Frankie Manning
Encyclopedia
Frankie Manning was an American dance
Dance
Dance is an art form that generally refers to movement of the body, usually rhythmic and to music, used as a form of expression, social interaction or presented in a spiritual or performance setting....

r, instructor and choreographer. Manning is considered one of the founding fathers of the Lindy Hop
Lindy Hop
The Lindy Hop is an American social dance, from the swing dance family. It evolved in Harlem, New York City in the 1920s and '30s and originally evolved with the jazz music of that time. Lindy was a fusion of many dances that preceded it or were popular during its development but is mainly based...

.

Early years

Manning was born in Jacksonville, Florida
Jacksonville, Florida
Jacksonville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Florida in terms of both population and land area, and the largest city by area in the contiguous United States. It is the county seat of Duval County, with which the city government consolidated in 1968...

 in 1914. He moved to Harlem at the age of 3, with his mother, who was also a dancer. Frankie began dancing as a child, then started attending the early evening dances for older teens at the Renaissance Ballroom. When he was older he started going to the Savoy, which was for better dancers. He frequented Harlem
Harlem
Harlem is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan, which since the 1920s has been a major African-American residential, cultural and business center. Originally a Dutch village, formally organized in 1658, it is named after the city of Haarlem in the Netherlands...

's Savoy Ballroom
Savoy Ballroom
The Savoy Ballroom, located in Harlem, New York City, was a medium sized ballroom for music and public dancing that was in operation from March 12, 1926 to July 10, 1958. It was located between 140th and 141st Streets on Lenox Avenue....

 in the 1930s, eventually becoming a dancer in the elite and prestigious "Kat's Corner," a corner of the dance floor in which impromptu exhibitions and competitions took place. During a dance contest in 1935, Manning and his partner Frieda Washington performed the first air step
Aerial (dance move)
An aerial is a dance move in Lindy Hop where one's feet leave the floor. The term has come to mean a wide range of special and unusual dance moves, including dips, slides, and tricks....

 (often referred to as an aerial) in a swing
Swing (dance)
"Swing dance" is a group of dances that developed with the swing style of jazz music in the 1920s-1950s, although the earliest of these dances predate swing jazz music. The best known of these dances is the Lindy Hop, a popular partner dance that originated in Harlem and is still danced today...

 dance competition against George "Shorty" Snowden
George Snowden
"Shorty" George Snowden was an African American dancer in Harlem during the 1920s and 1930s. He is popularly credited with coining the name "Lindy Hop" for a popular partner swing dance of the day...

 and his partner Big Bea, at the Savoy Ballroom. The air step he performed was a "back to back roll" and was danced while Chick Webb
Chick Webb
William Henry Webb, usually known as Chick Webb was an American jazz and swing music drummer as well as a band leader.-Biography:...

 played "Down South Camp Meeting", which was Manning's request after having heard the song earlier in the evening. The airstep went flawlessly to the music and astonished over 2,000 audience members watching.

Career

In 1935, Herbert White organized the top Savoy Ballroom lindy hop dancers into a professional performance group that was eventually named Whitey's Lindy Hoppers
Whitey's Lindy Hoppers
Whitey's Lindy Hoppers was a professional performing group of Savoy Ballroom swing dancers, started in 1935 by Herbert "Whitey" White. The group took on many different forms, with up to 12 different groups performing under this name or one of a number of different names used for the group over the...

. Manning created the troupe's first ensemble Lindy Hop routines and functioned as the group's de facto choreographer, although without that title. The troupe toured extensively and made several films. While with Whitey's, Manning also danced with Norma Miller
Norma Miller
Norma Miller is an American swing dancer known to many people as The Queen of Swing. The daughter of parents from Bridgetown, Barbados, Miller was born and raised in Harlem, New York. She was interviewed along with dance partner Frankie Manning in Ken Burns documentary Jazz...

, who became known as the Queen of Swing. Whitey's Lindy Hoppers disbanded around WWII
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 when many of the male dancers were drafted. After the war, in 1947, Manning created a small performance group called the Congaroos
Congaroos
The Congaroos was a dance group created in 1947 by Frankie Manning after completing his military service for World War II. The group originally consisted of Frankie Manning dancing with Ann Johnson and Russell Williams dancing with Willamae Ricker. Later Helen Daniels joined the group and...

