Hudgins, Johnny

Johnny Hudgins (1896-1990) was an African American vaudeville performer and a part of the Harlem Renaissance. He was born in Baltimore, Maryland, on May 5, 1896 to Johnny Hudgins, Sr. and Minie Hudgins. He began his career in show business in Baltimore dancing in small clubs. For nine years thereafter he sang and danced on the burlesque circuit. After developing a pantomime blackface routine, Hudgins joined the Noble Sissle and Eubie Blake production "Chocolate Dandies." In 1926 he joined the Lew Leslie Blackbirds and appeared in subsequent years at the Apollo Theater and Cotton Club and in London and Paris. He married Mildred Martien (1903-1983), a Quintard-Miller chorus girl and they adopted a daughter, Lisa Hudgins. Hudgins died May 5, 1990.