January 25, 1896 - November 1, 1927

• Florence Mills (born Florence Winfrey) was one of the greatest entertainers and singing, dancing jazz performers the world has ever seen.

• She was one of the all-time greatest stars of the black theatre, the first black international female superstar of the Twentieth century and a major figure of the Harlem Renaissance

• Florence Mills was steeped in the traditions of  African-based black music and black dance that gave the world the Spirituals ('sorrow songs'), the Blues, Ragtime, Jazz and the basis of much of today's popular culture

• She was also a truly lovable, charitable, socially and intellectually aware woman, who spoke out for the rights of her fellow African Americans.

• Florence Mills is largely forgotten and neglected today, mainly because the primitive recording techniques of the early twentieth century couldn't capture her remarkable voice, and she was never filmed, so no record of her performance remains.

• The purpose of this site is to help reclaim for her the status and respect her remarkable talents and heroic personality warrant, in the eyes of the world and of her fellow African-Americans, to whom she was so important in the 1920s.

•  Check the links below to learn about Florence's true greatness, or  read The Book !

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TTT

Black History month

My modest contribution to Black History Month is to reveal the existence of an unrecognised Hollywood movie portrayal of Florence Mills.
The movie is the 1952 Paramount Somebody Loves Me.
It's a somewhat fictionalized account of the lives of Broadway/vaudeville greats Blossom Seeley and her husband/partner Benny Fields.
 
Critical reaction  was that the film was mediocre but Betty Hutton’s performance as Seeley was sensational.
One of the many great old songs featured was Florence Mills' hit from Dixie to Broadway “Dixie Dreams”.
It's a languorous ballad featuring Florence as a lonely wanderer dressed in overalls, carrying a little bundle over her shoulder.
 
Betty Hutton performs it in a light blackface make-up.
While blackface is generally distasteful, here it is clearly a genuine tribute to Florence Mills.
What we have is Betty Hutton portraying Blossom Seeley portraying Florence Mills.
Why this makes sense is discussed in detail at:

 Somebody Loves Me
 
A quick look at pictures below of Florence and Betty Hutton performing the song will soon dispel any doubts about the intention in the movie.

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TTT
To see what was happening in Florence's world in a particular month of the year click on that month's box below
 and then click "Home" in that month to return

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This site is © copyright property of  Bill Egan. Content created by me can be used subject to appropriate acknowledgement including URL of this site. To contact me or make suggestions (hopefully polite) e-mail me at: (replacing  [AT] with @  )
Bill [AT] FlorenceMills.com
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