. When the Congaroos disbanded in 1955, Manning quietly settled into a career with the United States Postal Service
United States Postal Service
The United States Postal Service is an independent agency of the United States government responsible for providing postal service in the United States...

.

The Lindy Hop

The Lindy Hop is popularly thought to get its name from famed aviator Charles Lindbergh
Charles Lindbergh
Charles Augustus Lindbergh was an American aviator, author, inventor, explorer, and social activist.Lindbergh, a 25-year-old U.S...

, nicknamed "Lucky Lindy" in 1926. After Lindbergh's solo non-stop flight from New York to Paris in which he "hopped" the Atlantic in 1927, "Shorty" George Snowden
George Snowden
"Shorty" George Snowden was an African American dancer in Harlem during the 1920s and 1930s. He is popularly credited with coining the name "Lindy Hop" for a popular partner swing dance of the day...

 was dancing in a marathon contest at the Manhattan Casino in Harlem
Harlem
Harlem is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan, which since the 1920s has been a major African-American residential, cultural and business center. Originally a Dutch village, formally organized in 1658, it is named after the city of Haarlem in the Netherlands...

 when a reporter asked him what dance he was doing. The headlines in the newspapers in 1928 read "Lindy hops the Atlantic", so he told the reporter, "I'm doing the Lindy Hop," giving the Lindy Hop its official name.

In 1982, Al Minns
Al Minns
Al Minns , was a prominent American Lindy Hop and jazz dancer. Most famous for his film and stage performances in the 1930s and 1940s with the Harlem-based Whitey's Lindy Hoppers, Minns worked throughout his life to promote the dances that he and his cohorts helped to pioneer at New York's Savoy...

, a former member of Whitey's Lindy Hoppers, started to teach Lindy Hop at the Sandra Cameron Dance Center where he introduced a new generation of dancers to the Lindy Hop. Before he died in 1985, he told his students that Manning, another surviving member of Whitey's Lindy Hoppers, also lived in New York City.

In 1986, dancers Erin Stevens and Steven Mitchell contacted Manning and asked him to teach them the Lindy Hop. Manning at first declined, before finally agreeing to meet with them; he was skeptical that a much younger generation would really be interested in swing or Lindy. However, Mitchell and Stevens returned to California and helped to spread Lindy Hop to the West Coast and other areas of the U.S. Thus, the swing revival began. That same year, Lennart Westerlund contacted Manning and invited him to Sweden to work with The Rhythm Hot Shots
The Rhythm Hot Shots
The Hot Shots is a collective name for two closely related Swedish dance companies based in Stockholm, Sweden: The Rhythm Hot Shots and the Harlem Hot Shots. The Hot Shots specialize in faithful reproductions of African-American dance scenes in American films from the 1920s, 30s, and 40s...

. Manning traveled to Sweden in 1987 and returned there every year from 1989 onward to teach at the Herräng Dance Camp
Herräng Dance Camp
Herräng Dance Camp is the largest annual dance camp that focuses on African American jazz dances such as Lindy Hop, boogie woogie, tap, authentic jazz, and balboa...

.

Recent years

Once the swing dance and Lindy Hop revival took hold during the late 1980s, Manning taught Lindy Hop to eager devotees around the world, occasionally appearing with Norma Miller
Norma Miller
Norma Miller is an American swing dancer known to many people as The Queen of Swing. The daughter of parents from Bridgetown, Barbados, Miller was born and raised in Harlem, New York. She was interviewed along with dance partner Frankie Manning in Ken Burns documentary Jazz...

. Sometimes, dance workshops returned him to places he hadn't been in decades. For example, Frankie first visited Melbourne, Australia in 1939 to perform at the Princess Theatre
Princess Theatre, Melbourne
The Princess Theatre is a 1488-seat theatre in Melbourne, Australia.It is listed by the National Trust of Australia and is on the Victorian Heritage Register.-History:...

. The swing revival
Swing Revival
The Swing Revival was a late 1990s and early 2000s period of renewed popular interest in swing and jump blues music and dance from the 1930s and 1940s as exemplified by Louis Prima, often mixed with a more contemporary rock, rockabilly or ska sound, known also as neo-swing or retro...

 and Melbourne's Swing Patrol, brought him back again in 2002; it was his first visit to Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...

 in 63 years.

