Back in the days of vaudeville, a tap dancer by the name of John William Sublett, a.k.a. John Bubbles, came to be known as the “father of rhythm tap.”
Developing his own style and flavor for tap dancing, Bubbles would break the color barrier on one of the most successful shows on television: Johnny Carson's “The Tonight Show.” It was Bubbles who mentored Fred Astaire in the art of tap. Astaire called him “genius.”
But before Carson and Astaire, Bubbles started his career with entertainer Ford “Buck” Washington; the two formed the duo Buck and Bubbles. They became one of the biggest vaudeville and blackface performers at New York’s Palace Theatre and the first blacks to perform at Radio City Music Hall.
Bubbles developed a unique figure-eight tap dance pattern called double-over-the-tops. He changed the typical tap sound by adding multiple taps to his shoes. The duo's success led them to the Zeigfeld Follies in 1931. Soon after, Bubbles landed the role of “Sportin Life” in the Broadway version of “Porgy and Bess.”
After being chosen to perform in Alexander, London in 1936, where scientists first unveiled the plasma television, Buck and Bubbles are believed to be the first blacks ever to perform on television.
Bubbles is remembered as an international performer, seen with Bob Hope in a U.S.O. performance in Vietnam. They changed the way tap dancers used the stage, bringing the art of jazz to tap dance.
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