American actress
Lottie Gee
(nee
Charlotte O. Gee
; 17 August 1886
Millboro, Virginia
? 13 January 1973
Los Angeles
) was an American entertainer who performed in shows and musicals during the
Harlem Renaissance
. She is perhaps best known as a performer in the 1921 Broadway hit,
Shuffle Along
, the show that launched the careers of
Josephine Baker
and
Florence Mills
.
Biography
[
edit
]
Lottie Gee was born in
Millboro, Virginia
, United States. Initially a dancer in
Aida Overton Walker
's shows, she appeared in
The Red Moon
by
Aida Overton Walker
in 1904 and later toured the vaudeville circuit in multiple acts.
In 1910, composer
Ford Dabney
(1883?1958) formed several touring vaudeville groups, among which, he and violinist Willie Carroll
(ne
William Thomas Carroll; 1881?1943) conceived and produced Dabney's Ginger Girls, a duet composed of Gee, as dancer and soprano, and Effie King, as dancer and
contralto
. The partnership first performed at Dabney's Theater in Washington, D.C., before touring.
[1]
Effie King was the stage name of Anna Green
(maiden;
1888?1944), who in 1907, married actor
Frank Henry Wilson
(1885?1956).
Gee sang the song "
I'm Just Wild About Harry
" in the musical
Shuffle Along
in 1921. Gee appeared in
The Chocolate Dandies
(1924).
[2]
In 1925, she was a featured performer with
Chocolate Kiddies
on its European tour.
Gee and
Edith Spencer
became partners as Harlem’s Sweethearts in 1928. Later, Allegretti Anderson (1898?1944)
[Note 1]
joined the group and they became a trio billed as Harmony Trio, the Creole Beauties, and the Three Dark Sisters.
[3]
In 1927, Gee was an honorary pallbearer in the funeral of Florence Mills.
[2]
Gee was a longtime girlfriend of the composer
Eubie Blake
(1887?1983).
[4]
Gee was grandaunt to Grammy, Tony-award winner
Dee Dee Bridgewater
.
Marriages
[
edit
]
Lottie Gee married at least twice:
- From 1913 to 1924, she was married to pianist "Peaches" Kyer
(ne
Wilson Harrison Kyer; 1888?1982).
[5]
[6]
- On October 7, 1967, in
Los Angeles
, she married Joseph B. Moy (1887?1986)
Posthumous
[
edit
]
Audra McDonald
portrayed Lottie Gee in
Shuffle Along, Or, the Making of the Musical Sensation of 1921 and All That Followed
in 2016.
[7]
Notes and references
[
edit
]
Notes
[
edit
]
- ^
Allegretta Anderson
(nee
Alegretta Summers; 1898?1944) was a Chicago-born actress who ? on May 29, 1916, in Chicago ? married Julian Kirby Anderson (1895?1954). She later was married to Agaton H. Magboo. She acted in the 1930 film,
Georgia Rose
.
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"Theatrical Comment" (re: "Effie?King & Gee?Lottie in Vaudeville") (photo),
New York Age
,
June 12, 1913, p. 6
Newspapers.com
; subscription required)
- ^
a
b
Bracks, Lean'tin L.; Smith, Jessie Carney (2014).
Black Women of the Harlem Renaissance Era
.
Rowman & Littlefield
. p. 87.
ISBN
978-0-8108-8542-4
.
- ^
Edith Spencer scrapbook, 1916?1946,
at
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division
at the
New York Public Library
;
OCLC
122517139
- ^
Lost Sounds: Blacks and the Birth of the Recording Industry, 1890-1919
,
by
Tim Brooks
, Richard Keith Spottswood,
University of Illinois Press
(2004; paperback 2005); p. 396
- ^
An Encyclopedia of South Carolina Jazz and Blues Musicians
(re: "William Harrison 'Peaches' Kyer"), by Benjamin Franklin,
University of South Carolina Press
(2016);
OCLC
1023325702
- ^
"Gee, Charlotte "Lottie,"
Notable Kentucky African Americans Database,
University of Kentucky
(no date) (retrieved May 17, 2020)
Article sources:
-
-
-
-
- ^
Dziemianowicz, Joe (March 12, 2016).
"Audra McDonald Brings Life to Jazz Age Production
Shuffle Along
While Peeking Behind the Curtain of 1921 Groundbreaking Broadway Blockbuster"
(online)
.
New York Daily News
. Retrieved
April 6,
2018
.