Showtime at the apollo sandman
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Customer Review
5.0 out of 5 starsOfficial Howard Sandman Sims Biography
Reviewed in the United States on February 21, 2005Verified Purchase
Biography
Howard "Sandman" Sims was a distinctive and influential tap dancer who gained his nickname from dancing on the sand he sprinkled on a tap board. Sandman Sims was famed for the range of percussive sounds his sand-dancing could produce - from the sweetest brushing to the most abrasive grinding.
Although he had tap-danced since 3, he discovered his style accidentally while training to be a boxer and shuffling his feet in a rosin box. The result earned him widespread acclaim and sustained him during the decline of tap in the 1950s and '60s.
"They called the board my Stradivarius," Sandman liked to say." I could use any kind of music - or I could do it without any music at all."
He was born Jan. 24, 1918 in Fort Smith, Ark., but would grow up in Los Angeles. One of 10 children, he began dancing with his brothers on street corners. Tap dancing was the street dance, the break dancing of his time. He would walk around with hi
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Bio
Howard "Sandman" Sims may have been born on January 24, 1917, in Los Angeles, California, though he said he was uncertain about the year of his birth. His age, he maintained, was "a matter of opinion." He learned to dance from his father, a barber, as did his 11 brothers and sisters, who all became talented dancers. "Most people first crawl," Sims said, "then start walking. I went right from crawling to dancing. If you can walk, you can dance."
Sims turned professional at an early age and, in the late 1930s, he moved to New York City, after appearing in a film with Count Basie, The Harlem Sandman. In New York, Sims danced on street corners, worked at a variety of odd jobs, and was known as the California Refugee. "I knew people who danced on dinner plates," he said. "There was a man who could dance on newspapers without tearing them. And another who constructed a gigantic xylophone to tap on. I saw people doing the Palmerhouse Shuffle of Kansas City, Missouri."
In 1946, Sims began a career at the renowned Apollo Theatre in Harlem. He danced at the Apollo for 17 years and
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Howard Sims
American tap dancer
Not to be confused with Howard Sims (architect).
Howard B. Sims Sr. | |
|---|---|
Sims dancing in his signature sandbox | |
| Born | (1917-01-24)January 24, 1917 Fort Smith, Arkansas, U.S.[1] |
| Died | May 20, 2003(2003-05-20) (aged 86) the Bronx, New York, U.S.[2] |
| Occupation | tap dancer |
| Years active | 1942–2003 |
| Spouse(s) | Solange A. Sims, 1959–2003 (his death) |
| Children | 2 |
Howard "Sandman" Sims (January 24, 1917 – May 20, 2003) was an African-Americantap dancer who began his career in vaudeville. He was skilled in a style of dancing that he performed in a wooden sandbox of his own construction, and acquired his nickname from the sand he sprinkled to alter and amplify the sound of his dance steps. "They called the board my Stradivarius," Sims said of his sandbox.[3]
From the 1950s to the year 2000, Sims was a regular attraction—a "fixture"[4][5]—at Harlem's noted Apollo Theater, comedically ushering failed acts offstage[6] with a hook, broom or other