Odessa Warren Grey (August 13, 1883 - April 28, 1960) was milliner, entrepreneur, and performer in Harlem, New York. She is best known as the star of the silent film, Lime Kiln Field Day (1913) where she co-stars with Bert Williams.
Little is known of Odessa Warren's early life. According to her entry in Frank Lincoln Mather's Who's Who of the Colored Race: A General Biographical Dictionary of Men and Women of African Descent (1915), she was born in Greenfield, Ohio, on August 13, 1883, to Edward A. and Sadie K. (Tyre) Warren. [1] However, the 1900 Federal Census lists Edward and Sadie Warren as having been married for six years (or since 1894), with daughter Odessa aged 17. [2]
Warren exhibited a number of talents from an early age.[ citation needed ] An accomplished seamstress, clothes designer and milliner, she also was a dancer and singer in minstrel shows, vaudeville, and the musical productions that heralded the beginning of the tradition of African-American musical theater. She, with her cousin, actress Madge Warren (born Madge Wadkins), were in the traveling companies of Bert Williams and George Walker's The Policy Players (1899-1900). [3] [4] After Madge left the stage to marry the world lightweight boxing champion Joe Gans, [5] Warren continued to perform in vaudeville, and in 1902, joined Williams and Walker's production In Dahomey .
In 1903 this production, with music by Will Marion Cook and lyrics by Paul Laurence Dunbar moved to New York City, where it became the first black musical to open on Broadway. [6] Warren toured with the show to London, returning to New York City with the company on the S.S. Aurania in June 1904. [7] In 1906, again with her cousin Madge (now separated from her husband), [8] [9] Warren was in Ernest Hogan's show Rufus Rastus. [10]
Warren continued on the stage while attending to the costume needs of the women of the theatrical profession. In 1908, she announced her retirement from the stage in order to "confine her labors in the direction of business pursuits." She decided to go full-time as a milliner after making the "Bon Bon Buddy" hats for the women of the "Williams and Walker Show, and was praised in the highest terms by the management for her work." [11]
Her millinery business was called the "Pioneer millinery establishment by Negroes in Harlem" in a newspaper article in February 1921. Warren started the business in her home and then moved to a small shop at 41 W 135th Street, Harlem. Her business continued to grow and after five years, moved to a larger location at 2221 Seventh Ave. In 1921, the store reportedly had one of the largest stocks of any millinery store in Harlem, and had trained and employed several young women as milliners. [12]
In June 1909, she married musician and actor Joseph W. Grey (1879-1956). [13] Warren continued to prosper in her business, and also continued to participate in social and entertainment-oriented affairs, including presentations designed for charitable purposes where she either supplied costumes, or actually performed, or both. For example, in May 1909, "Miss Odessa Warren" participated in a benefit for the "Children's Home" of St. Philip's Episcopal Church of Harlem, that was organized by Aida Overton Walker, Richard C. McPherson and John E. Nail and held at the old Grand Central Palace at Lexington Avenue and East 43rd Street. Coming on after the opening number, Warren, with fellow dancer and actress Maggie Davis (who later married Jesse Shipp) gave a spirited rendition of Joe Jordan's "That Teasin' Rag"; "Misses Davis and Warren are considered two of the best chorus girls in the business, and they lived up to the reputations they established." [14] In January 1912, Odessa Warren Grey was crowned "Queen Odessa" at the New Star Casino during a Mardi Gras celebration. [15]
In unedited footage of a film shot in 1913, Warren stars opposite Bert Williams as a local beauty he's trying to woo. The seven reels of what is now being called Bert Williams' Lime Kiln Field Day features a black cast and white crew, and is now the earliest surviving feature-length film in which the main characters are black and middle class.
