Rosetta LeNoire

LeNoire was born in Harlem, New York City, as the eldest of five children to Harold Burton, who was from Dominica, and Nymarie Edith Jacques Helwig, of Jamaica in the West Indies. As a young girl, LeNoire suffered from rickets, which her godfather Bill "Bojangles" Robinson helped her overcome by teaching her to dance. Stage theater was her first love, and LeNoire performed in the Federal Theatre Project production Bassa Moona and was cast as a witch in Orson Welles's 1936 production of Macbeth.

LeNoire appeared in a 1939 production of The Hot Mikado, starring Robinson, in which she played "Little Maid From School" Peep-Bo. She also appeared onstage, mostly as a singer and dancer, in I Had a Ball, Bassa Moona, Marching with Jimmy, Janie, Decision, Three's a Family, Destry Rides Again, and the Off Broadway Double Entry (two one-act musicals showcasing LeNoire: "The Bible Salesman", with a pre-SNL Garrett Morris, and "The Oldest Trick in the World" with Jane Connell).