June Taylor (14 December
1917 - 16 May 2004) was an American
choreographer.
Born in
Chicago
, Taylor was
a nightclub dancer until she developed tuberculosis at age 20.
Choreography
She took up
choreography, founding her
own troupe of dancers in 1942, the
June Taylor Dancers,
and took them on the road.
She met Jackie
Gleason at a Baltimore
nightclub in 1946, and
made her television debut in 1948, on The Toast of the
Town starring Ed Sullivan, where
six of the original dancers appeared as The Toastettes,
bringing the chorus line to television. Two years later, she joined
Jackie Gleason's
Cavalcade of Stars, and followed him,
with sixteen dancers, to
The
Jackie Gleason Show, where her signature camera shot was
the overhead
kaleidoscopic Busby Berkeley-type shot of the dancers
making geometric patterns.
The high-kicking, smiling routines that
formed the first three minutes of each broadcast were Broadway
-based and
reminiscent of The
Rockettes.
In
addition to Gleason's show, the June Taylor Dancers also made
appearances at the General
Motors "Motorama" auto shows in
New
York
and Boston
and on
Stage Show.
Taylor won an
Emmy Award for
choreography in 1955.
Gleason
brought his show from New York City to Miami
Beach
in 1964, apparently so he could golf year-round, which helped revitalize that area
until it stopped taping in 1970.
Miami Dolphins Cheerleaders
Taylor,
who lived in Fort Lauderdale, Florida
began choreographing the Miami Dolphins cheerleading squad, the Dolphin Starbrites, and served in this
capacity from 1978 until 1990. The Starbrites, famous for
their one-piece
bathing suits and
go-go boots, performed very popular
Broadway-style
halftime shows.
June Taylor married attorney Sol Lerner. Her sister, and sometime
dance partner,
Marilyn Taylor
Horwich, married Jackie Gleason in 1975 as his third
wife.
On May 9, 2000, Taylor was interviewed by the
Academy of
Television Arts & Sciences Foundation's
Archive of American
Television.
This interview can be seen at the Archive's
offices in North Hollywood, California
.
In 2001,
Taylor was featured on episodes of A&E's TVOGRAPHY, a program telling the stories of
America's favorite
TV shows.
Death
June
Taylor died on May 16, 2004 in Miami
, of natural
causes. She was 86 years old.
Credits
External links
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