Zaidee Jackson: Negresa Electrizanta în România

Zaidee Williams-Jackson

(1898-1970)

Zaidee Jackson was born December 30, 1898 in Augusta, Georgia to C.J. and Alice Jackson, who were both sharecroppers in Berrien County, Georgia. Sometime after living in Europe, she began using 1900 as her birth year. Zaidee had three older siblings, Ora Lee, Era and Sol Jackson. Sometime around 1901, Alice left her husband and children, taking only the young Zaidee, and moved north to Boston, Massachusetts, where she met and married Fred Williams. Zaidee soon took her stepfather's last name. In 1902, Alice and Fred had their own child, Corinna. 

Sometime after 1917, Zaidee became acquainted witth Lawrence Benjamin Brown (1893-1972), a pianist from Jacksonville, Florida who had relocated to Boston to resume his studies. It wasn't long before Zaidee herself was studying piano as well. After Lawrence left Boston the following year as the accompanyist for tenor singer, Roland Hayes, the friends kept in contact 

On July 6th, 1920, Zaidee married local actor, James W. Jackson, and from 1920-1922, the couple relocated to Washington D.C. to study at Howard University. 

In October 1922, the couple traveled to New York, where they debuted as the "Jackson & Jackson" duo at Harlem's Lafayette Theatre, performing melodramatic sketches, songs and dances. Afterwards, the couple appeared in Philadelphia, Chicago and Cleveland for the next two months. On December 6th, 1922, the couple briefly separated when James abandoned Zaidee and returned to Harlem. However, within days, he was back in Cleveland and the couple joined the Bob Russell Company, extending their Ohio for another month. During the summer of 1923, the couple were a part of the "Wonderland Show", traveling around Kentucky and Alabama. From August 1923-October 1924, "Jackson & Jackson" traveled around the United States, with their own melodramatic sketches written by James.

Harlem (c.1920)

During the winter of 1924, the couple joined the Andrew Bishop company, a branch of the successful "Lafayette Players". For the next six months, the company appeared across the South and Mid-West. Zaidee also began composing her own songs, particularly, "Nobody Worries 'Bout Me", which was recorded in Chicago by blues singer, Sodarisa Miller around December 1924.

On February 28th, 1925, James abandoned the company and returned to New York. In July, Zaidee also left as well, joining the Wilbur Sweatman revue as a song-and-dance act. The revue traveled across New England, Canada and New York for the next four months.

Lulu Belle program (1926)

In December 1925, director, David Belasco, cast Zaidee and her husband in Broadway's latest lurid melodramatic play, "Lulu Belle". The mixed cast consisted of 100 Black and 15 White performers, the stars being major Black actresses such as Evelyn Preer, Ollie Burgoyne, Mattie Wilkes and Fannie Belle de Knight. Zaidee had a minor role in the beginning of the play as a Charleston dancer in a Harlem nightclub.

After a week at Philadelphia's Broad Street Theatre, the play opened February 9th, 1926, at the Belasco Theatre, the show performed successful 461 times before closing a year later on March 19th, 1927. During the run of the show, Zaidee also had the opportunity to perform afterhours at the Bramville Club and Club Alabam, known for its exotic semi-nude floor shows. Berween August-November, she was also signed to Gennett Records, recording six or more songs accompanied by James P. Johnson, Otto Harwick and Duke Ellington. Only four recordings were released.

In October, Zaidee and several other cast mates from "Lulu Belle" traveled to Baltimore with Black film director, Oscar Micheaux, to film his latest drama *The Spider's Web*. Micheaux's *The Spider's Web* was released on January 6th, 1927. 

In February 1927, before the close of "Lulu Belle" and with her growing success, Zaidee decided to divorce her husband. 

That spring, she appeared in "Desires of 1927" at the Lafayette Theatre. The revue was staged and produced by Irvin C. Miller with Adelaide Hall as its star.

In July, Zaidee was cast as Magnolia in Miller & Lyle's, "Rang Tang", which opened July 12th for 112 performances at the Majestic Theatre. The two-act musical comedy was set in Madagascar and Harlem and featured Flournoy Miller, Aubrey Lyles, Daniel Haynes and Josephine Hall. After its Broadway run closed on October 22nd, as the show prepared to go on the road, Lawrence Brown (who was touring Europe with Paul Robeson) convinced Zaidee to join him in France while Robeson was away celebrating the birth of his son. By November 1927, Zaidee had joined the numerous African-American expatriates in Paris' Montmartre district trading in on the French fascination for "Negro" culture. 

Man Ray's Studio (March 1929)

Throughout January-February 1928, Zaidee was in Cannes, performing at the KitKat cabaret. Her performances sparked the interest of numerous members of the British elite such as Elsa Maxwell, the Duke of Kent, and especially the Countess of Carnarvon, who purchased Jackson's plane ticket to London in May.

In June 1928, she was the star of "Playtime at the Piccadilly" at London's Piccadilly Hotel for the next five months. During the run of this revue, she also sang on BBC Radio and doubled at the illustrious Uncles Club. On August 28th, she recorded two numbers with HMV Records accompanied by pianist Carroll Gibbons, which were never released. On September 19th and again on the 29th, she recorded the American folk song, Waterboy, with British Duophone. Each recording was rejected.

In October 4th, Zaidee was hired by director, Albin Limpus, to perform Spirituals and Folk songs accompanied by Winifred Smith's Orchestra every afternoon before the curtains raised on May Eginston's latest play, "Deadlock" at the Comedy Theatre. The play ran for 17 days before closing. In-between singing daily at the Comedy, nightly at the Piccadilly, she also found time to record four songs for British Duophone, which were released to public with overwhelming success.

