Aurora Greeley

Aurora Greeley (1905-1983), born in Jacksonville, Florida was a dancer, choreographer and producer. As a young girl moved with her parents to New York City where she first gained success as a musical comedy actress. Her first stage role was as a chorus girl in Irvin C Miller's Liza. At the time, she was a student at Wadleigh High School in New York City. She was in the chorus for six months when Margaret Simms became ill, she took her role as one of the principals. She portrayed it so successfully that Miller gave her a similar role in Broadway Rastus and later she was featured in Flournoy E. Miller and Aubrey Lyle's show Runnin' Wild. In 1926 she joined 4-11-44 and worked with the company until it closed in 1927.

It was with this show that she first met Leroy Broomfield. At the time, Broomfield was a first rate dancer in his own right and he objected very rigorously to being teamed with a young woman who had relatively little experience. However, by the end of the first rehearsal he accepted her and their dancing was one of the high points of the show 4-11-44. Soon after, they decided to team together and played for a while in Chicago. Their career was at its pinnacle in the 1920s and 1930s when they produced shows at the Ubangi Club in Harlem, Minsky’s on Broadway, and at Franks Sebastian’s Cotton Club in Los Angeles.

Miss Greeley, besides leading the chorus of thirty chorines, did a specialty number each night with Broomfield. At the time, the Cotton Club orchestra was considered to be one of the best in the country, and for a while it broadcast nightly over KFVD with Leroy Broomfield announcing.

Aurora Greeley, died in Los Angeles, California, March of 1983 at the age of 78. Her former partner, Leroy Broomfield, died in Los Angeles, August 1971.

Source: Blacks in Blackface: A Sourcebook on Early Black Musical Shows, Vol 1 by Henry T Sampson]