Ernest Brown

Who was Ernest Brown?

Ernest "Brownie" Brown was an African American tap dancer and last surviving member of the Original Copasetics. He was the dance partner of Charles "Cookie" Cook, with whom he performed from the days of vaudeville into the 1960s.

They performed in film, such as Dorothy Dandridge 1942 "soundie" Cow Cow Boogie, on Broadway in the 1948 musical Kiss Me, Kate, twice at the Newport Jazz Festival, as well in other acts, including "Garbage and His Two Cans" in which they played the garbage cans. Brown's partner for his last 16 years was Reginald McLaughlin, known as Regio the Hoofer.

Tap performer and historian Jane Goldberg wrote in an e-mail message reported in The New York Times obituary:

He had an amazing sense of "entitlement" in a good way. He always felt he belonged on the stage, shaking his shoulders in that jazzy, goofy move he was known for, even while Honi Coles was cutting Gregory Hines in a tap battle, or other of the greats were there. I don’t think Brownie was tap as much as jazz, and he had a wonderful feeling for jazz.