The group started out as a trio in 1925, with the original members, Maceo Anderson, Al Williams and Red Walker.
[2] The quartet was the first black act to perform at Radio City Music Hall, the first to appear at the Chez Paree Club in Chicago and the first to break television's color bar.
The "Brothers" incorporated snake hips, five-tap wings, slides, rhythm (jazz) tap, the camel walk, the strut, straight acrobatics, etc.
[2] They appeared in numerous films including Check and Double Check (1930), the Vitaphone short Barbershop Blues (1933), When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again (1942), It Ain't Hay (1943), Rhythm of the Islands (1943), Carolina Blues (1944), Greenwich Village (1944), That's My Gal (1947), Here Come the Girls (1953), and The Patsy (1964).
Berle wrote in his autobiography: I remember clashing with the advertising agency and the sponsor over my signing the Four Step Brothers for an appearance on the show.
[2] When Prince Spencer left the group to go into the Chicago grocery business, he was replaced by Edward Bozeman.
In 1968, a ten year-old, acrobatic ball of energy, named Terry Criner was brought on at the end of the quartet's already superior performance.
"[8] Terry Criner was a fourth-grade elementary student when he was picked to share the stage with some of the greatest dancers in tap history.
Although a novice in the art of tap dancing, his acrobatic-dance skills combined landed him into a unique place in history.
Criner simultaneously toured with the Step Brothers and opened as a solo act for Donald O'Connor for nearly three years.
Elder Anderson resided with the Criner family in Las Vegas, Nevada, for seven years, until he moved to Los Angeles, California.