Hidden Figures: Lottie 'The Body' Graves #BlackHERstoryMonth 12/29 (Patreon)

Hidden Figures: Lottie 'The Body' Graves #BlackHERstoryMonth 12/29

Burlesque dancer and vaudeville performer Lottie ‘The Body’ Graves was born in Syracuse, New York on October 31, 1930. Graves started off modeling, earning the nickname ‘Lottie the Body,’ before studying dance at Allan White Productions and beginning her professional dance career as a teenager. As one of few Black dancers with classical training, Graves traveled around the country performing in vaudeville shows, and moved to San Francisco in the early 1950s. There she met and married basketball player and Harlem globetrotter Goose Tatum; the marriage was short lived, however, and Graves moved to Detroit alone around 1960. She secured a position dancing at the legendary Twenty Grand nightclub, and soon became a headlining attraction in Detroit as THE burlesque dancer to see. In addition to twenty grand, she also became popular at Idlewild and at Paradise Club, popular nightspots on Detroit’s old Lower East Side, in the high class Detroit entertainment district known as ‘the black Eden.’ She counted the likes of Louis Armstrong, Aretha Franklin, Dinah Washington, B.B. King and Billie Holiday as friends, collaborators, and acquaintances, often performing with the legendary Black musicians that flocked to Detroit. At the height of career, she was honored by the Detroit City Council for her significant contributions to Detroit’s thriving entertainment culture. Graves show was famous for her elaborate, eye catching costumes and the complex choreography of her dance routines, which showcased her classical training. Becoming so enamored with her, a racketeer built her her own club, called The Pink Poodle. Although Graves is considered an artist that made it possible for future Black stars to achieve large scale fame, she still faced roadblocks due to her race, such as when a white patron in Boston refused to acknowledge that a black dancer was headlining a major club. “So all the gangsters in Boston told him he could either accept it or pay them their money back, because he was ruining the show,” she says. In the 2002 documentary, “Standing in the Shadows of Motown,” which features Graves, Motown singer Martha Reeves, also Lottie’s neighbor and friend, says, “She held her own. Lottie had skills that were superior to all of her competitors. She outdanced them all. She had body movements that only she could pull off, and very elaborate costumes. And I know she can still dance, and does a high kick that shows a lot of young ladies down.” Graves still lives in Detroit, with her husband Willie Claiborne near Lafayette ParK. She regularly attends burlesque conventions as a special guest and to give lectures on the history of burlesque and Black entertainment. #HiddenFigures #LottieGraves ****************** Merchandise! MAKE SURE U GETTA SHIRT!! https://www.teepublic.com/user/sssseren Follow me on social media! Instagram: @sensei_aishitemasu Personal Tumblr: http://sensei-aishitemasu.tumblr.com Tumblr for my work: https://sssseren.tumblr.com Snapchat: sssseren GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/tc5wh7q Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/seren_sensei ****************** Did you know I wrote a book? ☺️ 'So, About That... A Year of Contemporary Essays on Race and Pop Culture' Paperback: https://www.amazon.com/About-That-Contemporary-Essays-Culture-ebook/dp/B013V0CHK6 Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B013V0CHK6 Digital download (e-book): https://gumroad.com/l/IkUa ****************** Links: 'Secret History of The Black Pinup - Lottie "The Body" Graves:' https://www.coffeerhetoric.com/2012/11/secret-history-of-black-pinup-lottie.html 'Paradise Regained:' https://www.metrotimes.com/detroit/paradise-regained/Content?oid=2182182 'Lottie “The Body” Graves Claiborne:' https://www.harlemofthewestsf.com/fillmore-people/bios-interviews/lottie-the-body-graves-claiborne/ Idlewild -The Black Eden of Michigan: https://books.google.com/books/about/Idlewild.html?id=o__RnhauJFAC Lottie 'The Body' Graves (Wikipedia): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lottie_%27The_Body%27_Graves