BoxRec

In earlyl 1953 Joe Louis and his manager Leonard Reed put together a stage show act of singing and dancing that premiered at the
Apollo theater in Harlem NY April.10.1953 for a one week engagement.
It was so popular that they took the show on the road in June for a six week package tour
show that included many of the well known rhythm and blues singers ,comedians and dancers of the time.
Here is a clip of the act as it was shown on Ed Sullivan's "Toast of the Town"May.3.1953.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JgiKMHk43Do

..i remember reading about this review, but i didn't see it on sullivan and i can't download utube.(can't even spell it)

When joe was still champion he went on the jack benny radio show for a few weeks, as a comedian. the best line, and the only one i recall is when rochester asked him why he wanted to be a comedian and joe said, "because i want to make people laugh" and rochester said, "man, you sure been going about it in the wrong way!"

Joe Louis and Leonard Reed had earlier previewed a skit from their act in April 1953 on national television on the
Mel Allen Sports show.
I think that may be lost footage.

Here is a link to a photo from the April 1953 issue of JET.
It shows Joe Louis and Leonard Reed rehearsing their dance number.
According to the newspapers Louis had hired Sugar Ray Robinson
to teach him some dance moves for the show.

http://books.google.com/books?id=TrsDAA ... pg=PA61&dq


here is another photo of Joe Louis rehearsing a dance number..


http://books.google.com/books?id=DcADAA ... pg=PA57&dq



http://books.google.com/books?id=hUIDAA ... pg=PA30&dq

...thank you for sharing...

Here are some of the acts that were part of the Big Rhythm and Blues/ Joe Louis Revue.
A few of the acts changed from the two weeks at the Apollo and then when they toured in their six week package show.

Apollo Theater-April 1953
Nicholas Bros.(dancing team)
The Five Keys quartet
Barbara DeCosta(singer)
Frances Martin(dancer)
The Hal Singer Band

Tour acts June -July 1953
Ruth Brown(singer)
The Clovers(singing group)
Wynonie Harris(singer)
Dusty Fletcher(comedian)
Edward Sisters(dancers)
Stuffy Bryant(tap dancer)
"Prez" Lester Young and his combo
Buddy Johnson and his orchestra

(planned 1954 tour -Dolores Parker,Erskine Hawkins)