2008/05/24

Ruth Bayton


Ruth Bayton, originally uploaded by punalippu.

Photo: d'Ora, Vienna. From the cover of Swedish photoplay magazine Filmnyheter, 1928:1.

Ruth Bayton is practically unknown on the great internet, but my guess is that she was a British black dancer. There's an interesting article about black artists in 1920's Britain that mentions her, available on Jstor (if you have access to this database).

I'd really like to know more about her, so if you can help, I'd be happy...

2 comments:

Chloé Van Paris said...

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carl hancock rux said...

Ruth Bayton was an entertainer from Harlem who first went to Europe as a chorus girl with Florence Mills and the BlackBirds. ccording to the European press, she was the "prettier" alternative to Josephine Baker, dancing in banana skirts, beads and ostrich feathers at various clubs in Paris, Berlin and London. In 1927, she also appeared as an opening act for comedic actor Valeriano Ruiz Paris, dancing the "Black-Bottom Stomp" and the "Charleston" at the Teatro Comico in Barcelona, Spain. A painting of her still exists on the walls of the Paris Odeon. Not much is known of her after the African American Renaissance in Europe during the 20s and 30s.