Leonard Harper (producer)
| Leonard Harper | |
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| Born | April 9, 1899 |
| Died | February 13, 1943 (aged 43) |
| Occupation | Producer/stager/choreographer |
Leonard Harper (April 9, 1899, Birmingham, Alabama – February 4, 1943, Harlem, New York) was a producer, stager, and choreographer in New York City during the Harlem Renaissance in the 1920s and 1930s.
Harper's works spanned the worlds of Vaudeville, Cabaret, Burlesque and Broadway musical comedy. As a dancer, choreographer and studio owner, he coached many of the country's leading performers, including Ruby Keller, Fred Astaire and Adele Astaire, and the Marx Brothers went for lessons. He produced floor shows and theatrical revues both uptown in Harlem and downtown on Broadway's Great White Way.
He co-directed and staged the ensemble segments of The Exile and the short film Darktown Revue with Oscar Micheaux. Harper staged for Broadway Hot Chocolates at the Hudson Theatre and was the premiere producer who opened up the Cotton Club. Harper also produced Lindy Hop revues and an act called Harper's Lindy Hoppers at the Savoy Ballroom as detailed in his biography "Rhythm For Sale".
Harper was born in 1899 in Birmingham, Alabama, to William Harper, a performer, and his wife. It was the major industrial city of the state. Harper started dancing as a child to attract a crowd on a medicine show wagon, traveling with the show throughout the South. In 1915, Harper first toured in New York City but quickly moved to Chicago.
There he began choreographing and performing dance acts with Osceola Blanks of the Blanks Sisters they became the first black act for the Shubert Brothers. He married Osceola Blanks in 1923, Chicago Defender, January 1918, July 1, 1922.
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