#JazzAppreciationMonth: The Savoy Ballroom – Harlem’s “Home of Happy Feet” (LISTEN)

by Lori Lakin Hutcherson (@lakinhutcherson)

As #JazzAppreciationMonth nears its end, today GBN celebrates the “Home of Happy Feet” that was one of the first integrated public entertainment spaces in the U.S., Harlem’s once famous  Savoy Ballroom.

To read about the Savoy, read on. To hear about it, press PLAY:

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Hey, this is Lori Lakin Hutcherson, founder and editor in chief of goodblacknews.org, here to share with you a bonus daily drop of Good Black News for Sunday, April 24th, 2022, based on the “A Year of Good Black News Page-A-Day Calendar” published by Workman Publishing.

It’s in the category for Black Museums and Landmarks we call “Get The Knowledge”:

Located in Harlem, New York, the Savoy Ballroom was known as “The World’s Finest Ballroom” and the “Home of Happy Feet” from its 1926 opening to its 1958 close.

Unlike other ballrooms of the era, the Savoy always had a no-discrimination policy and showcased the finest swing music in the city.

The Savoy offered non-stop music from two bandstands that attracted dancing pros like Whitey’s Lindy Hoppers as well as everyday people looking to have a good time.

Chick Webb, of the prominent house band leaders at the Savoy, had a top 10 hit in 1934 with the song composed by his saxophonist Edgar Sampson that you are hearing now, called – what else – “Stompin’ At The Savoy.”

In 2022, Frankie Manning and Norma Miller, members of Whitey’s Lindy Hoppers, unveiled a commemorative plaque for the Savoy Ballroom on Lenox Avenue:

To learn more about the Savoy Ballroom, check out welcometothesavoy.com, a site that’s restoring the Savoy with a VR experience, and they have a great collection of photos from the Savoy’s heyday on view now, watch the 1992 television movie Stompin’ At The Savoy directed by Debbie Allen, available on Amazon Prime Video or Roku.

Watch clips about the history of the Savoy on YouTube, or read Swinging At The Savoy: The Memoir of a Jazz Dancer by Norma Miller. Links to these and other sources are provided in today’s show notes and in the episode’s full transcript posted on goodblacknews.org

This has been a bonus daily drop of Good Black News, written, produced and hosted by me, Lori Lakin Hutcherson.

Intro and outro beats provided by freebeats.io and produced by White Hot.

“Stompin’ At The Savoy” by Chick Webb’s Orchestra is included under fair use.

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Sources:

• https://www.welcometothesavoy.com
• https://www.harlemworldmagazine.com/the-savoy-ballroom-harlem-new-york-1930/
• https://welcometoharlem.com/the-savoy-ballroom/
• All About The Savoy
• https://youtu.be/H5DyQfcokFk (short YouTube doc on Savoy)
• https://youtu.be/Nr8MLXDThug (clip from PBS doc Jazz on Savoy)
• https://youtu.be/p9OHZtq8CTk (lindy hoppers at Savoy)