Bill “Bojangles” Robinson and Shirley Temple in the 1938 film Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm represent one of the most extraordinary partnerships in the history of tap dance and classic American cinema. In tap history, there are names so revered they approach myth. Legends whose skill set the standard for the generations that followed. Bill Robinson was one of those rare figures — the gold standard. The dancer’s dancer. Icons such as Fred Astaire, Sammy Davis Jr., Gene Kelly, Eleanor Powell, the Nic

Bill Robinson in Stormy Weather (1943)! #happybirthdaybillrobinson #Repost @vintagemoviestars ・・・ Bill "Bojangles" Robinson performing the sand dance in Stormy Weather, 1943. • • • #billrobinson #oldhollywood #classichollywood #goldenage #goldenera #history #nostalgia #vintage #retro #movie #film #cinema #dance #1940s #40s | Operation: Tap

The Little Colonel, 1935 The famous stair dance made Bill “Bojangles” Robinson and Shirley Temple the first interracial dance pairing in Hollywood history. Temple said in an interview that he taught her “to feel the beat, rather than count it out.” • via Instagram.com/invsout | FilmFreeway

Bill “Bojangles” Robinson, was the most famous of all African American tap dancers in the twentieth century. Dancing upright and swinging, his light and exacting footwork brought tap “up on its toes” from an earlier flat-footed shuffling style, and developed the art of tap dancing to a delicate perfection. Born Luther Robinson in Richmond, Virginia, his parents, Maria and Maxwell Robinson, died in 1885. Young Bill was reared by his grandmother, Bedilia Robinson, who had been a slave. In Richmond