In November, once her contract with the Piccadilly ended, Zaidee returned to Paris to perform for a week at the Plantation Cabaret with Eddie South's Orchestra. While in Paris, she met Afro-British pianist Reginald Foresythe performing in local club and she quickly recruited him as her new pianist. On November 12th, Zaidee and Reggie flew back to London on the Imperial Air Lines for a weeks engagement at the Café Anglais. During this engagement, she recorded four more songs for British Parlophone. Eventually, Forsythe struck up a friendship with leading Harlem musical theatre tenor, Walter Richardson and the duo soon departed for a year-long Australian tour. At the end of the month, Zaidee returned to Paris alone, performing at the Lido des Champs-Elysées with Eddie South's orchestra.

Man Ray's Studio (March 1929)

In January 1929, Zaidee returned to London, recording one song with Metropole Records and four unissued songs with Duophone. Returning to Paris on January 26th, she performed at the opening Ada Bricktop Smith's latest nightclub. Shortly afterwards, Zaidee purchased a comfortable apartment on the Rue Chalgrin, a small right-angle street in the Chaillot district, where she held intimate cocktail parties before whisking her guests over to the Bal Negre cabaret to dance the Beguine. On April 6, Jackson converted her apartment into small cabaret (short-lived unfortunately), Chez Zaïdée, imitating Josephine Baker's own French nitery. Throughout the spring and summer, she also performed regularly at the famous Boeuf Sur Le Toit, Chez Florence, Mirador and Floresco's before she was left hospitalized on July 27th with a sprained ankle.

Between July-September, she frequently flew back to London for quick radio appearances. She often traveled on Guy Robson's private plane, who occasionally enjoyed showing off with his stunt flying, turning flips over the Channel.

In November 1929, Zaidee returned to Britain for an extensive 8-month British tour organized by her manager, E.J. Bonner. Between January-April 1930, she recorded six more songs with British Parlophone. In June 1930, towards the end of the tour, Reginald Foresythe returned to Englsnd and accompanied Zaidee once again before he departed again, this time for America. 

With her British tour over, on June 16th, Zaidee was back in Paris, with a four month contract with Russian-themed Sheherazade Cabaret. Between June-August 1930, she returned to London to record her six songs with British Parlophone and appear on the BBC.

London (1930)

In November 1930, Zaidee was in the German capital, appearing at the famous Kabarett der Komiker. Unfortunately, the press wrote mixed reviews for her singing, which most German audiences felt was barely audible in their large concert halls.

Returning to France the following month, Zaidee was seen performing around Biarritz with her new accompanist, Norman Lloyd, a young white pianist from New York. 

Man Ray's Studio (March 1929)

In January 1931, she returned to Paris for a well received months' engagement at the L'Ange Bleu Bar and Frisco's (owned by the Jamaican Jocelyn Augustus Bingham, who went under the name of Frisco). The following month, she continued her European tour, appearing in Budapest at the Royal Hotel, accompanied by Russian pianist, Suponitzkaya. Her performance were broadcast nightly on Hungarian radio stations.

Returning to Paris in June, at the height of the Exposition Coloniale, she appeared in a new cabaret, La Jungle-Montmartre, performing her intimate songs. La Jungle-Montmartre was short lived and she eventually moved on to the Music Box, New Marine Club, Chez Dinah and Le Miami Club (quitting after they failed to pay her). That winter, George White offered her some of the music scores from his Broadway production, Scandals of 1931, probably with the intention of her joining the show or simply for a recording session that never materialized.

Zaidee entertains Maurice Chevalier (1932)

Throughout January-April 1932, Zaidee relocated to Cannes, opening her latest nightclub, Sous le Maquis, hoping to have Josephine Baker as her headliner. The establishment was briefly successful, but she eventually decided to return to Paris.

In May, she began a six-month residence at Le Bosphore (another Russian cabaret) and Chez Zelli's (an American themed nightclub). In July, she also began performing at the Sheherazade cabaret as well, singing and dancing eccentrically. In August, she departed for month to the resort town of Saint Jean-de-Luz for a month engagement at the Maxim Bar.

By December 5th, Zaidee had returned to London, with a major role in William Walker's, "Ballyhoo Revue", which opened December 22nd at the Comedy Theatre. The cast included Hermione Baddeley, Walter Crisham, Phyllis Clare, Pearl Argyle and Leon Morton.

The two-act revue was devised and staged by William Walker and Robert Nesbitt. Dances and Ballets staged by Buddy Bradley and Frederick Ashton. Zaidee made her initial appearance in Act 1 in the fourth sketch, "Black Magic", performing a gloomy blues number (Black Magic), while Crisham and the chorus girls danced around her. She returned again in sketch 12, "Mediterranean Madness", performing a much more lively number. She made her final appearance in Act 2 in the slow melancholic sketch, "A Window In Harlem", performing I've Got The Wrong Man.

The British press was extremely critical of the revue, although the dance and ballet number were considered stellar, the singing of Phyllis Clare wasn't received well and Zaidee's voice wasn't considered "Harlem" enough for the show. Often her voice would be drowned out by the singing of the chorus girls.

Zaidee and Walter Crisham (1933)

On March 17th, 1933, Zaidee returned to her regular appearance on BBC Radio. She also began doubling at the Blue Train nightclub. In the meantime, film director Andrew Buchanan took her on screen, appearing in two short films with the Ideal Cine-Magazine, *I've Got the Wrong Man* and *Black Magic*. With Odeon Records, she record several numbers from the show, such as the comedy number, Pink Elephants, I’ve Got the Wrong Man and Black Magic. 

