Finding Florence Mills

Allyson Devenish goes in search of Florence Mills.

In the 1920s, Florence Mills was probably one of the most famous women alive and certainly the first black international celebrity, and yet she has faded from the collective cultural memory. This is partly because there are no recordings of her: no 78s of her singing nor film of her dancing, and she’s almost entirely absent from histories of jazz.

She was there at the birth of the Harlem Renaissance, rocketing to fame in the musical Shuffle Along. When she died, all of Harlem turned out for her funeral, with hundreds of thousands of people thronging the streets.

Florence also had a powerful impact in the UK, where she performed in two smash hit stage shows. Audiences and critics were enraptured, but her impact was felt beyond the showbiz pages of the newspapers. She was revered by jazz musicians, composers and critics of classical music for her extraordinary voice, as well as by pioneers of British dance. And she spoke out, with eloquence, about the politics of race.

The pianist Allyson Devenish doesn't think Florence Mills has been remembered or celebrated in the way that she deserves and sets out to look for her in the traces that she left: the memories of people that knew her, the accounts of her performance and the music written especially for her.

Allyson hears from Steph Doktor about her attempt to recover Florence’s voice and sits down with Eric Mealer from the National Opera Studio to try and make sense of the reports and reviews of Florence’s singing.

Other contributors include Celeste Headlee, William Grant Still’s granddaughter, the singer Elaine Mitchener, historians Stephen Bourne, Jane Pritchard, Caroline Bressey and Catherine Tackley.

Producer: Natalie Steed for Rhubarb Rhubarb