June Taylor
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June Taylor (14 December 1917-16 May 2004) was an American choreographer.
Born in Chicago, Taylor was a nightclub dancer until she developed tuberculosis at age 20. She took up choreography, founding, in 1942, her own troupe of dancers, the June Taylor Dancers, and took them on the road. She met Jackie Gleason at a Baltimore nightclub in 1946, and 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 Jackie Gleason's Cavalcade of Stars, and followed him, with sixteen dancers, to The Jackie Gleason Show, where her signature camera shot was the overhead kaleidoscopic Busby Berkeley-type shot of the dancers making geometric patterns. The high-kicking, smiling routines that formed the first three minutes of each broadcast were Broadway-based and reminiscent 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.
Taylor won an Emmy Award for choreography in 1955.
Gleason brought his show from New York City to Miami Beach in 1964, apparently so he could golf year-round, which helped revitalize that area until it stopped taping in 1970.
Taylor, who lived in Fort Lauderdale, Florida began choreographing the Miami Dolphins cheerleading squad, the Dolphin Starbrites, and served in this capacity from 1978 until 1990. The Starbrites, famous for their one-piece bathing suits and go-go boots, performed very popular Broadway-style halftime shows.
June Taylor married attorney Sol Lerner. Her sister, and sometime dance partner, Marilyn Taylor Horwich, married Jackie Gleason in 1975 as his third wife.
On May 9, 2000, Taylor was interviewed by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Foundation's Archive of American Television. This interview can be seen at the Archive's offices in North Hollywood, California.
In 2001, Taylor was featured on episodes of A&E's TVOGRAPHY, a program telling the stories of America's favorite TV shows.
June Taylor died on May 16, 2004 in Miami, of natural causes.
[edit] Credits
- Ed Sullivan's Toast of the Town - 1948
- Jackie Gleason's Cavalcade of Stars - 1950
- The Jackie Gleason Show - 1952-1959 and 1962-1970
- What's My Line -1956
[edit] External links
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