Once "Ballyhoo" closed April 22nd and reopened nine days later on May 1st at the Leicester Square Theatre.

However, Zaidee soon bailed on the show, returning to Paris to perform at the Robinson nightclub. 

In June, she starred in Joe Zelli's brand new cabaret, Chez Les Nudistes, where Zaidee appeared semi-nude in an extravagant revue,"Au Dela... des Reins" for the next four months. She also doubled at the Sheherazade, Le Grand Ecart and Le Bosphore cabarets. In September 1933, she took a month off to appear in Saint Jean-de-Luz at the Auberge Club.

Switzerland (1935)

Although the Depression arrived in France in 1931, it didn't seriously affect the country until early-1934, causing the economy to fall apart and public demonstrations sprouting everywhere. Besides her occasional appearances in Paris at the Hotel Ritz, Sheherazade and Le Bosphore cabarets, Zaidee soon began touring the French Riviera, appearing in Juan-Les-Pins, Evians-Les-Bains, Cannes and Monte Carlo.

In June 1935, Zaidee departed for Switzerland for an eight-month tour with Benny Peyton's Jazz Kings orchestra. They appeared in Ouchy, Lausanne, Berne, Neuchatel and Geneva. In-between engagements, Zaidee frequently returned to France for appearances in Saint Jean-de-Luz and Paris.

Barbu Neamtu in Monaco (c.1936)

Returning to France around Late-January 1936, stable employment was still difficult for African-American entertainers and Zaidee possibly returned to the French Riviera. Around this time, as the annual Rallye Monte Carlo came to a close, Zaidee was introduced to one of the racers, 32-year old Barbu Neamțu, a wealthy Romanian mechanical engineer who was a great sportsman and Ford representative in Bucharest. 

Barbu was born c.1904 in Craiova, a city of 100,000 located in the midst of the rich agricultural territory of Southwestern Romania. He was the eldest of six children of Eugenia Albeanu and Constantin Neamtu. Besides being wealthy landowner, 69-year old Constantin Neamtu had an expensive Romanian and Belgian education and was a professor, the director of the Romanian National Bank (Craiova Branch), director of Craiova's Commerce Bank and a local politician.

In the early-1920s, Barbu had traveled to England, studying English and economics while attending Oxford University. While he was away, his father presented him with a position as a deputy of the city of Craiova. In 1931, he became the director of SEBAR, a truck and tractor manufacturing plant (a branch of Ford-Romania). As early as 1934, Barbu also took speed racing as a hobby, winning numerous trophies from races held in Monte Carlo, Brasov, Cluj and Bucharest.

By 1936, Barbu was already in an extremely unhappy marriage, from which he had a daughter. Nevertheless, upon his return to Craiova from the Rallye Monte Carlo, he brought with him, his new Black mistress. This caused an immediate scandal across Craiova, especially as, according to the locals, Zaidee was the first Black woman they had ever seen in person. Local children followed her around town, attempting to rub the "Blackness" from her skin. While Barbu began divorce proceedings with his current wife, Zaidee was quickly relocated to Bucharest, residing at 9 Strada Arcului, a comfortable metropolitan residence that her future father-in-law rarely used. 

Restaurant Bar Zissu

From 1936-1937, Zaidee maintained a residency at Bucharest's Restaurant-Bar Zissu, an extremely lavish and overpriced Parisian-themed cabaret located at 5 Strada Serban Voda. She danced and performed in English, French and soon began including Romanian songs as well. At some point during this period, Zaidee also departed for a brief Egyptian tour.

On October 27, 1937, Zaidee boarded the SS Queen Mary from Cherbourg back to New York. Landing on November 1st (exactly a decade since her departure), she moved into the Dewey Square Hotel on Seventh Avenue and began a ten-month nightclub engagement in New York and Philadelphia. Upon arrival, she was met by American journalists, such as those of the Pittsburgh Courier: "Zaidee Williams Jackson was singing sweet songs at Chez Florence in Montmartre when we met her. A slim bronze young woman, who had Paris by its ears. We wonder if anyone who has lived over there for ten years as she has can come back here to prejudice and hate and pick up where she left off. We don't doubt that she'll return to Europe where, she says ’her work is more appreciated... and more lucrative.’"

1938

While away in America, Zaidee avoided the terribly repressive policies of the new Prime Minister, Octavian Goga, who issued numerous anti-Semitic and other xenophobic laws. During Bucharest's Expoziție Naționale, anti-Semitic and even pro-Fascist-themed displays were on exhibit. Thankfully, it was over by the spring of 1938, when Goga died suddenly of a stroke and a majority of the laws were reversed.

In March 1938, Barbu traveled to New York (his divorce must've been finalized) and moved into the Dewey Hotel with Zaidee. It's possible to couple soon became engaged and traveled to Boston to meet with Zaidee's relatives.

The couple returned to Romania in September, where they possibly wed at "Conacul Neamtu", the Neamtu family estate, located in the village of Olari, an hour outside of Craiova. On September 27th, Zaidee received her new passport and registered at Craiova's police station.

As expected, the marriage marred by jealousy and racial prejudice of her husband's numerous family (and the neighbors) who felt that Barbu had married beneath himself. He was accused of renouncing his family for a Negro. Zaidee, the 41-year old (although she claimed to be four years younger) Black cabaret star who who could hardly speak Romanian and performed naked in Paris wasn't considered an equal to 34-year old extremely well educated and privileged Barbu. To make matters worse, the Romanian government made it difficult for Zaidee to renew her work visa, demanding that she had be an "Ethnic Romanian." 

