Bee Palmer
American dancer and singer (1903–1933)
title: "Bee Palmer" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1894-births", "1967-deaths", "american-female-dancers", "dancers-from-illinois", "american-women-jazz-singers", "american-jazz-singers", "singers-from-chicago", "20th-century-american-singers", "jazz-musicians-from-illinois", "20th-century-american-women-singers", "20th-century-american-dancers", "new-orleans-rhythm-kings-members", "ziegfeld-girls", "ziegfeld-follies"] description: "American dancer and singer (1903–1933)" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bee_Palmer" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary American dancer and singer (1903–1933) ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox person"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| image | PalmerFurs1918BloomCrop.jpg |
| caption | Palmer, |
| birth_name | Beatrice Charlotta Palmer |
| birth_date | |
| birth_place | Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
| death_date | December 22, 1967 (aged 73) |
| death_place | Manhattan, New York, U.S. |
| occupation | {{plainlist |
| spouse | {{plainlist |
| :: |
| image = PalmerFurs1918BloomCrop.jpg | caption = Palmer, | birth_name = Beatrice Charlotta Palmer | birth_date = | birth_place = Chicago, Illinois, U.S. | death_date = December 22, 1967 (aged 73) | death_place = Manhattan, New York, U.S. | occupation = {{plainlist|
- Singer
- Dancer
- Showgirl | spouse = {{plainlist|
- Albert Siegel, 1921-1928 (div)
- Sol "Sonny" Taubin, 1942-? (div)
Bee Palmer (born Beatrice Charlotta Palmer, September 11, 1894 – December 22, 1967) was an American singer, dancer, and showgirl who achieved fame during the jazz age as the "Shimmy Queen."
Early years
Bee Palmer was born in Chicago, Illinois, to Charley A. Palmer and his wife, Anna (Larson) Palmer. She reportedly began performing before World War I, "around the cafes of South Chicago where she would sit at tables and croon to guests" for small sums. | author =Jane Dixon | title = Take it from Bee Palmer | url = https://www.newspapers.com/image/380509187/?terms=%22take%20it%20from%20bee%20Palmer%22&match=1 | newspaper = Los Angeles Times | location = Los Angeles, California | date = November 2, 1919 | access-date = February 28, 2024 She also danced professionally and is said to have dubbed herself the "Shimmie Queen" by 1914. | last = Knowles | first = Mark | date = 2009 | title = The Wicked Waltz and Other Scandalous Dances: Outrage at Couple Dancing in the 19th and Early 20th Centuries | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=XAzP__xv7CkC | location = Jefferson, North Carolina | publisher = McFarland & Company | page = 231 | isbn = 978-0786437085
Stage career
Palmer first attracted significant attention as a "Western girl" performing in the Ziegfeld Follies of 1918. She got a good review for singing "I Want to Learn to Jazz Dance". | title = Ziegfeld Follies | url = https://www.newspapers.com/image/380509187/?terms=%22take%20it%20from%20bee%20Palmer%22&match=1 | work = Variety | location = New York | date = June 7, 1918 | access-date = February 28, 2024 She also won acclaim for her role in the Ziegfeld Midnight Frolic of 1918. Described as "a blonde with trained shoulders who can sing rag and act jazz," she sang "Let Me Shimmy and be Satisfied". Another reviewer was less impressed with the same show, stating that Palmer "did the vulgar shimmy in a tightly fitting cerise dress trimmed merely with a cord at the waistline". | title = Ziegfeld Follies | url = https://archive.org/details/Var53-1918-12/page/n106/mode/1up?view=theater&q=%22bee+Palmer%22 | work = Variety | location = New York | date = December 20, 1918 | access-date = February 28, 2024
Palmer was widely credited as the inventor of shimmy, although other white dancers, including Gilda Gray and Mae West, also claimed to have originated the act. Despite these assertions, the dance's origins remain contested, although it almost certainly had African American roots. Palmer herself was said to call the shimmy an African American "folk dance". | last = Monod | first = David | date = 2020 | title = Vaudeville and the Making of Modern Entertainment, 1890-1925 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=vMbaDwAAQBAJ | location = Chapel Hill, North Carolina | publisher = University of North Carolina Press | page = 238 | isbn = 9781469660547