At the age of 75, Manning co-choreographed the Broadway musical Black and Blue
Black and Blue (musical)
Black and Blue is a musical revue celebrating the black culture of dance and music in Paris between World War I and World War II.Based on an idea by Mel Howard and conceived by Hector Orezzoli and Claudio Segovia, it consists of songs by artists such as W. C...

, for which he received a 1989 Tony Award
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...

. In 2000, he was awarded a National Endowment for the Arts
National Endowment for the Arts
The National Endowment for the Arts is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created by an act of the U.S. Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government. Its current...

 National Heritage Fellowship.

Manning's autobiography
Autobiography
An autobiography is a book about the life of a person, written by that person.-Origin of the term:...

, Frankie Manning: Ambassador of Lindy Hop, written with co-author Cynthia R. Millman, was published by Temple University Press
Temple University Press
Temple University Press is a university press publishing house that is part of Temple University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.The press was founded in 1969....

 in May 2007. It contains a collection of stories about the early days of swing
Swing (dance)
"Swing dance" is a group of dances that developed with the swing style of jazz music in the 1920s-1950s, although the earliest of these dances predate swing jazz music. The best known of these dances is the Lindy Hop, a popular partner dance that originated in Harlem and is still danced today...

 dancing, Manning's years performing with Whitey's Lindy Hoppers
Whitey's Lindy Hoppers
Whitey's Lindy Hoppers was a professional performing group of Savoy Ballroom swing dancers, started in 1935 by Herbert "Whitey" White. The group took on many different forms, with up to 12 different groups performing under this name or one of a number of different names used for the group over the...

, his experiences during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, and his post-war dance troupe, the Congaroos. The book also recounts his experiences of the revival of swing dancing that began in the mid-1980s, and the two decades following.

In recent years, Manning's annual birthday celebrations have drawn together dancers and instructors from all over the world. His 80th birthday, in 1994, was commemorated by a weekend-long celebration in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

; his 85th culminated in a sold-out party at New York's Roseland Ballroom
Roseland Ballroom
The Roseland Ballroom is a multi-purpose hall, in a converted ice skating rink, with a colorful ballroom dancing pedigree, in New York City's theatre district, on West 52nd Street....

, where a pair of his dance shoes were placed in a showcase along with those of dancers such as Fred Astaire
Fred Astaire
Fred Astaire was an American film and Broadway stage dancer, choreographer, singer and actor. His stage and subsequent film career spanned a total of 76 years, during which he made 31 musical films. He was named the fifth Greatest Male Star of All Time by the American Film Institute...

. For his 86th birthday, a huge gala was held in Tokyo in his honor, which included workshops taught by the maestro himself; the climax of the festivities featured a live orchestra. Manning drew a huge crowd of Japanese and foreign expatriate swing enthusiasts for this memorable occasion. Dedicated cruises were organized for his 89th and 90th birthdays; for his birthday dances, Manning followed his custom of dancing with one woman for every year of his life, partnering 89 and 90 women, respectively, in succession.

Before his death in April 2009, Manning had been planning to celebrate his 95th birthday in May 2009 in New York City at a special Lindy Hop dance event over Memorial Day weekend. The event, commonly referred to as Frankie Fest or Frankie 95, proceeded without him but in his memory and gathered dancers and instructors from around the world. In anticipation of the event, dance groups from all over the globe posted more than 160 videos to YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....

 of local performances of the Shim Sham
Shim Sham
The Shim Sham Shimmy, Shim Sham or just Sham originally is a particular tap dance routine. It is credited to Leonard Reed, who originally called it Goofus, or to Willie Bryant...

 (a swing line dance long associated with Manning) as well as many videos of a Savoy-style routine choreographed especially for the Frankie 95 celebration by noted swing dancer and Lindy instructor Peter Strom. On Sunday of Frankie 95, attendees attempted to set three Guinness world records
Guinness World Records
Guinness World Records, known until 2000 as The Guinness Book of Records , is a reference book published annually, containing a collection of world records, both human achievements and the extremes of the natural world...

 in Central Park
Central Park
Central Park is a public park in the center of Manhattan in New York City, United States. The park initially opened in 1857, on of city-owned land. In 1858, Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux won a design competition to improve and expand the park with a plan they entitled the Greensward Plan...