In November, she returned to Paris, appearing at Jimmy Monroe's Swing Club. The following month she appeared in the revue, "Harlem au Coliseum" at the Paris-Coliseum, music provided by Willie Lewis' Orchestra.

Neamtu family country estate

Early 1939, despite warnings from the American Embassy of impending war, Zaidee remained in Paris, performing at Fred Payne's Bar. However, in February, she had returned home to Craiova, registering with the National Liberal Party (possibly a party her husband was involved with).

Barbu and Zaidee packed up and purchased an comfortable house in Bucharest beside the Liceul Militar. These were halcyon days for the newlyweds. Barbu was frequently away at his office in Craiova, leaving Zaidee alone in their new home and a chauffeur to drive her wherever she needed to go in one of Barbu's many luxurious British-made automobiles. Zaidee also returned to her place as the star of the Restaurant Zissu, alongside Jean Moscopol (Romania's version of Maurice Chevalier). Occasionally, she also appeared at the Maxim Zig-Zag Cabaret at 5 Strada Otelelisianu. 

Barbu Neamtu (Second from Left) at the Rallye Bucuresti

 After the outbreak of WWII, Zaidee's ties with the Western world was completely severed. Despite the progression of the war, Zaidee was able to continue working and her popularity amongst Romanian audiences grew.

Across Romania, soldiers were every corner, young men standing in long lines answering the draft. Thousands of men were boarding trucks heading for their local regiment bases. In Bucharest, the swastika flew beside the Romanian flag as King Carol made it no secret that he supported the Nazis. 

In July 1940, King Carol handed over Bessarabia to the Soviet Union, causing uproar across Romania, especially as fleeing Bessarabian refugees crowded the streets of Bucharest. Two months later, in September 1940, the king was forced into exile and General Ion Antonescu seized power for the next four years. Romania soon announced its new alliance with Nazi Germany. The American Ford company immediately severed ties with Romania, and Barbu's SEBAR company began manufacturing military-grade vehicles for the Germans.

Bombing of Bucharest (April 1944)

From 1940-1944, Zaidee's life was hardly interrupted by the constant changes Europe was going through. As a Romanian citizen, in a country safe from Nazi invasion (as long as they upheld their alliance), her career was basically unaffected. 

However, she was a witness to German tourists and military personnel walking the streets and enjoying themselves in Bucharest's many hotels, restaurants and cabarets. At night, truckloads of Jews were rounded up from their home, disappearing to camps in Poland and Bessarabia. Often, during her trips to Craiova, she witnessed in the distance, piles of dead Jews being dumped from cattle cars into the forests.

In 1943, Romania became a regular target of Allied aerial bombardment, such as the attack on the oil fields of Ploiești on August 1, 1943. In October 1943, a frustrated Barbu was forced to close his factory temporarily after a worker's strike.

By 1944, Bucharest was subjected to intense bombing on 4 and 15 April 1944, and the Luftwaffe bombed the city on August 24 and 25 after the country switched sides. Windows were shattered, buildings were gutted, and walls bore the tracks of machine-gun bullets. At night, windows were shuttered and curtains tightly drawn. There must be no visible light to guide enemy aviators. The radio echoed with news of death and destruction.

Theatres, cabarets, cinemas were shut down, if they weren't damaged by the bombs. Escaping the capital, Zaidee packed up everything and relocated to the village of Olari, safely 200 miles away from the destruction. 

On August 30th, 1944, Soviet troops occupied Romania. Bucharest was heavily militarized, the streets filled with soldiers, many of them looting abandoned homes. Gypsies, Jews and many other marginalized members of the lower class quickly rose to power in high government positions.

There were shortages of everything. Of course officials with big salaries could get what they wanted. Formerly well-to-do people carried their dwindling stock of goods to the immense open air market to sell for what they would bring in order to keep alive. 

Bucharest's Victory Boulevard

In 1945, SEBAR was reopened, this time to manufacture vehicles for the Soviet Union. In Bucharest, the entertainment was revived as many establishments reopened. Zaidee moved their belongings back into their house and resumed performing.

From 1945-1947, appeared for her final years at the Restaurant Zissu. Initially she was unable to seek work as she was refused a work permit. After six months without work, the government relented and issued her permit. However, she was only allowed a meager worker's salary of 600 leis a month. But after much protest, she was finally upgraded to an artist's salary of 1,500 leis a month. Nightly taxi cabs to and from, her jobs cost 30 leis daily, which meant spending two-thirds of her salary for transportation. Often she chose to walk two miles in the dead of night from her apartment to save money to eat since meals were no longer supplied to artists.

In September 1946, the Soviet government shut down SEBAR and Barbu remained in Bucharest permanently with his wife. Although engineers were in great demand, he however could get very little work as one had to be approved by the State. However, his other siblings were able to find government jobs.

On December 30th, 1947, the old monarchy was abolished and Romania became an republic. The director of the Zissu closed down the popular establishment and fled to Bulgaria. Zaidee promptly found employment at the Circ Bucharest, appearing in a lavish revue, where in one of the scenes, the vibrant 50-year old Black vedette entered the stage riding on the back of a camel before performing an exotic number.

Due to the heavy censorship of Western music and culture, Zaidee surprisingly remained extremely popular amongst Romanian audiences, even with the youth, who saw her as Romania's own Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday or Josephine Baker. Despite her popularity, Zaidee encountered all sorts of prejudice and discrimination from musicians and managers. 

