Nita Bieber

Beautiful dancer Nita Bieber was born in 1926; her father, Wilbert Carl Bieber, was an accomplished piano player, and her mother, Callie Mae (Robbins), was a great dancer. Her younger brother Rodney and her three younger sisters all became good dancers, too, with Linda doing ballet and Wanda playing the harp. Nita started performing in public at age five, when she did a decorous fan dance in a long, pink dress. After her graduation from Hollywood high school, Nita traveled as a dancer with a USO troupe, and then joined the Jack Cole Dancers for a 9-month tour of the U.S., during which she became very prolific in both dancing and cooking. In 1946, Nita appeared in a couple of films for Columbia, most notably Rhythm and Weep (1946) with the Three Stooges. In 1947, Nita appeared in three more films for Columbia, and also went to Monogram for a couple of flicks, most notably as Mame in the Bowery Boys movie News Hounds (1947). Nita was featured with a full-page photo on the cover of Life magazine, November 28, 1949. The article talked about her 7-year contract with MGM, and Nita's big dance number in the new movie musical in production, "Nancy Goes to Rio"; but it seems her dance number wound up on the cutting room floor, Nita was not in the final print (perhaps the director didn't want it to compete against Carmen Miranda). Nita appeared in movies for MGM and Universal until 1955; it seems "Kismet" (1955) was her last movie for MGM under her 7-year contract. But Nita was very busy outside of movies. The Nita Bieber Dancers did short performances produced in 1951-1952, for local television stations needing "filler" programming. Their song-and-dance numbers included: "Swing Low, Sweet Clarinet" and "Dance of the Peacock" and "Mondongo." The Nita Bieber Dancers were also headliners in Las Vegas: they performed at the El Rancho Vegas in 1951, along with Benny Goodman; and in 1952, the Frontier showcased the Nita Bieber Dancers (they were in good company, other acts in the Frontier at that time were the Marx Brothers, Benny Goodman, Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., Josephine Baker and April Stevens). Even after Nita retired from show business, her fans had fond memories of her and great dancing. Nita's longtime hobbies included cats and paintings.