Life passes in an instant but lucky for us in the digital age we can forever document our good and bad times but for 102 year old Alice Barker who was a chorus line dancer during the Harlem Renaissance of the the 1930s and 40s the only reminder she had of her dancing youth was in her memory. That was until her care centers pet therapy volunteer contacted nostalgist Mark Cantor of jazz-on-film.com who was able to identify her in numerous jazz age films and provided those videos for her to watch for the very first time.
Alice Barker was a chorus line dancer during the Harlem Renaissance of the the 1930s and 40s. She danced at clubs such as The Apollo, Cotton Club, and Zanzibar Club, with legends including Frank Sinatra, Gene Kelly, and Bill "Bojangles" Robinson.
Although she danced in numerous movies, commercials and TV shows, she had never seen any of them, and all of her photographs and memorabilia have been lost over the years.
With the help of Mark Cantor of http://jazz-on-film.com we finally our hands on three "Soundies" Alice appeared in, and were able to show them to her for the very first time. She had never seen herself in motion in her life!
If you'd like to send Alice fan mail we would love to see her get the adoration she deserves after so many years! (We'll do our best to read some of your comments to her as well.):
Alice Barker
c/o Bishop Henry B. Hucles Episcopal Nursing Home
835 Herkimer Street
Brooklyn, NY11233
For more info about the dancers of the Harlem Renaissance, we recommend the lovely documentary "Been Rich All My Life" —several of the women in the film danced with Alice back in the day!
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