, including one for the greatest number of people dancing the Shim Sham simultaneously in one place.

Proceeds from the five-day Frankie 95 celebration were used to create a Frankie Manning Foundation.

A resident of Corona, Queens
Corona, Queens
Corona is a densely-populated neighborhood in the former Township of Newtown in the borough of Queens in New York City, New York, United States...

, Manning died in Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...

 on April 27, 2009. He is interred in the Hillcrest Plot at Woodlawn Cemetery in Bronx, NY.

Manning was inducted into the National Museum of Dance C.V. Whitney Hall of Fame
National Museum of Dance and Hall of Fame
The National Museum of Dance and Hall of Fame, in the Saratoga Spa State Park, Saratoga, New York, was established in 1986 and is the only museum in the nation dedicated entirely to dance. It contains photographs, videos, artifacts, costumes and biographies. The museum is located in the former and...

 in 2009.

Filmography

  • Radio City Revels (1938)
  • Keep Punching (1939)
  • Hellzapoppin'
    Hellzapoppin' (film)
    Hellzapoppin' is a 1941 Universal Pictures adaptation of the musical of the same name directed by H.C. Potter. The cast includes Ole Olsen and Chic Johnson , Martha Raye, Mischa Auer, Shemp Howard, and The Six Hits.The credits for the movie assert that "any resemblance between Hellzapoppin and a...

    (1941)
  • Hot Chocolates (1941)
  • Jittering Jitterbugs (1943)
  • Killer Diller
    Killer Diller (1948 film)
    Killer Diller is a 1948 American musical comedy-drama film directed by Josh Binney and released by All American.The movie features The Clark Brothers , Nat King Cole, Moms Mabley, Dusty Fletcher, Butterfly McQueen, the Andy Kirk Orchestra and the Four Congaroos .-Plot summary:Dusty Fletcher plays a...

    (1948)
  • Malcolm X (1992) - choreography
  • Stompin' at the Savoy
    Stompin' at the Savoy
    "Stompin' at the Savoy" is a 1934 jazz standard composed by Edgar Sampson. It is named after the Savoy Ballroom.Although the song is credited to Benny Goodman, Chick Webb, and Edgar Sampson, and the lyrics by Andy Razaf, in reality the music was written and arranged for Chick Webb's band by...

    (1992) - choreography
  • Jazz: A Film by Ken Burns
    Jazz (documentary)
    Jazz was a 2000 documentary miniseries, directed by Ken Burns. Jazz was the last in a trilogy by Burns, following The Civil War and Baseball...

    (2000)
  • Frankie Manning: Never Stop Swinging (2009)

See also

  • Savoy-Style Lindy Hop
    Savoy-style Lindy Hop
    Savoy-style Lindy Hop is a contemporary term used to describe Lindy Hop as danced by African American dancers at the Savoy Ballroom in Harlem in the 1930s and 1940s. It has been used in contrast with the terms 'Hollywood-style Lindy Hop' or 'Smooth-Style Lindy Hop', popularly associated with Dean...

  • African-American vernacular dance
  • Lindy hop
    Lindy Hop
    The Lindy Hop is an American social dance, from the swing dance family. It evolved in Harlem, New York City in the 1920s and '30s and originally evolved with the jazz music of that time. Lindy was a fusion of many dances that preceded it or were popular during its development but is mainly based...

  • History of Lindy Hop
    History of Lindy Hop
    The History of Lindy Hop begins in the African American communities of Harlem, New York during the late 1920s in conjunction with swing jazz. Lindy Hop is closely related to earlier African American vernacular dances but quickly gained its own fame through dancers in films, performances,...

  • Shim Sham
    Shim Sham
    The Shim Sham Shimmy, Shim Sham or just Sham originally is a particular tap dance routine. It is credited to Leonard Reed, who originally called it Goofus, or to Willie Bryant...

  • Herräng Dance Camp
    Herräng Dance Camp
    Herräng Dance Camp is the largest annual dance camp that focuses on African American jazz dances such as Lindy Hop, boogie woogie, tap, authentic jazz, and balboa...

  • Swing Camps

External links

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