The cast is made of black performers from Harlem five years before what is thought of as the official start of the Harlem Renaissance. In addition to the legendary Bert Williams the film also features Sam Lucas, Abbie Mitchell and J. Leubrie Hill with members of the Darktown Follies Company. [16]
The film is remarkable in a number of ways. One of the three directors of the film was a black man, and the footage shows a lot of interaction between the black cast and white crew. Bert Williams is seen in blackface before he became famous on Broadway, and the romance between Bert Williams and Warren is a first example of affection for black characters in film. The film also has one of the longest early records of black vernacular dance on film, an elaborate cakewalk scene. The film features some racial stereotypes but also shows interactions between black cast members and white crew members. The film "documents the effort by a community of virtuoso performers to achieve increased visibility in a time of segregation", framed with a blend of minstrel and contemporary performance styles. [16]
The film was being produced by the Biograph Company for Klaw and Erlanger, and was directed by Edwin Middleton, T. Hunter Hayes, and Sam Corker Jr. However, the film was never released and the reels were found in 1938 by Museum of Modern Art staff members at an abandoned Biograph Studios site in New York. The reasons that Biograph did not finish the film are unknown, but Ronald S. Maggliozzi, an associate curator in the Museum of Modern Art's film department, theorizes that D. W. Griffith's Birth of a Nation (1915) had something to do with it. [17] [18] The Lime Kiln Field Day footage has been recently discovered and restored by the Museum of Modern Art after 101 years, and is currently on display in the museum. [16]
Grey's parents were involved in the ownership and operation of the weekly newspaper, the Amsterdam News . Edward A. "Easy Ed" Warren, an entrepreneur who rose from janitor to real estate promoter, joined with the paper's founder, James H. Anderson, as a co-owner in the paper, placing it on a "sound financial footing" despite the fact "that, on three occasions, he was forced to pawn a large diamond ring in order to meet the mounting debts of the paper." However, when Warren died suddenly, [19] "the diamond ring that had saved the Amsterdam News on numerous occasions was still on his finger." [20]
Sadie Warren took over her husband's share of the newspaper; she hired Jesse Shipp as its managing editor and T. Thomas Fortune to write editorials. After eighteen months, Mrs. Warren bought out James Anderson's estate and took control of the paper, with her new husband, William H. Davis, [21] [22] becoming president and general manager of the Amsterdam News Company, Inc.; with Mrs. Warren-Davis (as called herself) as treasurer, and Warren as vice president. [20]
While involved with the day-to-day operations of the newspaper, Warren also continued with her millinery shop, which in September 1923 moved to 2293 Seventh Avenue, just below West 135th Street. [23] Also during this time, she remarried, to Roy Francis Morse (1898-1971), who worked as a Deputy Collector for the U.S. Department of the Treasury. [24] Morse was also known in his day as a champion athlete. [25]
In 1914, he tied the indoor track record for the 100 yard dash—9 4/5 seconds; the next year he established a record for the 50 yard dash—5 1/4 seconds. Running for a number of amateur clubs, primarily the Salem Crescent Athletic Club of Manhattan, Morse won no less than eighteen major sprint matches, while at his peak. [26] He also played professional baseball, and served in World War I as a member of the 369th Infantry Regiment (United States), the "Harlem Hellfighters." [27] [28] Staying in the Army National Guard of the United States, Morse was called to service during World War II, where he rose to be a Major in the U.S. Army Air Corps. He served as director of the ground school and secretary of the Tuskegee Army Air Field Advanced Flying School [29] before going to McChord Field, in Pierce County, Washington, where he commanded "C Squadron". [30] [31]
Warren and her mother Sadie Warren-Davis lost control of the Amsterdam News in 1935, after a number of years of struggle. Issues with labor unions finally forced them to sell to Dr. C. B. Powell and Dr. P. M. H. Savory. [32] Mrs. Warren-Davis died in 1946 [33] and Warren remained in business at the Seventh Avenue address until about 1950.
Odessa Warren Grey Morse died on April 28, 1960, at the Pilgrim State Hospital on Long Island and was buried with the help of the Negro Actors Guild at the Long Island National Cemetery on May 4. [34] [35] [36]
Hat-making or millinery is the design, manufacture and sale of hats and other headwear. A person engaged in this trade is called a milliner or hatter.
Cecily Louise "Cicely" Tyson was an American actress known for her portrayal of strong African-American women. Tyson received various awards including three Emmy Awards, a Screen Actors Guild Award, a Tony Award, an Honorary Academy Award, and a Peabody Award.
Afeni Shakur Davis was an American political activist and member of the Black Panther Party. Shakur was the mother of rapper Tupac Shakur and the executor of his estate. She founded the Tupac Amaru Shakur Foundation and also served as the CEO of Amaru Entertainment, Inc., a record and film production company she founded.
