Cotton Club Boys (chorus line)

The Cotton Club Boys were African American chorus line entertainers who, from 1934, performed class act dance routines in musical revues produced by the Cotton Club until 1940, when the club closed, then as part of Cab Calloway's revue on tour through 1942.

This article is about the male chorus line of the Cotton Club (mid– to late–1930s). For the territory band booked out of Omaha, see Cotton Club Boys (territory band). For other uses, see Cotton Club Boys.

They debuted in 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.[1]

History

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 the Cotton Club Boys were African-American, the Cotton Club maintained a whites-only policy for customers.

The original Cotton Club, Harlem (1923–1936)

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 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.[2] 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 was the manager. Walter Brooks,[3] who brought Shuffle Along to Broadway in 1921, was the front, or nominal owner.[4]

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 the Plantation Club.

The new Cotton Club, Midtown (1936–1940)

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.[5] 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 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.

Closing of the Cotton Club (1940)

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.[6] Another likely impetus for 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.[7] The location subsequently opened as a nightclub called the Latin Quarter.[8]

Influences on the Cotton Club Boys
  • John Tiller (1854–1925): pioneer of precision dancing, influenced the Cotton Club Boys and Girls, who performed can-cans

Selected productions: Cotton Club Boys with the Cotton Club Revue

Cotton Club Boys with the Cotton Club Revue

1934

24th edition of Cotton Club Parade[9][10]
Opened March 23, 1934; opening night was largest show ever staged there; production ran for nine months, merging into fall edition
Produced by Dan Healy (Daniel E. Healy; 1888–1969)[11]
Harold Arlen's last show with Cotton Club Parade
Jimmie Lunceford and His Orchestra featuring Adelaide Hall
Debut of Cotton Club Boys: Stretch Johnson, Charles "Chink Collins, William Smith, Walter Shepherd, Tommy Porter, Maxie Armstrong, Louis Brown, Jimmy Wright, Thomas "'Chink" Lee, Eddie Morton
Songs introduced: "Ill Wind" and "Primitive Prima Donna", both written by Arlen (music) and Koehler (words) for Hall in this production
25th edition of Cotton Club Parade
Produced by Dan Healy [11]
Ran for 8 months
Featuring: Adelaide Hall, Avon Long, and Lena Horne
Dances by Elida Webb (Elida Webb Dawson; 1893–1975); staging by Dan Healy

1935

26th edition of Cotton Club Parade[9]
Opened Thursday, July 25, 1935[12]
Co-stars included Nina Mae McKinney
Claude Hopkins and His Orchestra with singer Orlando Roberson (vocalist)[lower-alpha 1]
Producers: Ted Koehler, Leonard Harper, Elida Webb
Music scoring and arranging: Will Vodery, Claude Hopkins, Alex Hill, Ted Koehler
Cotton Club Girls: Dolly McCormack, Lucille Wilson (married Louis Armstong in 1942), Anna Jones, Joyce Beasley, Mae Williamson, Hy Curtiss, Tony Ellis, Ione Sneed, Anna Bell Wilson, Nan Joyce, Marie Robinson, Myrtle Quinland, Arlene Payas
Cotton Club Boys: Chink Lee, Freddie Heron, Ernest Frazier, Eddie Morton, Al Alstock, Louis Brown, Jules Adger
At the Apollo
November 29, 1935 - December 6, 1935
Featuring: Claude Hopkins and His Band with Orlando Roberson (vocalist) and the New Fall Edition of the Cotton Club Revue:
Butterbeans and Susie, Babe Matthews, Cook and Brown - tap dance duo of Charles Cook and Ernest Brown - Miller and Mantan, Jesse Cryor (de) (1906–2006), Cora LaRedd (died 1968), Bob Wallace, Lena Horne, Dolly McCormack, the Cotton Club Boys, the Cotton Club Girls

1936

At the Apollo
Opened June 26, 1936 (for 1 week)
Chick Webb and His Band with Bardu Ali (vocalist and MC)
Taft Jordan, trumpeter, was in the band
Staging by Addison Carey (likely a pseudonym; 1899–1952)
Cotton Club Boys
Stars included Charles Linton, Teddy McRae, Charlie Ray, Kitty Aublanche;
Pete, Peaches and Duke - precision dancers
Gary Lambert "Pete" Nugent (1909–1973)
Irving "Peaches" Beamon (born 1911)
Duke Miller (1910–1937)
Pigmeat-Mason-Baskette
Dewey "Pigmeat" Markham
John Mason
Jimmy Baskette
Vivian Harris (1902 - 2000)
1st edition (aka 27th edition) of Cotton Club Parade[9]
Opened mid-September 1936
At the new Cotton Club at Broadway and 48th Street
Produced by Dan Healy
Book, lyrics, and music by Benny Davis and J. Fred Coots
Directed by Clarence Robinson
Featuring Cab Calloway and His Orchestra
Production and dances by Clarence Robinson[13]
At the Comedy Theater, 110 West 41st Street, Manhattan[14][15]
Black Rhythm, a "sepia swing musical comedy" in two acts
Book, music, and lyrics by Donald Heywood (Donald Gerard Heywood; 1896–1967)
Directed by Earl Dancer[lower-alpha 2] and Lionel Heywood
Produced by Earl Dancer and J.H. Levy
December 19, 1936 - December 24, 1936
Principal stars included Jeni Le Gon and dancer Avon Long
Opening performance was panned by The New York Times theater critic, Bosley Crowther[16]
Production included the Cotton Club Boys

