September 1st is Berry Brothers Day!!!

September 1st is Berry Brothers Day!!!

Today is the day of the release date of their first film. "Berry Brothers, dancers, consisted of Ananias "Nyas" Berry (18 Aug. 1913-5 Oct. 1951) and James Berry (c. 1915-28 Jan. 1969), both born in New Orleans, Louisiana, and Warren Berry (25 Dec. 1922-10 Aug. 1996), born in Denver, Colorado, the sons of Ananias Berry and Redna Berry, whose occupations are unknown. In 1919, Nyas and James first began performing together, touring the church circuit in Chicago as elocutionists reciting poems by Paul Laurence Dunbar. After the family moved to Denver, the two elder brothers branched out and began playing carnivals. Their father, a very religious man, had forbidden them to dance, but Nyas had memorized dances he had seen other performers do, and had built upon them himself. He persuaded his father to let him enter an amateur dance contest, in which he floored the audience. The theater manager offered Nyas $75 a week; the elder Ananias insisted that Nyas and James continue as a team. They then put together an act based on the widely acclaimed Bert Williams and George Walker, the most famous African-American show business performance team of their time. Nyas and James named their act "The Miniature Williams and Walker." In the mid-1920s the Berry family moved to Hollywood, California, where James danced at parties given by silent film stars such as Mary Pickford and Clara Bow. They also appeared in Our Gang comedies. Toward the end of the decade they opened as a duo, "the Berry Brothers," with the already legendary Duke Ellington at Harlem's Cotton Club. Although the famous nightclub would remain their home base for the next four and a half years, they toured and performed in other groundbreaking shows. In 1929 they traveled to London and were featured performers in Lew Leslie's popular and highly acclaimed all-African-American revue Blackbirds of 1928. They were the first African-American act at the Copacabana in 1929. They appeared in "Rhythmania" at the Cotton Club and "Rhapsody In Black" in 1931. When Radio City Music Hall had its grand opening on 27 December 1932, the Berry Brothers were on the bill." Thank you Berry Brothers for all of your contributions and inspiration! Please click the link below and learn more about the Berry Brothers. :-)

http://www.anb.org/articles/18/18-03672.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBqSBVxUKM4