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30-453: Cotton Club Boys may refer to: Cotton Club Boys (chorus line) , a chorus line of the Cotton Club that debuted 1934 and flourished through 1942 Cotton Club Boys (territory band) , a traveling swing band from the 1930s initially fronted by Anna Mae Winburn Cotton Club Boys (Cab Calloway's band) , a nickname for Cab Calloway's band when it was

60-493: A 25 cent dance ticket. Roseland Ballroom hostesses often visited the Savoy on their night off; this inspired Buchanan to create Monday Ladies-Free Nights. Other special events began during the week, including the giveaway of a new car every Saturday. The floor had to be replaced every three years due to frequent use. During the 1930s, Chick Webb was the bandleader of the Savoy's most popular house band . Ella Fitzgerald , fresh from

90-472: A beat, they had to swing". Unlike many ballrooms such as the Cotton Club , the Savoy always had a no-discrimination policy. The clientele was 85% black and 15% white, although sometimes there was an even split. Lindy hop dancer Frankie Manning said that patrons were judged on their dancing skills and not on the color of their skin: "One night somebody came over and said, 'Hey man, Clark Gable just walked in

120-531: A night. The floor was watched inconspicuously by a security force of four men at a time who were headed by Jack La Rue , and no man was allowed in who wasn't dressed in a jacket with a tie. Besides the security staff, the Savoy was populated by "Harlem's most beautiful women": the Savoy Hostesses. They would be fired for consorting with patrons outside the ballroom, but inside the hostesses would teach people to dance and were dance partners for anyone who purchased

150-576: A successful agent, and in 1937 the Marx Brothers ' movie A Day at the Races featured the group. Herbert White was a bouncer at the Savoy who was made floor manager in the early 1930s. He was sometimes known as Mac, but with his ambition to scout dancers at the ballroom to form his own group, he became widely known as Whitey for the white streak of hair down the center of his head. He looked for dancers who were "young, stylized, and, most of all, they had to have

180-599: A talent show victory at the Apollo Theater in 1934, became its teenage vocalist. Webb also recorded the 1934 big band song and jazz standard " Stompin' at the Savoy ", which is named for the Savoy. The Savoy was the site of many Battle of the Bands or Cutting Contests , which started when the Benny Goodman Orchestra challenged Webb in 1937. Webb and his band were declared the winners of that contest. In 1938, Webb

210-437: Is estimated that the ballroom generated $ 250,000 in annual profit in its peak years from the late 1920s to the 1940s. Every year the ballroom was visited by almost 700,000 people. The entrance fee was 30 to 85 cents per person, depending on what time a person came. Thirty cents was the base price, but after 6 pm the fee was 60 cents, and then 85 cents after 8 pm. The Savoy made enough money by its peak in 1936 that $ 50,000

240-660: The 24th edition of the "Cotton Club Parade" in spring 1934, a period at the beginning of the swing era , the post- Harlem Renaissance , a year after Prohibition , and the trough of the Great Depression . The chorus line's name often included a prefix reflecting the number of entertainers, such as "The Six Cotton Club Boys", "The 12 Cotton Club Boys", etc. Some Cotton Club Boys alumni went on to become major influences in American arts and culture . Cholly Atkins , for example, contributed to Motown , musical theatre , and film. While

270-587: The Cotton Club Boys were African-American, the Cotton Club maintained a whites-only policy for customers. The Cotton Club first opened in 1923 in Harlem on the 2nd floor of a building at 142nd Street and Lenox Avenue , close to Sugar Hill . The space had been formerly leased and operated by the boxer Jack Johnson as the Club Delux, an intimate supper club . Owney Madden , a bootlegger and gangster , took over

300-541: The Cotton Club's house band – before the chorus line of the same name was established Cotton Club boys (4-H) , part of 4-H (an agricultural oriented youth organization) that began around 1912 in the U.S.; i.e., in North America, the southern version of 4-H Corn Club boys Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Cotton Club Boys . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change

