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.) Ed Sullivan gave credit to Cora LaRedd of the Cotton Club.

   Walter Winchell thought that the dance had its conception some five or six years ago, at the old Connie's Inn, Bojangles gave a description about a man at a dock walking, and some said that Willie Bryant came up with it. Allan McMillan, who was a Chicago Defender's nightclub correspondent, said the original idea was introduced by comedian Chunk Robinson who later performed in a revue at Small's paradise. According to McMillan ... "Chunk introduced it in a Columbia Burlesque chain of theatres as far back as 1928. There wasn't any particular name for the dance but Chunk continued to do it because it made the people laugh."

   Prior to the 1930's version, It also resembled the old "Buzz" step that was recorded back in the old minstrel days of 1915. It was as Sullivan stated Cora La Redd who most probably made it popular with the dancing public around 1927, but she did not invent it. Some historians have traced the "Truckin' Dance" way 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.

   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 and 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 Amsterdam 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 en vogue.

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)

$1941 - Hellzapoppin' (occasionally available)

Publications

8/13/1935 - Daily News (Truckin)

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

Apple Jacks

Shag

Balboa

Collegiate Dances

Lambeth Walk

Shim Sham Shimmy

Ballin' The Jack

Eagle Rock

Lindy Hop

Shimmy

Baltimore Buzz

East Coast Swing

Little Apple Dance

Shorty George

Big Apple

Foxtrot

Mess Around

Slow Drag

Black Bottom

Funky Butt

Mooch

Suzy Q

Boomps-a-Daisy

Georgia Grind

Mooch and Sugar

Swing

Breakaway

Grizzly Bear

Mule Walk *

Texas Tommy

Jig Walk

New Yorker

Truckin' Tap

Buzzard Lope

Jitterbug

Peckin'

West Coast Swing

Ceroc' / Leroc'

Jive

Posin'

Dancers, Choreographers etc.

Political

Buzzin' Burton

Cora La Redd

Dan Thomas Rice

Dewey Markhem

Dixie Dunbar

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...