Category: Entertainers, Theater and Music
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Miss Rhapsody Viola Wells
1902-1984 Born in Newark, Viola Wells, known as Miss Rhapsody was an internationally acclaimed jazz, blues and religious singer. In Newark, she sang for local jazz clubs in the 1920s and started out with the Salica Johnson Glee Club. She also performed in New York and nationally, playing with Count Basie’s Orchestra and the Harlem…
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Myrtle C. Williams
1900- 1957 Myrtle C Williams grew up in Newark on Chestnut St. She was the first “colored girl” to finish a 4 year commercial course in 1919 when she graduated East Side High and played a piano solo at the graduation. Myrtle entered Columbia University. In 1921 she was appointed stenographer for the Mayor’s Department.…
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Elizabeth Miele
1898-1975? Elizabeth Miele was an early law school graduate, journalist and playwright. Elizabeth Miele was a newspaper reporter for the Newark Ledger, publisher of The Civic Pilot. She organized the Club Service Publishing Company, an advertising syndicate for women’s club publications. Elizabeth was a 1921 graduate of New Jersey Law School, an early woman lawyer.…
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Dorothy Palmer
c. 1893-1984 Dorothy Palmer operated the Dorothy Palmer School of dancing on Broadway in Newark for more than 50 years. She retired in 1963. Born in Newark, Dorothy attended Barringer High. She was member of the Dance Masters of America. She began teaching students at age 13 when she was at Elliot Street School. Bibliography…
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Nellie Gray Grashof
c. 1843-1928 Nellie (Ellen) Gray Grashof was a singer, mezzo-soprano, who had a 75 year career. She said, at age 83, “It is music that has kept me alive.” Her death in 1928 ran on the front page of the Newark Evening News. Nellie Gray was born in North Carolina, but came to Newark early…
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Gloria Fowles Gaynor
1943- Gloria Gayner, born Gloria Fowles in Newark, is a singer, whose biggest hit is the 1978 “I Will Survive”. Gloria lived on Howard Street and the Stella Wright Projects as a child and graduated South Side High in 1961. In 1963, she wrote a letter to the Star Ledger in tribute to President Kennedy.…
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Elsa Greenwood
1893-1957 Elsa Greenwood was lifelong resident of Newark, who attended Robert Treat School. She ran the Elsa Greenwood School of Dance. When Elsa died in 1957 the Newark News claimed it was due to exhaustion from staging dance recitals, which she did frequently around the city and state. In her early career Elsa was in…
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Kitty V. Kearney Taylor
1926-2008 Kitty Taylor was a 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 Senior Citizen Commission in 1963 by Addonizio and served as public relations for director for the Commission, and later as assistant director. She later served on…