330-621: The Plantation Club. Following the repeal of Prohibition in 1933 and the Harlem riot of 1935 , jazz venues began moving from Harlem to Midtown , around 52nd Street , and downtown . The new Cotton Club opened September 24, 1936, at Broadway and 48th Street, in the Great White Way section of the Theater District near Times Square . The Cotton Club was closed for the 1936 season while

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360-711: The ballroom felt this gave the ballroom a classy, upscale feeling, as the hotel is a very elite, upscale hotel. The Savoy was popular from the start. A headline from the New York Age March 20, 1926, reads "Savoy Turns 2,000 Away On Opening Night – Crowds Pack Ball Room All Week". The ballroom remained lit every night of the week. The Savoy had the constant presence of the best Lindy Hoppers , known as "Savoy Lindy Hoppers". Occasionally, groups of dancers such as Whitey's Lindy Hoppers turned professional and performed in Broadway and Hollywood productions. Whitey turned out to be

390-1052: The closing were the demands of Local 802, the New York chapter of the American Federation of Musicians , for back pay, especially salaries owed to Andy Kirk 's band. The location subsequently opened as a nightclub called the Latin Quarter . Ten original members Subsequent members 24th   ed. (Spring   1934) 25th   ed. (Fall       1934) 26th   ed. (Spring   1935) 1st     ed. (Fall       1936) 2nd    ed. (Spring   1937) 3rd     ed. (Fall       1937) 4th     ed. (Spring   1938) 6th     ed. (Spring   1939) 24th   ed. (Spring   1934) 6th     ed. (Spring   1939) Savoy Ballroom The Savoy Ballroom

420-467: The floor was long and thin. The Lindy Hop is also known as The Jitterbug and was born out of "mounting exhilaration and the 'hot' interaction of music and dance". Other dances that were conceived at the Savoy are The Flying Charleston, Jive , Snakehips, Rhumboogie, and variations of the Shimmy and Mambo . Capitol Records released at least one album devoted to the club, The Home of Happy Feet , from 1959. It

450-449: The house.' Somebody else said, 'Oh, yeah, can he dance?' All they wanted to know when you came into the Savoy was, do you dance?". The northeast corner of the dance floor, nicknamed "Cats' Corner," was monopolized by the best and boldest dancers. Some sources claim only Whitey's Lindy Hoppers were permitted to dance there, while others are less specific. Competition for a place in Cats' Corner

480-428: The lease in 1923 after his release from Sing Sing . He was one among the syndicate owners that included beer baron Bill Duffy, boxer Tony Panica ( John Francis Panica, known in the boxing world as Tommy Wilson), and Harry Block. Madden redecorated the space and changed the name to the Cotton Club. The Cotton Club sold liquor during Prohibition , which lasted until 1933. When the club opened, George "Big Frenchy" Demange

510-403: The link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Cotton_Club_Boys&oldid=789531709 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Cotton Club Boys (chorus line) They debuted in

540-516: The owners planned the move. In the interim, some of the entertainers from the original club performed in productions billed as the "Cotton Club Revue" at the Harlem Alhambra . The last show at the Cotton Club ran Saturday night, May 15, 1940, just before Madden left New York. It was reported in 1940 that the Cotton Club had suffered from competition from the World's Fair . Another likely impetus for

570-587: The police department and Army". Its license was renewed in mid-October of the same year. The ballroom went out of business in October 1958. Despite efforts to save it by Borough President Hulan Jack , Savoy Ballroom manager and co-owner Charles Buchanan, clubs, and organizations, the Savoy Ballroom was demolished for the construction of the Delano Village housing complex between March and April 1959. The mayor

600-592: The sprung layered wood floor. In 1926, the Savoy contained a spacious lobby framing a huge, cut glass chandelier and marble staircase. Leon James is quoted in Jazz Dance as saying, "My first impression was that I had stepped into another world. I had been to other ballrooms, but this was different – much bigger, more glamour, real class ..." The Savoy Ballroom was named after the Savoy Hotel in London as those who named