Palmer reaped fame when the shimmy became a craze personifying the "madcap exuberance and permissive morals of the Jazz Age". The dance inspired several popular songs, including "Shimmee Town" (performed in the Ziegfeld Follies of 1919), "Shim-Me-King's Blues" (recorded by Mamie Smith in 1921), "I Wish I Could Shimmy Like My Sister Kate", and "Shim-Me-Sha-Wabble" (1923). | last = Levin | first = Floyd | date = 2020 | title = Classic Jazz: A Personal View of the Music and the Musicians | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=NbEwDwAAQBAJ | location = Berkeley, California | publisher = University of California Press | page = 69 | isbn = 978-0-520-21360-9
Such was Palmer's shimmy fame, that she became one of the people who personified the Roaring Twenties. One writer described her as:
| url = https://www.theotherpages.org/poems/books/adams/something02.html#28 | title = On First Looking into Bee Palmer's Shoulders | website = Theotherpages.org | access-date = February 28, 2024
Palmer began touring in 1921 with a revue called Oh Bee! The band was called 'Bee Palmer's New Orleans Rhythm Kings' and included such notables as Emmett Hardy, Leon Roppolo, and Santo Pecora, in addition to the pianist aand songwriter Al Siegel. However, the act received criticism due to the perception that the shimmy was immoral. With guardians of public morals speaking out against the dance and other "modern dances", at least one theatre is said to have canceled the show. | url = https://syncopatedtimes.com/bee-palmer-1894-1967/ | title = Bee Palmer | website = The Syncopated Times | date = September 2020 | access-date = February 28, 2024
Palmer continued to appear on Broadway throughout the 1920s. She starred in the Passing Show of 1924 at the Winter Garden and performed with Paul Whiteman at Carnegie Hall in 1928. By the mid-1930s, Palmer had faded from public attention.
Recording career
Palmer recorded several early jazz songs.
- "When Alexander Takes his Ragtime Band to France" (Victor, 1918)
- "After You've Gone" (Victor, 1919)
- "I'm the Jazz Baby" (Victor, 1919)
- "I'll See You in My Dreams" (Victor, 1925)
- "Sweet Georgia Brown" (Victor, 1925)
- "I'm Coming, Virginia" (Victor, 1928)
- "At Half-past Nine" (Columbia, 1918)
- "Don't Leave Me, Daddy" (Columbia, 1929)
- "Singin' the Blues" (Columbia, 1929) | url = https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/mastertalent/detail/107697/Palmer_Bee | title = Bee Palmer | website = Discography of American Historical Recordings | publisher= University of California Santa Barbara | access-date = February 28, 2024
In 1930, Palmer co-wrote the song "Please Don't Talk About Me When I'm Gone" with Sidney Clare and Sam H. Stept. | url = https://syncopatedtimes.com/bee-palmer-1894-1967/ | title = Bee Palmer | website = SyncopatedTimes.com | date = September 2020 | access-date = February 28, 2024
Personal life
Palmer married and divorced at least twice: Albert Siegel (married 1921, divorced 1928) and Sol "Sonny" Taubin (married 1942, divorced ca. 1951). Palmer told the press in 1933 that she had married pianist Jack Fina, but Fina denied the report, calling it "embarrassing". | title = Bee Palmer Not His Wife, Says Clifton Pianist | url = https://www.newspapers.com/image/525805027/?terms=%22bee%20Palmer%22%20%22Jack%20Fina%22&match=1 | work = The Passaic News | location = Passaic, New Jersey | date = January 16, 1934 | access-date = February 28, 2024
In 1921, Palmer's then-husband, Al Siegel, filed a lawsuit against boxing champion Jack Dempsey for "alienation of his wife's affection". Palmer denied any indiscretion, saying "Al Siegel is a cheap piano player whom I picked out of the gutter and married". Dempsey also denied an affair, claiming the suit was "the scheme of two cheap vaudeville performers for publicity". | title = Shimmy Shark Hands Razz to Dempsey and Al | url = https://www.newspapers.com/image/932597952/?terms=%22bee%20Palmer%22%20%22dempsey%22&match=1 | work = The Spokane Press | location = Spokane, Washington | date = December 28, 1921 | access-date = February 28, 2024
Later years and death
Little is known about Palmer's later years. She died on December 22, 1967, in New York City and was buried in Cedar Park Cemetery, Calumet Township, Illinois. | url = https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/LDBC-Q5K | title = Beatrice Charlotta Palmer | website = Familysearch.com | access-date = February 28, 2024
References
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