1937

2nd edition of Cotton Club Parade[9]
Duke Ellington and His Orchestra featuring Ethel Waters and the Nicholas Brothers
At the Nixon Grand Theatre, Philadelphia
April 1937
Jimmy Lunceford and His Orchestra, Phantom Steppers, Sandy Burns, Dusty Fletcher, George Wiltshire, the Six Cotton Club Boys
3rd edition of Cotton Club Parade (at midtown Cotton Club)
Staged by Leonard Reed
Duke Ellington (house band), Ethel Waters, Nicholas Brothers, George Dewey Washington (1898–1954), Bill Bailey, Renee and Estelle, Kaloah, Tip, Tap, and Toe (Samuel Green, Ted Frazier, Ray Winfield), Dynamite Hooker
The Chocolateers (acrobatic dance team); possibly the original members: Al Bert "Gip" Gipson, Paul Black, known for his Chinese splits (straddling the floor as he walked), and Eddie West (with James Buster Brown replacing West for a short period of time)

1938

4th edition of Cotton Club Parade[9]
5th edition of Cotton Club Parade[17]
At the Apollo
August 26–31, 1938
WMCA broadcast
Luis Russell Orchestra featuring Red Allen (without Louis) and Sonny Woods, Hazel Diaz (1908 - 1997), the Cotton Club Boys

1939

At the Apollo
January 7–8 (at midnight)
Featured Jimmy Lunceford and His Band
Stars included Lora Pierre (tap dancer), Flash and Dash, The Three Chocolateers, Jackie Mabley, Dusty Fletcher, The Cotton Club Boys and the Harperettes
At the Broadhurst Theatre
The Hot Mikado (non-WPA version)[18]
March 23, 1939, to June 3, 1939 (85 performances)
Directed by Bill Robinson and Cab Calloway
Score by Ted Koehler and Rube Bloom
Koehler supervised the production
Featured Cab Calloway and His Orchestra, alternating with Socarres's Band
Included Sister Tharpe, Tanya, Katherine Perry, the Beachcombers, Glenn and Jenkins - comedy team of William "Willie" Henry Glenn and Walter Jenkins (Walter Jenkins Manigault; 1884 - 1953)[19][20] - Ruby Hill, Myra Johnson, Son and Sonny - tap dancers Roland James and Sonny Montgomery - Will Vodery's choir, the Six Cotton Club Boys, and a full complement of fifty Harlem dancing girls[21]
At the World's Fair, Hall of Music
Located at Flushing Meadows–Corona Park
The Hot Mikado[22]
(video clip via YouTube)
Opened June 20, 1939 (ran 14 months)
Included the Cotton Club Boys[23]
6th edition of Cotton Club Parade
Opened November 1, 1939

1940

1940: The Hot Mikado
The Six Cotton Club Boys, 14-month run with Bill Robinson, traveling with Cab Calloway and His Band[23]
At the Apollo
May 23–30, 1940
On tour
At the State Theater, Main Street and Morgan Street, Hartford
May 25 and 26, 1940
Included The Six Cotton Club Boys
At the Apollo
Opened June 21, 1940
Anise and Aland and Pete Nugent along with Cotton Club Boys and Apollo Dancing Girls
Show included The Six Cotton Club Boys: Jules Adger, Louis Brown, Freddie Heron, Chink Lee (manager), Charles Atkinson, Eddie Morton
In Montreal
In Wrentham
In Norfolk
In Raleigh
In Knoxville
At the Paramount Theatre
On tour, Brendt circuit
At the Strand Theatre, 501 South Salina Street, Syracuse, New York
September 13, 1940
In Flatbush, Brooklyn
Opened around September 30, 1940 (for a week engagement)
At the Apollo[24]
Cab Calloway's New Revue
Opened Friday, November 22, 1940
Stars included Avis Andrews, Anice and Aland, Cook and Brown, Sixteen Apollo Rockettes, and
The Six Cotton Club Boys