630-460: Was a large ballroom for music and public dancing located at 596 Lenox Avenue , between 140th and 141st Streets in the Harlem neighborhood of Manhattan , New York City . Lenox Avenue was the main thoroughfare through upper Harlem. Poet Langston Hughes calls it the "Heartbeat of Harlem" in Juke Box Love Song, and he set his work "Lenox Avenue: Midnight" on the legendary street. The Savoy

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660-435: Was a mostly European American swing dance club. With swing's rise to popularity and Harlem becoming a connected black community, The Savoy gave the rising talented and passionate black dancers an equally beautiful venue. The ballroom, which was 10,000 square feet in size, was on the second floor and a block long. It could hold up to 4,000 people. The interior was painted pink and the walls were mirrored. Colored lights danced on

690-506: Was challenged by the Count Basie Band. While Webb was declared the winner again, there was a lack of consensus on who won. Earle Warren , alto saxophonist for Basie, reported that they had worked on the song "Swingin' the Blues" for competing and says, "When we unloaded our cannons, that was the end". Floating World Pictures made a documentary called The Savoy King about the ballroom. It

720-556: Was fierce, and every serious hopper awaited the nightly "showtime". Other dancers would create a horseshoe around the band and "only the greatest Lindy-hoppers would stay on the floor, to try to eliminate each other". Many dances such as the Lindy Hop (which was named after Charles Lindbergh and originated in 1927) were developed and became famous there. It was known downtown as the "Home of Happy Feet" but uptown, in Harlem, as "the Track" because

750-512: Was managed by African-American businessman and civic leader Charles Buchanan. Buchanan, who was born in the British West Indies , sought to run a "luxury ballroom to accommodate the many thousands who wished to dance in an atmosphere of tasteful refinement, rather than in the small stuffy halls and the foul smelling, smoke laden cellar nightclubs ..." The Savoy was modeled after Faggen's downtown venue, Roseland Ballroom . The Roseland

780-428: Was one of many Harlem hot spots along Lenox, but it was the one to be called the "World's Finest Ballroom". It was in operation from March 12, 1926, to July 10, 1958, and as Barbara Englebrecht writes in her article "Swinging at the Savoy", it was "a building, a geographic place, a ballroom, and the 'soul' of a neighborhood". It was opened and owned by white entrepreneur Jay Faggen and Jewish businessman Moe Gale. It

810-460: Was shown at the 50th New York Film Festival . Other prominent Savoy house bandleaders included Al Cooper , Erskine Hawkins , Lucky Millinder (with Wynonie Harris on vocals), Buddy Johnson , and Cootie Williams . The Savoy participated in the 1939 New York World's Fair , presenting "The Evolution of Negro Dance". The ballroom was shut down in April 1943 as a result of "charges of vice filed by

840-399: Was spent on remodeling. The ballroom had a double bandstand that held one large and one medium-sized band running against its east wall. Music was continuous as the alternative band was always in position and ready to pick up the beat when the previous one had completed its set. The bouncers, who had previously worked as boxers, basketball players, and the like, wore tuxedos and made $ 100

870-480: Was the manager. Walter Brooks, who brought Shuffle Along to Broadway in 1921, was the front , or nominal owner. The Savoy Ballroom , which had a no-discrimination policy, was one block south at 596 Lenox Avenue. Smalls Paradise , which also had a no-discrimination policy, was seven blocks south and one avenue west at 2294 Seventh Avenue . The old Harlem Club at 142nd Street and Lenox Avenue reopened in May 1937 as

900-464: Was the target of protest by clubs and organizations. The fixtures of the ballroom were auctioned for a " slum clearance housing project". Count Basie was quoted in the paper saying, "With the passing of the Savoy Ballroom, a part of show business is gone. I feel about the same way I did when someone told me the news that Bill (Bojangles) Robinson was dead". On May 26, 2002, Frankie Manning and Norma Miller , members of Whitey's Lindy Hoppers, unveiled

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