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whole block of 140th. street to 141st. street at 596 Lenox Avenue
in (Uptown) Harlem, New York. The interior consisted of
a huge coat check room, a foyer, a Lounge with Snack bar, and
two band stands that alternated from 1 band to the other for continuous,
non-stop music thru out the night. The Savoy's marquee
(as seen above left) extended out over the side walk and
had a fabulous marble stairway leading into the Ballroom. The
above video on right side is of dancer's doing the Big
Apple and then the Lindy
Hop inside the Savoy Ballroom.
The Savoy was pink on the inside and
had a good size foyer as you entered the building, was very well
ventilated (Air-Conditioning not yet invented), and had
modern furniture of the times and mirrored walls. The Ballroom
itself was huge, had two bandstands, colored spotlights, and a
dance floor that was not very wide, but long and rectangular in
shape (nicknamed "the track") and was over 10,000
square ft. of spring loaded, wooden dance floor. The floor had
to be replaced every three years due to the tremendous use it
went thru.
Originally, the Bar only served soft
drinks, Beer and Wine, no hard liquor was served in the early
years at the Savoy. The soda fountain bar served up Ice Cream
drinks and dishes such as Banana Splits, Sundaes and Floats. Over
150 employees would work the Savoy during a week and the owner
would make well over $250.000 a year during it's hey-day. The
Bouncers at the Savoy would be dressed in Tuxedo's and make about
$100.00 a night. There were many fights at the Savoy, Males and
Females, but was considerably less than most of the other Ballrooms
(including the Roseland
Ballroom in Manhattan) due to the excellent work of the
Bouncers at the Savoy.
The Savoy could and very often would
hold up to 4,000 people with about 15% of the people being Caucasian.
Depending on who the band was, the ballroom would more than double
its capacity. When Benny Goodman played the Savoy and
did battle with Chick Webb, it was reported that there was approximately
25,000 people waiting to get into the ballroom (Webb won
btw) The Orchestra's were paid $1,200 a week to play the Savoy.
The club was only open to
the public five nights a week, with two days reserved for private
Parties/Functions. The normal Cover Charge was between $0.30 cents
to $0.85 cents in the early 1930's. During the depression the
cover was lower and the Savoy would setup free Holiday dinners
for the homeless or poor folks in the area for free.
You could become a member of the Savoy
by purchasing a membership of certain Savoy dance clubs called
the Lindy Hop Club, the 400 Club, or the
Old Timers Club and receive a discounted admission. There
were always dance Hostesses around that would dance with you or
be available for private lessons. You did not have to be 21 to
gain entrance to the ballroom although most parents would not
let you go. At midnight the place was just starting to jump and
was open till 3am (So as the folks catching a play or whatever
nearby could still come dancing after.)
The Savoy was known as the
"Home Of Happy Feet" and had the best Lindy
Hop dancers in the Nation with the Lindy Hop being said to
originate at the Savoy. The best of these dancers would hang out
together in the N/E corner of the Savoy, known as "Cats Corner."
The Savoy was allowing inter-racial dancing of Blacks and Whites,
and was widely done, which was really frowned upon by both races
at the time at other night spots such as the 'whites only' policy
of the Cotton Club, but
not at the Savoy. Some Clubs such as the Roseland Ballroom
would put a rope down the middle of the floor, Blacks on one side
and whites on the other on their mixed nights. The Savoy hardly
had any problems with fights or trouble makers due to racial issues.
The roots of the Lindy
Hop was the Breakaway
and the Breakaway was the main dance of choice in the mid 1920's
and somewhat still in the early 30's with a few. The Break-away's
main exponent was "Shorty
George" Snowden. Shorty was to name the Breakaway the
Lindy Hop in 1927, but a slower, smoother version, bred out of
the Savoy would soon take over in popularity ... being called
the "Savoy Style Lindy," (West
Coast Swing. is a direct descendant of this style.) Dean
Collins and Hubert ('whitey') White and the Whites
Hopping Maniacs, (a.k.a. Whitey's Lindy Hoppers) would
help promote this smoother form of Lindy as we know it today thru
motion pictures. Shorty George would often still perform his "Breakaway,
turned Lindy style" with his group at the Cotton
Club in New York and in a few films.
There were different types
of entertainment at the Savoy such as the famous "Battle
Of The Bands" pitting one band against the other, usually
Chick Webb's band would compete against another famous band while
the dancers would pick the winners. This usually brought the biggest
crowds. Ella Fitzgerald won a singing contest up the street from
the Savoy and was dancing at the Savoy when someone told Chick
Webb about her, he auditioned her and signed her to his band.
Dance Contest's were also popular at
the Savoy Ballroom and the contests were generally held on Wednesdays
with prizes going to third place. First place was around $40.00
in the early days and a chance to perform a solo dance exhibition
at the Savoy. The Harvest Moon Ball
held it's prelims for the Swing division at the Savoy Ballroom,
then later at the Savoy Manor. By the 1950's there were many Mambo
contests held at the Savoy as well as Jitterbug
on Monday nights.
Other dances such as the Suzy-Q,
Big
Apple, Charleston,
Shim-Sham
and Truckin'
were performed at the Savoy as well. Other local swing clubs/
Ballrooms were the Renaissance, and the Alhambra. The Savoy's
License was temporarily revoked in 1943.
There were other Savoy's,
not all were like the famous Harlem Savoy, however and only one
was connected to the legendary Harlem Savoy. Hubert "Whitey"
White around 1945 opened his own Savoy Ballroom in Oswego,
New York with the assistance of Savoy's own Charles Buchanon.
London, England had the Savoy Hotel in the 1920's which featured
many American bands and dancers and hosted a Radio Show each week.
Chicago had a Savoy Ballroom in the mid 1920's, having Louis Armstrong
and Carroll Dickinson play there. Barron Wilkins (Exclusive
Club fame) opened the Little Savoy in Midtown, New York in
the early 1900's. Boston, MA. had a Savoy in the 1940's, Los Angeles
had a night club and the Savoy Hotel, located on 601 west 6th.
Street, and there was even a Savoy Ballroom in Bakersfield,
California in the late 1940's.
As the 1940's approached,
prohibition came and went and now Drugs were becoming a real problem
throughout the country and Harlem and the Savoy, altho the Savoy
out resisted all the others, it to would not be immune. By the
1950's the scene in Harlem had totally changed and the Savoy (and
all the other nearby ballrooms) were losing there luster,
large numbers of clientele and money to the much smaller and seedier
drinking clubs. They were either closing or would be shut down
left and right. The Savoy tried many different things to try to
get things back to where they were, but the people were not coming
to the club's in Harlem like they used too, which opened the doors
for other's who previously would not be allowed entrance ... a
way in. Altho mainly externally, a seedier side of the drug world
would eventually overcome and help with the demise of this legendary
spot. The Savoy was sold in 1958 to make way for a housing project,
everything was auctioned off and it very quickly became neglected
, finally the city tore it down and turned it's real estate foot
print into a Medical building. Unfortunately today there is no
trace of the ballroom ever being in that location except for a
plaque rightfully in placed there on May 26th, 2002.
NOTE:
The best Documentary ever done on the Savoy Ballroom was by Mura
Dehn who made the historic film called The
Spirit Moves. This film has hours of Savoy Ballroom footage
that almost all the other documentaries use plus never seen before
footage. It has now become available on a three
DVD Set. We have provided the link
here to check it out. You will never find anything better
on video and quality for the Savoy Ballroom. |
Ballrooms
