Toy & Wing

Toy & Wing were an American tap dance duo composed of Dorothy Toy (real name Shigeko Takahashi, May 28, 1917 – July 10, 2019) and Paul Wing (real name Paul Wing Jew, October 14, 1912 – April 27, 1997).[1][2][3][4] They were billed as the "Chinese Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers",[2] though only Wing was Chinese-American; Toy was of Japanese descent.[2][3][5] Active in the 1930s and 1940s, they were the first Asian-Americans to enter the American tap dance scene.[6]

Toy & Wing, c. 1942

Dorothy Toy was born on May 28, 1917 in San Francisco to Yataro and Kiyo (née Sayama) Takahashi. She had a sister, Helen. After marrying Les Fong in 1952, her married name was Dorothy Toy Fong — they would later divorce. Following her dance career, Toy worked as a pharmaceutical technician and a dance instructor.[7] She turned 100 in May 2017,[8] and died on July 10, 2019 at the age of 102 at her home in Oakland, California. She had two children, Peter and Dorlie.[9]

References
  1. OBITUARY -- Paul Wing
  2. Vaudeville old & new: an encyclopedia of variety performances in America. Psychology Press. 2004. p. 36. ISBN 978-0-415-93853-2.
  3. Stephanie Barron; Sheri Bernstein; Ilene Susan Fort (2000). Reading California: Art, Image, and Identity, 1900-2000. University of California Press. p. 203. ISBN 978-0-520-22767-5.
  4. Valerie J. Matsumoto (2014). City Girls: The Nisei Social World in Los Angeles, 1920-1950. Oxford University Press. p. 104. ISBN 978-0-19-937703-9.
  5. Rusty E. Frank (1994). Tap!: The Greatest Tap Dance Stars and Their Stories, 1900-1955. Perseus Books Group. pp. 102–110. ISBN 978-0-306-80635-3.
  6. Amy Gorman (2006). Aging Artfully: 12 Profiles : Visual & Performing Women Artists Aged 85-105. PAL Publishing. p. 65. ISBN 978-0-9785192-0-9.
  7. Genzlinger, Neil (August 1, 2019). "Dorothy Toy, 102, Half of Asian-American Dance Team, Dies". The New York Times. Retrieved 2 August 2019.
  8. DOROTHY TOY DOCUMENTARY TO BE SCREENED AT CHSA
  9. Dorothy Toy, dazzling dancer known as the ‘Asian Ginger Rogers,’ dies at 102, 2019-07-27

Further reading
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