Category: Entertainers, Theater and Music
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Elizabeth Miele
1898-1975? Went to Barringer and Central High graduating Central in 1918. Newspaper reporter for the Newark Ledger, lawyer, publisher of The Civic Pilot. Graduated New Jersey Law School in 1921. Praticed law at…
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Dorothy Palmer
c. 1893-1984 Operated the Dorothy Palmer School of dancing on Broadway in Newark for more than 50 years. Retired in 1963. Born in Newark, attended Barringer, member of the Dance Masters of America.…
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Nellie Gray (Grashof)
c. 1843-1928 Singer, mezzo-soprano. Active in the choirs at Trinity Cathedral (quartet during Civil War) and B’Nai Jeshurun as well as the Newark Harmonic Society and Opera Society and the Rubenstein Club of…
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Gloria Fowles Gaynor
1943- Born Gloria Fowles in Newark. Graduated South Side High in 1961. Singer. Biggest hit “I Will Survive”. Bibliography Barbara J Kukla Papers, Newark Library’ 1961 South Side Yearbook Gaynor, Gloria. I Will…
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Elsa Greenwood
1893-1957 Lifelong resident of Newark, who attended Robert Treat School. She ran the Elsa Greenwood School of Dance. When she died in 1957 the Newark News claimed it was due to exhaustion from…
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Kitty (Kearney) V. Taylor
1926-2008 Attended Charlton Street School and South Side High. Senior citizen activist and radio host on WNJR with “The Kitty Taylor Show” and “Senior Citizens in Action”. She was named to the Mayor’s…
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Dolores Collins Benjamin
1913-2007 Founded the North Jersey Philharmonic Glee Club. Founded in her Newark, N.J. home in 1939, the all-male African-American choral group is one of the nation’s longest continuously performing ensembles of its kind.…
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Eugenia “Jeanne/Jean” (Byrd) Dawkins
c. 1926-1978 Owned the Key Club, one of Newark’s most famous jazz clubs, with her husband. She ran the club after her husband died In 1976 she was named Newark’s Woman of the…