Remembering Tondelyo Levy

The hardest thing about doing a blog that deals 90% with the obscure artists of yester year is the research. This one proved to date the hardest of all but finally we are introducing you to Ms. Tondelyo Levy.

I first learned of her years ago when researching Billie Holiday. In the late 1940's Billie took up with John Levy a very light skinned Arican American who described him self as half Jew, half Black. Cnferring with my usual sources for entertainers of days gone by ( BTW that list is getting shorter and shorter due to the Grimm reaper! and father Time) I was told that Tondaleyos was a club, another person told me why thats a character that Hedy LaMarr played years ago. Then my #1 all things Billie source said " Why Tondelyo Levy good god I havent heard that name in years she was beautiful made a film but was mostly a shake dancer and a very shrewed business woman but her name is really Willemenia Grey I believe the Levy was a married named. She was married and I believe had a baby by John Levy" I of course immediately put on my thinking cap was he talking about John Levy the bassist and former manager of nancy Wilson? Or Billie Holidays alledgly brutal pimp/manager boyfriend John Levy. I asked Which John Levy you talking about Mr. Hugh? He looked at me with a gleam in his eye that still makes me laugh to this day " Billies" I remember a slight intake of air and then a gasp! Mr. Hugh enjoying my effect went on speaking " Oh yes Tondelyo was married to John Levy and he use to beat her like he did all his womens and she was really a beautiful woman did her just like Lady Day and the thing is all of them knew each other from 133rd street days in harlem. John was a junkie an opium smoker and gambler finally Tonda got sick and tired of it and I think she escaped I forget how but she left that misreable, cheap SOB." He went , " I think well Im pretty sure she was in the Cotton Club Chorus kine way back in the 1930's. She and Levy opened a nightclub on W.52nd Street called Tondelyos.

Fasinating so I Googled Tondelyo nothing then Tondelyo Levy and I found but one actual write up but I did and I share with you here a movie she performed in ( Not dancing) but acting called "Sepia Cinderella" and yes she outlived them all

She was never a big star but more a popular local star it seems. I have but one question I wondered why she used her married name right up to her death. Who was the child? so many questions....enjoy


She Danced Around Fame In Her Art And Especially In Her Life, Tondalayo Levy Made Her Mark



BY DAVID HINCKLEY CRITIC-AT-LARGE

Sunday, January 18, 1998


When Don Henley of the Eagles was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame at the Waldorf-Astoria on Monday, he told a sellout crowd he had mixed feelings about the honor, largely because of what the word "fame" has come to mean.

"The line between fame and accomplishment is becoming very, very blurred," he said. "If you're willing to be really obnoxious in public and make a complete fool of yourself, you too can be famous. . . . It's an ugly thing."

Henley's ruminations, mildly jarring at the Waldorf, are nonetheless quite true, and they echoed less than 12 hours later at a very different occasion and place: a funeral at Memorial Baptist Church on W. 115th St. for Tondalayo Levy. Never famous in today's manner of a tabloid-TV guest, Tondalayo was nonetheless an important and glamorous figure in New York nightlife from the '30s into the '50s.
Nobody upstaged Tonda," said Leroi Myers, who leads a magnificent band of old-time tap dancers called the Copasetics. "She sat in the back seat for no one."

She filled most of the seats at Memorial Baptist, and everybody had a Tonda story. After the service David Pagan, her son-in-law, talked about going to dinner with her at Lundy's in Sheepshead Bay.

"Now, when you went out with Tonda, you didn't wear just anything," he explained. "You passed inspection. And she was wearing a new full-length mink coat.

"You know Lundy's a thousand people, sawdust on the floor. Well, Tonda takes off that coat and drags it behind her. Right in the sawdust. And a thousand people are saying, 'Who is that woman?'

"She knew how to make an entrance."

Tondalayo took her stage name as a teenage chorus girl. Film fans know it as the name of Hedy Lamarr's character in "White Cargo," but in clubs here it was the property of Tondalayo Levy, who called her sultry, exotic moves "shake dancing."




Sepia Cinderella (1947)

70 min - Musical - 25 July 1947 (USA)


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The 2nd in a series of films, produced by Jack Goldberg and Arthur Leonard, made primarily for the 684 theatres (in 1947) that catered exclusively to Black audiences that were kept out... See full summary »



Director:
Arthur H. Leonard

Writer:
Vincent Valentini

Stars:
Billy Daniels, Sheila Guyse and Tondaleyo



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Cast



Cast overview, first billed only:





Billy Daniels

...


Bob (as Billy Daniel)





Sheila Guyse

...


Barbara





Tondaleyo

...


Vivian





Ruble Blakey

...


Barney





Jack Carter

...


Ralph





Dusty Freeman

...


Mooney





George Williams

...


Sonny





Fred Gordon

...


Press Agent





Harold Norton

...


Night Club Master of Ceremonies





Hilda Offley

...


Mama Keyes (as Hilda Offley Thompson)





Emory Richardson

...


Great Joseph





Percy Verwayen

...


MacMillan





Al Young

...


Chinaman





Deek Watson

...


Himself (as Deek Watson and the Brown Dots)





Gertrude Saunders

...


Mrs. Dryden


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Storyline

The 2nd in a series of films, produced by Jack Goldberg and Arthur Leonard, made primarily for the 684 theatres (in 1947) that catered exclusively to Black audiences that were kept out, or placed in a special balcony section, in most of the theatres in segregated America. Plot concerns a struggling band leader's rise to fame after overcoming many obstacles, including a bad-girl vs. good-girl situation. For reasons unknown, Freddie Bartholomew makes a guest-cameo appearnce at the night club, and was featured in the ads and posters for the film, but the producers were barking up an empty tree if the thought was that he would sell any extra tickets in any of the booking situations...black or white. Tondaleyo (the "bad girl") dances, and musical numbers feature Deek Watson and his Brown Dots, Walter Fuller's orchestra, John Kirby's band and Ruble Blakey, former soloist with Lionel Hampton. Written by Les Adams
Plot Summary | Add Synopsis
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Plot Keywords:
Cinderella
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Genres:
Musical
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Details


Country:
USA

Language:
English

Release Date:
25 July 1947 (USA) See more »
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Company Credits


Production Co:
Herald Pictures See more »
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Technical Specs


Runtime:
70 min | USA: 75 min (original release)

Sound Mix:
Mono

Color:
Black and White

Aspect Ratio:
1.37 : 1 See full technical specs »