands on your hips and do the mess around,
Break a Leg (Wobble) until you're near the ground,
now that the old Black Bottom dance...
(There is a little more, but copyrights ya-know...go buy it!).
By the way , this sheet music song says it came from Georgia?