Skip to main content

From the archive

Willa Mae Ricker

Savoy

No photograph of this dancer yet. We show a portrait only when there is a picture of the person under a licence we can name — a frame lifted from a clip is not one. Their footage is below.

What we know

No biography recorded yet. What is known about this dancer is assembled from published sources, and is corrected as we learn more.

Footage

2 clips

Every identification below names the person who made it. We host none of this footage — each clip is embedded from where it was published.

Hellzapoppin (1941) featuring Harlem Congaroo dancers, aka Whitey's Lindy Hoppers

1941

Identified by JiveSwing.Com — Names the dancers in order of appearance: "William Downes (overalls) and Frances \"Mickey\" Jones (maid), Norma Miller and Billy Ricker (chef's hat), Al Minns (white coat, black pants) and Willa Mae Ricker, then Ann Johnson (maid) and Frankie Manning (overalls)." Agrees with the film's own cast credits. Spelled "Willa Mae Ricker" on one upload of Hellzapoppin' and "Willamae Ricker" on the other. One person; recorded under the spelling Bobby White's index uses. · source

Lindy Hop in A Day at races (1937)

1937

Identified by JiveSwing.Com — "Lindy Hop Scene in the movie Day at The Races (1937) with Whiteys Lindy Hoppers... Dancers: Dorothy Miller & Johnny Smalls / Norma Miller & Leon James / Snooky Beasley & Willa Mae Ricker / Ella Gibson & George Greenidge". Spelled "Willa Mae Ricker" on one upload of Hellzapoppin' and "Willamae Ricker" on the other. One person; recorded under the spelling Bobby White's index uses. · source

Something here wrong or missing? These records are assembled from published sources and are corrected as we learn more — get in touch.