1950s Bucharest

In June 1948, all businesses and establishments became nationalized by the government. Despite being an entertainer, she was still considered an employee of the state. This caused the American Embassy to declare her passport void, making any possibilities of visiting the United States impossible. Six months later, during Christmas, the  Securitate (secret police) raided the Neamtu estate in Olari and declared it property of the state. Zaidee's in-laws were left outside in the snow surrounded by their belongings.

Later, during the summer of 1949, she began corresponding with her old friend, Lawrence Brown, who was touring the Soviet Union with Paul Robeson at the time. She described the new way of life under the new government and her growing fears of her uncertain future in Romania.

On April 14th, 1951, Barbu and the majority of the Neamtu family were declared "Bourgeois spies" arrested sent to Ghencea Penitentiary (a local Bucharest prison) for 18 months. Zaidee was unable to write or visit. Later in September 1952, the family was divided up and sent to various camps such as Popești Leordeni Camp, Pipera Farm, Dumbrăveni Penitentiary, Jilava Penitentiary, Peninsula Camp and Aiud Penitentiary where they were ill-fed and given the most arduous physical tasks. There was never a charge or a trial. After four years they were all released, broken and impoverished.

Zaidee soon began petitioning the American Embassy to issue a new passport to her. Initially, the Embassy was sympathetic but later became uncooperative due to the antagonism of a Hungarian woman secretary. Meanwhile, her sister, Corinna Williams-Thomas, was working indefatigably in her behalf, although writing to President Truman produced no results. Zaidee wrote to Paul Robeson and William Patterson, who were both known to be close with the Communists. Neither deigned to reply.

Once Barbu was released early-1955, he received a job in the provinces and attempted to convince Zaidee to accompany him. Instead, she chose to remain in Bucharest, suggesting that they divorce. While in the process of divorcing, in April 1955, her sister wrote to President Eisenhower who promised prompt action. After the divorce was finalized, Zaidee departed for a tour Romania's major cities.

Late-January 1956

In January 1956, the US, State Department sent her American passport. Although nervous and tense, Zaidee was eager to valiantly resume her career on the American stage, 17 years since her 1938 tour. January 1956, Zaidee received the thrilling news that she would be able to travel to America. "I was reborn,"  she said smilingly. “I never really gave up hope," she said. "But there were many times when my situation seemed utterly hopeless." She flew to Amsterdam and changed planes for New York, where she was greeted with an American passport. She luckily missed the Red-Scare movement, although there was still heavy prejudice of Communists (and those who had lived for nearly 20 years in a Communist country). Her return to the American stage may have caused more strain on her already shaky marriage, caused the couple to eventually separate. Her time in America is not well documented since her return, except for an appearance in Boston in 1957 and a brief interview in Harlem during the summer of 1967, with Frank Driggs. Zaidee Jackson died on December 15, 1970, near her sister's family in Connecticut.

Ruth Bayton: In Los Angeles

After returning to Europe after a brief break from performing, Ruth returned to Spain, where she remained until Francisco Franco's Civil War caused her to flee to Argentina, like many other Spanish artists.

She remained in Argentina throughout WWII where she had success theatrically, occasionally returning to New York to visit her family and maybe returning to appear in Europe. The pro-German attitude, '43 Military Coup and Juan Peron's rise to power might caused her to eventually to flee South America. In the 1950's, she returned to the United States, living in Los Angeles where she later died.

Bessie de Saussure

(1904-19??)

Bessie Lankford or Bessie de Saussure, born around 1904, first appears in Chicago late-1922 in the Leonard Harper & Osceola Blanks's vaudeville revue "Plantation Days" at the Green Mills Garden. It was considered the rival of Lew Leslie's "Plantation Revue" already based in Harlem, and both were often confused. The show toured the United States early 1923, and appeared, although unsuccessfully, in London's Empire Theater during the spring. Upon returning to America, she joined Jimmy Cooper's "Black & White Revue", where she met and struck up a friendship with the New Orleans clarinet player, Sidney Bechet. The show toured the Columbia Burlesque Circuit and Canada until the end of 1924. Bessie, known at the time as Bessie de Sota, stood out in the show, for her 'Egyptian novelty dancing' (Belly-dancing). 

During the summer of 1925, Bechet opened his own club in Harlem, Club Basha, and invited Bessie from Chicago to headline as the club's leading dancer. She was soon also dating Bechet's Jewish business partner, George. One night, the director of the Log Cabin Club wanted Bessie to dance for him. She refused and Bechet wanted her fired. Instead, after several weeks of fighting and threats, Bechet abandoned the club and traveled to Paris with the show, Revue Negre. Bessie and George took over the club until early 1926, when she joined the cast of Lew Leslie's "Blackbirds of 1926" and traveled to Paris.

The show opened on May 28, at the Restaurant-Theatre des Ambassadeurs where it was a huge sensation. Most of France’s top stars attended, including Josephine Baker, Maurice Chevalier, Sacha Guitry, Yvonne Vallee, and the Dolly Sisters. Florence Mills was the star attraction with Johnny Hudgins in blackface doing his comedy routine. Bessie was an old friend of Josephine Baker, as they were soon sharing an apartment and wondered through the city, 'looking at babies' and traveling after hours to the many nightclubs in the Montmartre. Soon "Blackbirds" moved over in July to the Theatre des Champs-Elysees, where Josephine Baker made her debut months earlier, before packing up and traveling to Antwerp, Belgium. 