Lilly Daché was a French-born American milliner and fashion merchandiser. She started her career in a small bonnet shop, advanced to being a sales lady at Macy's department store, and from there started her own hat business. She was at the peak of her business career in the 1930s and 1940s. Her contributions to millinery were well-known custom-designed fashion hats for wealthy women, celebrities, socialites, and movie stars. Her hats cost about ten times the average cost of a lady's hat. Her main hat business was in New York City with branches in Paris. Later in her career she expanded her fashion line to include dresses, perfume, and jewelry.
Marcia Gay Harden is an American actress. She is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award and a Tony Award, in addition to nominations for three Primetime Emmy Awards.
Marvel Jackson Cooke was a pioneering American journalist, writer, and civil rights activist. She was the first African-American woman to work at a mainstream white-owned newspaper.
Florence Mills, billed as the "Queen of Happiness", was an American cabaret singer, dancer, and comedian.
A'Lelia Walker was an American businesswoman and patron of the arts. She was the only surviving child of Madam C. J. Walker, popularly credited as being the first self-made female millionaire in the United States and one of the first African American millionaires.
The Amsterdam News is a weekly Black-owned newspaper serving New York City. It is one of the oldest newspapers geared toward African Americans in the United States and has published columns by such figures as W. E. B. Du Bois, Roy Wilkins, and Adam Clayton Powell Jr., and was the first to recognize and publish Malcolm X.
Gertrude Hadley Jeannette was an American playwright and film and stage actress. She is also known for being the first woman to work as a licensed taxi driver in New York City, which she began doing in 1942. Despite being blacklisted during the Red Scare in the 1950s, she wrote five plays and founded the H.A.D.L.E.Y. Players in Harlem, New York, remaining active in mentoring African-American actors in New York City. In the 1960s and 1970s she appeared in Broadway productions such as The Long Dream, Nobody Loves an Albatross, The Amen Corner, The Skin of Our Teeth and Vieux Carré. She also appeared in films such as Cotton Comes to Harlem in 1969, Shaft in 1971, and Black Girl in 1972. She acted into her 80s and retired from directing theater at the age of 98.
Diana Patricia Sands was an American actress, perhaps most known for her portrayal of Beneatha Younger, the sister of Sidney Poitier's character, Walter, in the original stage and film versions of Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun (1961).
Caroline Reboux was a Parisian milliner and French fashion designer. She opened her first boutique at 23 rue de la paix in Paris in 1865, which she continued to operate throughout her life. Reboux opened other shops in Paris and London starting in 1870. She trained other milliners who became famous in their own right, including American milliner Lilly Daché and French milliner Rose Valois. Reboux's most famous shop was located at 9 Avenue Matignon in Paris, which carried on operating after her death for almost three decades under the direction of Lucienne Rabaté known as "Mademoiselle Lucienne" the most famous parisian milliner at that time.
Francine Everett was an American actress and singer.
Lime Kiln Field Day is a 1913 American black-and-white silent film produced by the Biograph Company and Klaw and Erlanger.
A peach basket hat is a millinery design that resembles an upturned country basket of the style typically used to collect fruit. Generally it is made of straw or similar material and it often has a trimming of flowers and ribbons. Some models may also feature a veil or draped fabric covering. It was introduced in around 1908 and caused some controversy over the succeeding year due to its extreme dimensions and decorations. It had revivals – designs were at this stage more modest – in the 1930s and 1950s.
Lois K. Alexander-Lane was an African American fashion designer and founded the Black Fashion Museum in 1979.
Sally Victor was a prominent American milliner from the late 1920s through the 1960s. Her designs were popular with Hollywood actresses such as Irene Dunne, Helen Hayes, and Merle Oberon, as well as First Ladies Mamie Eisenhower and Jacqueline Kennedy, and Queen Elizabeth II.
Delilah Jackson was a cultural historian who specialized in collecting the history of black entertainers in Harlem.
Vanilla Powell Beane, known as "DC's Hat Lady", was an American milliner and business woman. One of her hats was displayed and is in the collection of the National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC). In Washington, D.C., there is a Vanilla Beane Day on September 13.