NEW YORK — With help from some filmmakers, 102-year-old Alice Barker went back in time.
Barker was a dancer in such New York nightspots as the Cotton Club and the Cafe Zanzibar in the 1930s and 1940s, part of chorus lines that entertained alongside notables including Bill “Bojangles” Robinson and Frank Sinatra.
There were motion pictures made of Barker, but she had never seen any of them. Moreover, her photographs and memorabilia had all been lost over the years.
So she had never seen herself actually dancing — until now.
Mark Cantor of jazz-on-film.com and some volunteers put together a video of “soundies” — early music videos — and showed them to Barker at the nursing home where she lives.
The ageless dancer was delighted.
“It’s just fabulous,” she said.
