In 1942, Whitney played as a reserve outfielder for the New York Black Yankees, a team co-owned by financier James "Soldier Boy" Semler and famed toe-tapper Bill "Bojangles" Robinson.
Compton then induced Roger Freed to ground into a run-scoring double play before Bill Robinson popped out to Carmen Fanzone for the final out of Compton's appearance, and as it would turn out, his major league career.
Reportedly, Bill "Bojangles" Robinson filmed a dance routine for this film, but it was cut.
After abandoning his studies of pharmacology for financial reasons, James Baskett supported himself as an actor, moving from his home town of Indianapolis, Indiana to New York City, New York and joining the company of Bill Robinson, better known as Mr. Bojangles.
Bill Robinson, American dancer and actor, also known as "Bojangles"
Born and raised in Buffalo, NY, Nile came from a musical family—his grandfather was a vaudeville pianist who played with Bill "Bojangles" Robinson and Eddie Cantor; his uncles played boogie-woogie.
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Notable Harlem residents who moved to the complex included W. E. B. Du Bois, A. Philip Randolph, Paul Robeson and Bill Robinson.
In the number "Bojangles of Harlem" from Swing Time (1936) Astaire dresses in blackface as the Sportin' Life character and dances in the style of Sublett while ostensibly paying tribute to Bill Robinson.