Catching up with the Atlantic City home-girl and dance legend.
ATLANTIC CITY — I sensed a real sweetness, almost innocence, while talking and laughing with Ms. Pattie Harris, who usually exudes a more diva-like persona. Sitting in her modest living room full of animal-print sofas, pillows and rugs one recent Sunday afternoon, she was still nursing an Achilles injury.
In a cozy purple sweater and gray sweatpants, the orange Mohawk was expertly coiffed as usual. I remembered attending her 75th birthday party a few years ago and knew then I wanted to hear her story from her own mouth, but she is one hard lady to catch up with. Only recently has she stopped teaching dance classes part-time because of her injury.
Considered an Atlantic City home-girl, Ms. Pattie was as interesting and funny as I had expected.
She was actually born in Henderson, N.C., but grew up in Newark and Atlantic City, N.J., having arrived here permanently around fifth grade.
She attended New Jersey Avenue School and recalls her teachers as “elegant, professional women who would not pass you on to the next grade until you had learned everything they wanted you to learn.”
She can’t remember a time in her life when she didn’t love dance and believes that is what she was sent to this planet to do.
Staring out her sunny front window, she wistfully recalls being a little girl “who was always singing ‘Stormy Weather’ and asking God to make me be Lena Horne.” While attending and performing in small shows at Atlantic City High School, she also took lessons at the Chloe Price Dance School, because it was “the biggest one, where all the Jewish kids went, and she did a show on the Steel Pier.”
Chloe Price let Harris teach some classes where she heard about a beauty contest for black girls being held at the Apollo Theater in New York City. Basically, she went on a whim and though she didn’t win the contest, she did meet Larry Steele, who told the young contestants about his Club Harlem shows in Atlantic City.
Steele’s shows, one known as the “Sepia Revue,” were reputed to feature the most beautiful and talented black women dancers in the world.
When Harris returned to Atlantic City, she found out where Steele lived, boldly went to his house and asked for an audition. That was the beginning of her real career as a dancer, but she only performed in chorus lines at the Club Harlem during the summer months because of all the things people said happened to girls on the road.
It dawned on me the other day that I have completed my first year as an acweekly.com columnist. It’s been one of the best years of my life, a year that has forced me to challenge myself and grow as a writer.
The Atlantic City Ballet’s two newest productions, 'Caught Up in the Swing' and '7 Sins.' will be featured as double-header productions at three southern New Jersey locations — Rowan University’s Wilson Hall’s Pfleeger Theater (Saturday, March 17, starting 7pm); the Ocean First Theater in Manahawkin (Saturday, March 31, 7pm); and at Richard Stockton College’s Performing Arts Center (Thursday, April 19, 7pm). Both productions are family friendly and appropriate for all ages.
On Tuesday, Feb. 22, groundbreaking will commence on the newest Smithsonian museum in Washington, D.C. The Smithsonian’s 19th museum, the National Museum of African American History and Culture, will occupy a five-acre site on Constitution Avenue between 14th and 15th streets N.W., between the Washington Monument and the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History.
Over the last few months when families were gathering for all types of occasions, some of the young men in our family refused to attend because of “so many divorced couples and so few new marriages.” I was disappointed by their absence but understood their sentiments. Like many modern American families, we’ve had so many divorces now that one niece asked, “Is divorce a tradition in our family?”
Let’s set the record straight: Kwanzaa is truly African-American. It is NOT a religious holiday.
THE ADDRESS WAS 32 North Kentucky Avenue, and it was a place where the music -- and the night -- never died. If the entire block, including the likes of Grace's Little Belmont and the Wonder Garden b...
A banner with the name Slappy White on it hung across Kentucky Avenue all summer. The late comedian and actor (who died in Brigantine in 1995) was booked for the entire season at Atlantic City’s famed Club Harlem. On this particular summer night, however — July 24, 1964, to be precise — hanging above the banner was yet another banner. It read: “Sam Cooke.”
At a fraction the size of the Showboat House of Blues' main music hall, one might assume that the Club Harlem Ballroom is reserved for lesser-known acts, or those that don't have the drawing power to...
When she accepted the Dorothie Dorrington Award for Community Service on Thursday, Nov. 12 at the Council of Black Faculty and Staff of Stockton College's annual awards, dinner and dance banquet, Gilliam surprised everyone by walking through the audience and pointing out ...
Pattie Harris knows a lot about developing talent. She's been in the talent business for several decades, coaching and teaching rising stars. Next Tuesday, she'll give some of them a spotlight in her...
Article:
A.C. Library, Stockton College Celebrate Black History Month
Article:
Local History: 'Boardwalk Empire'
Article:
Entertainment: Music, Film and Sports
Article:
The African-American Experience in Atlantic City
Article:
Atlantic City's Casino Era
Article:
Tribute to Tony Mart’s
Article:
The Steel Pier — A Memory of Change
Article:
Houdini, Sir Doyle Do AC
1. dianne said... on Dec 5, 2011 at 12:04PM
“Great article!”
2. Judah Dorrington said... on Jan 16, 2012 at 09:40PM
“Thanks again for the great article. I have always wanted to know the history of Patti Harris. I still remember when as children we were taken to NYC to see Pattie Harris in Purlie. A true artist in every sense of the word. Thanks Ms. Pattie for all you've done and still do.
Peace,
Judah Dorrington”
3. Ms Toni R. Jordan said... on Nov 17, 2012 at 02:09PM
“Hi Ms Pattie Harris! I have wondered what and where you have been doing for a long time. And here you are still right here in AC. My last contact with you was in one of you informal dance/exercise classes for your students that you opened to the public. This was over 30 years ago! Your yearly recitals were topped my "to do" list. I taught in the P'vill school in the 70's, moved away in the late 80's to obtain a masters' in counseling. Recently retired and returned to AC,NJ. So glad you are still around and well. Will talk again soon, God bless.”
4. Toni Jordan said... on Apr 12, 2013 at 12:24PM
“Ms Pattie Harris, are you still in the area? Looking for some type of movement classes for seniors near. Can you help? Have a grande day.”