June Taylor - Early Life and Career

Early Life and Career

Taylor was born in Chicago, the daughter of Percival Guy Taylor and Angela Taylor. She started taking dance lessons at age eight; by age 14, she lied about her age and became one of the dancers at the Chicago nightclub, Chez Paree. At age 19, she was touring the US and Europe as a dancer in various nightclubs. She returned from London and began performing again in Chicago. Taylor collapsed on stage, ill with tuberculosis in 1938; she spent the next two years in a sanitarium. Taylor then turned to choreography, founding her own troupe of dancers in 1942; June Taylor's dancers made their first professional appearance at Chicago's Blackhawk restaurant.

She met Jackie Gleason at a Baltimore nightclub in 1946; the two became friends when Taylor helped Gleason overcome a case of stage fright. She made her television debut in 1948, on The Toast of the Town starring Ed Sullivan, where six of the original dancers appeared as The Toastettes, bringing the chorus line to television. Two years later, she joined Gleason's Cavalcade of Stars, and followed him, with sixteen dancers, to The Jackie Gleason Show, where her signature was the overhead camera shot of the dancers making kaleidoscopic geometric patterns, reminiscent of the work of Busby Berkeley.

Taylor was initially dubious about joining Gleason on his DuMont Network show because it meant signing a long-term contract; her husband, Sol Lerner, suggested she take the offer. The high-kicking, smiling routines that formed the first three minutes of each broadcast were Broadway-based and redolent of The Rockettes. In addition to Gleason's show, the June Taylor Dancers also made appearances at the General Motors "Motorama" auto shows in New York and Boston and on Stage Show. Gleason and Taylor also worked together to produce a television ballet, Tawny, in 1953; the music was done by Gleason and the choreography by Taylor.

Taylor won an Emmy Award for choreography in 1955. Mercedes Ellington, granddaughter of Duke and daughter of Mercer, became the group's first African-American dancer in 1963. In 1965, the June Taylor Dancers added male performers to the troupe.

In 1978, Taylor, who lived in Fort Lauderdale, Florida after Gleason moved production of his show from New York to Miami Beach, began choreographing the Miami Dolphins cheerleading squad, the Dolphin Starbrites, and served in this capacity until 1990. The Starbrites, famous for their one-piece bathing suits and go-go boots, performed Broadway-style halftime shows.