Timmie Rogers

Timmie Rogers, born Timothy Louis Ancrum on July 4, 1915, in Detroit, was an American comedian, singer-songwriter, bandleader, and actor whose career spanned several decades in entertainment. He died on December 17, 2006, in Los Angeles at the age of 91.

Rogers began performing at an early age, earning money by dancing on the street at eight years old. At twelve, he left home and took work as a dishwasher aboard a boat, where exposure to the ship's cooks led him to learn nine languages; he later wrote and recorded material in both French and German. He subsequently found work cleaning ashtrays at a local ballroom, where he observed performers and was eventually invited to dance onstage. By 1932, Rogers had become half of a vaudeville dance duo called Timmie & Freddie, which performed successfully on the circuit until the partnership dissolved in 1944.

Following the split, Rogers pursued a solo career and appeared on Broadway in 1945 in Blue Holiday. He built his solo act around a set of principles that distinguished him from most of his contemporaries: he performed alone, dressed formally — often in a tuxedo — refused to wear blackface, and addressed white audiences directly. Before Rogers adopted this approach, African-American comedians were generally expected to perform in pairs or groups, speak only among themselves onstage, and inhabit a character rather than appear as themselves, as white comedians such as Bob Hope and Jack Benny were permitted to do. His humor was clean, topical, and political, and his catchphrase, "Oh Yeah!," remained part of his act for more than fifty years. He is frequently referred to as the Jackie Robinson of comedy for the path he opened for performers including Dick Gregory and Bill Cosby, and was inducted into the National Comedy Hall of Fame in 1993.

Rogers starred in Uptown Jubilee on CBS Television in 1949, which was US television's first Black prime-time program. He also became a recurring guest on The Jackie Gleason Show for over twelve years and continued working with Gleason for three decades, later crediting Gleason with providing the national exposure that advanced his career. In 1975, Rogers appeared on the Sanford and Son television series in a musical duet with Redd Foxx, playing a character named Smiley Rogers, and accompanied himself on a ten-stringed instrument called a Martin tiple.

As a songwriter, Rogers wrote "If You Can't Smile and Say Yes," which was recorded by Nat King Cole, and also composed songs for Carmen McRae and Sarah Vaughan. In the late 1950s, while living in Philadelphia, he recorded on Cameo and Parkway Records, releasing tracks that included "Back to School Again" and "I Love Ya, I Love Ya, I Love Ya." Rogers also made numerous appearances on national television throughout the 1960s and 1970s.