Tap Shoes, worn by Jeni LeGon
date: label: Date made
content: 1937
name: label: user
content: Twentieth Century Fox
notes: label: Description
content: <p>Mary Jane-style red leather tap shoes worn by dancer Dr. Jeni LeGon in the Twentieth-Century Fox film <i>Ali Baba Goes to Town</i> (1937). Holes in the toe plates to enable the dancer to stand on a nail embedded in the stage set floor to keep balance during a comedy dance scene requiring the dancer to lean as far forward close to the floor as possible.</p>
label: Description
content: <p>LeGon was the first African American actor to sign a contract with a major Hollywood company. <i>Ali Baba Goes to Town</i> was nominated for an Oscar in Best Dance Direction.</p>
label: Description
content: <p>Jeni LeGon (born Jennie Ligon, 1916– 2012), also credited as Jeni Le Gon, was an American dancer, dance instructor, and actress. She was one of the first African-American women to establish a solo career in tap dance. In 1999, the National Film Board of Canada released a documentary film about her life, <i>Jeni Le Gon: Living in a Great Big Way,</i> directed by Grant Greshuk and produced by Selwyn Jacob.</p>
place: label: place made
content: United States: California, Los Angeles, Hollywood
topic: label: Subject
content: Dancers
label: Subject
content: African American
setName: label: See more items in
content: Culture and the Arts: Entertainment
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content: Music & Musical Instruments
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content: Popular Entertainment
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content: Movie Collection
label: Exhibition
content: Entertainment Nation
label: Exhibition Location
content: National Museum of American History
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Dr. Jeni LeGon
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2002.0389.01
label: accession number
content: 2002.0389
label: catalog number
content: 2002.0389.01
objectType: label: Object Name
content: shoes, tap
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: leather; textile; paint (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: metal (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: elastic (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 3 in x 3 in x 10 in; 7.62 cm x 7.62 cm x 25.4 cm