Helena Justa

Justa was born in Brooklyn, New York, the daughter vaudeville entertainers Duke Johnson and Mae Wells.^[4][5] She traveled with her parents in Europe, Australia and New Zealand while they toured in the 1900s and 1910s.^[6][7]

Justa performed on vaudeville programs beginning in her teens.^[8][9] "Miss Justa is a versatile dancer, the esthetic, clog and toe all being in the range of her accomplishments," noted The Chicago Defender in 1926.^[10] However, a Billboard review in 1932 found her singing "decidedly ordinary".^[11]

Justa danced in Massachusetts in 1923 and 1924,^[12][13] in Pennsylvania in 1925,^[14] and in California in 1926 and 1927.^[15][16][17] She sang in California and Chicago in 1928,^[18][19] and danced with Bill Robinson in Blackbirds of 1929.^[20] In 1929 and 1930 she danced and sang with her uncle Charlie Johnson, on the RKO circuit.^[21][22][23] In the 1930s she led her own revue, the Harlem Maniacs,^[24][25][26] and had a cabaret act.^[27] Pianist Gideon Honore [de] worked with her in 1935.^[28] In 1936, she and Etta Moten performed in Buenos Aires.^[29]

Justa married her manager, Ted Bradley, but left him in 1935.^[30] She occasionally performed in clubs in her later years.^[2][31]