{{Short description|American jazz tap dancer, singer, and entertainer (1921–2019)}} {{distinguish|Mabel Lee}} {{Infobox person | name = Mable Lee | image = Mable_Lee_1945.jpg | caption = Lee c. 1945. | birth_date = {{Birth date|1921|08|02}} | birth_place = Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. | death_date = {{death date and age|2019|2|7|1921|8|2}} | death_place= New York City, New York, U.S.<ref name=NYT>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/14/obituaries/mable-lee-dead.html |title=Mable Lee, Tap-Dancing 'Queen of the Soundies,' Dies at 97 |first=Brian |last=Seibert |date=February 14, 2019 | work=The New York Times |archive-url=https://archive.today/20190215081638/https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/14/obituaries/mable-lee-dead.html |archive-date=February 15, 2019 |url-status=live }}</ref> | other_names = {{hlist|The Queen of Soundies|Mabel Lee}} | resting_place = | occupation = {{hlist|Tap dancer|singer}} | years_active = 1934–2018 }} '''Mable Lee''' (August 2, 1921 – February 7, 2019), sometimes spelled '''Mabel Lee''', was an American jazz tap dancer, singer, and entertainer. Lee appeared on Broadway, at the Apollo Theater, and was known as "Queen of the Soundies" due to her numerous performances in the films.
==Biography== Born in Atlanta, Georgia to Rosella Moore and Alton Lee, Mable Lee was a child prodigy who began performing when she was 4 years old, at age 9 was performing in local clubs with a big band and as a 12-year-old was appearing at the Top Hat nightclub in Georgia. Neither of her parents were in show business, but they would sing and dance around the house. When she was in grade school, she asked her principal to use the assembly room to put on entertainment shows, putting up posters, and making programs. Lee also sang and danced for her teachers growing up—they were all aware of her talent from an early age.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=February 16, 2017|title=Interview with Mabel Lee|url=http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/5ac7f56e-50ba-40d5-bdb9-b154a971688c|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=September 29, 2020|website=NYPL}}</ref>
Her high school music teacher was Graham W. Jackson Sr. Amazed by her talent, he took her with him to perform, including for Franklin Delano Roosevelt to his vacation house in White Plains, Georgia.<ref name=":0" />
Lee's mother and aunt were always supportive of her performance endeavors and went with her to every show growing up. The Whitman Sisters noticed her when she was performing at Top Hat, but her mother encouraged her to finish high school before moving to pursue her career.<ref name=":0" />
She moved to New York City with her mother in 1940 to pursue a career as a singer and dancer, and soon joined the chorus of the Apollo Theater in Harlem. She also did acrobatics performed with a chair, which she referred to as her novelty. She simultaneously did vaudeville and nightclub shows.<ref name=":0" /> She auditioned and was chosen to perform at the West End Theatre.<ref name=":1" /> She subsequently worked at various nightclubs, before Dick Campbell sent her<ref name=":0" /> to London, where she spent 18 months and performed at the London Palladium.<ref name=":1">{{cite book | url=http://memory.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/loc.music.tdabio.123/default.html | title=Mable Lee [biography] | publisher=Library of Congress}}</ref> Regarding her work at the Palladium, she says “I represented America in the nightclub scene, and Africa in the jungle scenes.”<ref name=":1" /> She met Buddy Bradley in London and began teaching alongside him. She got married in London, but the marriage did not last long.<ref name=":0" />
During World War II, she toured with the USO as a member of their first all-black unit. She traveled and did shows for the Navy, Air Force, and at different camps. She also performed for wounded veterans after the war in hospitals and did a show at Leavenworth.<ref name=":0" /> She was known for her dancing in more than 100 soundies in the 1940s. Here she became known as “Queen of the Soundies.”<ref name=":0" />
Lee was featured on the cover of the March 1947 issue of ''Ebony''.<ref>{{cite book | url=https://archive.org/details/tapdancingameric0000hill | url-access=registration | title=Tap Dancing America: A Cultural History | publisher=Oxford University Press | last=Hill | first=Constance Valis | year=2009 | pages=[https://archive.org/details/tapdancingameric0000hill/page/144 144]–145| isbn=978-0-19-539082-7 }}</ref>
She came back from Europe in 1950 and moved back to Atlanta, where she met her husband (Tony Mansfield). She played theaters and nightclubs in Atlanta again, but this time she was doing her own act.<ref name=":0" /> She also appeared on Broadway in multiple productions, including the 1952 revival of the musical ''Shuffle Along''. She traveled to raise money for the show and was a part of raising between $500,000 and $600,000. The show only lasted three days, and all of that money went to nowhere.<ref name=":0" /> She also danced in ''The Hoofers'' and ''Bubbling Brown Sugar''.<ref>{{Cite news|last=|first=|date=14 February 2019|title=Mable Lee, Tap-Dancing 'Queen of the Soundies,' Dies at 97|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/14/obituaries/mable-lee-dead.html|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=September 29, 2020|last1=Seibert|first1=Brian}}</ref> She did choreography throughout her career including for the Soundies, though she did not receive credit for it.<ref name=":0" />
In 1956, she fronted an uncredited vocal group on the rhythm and blues ballad “Dearest Dream,” cowritten by Billy Dawn Smith and released by Hull Records.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://medium.com/@dhinckley/mable-lee-whats-a-tapper-to-do-when-that-cat-just-can-t-dance-915ada533f50 | title=Mable Lee & What's a Tapper To Do When That Cat Just Can't Dance | first=David | last=Hinckley | work=Medium | date=February 11, 2019}}</ref>
In 1960, she gave birth to her only child, a son named Michael,<ref name=":1" /> with Tony Mansfield.<ref name=NYT/>
Lee was the 2004 winner of the Flo-Bert Award which honors "outstanding figures in the field of tap dance",<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.florencemills.com/flobert.htm#2004 |title=The Flo-Bert Awards }}</ref> and a 2008 Inductee into the Tap Dance Hall of Fame.
Her last performance was in July 2018 at Symphony Space in Manhattan as part of the New York City Tap Festival.<ref name=NYT/> She kept creating so long because she was so curious and other people fostered that.<ref name=":0" />
Lee died on February 7, 2019, at the age of 97 at a nursing home in Manhattan.<ref name=NYT/><ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://www.ebony.com/news/famed-tap-dancer-mable-lee-dies-at-97/ |title=Famed Tap Dancer Mable Lee Dies at 97 |last=Santi |first=Christina | magazine=Ebony |date=8 February 2019}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist|1}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Lee, Mable}} Category:1921 births Category:2019 deaths Category:African-American female dancers Category:American female dancers Category:American tap dancers Category:Musicians from Atlanta Category:African-American women musicians Category:20th-century African-American people Category:21st-century African-American musicians Category:20th-century African-American women Category:21st-century African-American women Category:American expatriates in England