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The Savoy Ballroom, Harlem, NY (The Home of Happy Feet)
The Savoy was located at 596 Lenox Avenue, between West 140th Street and West 141st Street, New York.
The Savoy was opened on March 12, 1926 by Moe Gale (Moses Galewski), Charles Galewski, and a Harlem real estate businessman called Charles Buchanan, who functioned as the ballroom’s manager. The Savoy was billed as the world’s most beautiful ballroom; it occupied the second floor of a building that extended along the whole block between 140th and 141st streets, and featured a large dance floor (200 feet x 50 feet), two bandstands, and a retractable stage. It swiftly became the most popular dance venue in Harlem, and many of the jazz dance crazes of the 1920’s and 1930’s originated there; it enjoyed a long and glittering career that lasted well into the 1950’s, before a decline in its fortunes set in.
On its opening night the Savoy featured Fess Williams and his Royal Flush Orchestra, the Charleston Bearcats, fronted by Leon Abbey, and, as a guest band, Fletcher Henderson‘s Roseland Orchestra; the Charleston Bearcats formed a lasting connection with the venue and later changed its name to the Savoy Bearcats. Except on special occasions, the ballroom hired two bands, which played alternate sets, and this policy led to its becoming a famous venue for battles of bands. Elaborate battles were organized by the management:on May 15, 1927 the Savoy presented a “Battle of Jazz,” which featured King Oliver’s Dixie Syncopators, a band led by Williams Chick Webb’s, Harlem Stompers, and Henderson’s Roseland Orchestra; other battles were fought between bands led by Lloyd Scott, Webb, Alex Johnson, Charlie Johnson, Williams, and Henderson (May 6, 1928) and between Cab Calloway’s Missourians and groups led by Duke Ellington, Henderson, Cecil Scott, Lockwood Lewis, and Webb (May 14, 1930).
Norma Miller said of her first time in the Savoy, “I remember it was Easter Sunday. I was twelve years old. “Hey kid!” I turned around and there he was, he said again, “You, you.” I recognized immediately who it was. It was the great Twist Mouth George in a white hat, white suit, white everything. Asking me to come up to The Savoy Ballroom to dance with him. And he said, “Would you come and dance?” I said, “Would I?!?” Anyway, he got permission for me and everything, and then, eventually he grabbed me, we dashed up the stairs.”
From PBS Ken Burns:
(Courtesy PBS)
PBS Transcripts :: Norma Miller and Frankie Manning
* Wikipedia :: Savoy Ballroom
* News Flash :: Jeff Kaufman is the writer, director and producer of the film, The Savoy King, a feature documentary about Swing-era drummer-bandleader Chick Webb, Ella Fitzgerald, and Harlem’s Savoy Ballroom. In The Savoy King, Kaufman weaves together newly filmed stories from remarkable people who knew Chick Webb at every phase of his life, with quotes from some of the greatest figures in Jazz history. It features Bill Cosby voicing the words of Chick Webb, Tyne Daly as Jazz publicist Helen Oakley Dance, Ron Perlman as Gene Krupa, Andy Garcia as Mario Bauzá, and Danny Glover as Count Basie.
* Savoy Ballroom Historian, Terry Monaghan’s website
-notes and info gathered by Chris Lee
