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Between Two Eras: “Norton and Margot” in the Afro-American Entertainment World

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 July 2014

Brenda Dixon-Stowell
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Extract

From 1933 until 1946-47 Margot Webb and Harold Norton performed on the Afro-American vaudeville circuits of night clubs and theatres in the Northeast and the Midwest. Known professionally as “Norton and Margot,” they were one of the few Afro-American ballroom teams in history. Their career was emblematic of the frustrations, paradoxes, and double standards which existed for Afro-American artists in the United States. As a ballroom team, they faced the same obstacles as a Dean Dixon or a Marian Anderson: they were traveling on a white road posted with “No Trespassing” signs for the Afro-American. They followed on the heels of the 1920s, which was the golden era of Afro-American vaudeville, of the Cotton-Club-type, posh nightclub, and of “Black Broadway.” They preceded by two decades the civil rights era of the 1960s, when more opportunities became available to Afro-Americans in mainstream (or white) show business. Norton and Webb belonged to the swing era of the 1930s and the 1940s. However, due to the nature of their performance style and the racial tenor of their times, they were either too early or too late for success. It is in this sense that they existed between two eras.

Type
Articles on Popular Dance in Black America
Information
Dance Research Journal , Volume 15 , Issue 2 , Spring 1983 , pp. 11 - 20
Copyright
Copyright © Congress on Research in Dance 1983

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References

NOTES

1. Hereinafter referred to as Norton and Webb, except when the proper name of the team itself is cited.

2. Stearns, Marshall and Stearns, Jean, Jazz Dance (1968; rpt. New York: Macmillan Co., Shirmer Books, 1979), pp. 87–89, 342–48Google Scholar.

3. For a sampling of particular issues, see Dixon-Stowell, Brenda, “Dancing in the Dark: The Life and Times of Margot Webb in Aframerican Vaudeville of the Swing Era” (Ph.D. dissertation, New York University, 1981), bibliography, pp. 784–88Google Scholar.

4. Interviews, correspondence, and/or conversations were conducted by the author with the following people: Marion and Marjorie Facey, ballet teachers and former students of Margot Webb; Howard “Stretch” Johnson, former Cotton Club dancer; John Williams, swing-era and contemporary bassist, who played with such bands as the Louis Armstrong and the Teddy Wilson groups; Ralph Cooper, former dancer, bandleader, emcee, and actor, who introduced Margot Webb to Harold Norton; Louis Williams, former tap dancer, who worked in the team of “Pops and Louis.”

5. Chalif, Louis, The Chalif Textbook(s) of Dancing, 5 vols. (New York: The Chalif Normal School of Dancing, 1914–1925)Google Scholar.

6. The Afro-American, 18 November 1937.

7. Webb interview [all Webb interviews conducted by Brenda Dixon-Stowell], 19 November 1977.

8. Dixon-Stowell, Brenda, “Interview with Margot Webb,” unpublished transcript and tape, April, 1978, p. 9Google Scholar. Dance Collection, Lincoln Center Library of the Performing Arts.

9. Webb interview, 27 August 1980.

10. Ibid.

11. Webb interview, 17 September 1980.

12. Ibid.

13. “Margot-Norton Set Nite Lifers Ga-Ga With Dance Thrills,” Chicago Defender, 1934Google ScholarPubMed. Webb collection.

14. “Can't Steal My Dance Is Margot Yarn,” Chicago Defender, date unknown, ca. 1934–1935.

15. Marjorie/Marion Facey interview, 7 October 1980.