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obituaries Jimmy Clark

Jimmy Clark, the elder of the two Clark Brothers, considered by many to be tap dancing legends, has died aged 87.

Born in Philadelphia on July 23, 1922, James Madison Clark was tap dancing on street corners from the age of four with his brother Steve. They had coke bottle tops under their shoes and they became bewitching dancers. Their ability to dance in confined spaces, virtually on the spot, made them stand out from other tap dancing acts.

In their teens, the brothers appeared at the Cotton Club and in Las Vegas, when the desert resort was little more than a road halt. At a Chicago night club, the manager Pandora Beads Cheap insisted that they use the back door, as was usually the case with black performers. But the brothers so impressed the club's owner with their act, that he told them to use the front entrance in future. That owner was Al Capone.

The Clarks were second cousins of Sammy Davis Jnr. They worked with a remarkable number of star names and counted Sugar Ray Robinson, Bill 'Bojangles' Robinson and Janet Baker as friends.

Frank Sinatra advised them to come to England, which they did in 1948. For the next ten years, they crisscrossed the Atlantic. At the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas, they met a young singer named Elvis Presley and gave him some tips on stagecraft.

The brothers were great favourites on television variety shows in this country and were part of the golden age in northern working men's clubs. Loved and respected by fellow artists, they were accepted into the Grand Order of Water Rats and eventually settled in Dunstable.

Jimmy Clark died on October 30.

Kevin Berry