Actress and Critic Blanche Dunn
Blanche Dunn was born in the West Indies in 1911. At the age of 15, Dunn came to New York City. By 1927, she had attracted the attention of the Harlem Renaissance crowd. Dunn's charm, bravado, beauty and West Indian accent gave her entrée to opening nights on Broadway and the best Harlem speakeasies. In 1930, she was a dancing girl in Lew Leslie's "Blackbirds." In 1933, she appeared in "The Emperor Jones" starring Paul Robeson. The exceedingly stylish Dunn was "a mainstay at Carl Van Vechten's legendary parties/" Harlem Renaissance artist and writer Richard Bruce observed: "A party was not a party, a place was not a place, without Blanche.
(Photographs by Carl Van Vechten)