In September, Charles Cochran arranged for "Blackbirds" to appear in London, where Bessie remained until the show finally closed early 1927. While most of the cast returned home, Bessie traveled to France, where she toured with a small variety revue along the coast. The Afro-American newspaper stated she returned to Paris in September to appear with Mistinguett and Johnny Hudgins in "Ca..C'est Paris" at the Moulin Rouge. In the winter of 1928, Bessie opened in Berlin's Haus Vaterland, where she was booed off the stage for not being dark enough for the German audience. "We want a black American!" The manager had to escort her out the back door. She departed immediately for Hamburg, where she appeared at the Libelle Kabarett.

"Blackbirds" London (1926)

Early 1929, Bessie was appearing in Prague,  Budapest, Nüremburg and probably many other European capitals. Returning to Paris the following year, she was introduced to Surrealist poet, Robert Desnos, during an appearance the Bœuf Sur Le Toit restaurant and developed a brief affair before he married Lucie 'Youki' Badoud. While in Europe, Bessie's performances became more exotic as she performed under the name, Miss Bessie, la danseuse Cubaine (the Cuban dancer). During her appearances at the Melody-Bar, La Rumba and the Boule Blanche, Bessie danced the Rumba, Beguine and her usual bellydancing. 

In the summer of 1933, while at the Hotel Liszeaux's Cafe, Bessie knocked out an white American woman who insulted her. When a friend of Bessie offered to help the woman, she yelled, "Take your Black hands of!". Afterwards Bessie knocked the woman out again. After leaving France in 1935, Bessie tours, briefly with a Spanish revue, into Czechoslovakia and Holland. She might have appeared other places with another stage name. She was back in Paris at the Cuban nightclub, La Pigall's, early 1938. Bessie returned to America that winter to appear in James P. Johnson's "Policy Kings" at the Nora Bayes Theatre. The show was given good reviews, but the public was uncomfortable with the show's comic treatment of Harlem's gangsters. The show only ran three performances. While in Harlem, she displayed her exotic dances for sculptor, Augusta Savage, at her home. 

Afterwards Bessie dissappears, either settling in America or returning to Europe before the start of the war. She doesn't appear again until 1973, when Ada Bricktop Smith opened a new club where Bessie attended the opening.

Ruth Bayton: Apollotheater im Wien

Ruth Bayton appearing in her banana costume (like Josephine Baker) at the Apollo Theatre in Vienna with the German revue, "Der Zug Nach dem Westen" in January 1927. She was supposed to play in London afterwards, but probably didn't..

Myrtle Watkins: Wikipedia Page

                                Look @  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myrtle_Watkins

Myrtle Watkins (23 June 1908 – 10 November 1968) was an American-born Mexican dancer, jazz and Latin American music singer, and actress, who came to be known in the United States and Mexico as Paquita Zarate.

I made several wikipedia pages for:

-Myrtle Watkins
-Ruth Bayton
-Zaidee Jackson


----@Afro.Caribe----

Myrtle Watkins: Por Si Destine

During the summer of 1931, the Myrtle accompanied Argentine entertainers, Alfredo Marino and Hector Morel for a tour of northern Spain. While in San Sebastián, the director took the cast of the show down to the beach,where reporters remarked seeing Myrtle as a black Venus emerging from the waters. 

Just before arriving, Myrtle's car broke down, forcing her to stay in a small village, a few miles out from her destination. Myrtle wandered the village taking photos, while her manager found a room for the night. An old woman on a hill on the edge of town offered her room once she heard it was for a foreign entertainer. She cleaned out the house, and put scented sheets on the bed. But once the old woman discovered this foreign star was ''Negra'', she took back her scented sheets and gave Myrtle plain ones to sleep on.

- "Es...es esta la artista?"
- "Si Senora."
- "Ave Maria purisima! Con la dificiles que son de lavar!"

Upon returning to Madrid, she appeared at the Alcazar-Dancing in a large variety show, with Morel & Morino, occasionally joining Harry Flemming and his band in the Jardin Retiro. After the show closed, Morel & Marino left to tour Spanish North Africa. Instead of joining them, Myrtle went Barcelona to appear at the Eden Concert, Circo Barcelones and Buena Sombra music hall for the winter.


Hemeroteca Digital (Biblioteca Nacional de Espana)

Ruth Bayton In Berlin {1926/27}

Ruth Bayton "La Plus Belle Negresse du Monde" (1907-19??) appeared in France, Germany, Spain and Argentina (1926-1931). Briefly owned boutique in Harlem (Sugar Hill) before returning to Europe.

Returned to Spain in 1932, escaped to Argentina in 1937 during Spanish Civil War. Returned to Europe sometime during WWII appearing probably in Spain...might have went under different name.

Ruth Bayton: Dancer Missing In Spain

Myrtle Watkins: African American dancer into European Musichall Star

Ruth Bayton: Missing In Spain

Ruth V. Bayton {1907-19??}

Born Feb. 3, 1907 between Tappahannok and Whitestone, Virginia. Ruth Bayton was the sixth child of Virginia and Hansford C. Bayton. Hansford was a well known river boat captain who operated an excursion steamer in the Tidewater section along the Virginian coast. In 1910, she was sent to Philadelphia to live with her uncle, George Bayton, a wealthy and well respected physician. Later on, in 1920 she moved down to Baltimore with her eldest sister, Julia, who ran a restaurant with her husband Carter Banks and their six children. She occasionally returned briefly to Virginia to stay with her parents. 

London 1923

In 1922, after leaving school, Ruth found work as an stenographer. During the summer, she was introduced to Will Vodrey (director of the Plantation Orchestra) who took her to New York to join a beauty contest. She won the contest, and was given a part in the chorus in the "Plantation Revue" with Florence Mills as the star. The following summer, the show was taken to London as "From Dixie to Dover Street". The show did extremely well, and returned to the US to play on Broadway in 1924 as "Dixie to Broadway". 

