Pepper and Candi

Jewel 'Pepper' Welsh and Mildred 'Candi' Thorpe danced through the 1930s and made their New York debut at the Apollo in September 1941 on a bill that headlined Stump and Stumpy (male tap dancers). Half of the audience consisted of tap dancers 'casing' new acts. "Ladies and Gentlemen, we got two girls who are going to dance for you out of Philadelphia. Candi is sweet, Pepper is hot; come on girls, show me what you got," the emcee announced. "We tore 'em up!" Thorpe remembered. The act opened with a jazz song, such as 'On the Sunny Side of the Street," followed by a rhythm tap solo by Thorpe to 'I've Got Rhythm' played in stop-time, which allowed her to perform her rhythmic breaks without musical accompaniment. Welch followed with her expressive style of flash dancing. Tall and with a beautiful movement style, she added quick turns to her dancing, her jacket flowing from her body. They closed their act to 'One O'clock Jump,' performing trench steps, toe-touching, straddle-split jumps and Russian kazotsky kicks. 'Candi' and 'Pepper' were called back for so many encores by the Apollo audience that they were moved to the closing act, thus gaining the theater's highest billing. The act split up three years later in 1944.

Sources: Frank Driggs Collection; Tap Dancing America: A Cultural History by Constance Valis Hill