{{Short description|American vaudeville dancer and entertainer}} {{Infobox person | name = Dora Dean | image = Dora Dean Don't You Think You'd Like to Fondle Me.jpg | alt = | caption = Dora Dean taken from the sheet music cover of ''Don't Think You'd Like to Fondle Me'' by Hughie Cannon, {{circa|1900}}. | birth_name = Dora Babbige | birth_date = 1872 | birth_place = Cloverport, Kentucky, U.S. | death_date = {{Death date and age|1949|12|13|1872}} | death_place = Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S. | other_names = | occupation = Vaudeville | known_for = Dancing and Choreographing }}

'''Dora Dean''' (born '''Dora Babbige''';<ref name="v">{{cite book |last1=Cullen |first1=Frank |last2=Hackman |first2=Florence |last3=McNeilly |first3=Donald |title=Vaudeville old & new: an encyclopedia of variety performances in America |date=2007 |publisher=Psychology Press |isbn=978-0-415-93853-2 |pages=570–571 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XFnfnKg6BcAC&q=%22Dora+Dean%22&pg=PA570 |accessdate=December 23, 2019 |language=en}}</ref> c. 1872 &ndash; December 13, 1949)<ref name=ms/> was an African-American vaudeville dancer and entertainer. She was part of one of the most popular vaudeville acts of the pre-World War I period.<ref name="Johns1996">{{cite book|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ssMBzqrUpjwC&q=%22dora%20dean%22&pg=PA164|title=Notable Black American Women, Book 2|date=1996|publisher=VNR AG|isbn=9780810391772|pages=161–164|chapter=Dora Dean (c.1872–1949) dancer, entertainer|last1=Johns|first1=Robin L.|editor1-last=Smith|editor1-first=Jessie Carney}}</ref> She was best known for popularizing the cakewalk dance internationally, with her husband and dance partner Charles E. Johnson, as part of the act Dean and Johnson.

== Early years == Dean was born in Cloverport, Kentucky.<ref name="ms">{{cite news |title=Dora Dean, Cake Walk Star, Dies |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/40961208/dora_dean/ |accessdate=December 23, 2019 |work=The Minneapolis Star |date=December 13, 1949 |location=Minnesota, Minneapolis |page=1|via = Newspapers.com}}</ref> (Another source gives Covington, Kentucky, as her place of birth.)<ref name="nkaad">{{cite web |title=Dean, Dora [Dora Dean Babbige Johnson] |url=https://nkaa.uky.edu/nkaa/items/show/1885 |website=Notable Kentucky African Americans Database |publisher=University of Kentucky Libraries |accessdate=December 23, 2019 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20191223211607/https://nkaa.uky.edu/nkaa/items/show/1885 |archivedate=December 23, 2019}}</ref> She worked as a nursemaid in Cincinnati, Ohio, before becoming an entertainer.<ref name="st" />

== Career == Dean debuted as a dancer with a Creole traveling show.<ref name="st" /> In vaudeville, she was known as "The Black Venus".<ref name="nkaad" />

Early in their time as a team, Johnson and Dean decided to avoid Uncle Tom-style humor. Instead, they went for a higher level of performances. As they were able, they bought costumes and jewelry to enhance the act's look.<ref name="swsr">{{cite news |title=Cakewalker, 80, eyes comeback |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/41001671/the_semiweekly_spokesmanreview/ |accessdate=December 24, 2019 |work=The Semi-Weekly Spokesman-Review |date=December 23, 1951 |location=Washington, Spokane |page=7|via = Newspapers.com}}</ref> They are identified with several firsts. They were the first African American couple to perform on Broadway, the first to use strobe lighting, and the first to use steel taps on their shoes.<ref name="nkaad" />

The couple moved to Europe in 1903 and began performing most of the time there, with occasional trips to Australia and the United States for performances.<ref name="nkaad" /> In 1902, they performed in London's Palace Theatre for King Edward VII.<ref name="swsr" />

Johnson and Dean ended their act in 1914 to pursue individual careers.<ref name="nbaw" /> She appeared in the film ''Georgia Rose'' (1930).<ref name="nkaad" /> After 20 years, they reunited at a time when vaudeville was dying.<ref name="nbaw">{{cite book |last1=Smith |first1=Jessie Carney |title=Notable Black American Women |date=1992 |publisher=VNR AG |isbn=978-0-8103-9177-2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ssMBzqrUpjwC&q=%22Dora+Dean%22&pg=PA164 |accessdate=December 23, 2019 |language=en}}</ref>

==Legacy== Dean's beauty inspired a number of songs, including "Dora Dean The Sweetest Gal You Ever Seen" (1896) by performer and composer Bert Williams and "Dora Dean's Sister" (1902) by Joseph F. Lamb.<ref name="Binkowski2012">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4nxnPm5wk3wC&q=%22dora+dean%22&pg=PA46|title=Joseph F. Lamb: A Passion for Ragtime|date=2012|publisher=McFarland|isbn=9780786490790|page=46|last1=Binkowski|first1=Carol J.|accessdate=May 28, 2016}}</ref>

In 1898, "Dora Dean The Sweetest Gal You Ever Seen" was the subject of a lawsuit in which a San Francisco judge ruled that the song could not be protected by copyright with the original lyrics "... the hottest thing you ever seen ..." because "the word 'hottest' as used in this case has an indelicate and vulgar meaning ..."<ref>{{cite news |title='Ma Angeline' is a pirate |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/40962451/the_san_francisco_call/ |accessdate=December 23, 2019 |work=San Francisco Call |date=June 2, 1898 |location=California, San Francisco |page=8|via = Newspapers.com}}</ref>

In 1946, radio game show host John Reed King stumped his studio audience with the question "Who is Dora Dean?"<ref name="st">{{cite news |last1=Grim |first1=George |title=Who's Dora Dean? City Holds Answer to Quiz Program |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/40961764/dora_dean/ |accessdate=December 23, 2019 |work=Star Tribune |date=October 23, 1946 |location=Minnesota, Minneapolis |page=13}}</ref> A refrigerator, bedroom suite, silverware set, and $100 went unclaimed as no one provided the correct answer.<ref name=st/>

== Later years and death == Johnson and Dean reunited (professionally and personally) in 1934 and retired by 1942. They lived in Minneapolis in their later years. Dean died in Minneapolis in 1949.

== References == {{reflist}} {{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dean, Dora}} Category:1870s births Category:1949 deaths Category:American vaudeville performers Category:American female dancers Category:Dancers from Minnesota Category:Entertainers from Minneapolis Category:American burlesque performers Category:African-American dancers Category:20th-century African-American people Category:20th-century African-American women Category:People from Cloverport, Kentucky

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