Dixie to Dover Street - London 1923

In 1926, Lew Leslie to the show to Paris's Restaurant des Ambassadeurs as "Blackbirds of 1926". The show opened on May 28,  it was a sensation. Some of France’s top stars attended, including Josephine Baker, Maurice Chevalier, Sacha Guitry, Yvonne Vallee, and the Dolly Sisters. Florence Mills was the star attraction again and Johnny Hudgins in blackface doing his comedy routine.  Josephine Baker drifted in half an hour late, accompanied by white men in tails. “We had to hold the curtain for her,” Johnny Hudgins said. “She got the best table, right down front.” The show moved over in July to the Theatre des Champs-Elysees, where Josephine Baker made her debut months earlier. On night, she was introduced to Henri Lartigue, who worked for the booking agency of William Morris, who admired her performance in Blackbirds and, after being turned down by the other chorus girls, offered her a lucrative contract in Berlin with a weekly salary of $200. Ruth signed the contract right then and there, agreeing to come work at the theatre in the following month, and afterward kept her own counsel.  That August, as the show moved on to Belgium, Lartigue wrote that soon it was necessary for her to arrive in Berlin almost at once. Ruth departed immediately to appear at the Admiralspalast all-black revue “An Und Aus” in-between rehearsals for a much larger show at the Theatre des Westens.

On August 4th, “Der Zug Nach dem Westen” opened and Ruth made her appeared in a girdle of a dozen bananas. Her dancing was a large success to the German press with her extravagant jungle interpretation surrounded by a cast of 200. “I do the Charleston and Black Bottom, mostly eccentric dancing,” she later remarked to a journalist. The revue continued on for three months, and was taken to the Apollotheater in Vienna for the winter before being rearranged into a new version with skimpier costumes and more American performers such as Ben Tyber and Louis Douglass under the name, “Wissen Sie Schon” opening in March and running for another three months. Ruth appeared in the tableau ‘Der Gott und Die Bajadere’, dancing completely nude except for a silver loincloth in front of a large statue of Buddha. This time with a larger salary of $600. 

At this time, around Berlin there were rumors of her affair with the Spanish Monarch in the streets of the Friedrichstrasse and under the shadows of the Unter-Der-Linden. But Ruth refused to talk about any of it. That summer, Ruth appeared in Hamburg at the Argentinean-themed Trocadero Kabarett where she was showered with flowers and the German press billed her as the ‘Most Beautiful Creole on the Continent.’ opened in Paris at the Casanova Cabaret alongside the Spanish actor, Valeriano Ruiz Paris that August. Later she accompanied him to the resort town Biarritz to perform for a charity event at the Chateau-Basque. In September they arrived in Barcelona to open his revue, “Not-Yet” at the Teatro Cómico where she danced all afternoon, then moved over to the Folies-Bergere cabaret to sing until midnight. She was followed to Spain by Robert Wiene, a German film director, who was beginning to film and wanted Ruth to star in it. It was a film that placed on the screen the love affair of the most gallant European Sovereigns and the most beautiful colored dancer in the world. Filming wrapped up by October, the film crews returned to Berlin, and Ruth moved on to Madrid to appear in her own revue, “Noche Loca” at the Teatro Maravillas with a white American band with a salary of $800, introducing her new dance the Chotiston, which was a mixture of the Charleston and the Chotis.

That winter, there was a knock on her dressing room door. It was Paul Derval, director of the Folies Bergere, invited her to return to Paris for the new season, since Josephine was leaving for a world tour. That January, she appeared with Louis Douglas, arriving from Berlin, at the Teatro Comedia with his Black Follies Revue. Rehearsals for “La Grande Folie” began at the Folies in February. Meanwhile she was approached by the director of the Folies-Wagram, a new musichall to be inaugurated the following month, but Ruth turned him down. But early March, after two weeks at the Folies with the promise of new costumes and a larger salary, moved on to the Folies-Wagram. Avoiding Paul Derval for the next three months, she appeared with Marie Dubas dancing in the finale of the first act.  She even appeared briefly in her own club, Floresco’s. But the rumors of her affair with the Spanish Monarch began to resurface, when her German film was released in Paris on April 12th. The Spanish government offered the German producers $187, 000 to destroy the film, or at least prevent it from appearing in France and Spain. Ruth was interviewed at her apartment at the Hotel Ambassadors in Paris: 

“No, I have not any made films, dear sir. It must have been another colored girl made up to resemble me. I only heard about it five days ago through the German papers.” She smiled, lit a cigarette and made a little dance motion with the upper part of her body. But the journalist pressed on, “But, you're not going to lose such a fine occasion to have yourself talked about. Yes, I know you’re modest and the Negro doesn’t rush for the limelight and it takes two colored women to make a white one in this respect. But, in any case you won’t tell us whether is it true the adventure with the King of…” But at that moment, Paul Colin entered to finish the handbill of the colored vedette. Ruth left the journalist and rushed towards Colin thus avoiding his question. 

Another visiting journalist for the Afro-American Newspaper described her as the prettier replacement of Josephine Baker:

She lives at the Hotel Ambassadors, one of the best hotels in the Europe, has a fine $10.000 Hispano-Suiza driven by a French chauffeur, keeps two maids, and entertains at one of the leading music halls, the Folies-Wagram where she earns five figures in Francs weekly.” Something she would have never accomplished in America. “Absolutely impossible, I would have never been given the opportunity. I love Paris, the German people have been very kind, and so have the folks in Spain.” 

