When I think of an inspiring woman, I think of my cousin Janet Collins - my star
in the sky - someone who I followed and who was a great example of someone who
never gave up. And that, to me, means everything because there are times in
your life when you want to give up, but she never did. She wanted to be a ballet
dancer - not a contemporary dancer, a ballet dancer. Well, that was absolutely
forbidden in those days, because there was this feeling that people of color
didn't have the feet or the body for ballet dancing. But she kept her
classes up and she auditioned for Massine for Ballets Russes and Massine
liked her very much, but he said if she joins the company she would have to
make her skin - like she'd have to paint her skin white or something like that - and he
said, "You wouldn't want to do that, would you?" And she said no, and it hurt
her very, very much, but my aunt Adele who was - she was the champion for
Janet at that time - she said, "You go back to your classes and you keep going." And
she became the star that she wanted to become, the prima ballerina - a
ballerina at the Metropolitan Opera. Then there is Lena Horne. Now I met Lena Horne
at Lester Horton Dance Theater when I made my debut in the company in 1950,
and she was my mentor in a way. She was just Lena Horne - there was no big star
about her. That's the beauty of most of the women that I - Janet was that
way, she was just Janet and not, "I am Janet Collins" or "I am Lena Horne." Those
are the great women when they have that attitude, and it's beautiful.
It's beautiful, and being sponsored by her is just a great honor. I couldn't
think of anything more beautiful at that time, and I think I was you know
about 17 years old and that was stars in my eyes, and
Hollywood was a tough place at that time, and Janet couldn't perform with
a ballet company and Lena couldn't be a movie star. It was about
Christmastime and she invited myself and some of the company members or Lester's
company to her home, and Lester being who he is, he made this beautiful cornucopia
of wire and put fruit in it, just as a gift to her, and I remember we
arrived there and she was just there with her children and her husband
Lenny and she had this suitcase full of books and she was on
her way to Vegas and we said well why are you taking all the books?
She says yes, because she couldn't use the pool, she couldn't be a part she
just stayed in a room and read. Here this beautiful incredible woman could sing
there but she couldn't use the pool. It's the times when we
grew up, that's what we faced. But Lena, just her name helped us, you know,
and she was so generous with her time, and she had very
little time, but to invite us around Christmastime to her home and meet
her family and speak to us about Las Vegas and whatnot, which I experienced
later in my life, and I remembered that. I remembered her experience.
Josephine Baker was the most extraordinary woman - also another very generous person - now
Josephine I met with my husband Geoffrey Holder.
You know Geoffrey worked with Josephine; he was sharing an evening with her and
then somewhere along the line she took the show to Paris and and Geoffrey
said, "Can I take Carmen?" And she said, "It's perfectly fine" you know, and Geoffrey and
I shared the evening at the Olympia in Paris with Josephine Baker.
And a story that I love, Geoffery went to her room and said - this is the kind of
person she is - "Miss Baker, now I'd like to know, is it alright for
Carmen to to wear this dress? You know, it's this color - it's white and and I
wanted to know if it's all right." She said, "Why did you ask me that?" He said,
"Because I didn't want her to wear the same color." And she said, "I can
always change my costume." I would never hear of anybody say that before. On stage
when we would take bows, she would push me forward, she says, "You don't bow enough.
"You don't bow long enough." And she was, you know, a mentor in that way.
I was a younger woman, and here's the big star - she had no -
it didn't bother her at all - that's a star. It didn't bother her that a younger
woman was there. You know, some people might say, "No, I don't want that on the
stage with me." Not her. All the women I met, you know, Janet, Nina, and Josephine,
had that quality - they have a presence and they command it, and I think that's
because they know who they are. I mean, that might sound a little strange
but I think they know who they are, but but it was very inspiring. I've
been so blessed to be around these women and I think that they've helped me
a lot in in my work, I must say.