Some historians have traced the "Truckin' Dance" back to the old Minstrel Shows of the 1830's in Louisville, Kentucky with the dancing of Dan Thomas Rice (Jump or Daddy Jim Crow). Rice did a few steps that are known as 'Truckin' today. Rice introduced his Jim Crow dance at Ludlo and Smiths Theatre in Louisville Kentucky.

   Many lay claim that comedian Dewey "Pigmeat" Markhem of the Apollo Theatre, N.Y. invented Truckin'. (Markhem might have been the first to name what he was doing as Truckin' but he did not invent the dance, maybe, only a style/Idea version of it.) Truckin is considered a Harlem Dance originating around 1927. It signifies the Strutting Walk done when one is happy or joyful. It became very popular with the Lindy Hop dancers and finally arrived in London around 1935.

   Truckin' is mainly a shuffle rhythm (slightly pigeon-toed) that is really not a dance but a variation. Truckin' is mainly used in Lindy hop today after separating from your partner to return later back together again. Truckin' can be done as a couple or solo.

   The main feature of Truckin' is the shoulders which rise nd fall as the dancers move towards each other while the fore finger points up and wiggles back and forth like a windshield wiper.

In 1935 The Cotton Club Revue featured the shows:
1) Jitterbug Jamboree,
2) Floogie Walk and
3) "Truckin'

   The 'Joe Louis Truck' was reported to be a new dance in the 1930's when the Amsterdamn News reportedly said that Don Redman's Orchestra created a new dance called the Joe Louis Truck. However Don Redman says "when he first saw the newspaper clipping he knew nothing about the song or the dance, so he wrote one," which he says was 'before the "Truckin' dance became popular." He also says "nothing became of the song."

   Dancer Buzzin' Burton used to finish his act with his shoulders hunched and would raise his hand and wiggle his index finger towards the sky as he exited years before "Truckin" became envogue.

Films

Ballets / Stage

1935 - Harlem Bound

$1937 - A Day At The Races

Cotton Club Revue (1935)

1937 - Big Apple [Paramount]

Hellzapoppin'

1938 - 'Alligators' plus 'Cats' plus 'Jive' [Paramount]

Liberty Deferred (1938)

Publications

$1941 - Hellzapoppin' (occasionally available)

8/13/1935 - Daily News (Truckin)

Other Related Dances of the time... and other related dances that use Truckin' steps!

Apple Jacks

Collegiate Dances

Lambeth Walk

Shag

Balboa

Eagle Rock

Lindy Hop

Shim Sham Shimmy

Ballin' The Jack

East Coast Swing

Little Apple Dance

Shimmy

Baltimore Buzz

Foxtrot

Mess Around

Shorty George

Big Apple

Funky Butt

Mooch

Slow Drag

Black Bottom

Georgia Grind

Mooch and Sugar

Suzy Q

Boomps-a-Daisy

Grizzly Bear

Mule Walk *

Swing

Breakaway

Jig Walk

New Yorker

Texas Tommy

Buzzard Lope

Jitterbug

Peckin'

Truckin' Tap

Ceroc' / Leroc'

Jive

Posin'

West Coast Swing

Dancers, Choreographers etc.

Political

Buzzin' Burton

Cora La Redd

Dan Thomas Rice

Dewey Markhem

Dixie Dunbar

Elida Webb & Leon Harper

Henry "Rubberlegs" Williams

Books, Magazine Articles on the dance...

Title

Author

Published

Publisher

The Art Of Social Dancing

Hostetler, Lawrence

1930

A.S. Barnes & Co.

Let's Dance

Murray, Arthur

1937

Standard Brands Inc.

How To Become A good Dancer

Murray, Arthur

1938

Simon & Schuster

Jazz Dance: Story of Modern Vernacular Dance

Marshall & Stearns

1968

Macmillan

Black Dance

Thorpe, Edward

1990

Overlook Express

Dancing, The Pleasure, Power and Art of Movement

Jonas, Gerald

1992

Abrahms

African American Films Through 1959

Richards, Larry

1998

McFarland & Co.

Musicians

Singers

Poets / Writers

Blind Boy Fuller

Danny Kaye

Buck and Bubbles (Harlem Bound)

'Champion' Jack Dupree

Duke Ellington

Misc. Research Words that may be related ... to help your searches

Boogie-Woogie

Posin'

Truck on Down

Jump Jim Crow

Daddy Rice

Trucking or Truck

Other...