Ruth spent that summer in Deauville, dancing at the seaside casinos and appearing at the racetracks with a new admirer Armand Rochefoucauld, ‘Marquis de Deauville’. At the Concert Mayol cabaret in late August, Ruth was back dancing beside Marie Dubas in, “Cochon Qui Sommeille” (The Slumbering Pig).

A week later she was in Berlin, dancing beside the bar at the Baberina Cabaret, but she complained that Germans would try to grab her she danced. In October 1929, she returned to Madrid where she appeared through the winter at the Maipu-Pigall’s cabaret. Since the scandal with King Alphonso, or Ollie as she called him, her popularity in Spain had grew stronger. There she ran into Leon Abbey and his orchestra, and joined him to play in Seville which was hosting the Exposición Ibero-Americana. There was lots of money to be made as American tourists filled the nightclubs and theatres of the Andalucian city.Also together they headlined in Barcelona for the closing of the Exposició Internacional in January 1930.

Ruth moved on in April to London to appear at the Deauville Restaurant. Before they could open, Leon was deported back to Paris for not obtaining his work permits before arriving in Britain. When he returned, he took the orchestra to the Silver Slipper club and obtained a two-week contract. In June, after an invitation while appearing in London, Ruth returned to Paris for the Theatre Apollo where she appeared with the dramatic singer, Damia and the American dancer Jack Forester in the new ‘oriental-themed’ revue “Revue Milliardaires”. Once again, Ruth was chosen for the finale of the first act as an creole from Argentina. After hours, she would dance and mingle amongst her Spanish friends at the El Garron cabaret. The revue was a triumph and closed in August with a small gala attended by Mistinguett and Josephine Baker, whose old rival feelings boiled over causing the two vedettes of the Casino de Paris to break out fighting in the lobby. Ruth quickly moved her household over towards her new residence at 77 Champs-Elysees, once occupied by Jo Baker herself, and opened with an eight month engagement at the Theatre Marigny on September 7th. December 1930, Ruth returned to New York, to try her luck back in America to showcase her talents that were so well publicized in Europe. 

February 1931, on her few days off, she bought a spacious apartment in the elite Sugar Hill district near Harlem. In April, Noble Sissle invited Ruth and Sidney Bechet to accompany him at the Ambassadeurs for the Exposition Coloniale. But this time the French authorities were making determined efforts to reduce the number foreign workers, including overseas musicians, in their country. Bechet and Bayton got wind of a rumor that suggested that Sissle’s band would only be able permitted to fulfill the second half of its booking if 50 percent of its personnel were replaced was replaced with French artists. This proved to be the truth, but of course both Bechet and Bayton were far away. Bechet resumed his place in Berlin as a featured soloist at the Haus Vaterland. Ruth  decided to rest from the stage for a while and ran a small boutique from her apartment in Harlem for a few months. But eventually the the idea of being away from the stage brought her back into the nightlife touring Broadway on the R.K.O. Circuit early 1932. In November, while in New Jersey, rented rooms from the mother of an old friend, Crackshot Hackley. While there she got in an argument with John Burtt, director of the Lafayette Theatre, which ended in Ruth beating him with a dog chain from one her numerous pets. The fight later involved Crackshot and his mother. After this scandal, Ruth packed her bags and told her family she was returning to Spain {probably with a new stage name}.

In February 1933, French announced her return to France on the SS Lafayette. Several months later she was found performing at the Rio-Rita Cabaret. During the summer of 1934, she was in Deauville amongst other wealthy French bankers and counts. Afterwards she disappears until 1937, when the Afro-American states she was probably missing somewhere in Spain as the Civil War raged across the country: 

"Ruth Bayton, playgirl of two continents, who created a sensation several years ago when she was reported to be a close friend of the then King Alphonso of Spain, is believed to be missing in the war torn country, according to relatives in New York. She returned to the night club world in 1932 and again struck it rich when she foiled a holdup in a ritzy Broadway cabaret and was rewarded handsomely. With this money she returned to Spain and has not been heard from since. She was sought when her uncle, Dr. George Bayton, Philadelphia physician, died recently. Miss Bayton has not been heard from since the outbreak of the conflict, and all efforts of her sister, Mrs. Julia Bayton Banks of 75 St. Nicholas Place to locate her have been futile." 

{May 29, 1937}

She seem to escape to South America, because serveral months later, her name appeared at the Palacio de Justicia, in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

"Por disposición del señor Juez de Instrucción en lo Criminal de la Capital de la República Argentina, doctor Antonio L. Beiuti, se cita, llama y emplaza a Ruth "Virginia" Bayton, para que en el término de treinta días, computado desde la primera publicación del presente, comparezca a estar a derecho en la causa por falso testimonio quese le sigue, bajo apercibimiento de declararle rebelde, si no lo hiciere."

- By order of Mr. Investigating Judge for Criminal Matters in the capital of Argentina, Dr. Antonio L. Beiuti, is quoted calls and summons Ruth "Virginia" Bayton, so that within thirty days, computed from the first publication of this, appear to be right in the cause for false testimony that followed, failing to declare rebellious if not done.

{Buenos Aires, Augusto 1 - Septiembre 8 de 1938}

1947

She returns to the US in the winter of 1943 on the SS Rio Lujan from Argentina to visit her family, before moving back to Europe, even though WWII was still raging, probably to neutral Spain. In 1946, she left Europe again from London on the SS John Ericsson back to New York. Afterwards, she disappears again...