1941

At the State-Lake Theater, Chicago
January 1941
At the Paramount Theater, 509 Grand Avenue, Des Moines
January 1941
At Shea's in Buffalo
February 1941
Featuring Cab Calloway and His Orchestra
Included The Six Cotton Club Boys
At the RKO Temple Theatre, 35 Clinton Avenue S., Rochester, New York
From February 7–13, 1941
At the Stanley Theatre, Pittsburgh
February 19, 1941
At the State Theater, Main Street and Morgan Street, Hartford
March 14, 15, 16, 1941
At the State Theater, 212 Locust Street, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
March 18, 1941
At the Earle Theatre, 11th and Market, Philadelphia
Cab Calloway's Quizzicale[25]
National broadcasts of live performances
July 6 - October 5, 1941
Mutual Broadcasting System
At Camp Wheeler, Macon, Georgia
At Fort Dix, near Trenton, New Jersey
At the State-Lake Theater, Chicago
4th appearance in 24 months
At the Rialto, Louisville, Kentucky
Opened October 25, 1941
At the Palace Theatre, Canton, Ohio
At the State Theatre, Uniontown, Pennsylvania
At the State Theater, Hartford
At the Adams Theatre, 28 Branford Place, Newark
At the Strand Theatre, Brooklyn

1942

Cab Calloway's Quizzicale
National broadcasts of live performances
Blue Network ran weekly on Tuesday evenings for 6 months
February 25, 1942; OCLC 18067521
From Detroit, March 4, 1942 OCLC 18067504
From The Panther Room, Hotel Sherman, Chicago, April 21, 1942
At the Casa Mañana nightclub, 8781 Washington Boulevard in Culver City
Opened July 23, 1942
Largest 4-day opening in the club's history; opening night drew 9,084 patrons

1942–44 musicians' strike

Commenced August 1, 1942: no musician could perform on a radio broadcast or make a recording
At the Orpheum Theatre, Minneapolis
November 1942
At the Paradise Theatre, Detroit
December 4–10, 1942
Stars included Cholly and Dotty (Dotty Saulters; 1922–1962) (dancers), Benny Payne (de) (1907–1986) (vocalist), Cotton Club Boys

Selected members

Ten original members

  1. Howard Johnson (aka "Stretch Johnson", Howard Eugene Johnson; 1915 - 2000); his sister Winnie Johnson (1918 - 1980)[26] was a member of the Cotton Club Girls, from 1937 - 1938 was married to Hollywood actor Stepin Fetchit[27]
  2. Charles "Chink" Collins
  3. Billy Smith (William Smith) went into the restaurant business; during World War II, served in the first fully integrated outfit in the U.S. Army as an entertainer in Irving Berlin's production This Is The Army[28]
  4. Walter Shepherd
  5. Tommy Porter (Thomas Porter)
  6. Maxie Armstrong (Maxwell Armstrong, Jr.; 1914 - 2001) sang with the 366th Infantry Band during World War II
  7. Louis Brown went on to become a liquor salesman
  8. Jimmy Wright
  9. Thomas "Chink" Lee (manager) went on to become a tavern manager
  10. Eddie Morton (Edward James Morton, Jr.; 1910 - 1998) in 1951 married singer Ida Mae James, then in 1960 married Nan Steinburg

Subsequent members

  1. Cholly Atkins (Charles Sylvan Atkinson; 1913 - 2003) began dancing with the Cotton Club Boys as a substitute from someone who was ill; Honi Coles, who lived in the same building as Atkins, made the recommendation; production was Bill Robinson's The Hot Mikado, the biggest hit of Cotton Club Revue; Atkins soon became a choreographer with Cotton Club Boys[29][30]
  2. Jules Adjer (Julian Francis Adger, Jr.; 1913 - 1991) among other things, was a dancer in the 1943 film, Cabin in the Sky
  3. Freddie Heron (Frederick Clinton Heron; 1910 - 1977) born in the Panama Canal Zone; went on to become chief bartender at Shalimar by Randolph at 3638 Broadway (at 150th Street) and 2065 7th Avenue (at 123rd Street), owned by Luther "Red" Randolph (Luther Jerry Randolph; 1912 - 2005), club flourished from 1939 to 1966; in 1954 went out on his own, taking on food concession at the Silver Rail in Harlem (current location of Magic Johnson Theatres)
  4. Warren Coleman (1900 - 1968) brother of Ralph Coleman
  5. Roy Chink Baker went on to own the Mona Lisa Tavern on Lexington Avenue
  6. Al Martin
  7. Ernest Frazier
  8. Al Alstock (Paxton Alfonson Allstock; 1914 - 1937) died on October 18, 1937; had married Mary Leah Harris on February 12, 1937
  9. Roy Carter
  10. Sherman Coates[lower-alpha 3]

Notes
  1. Orlando Roberson (1909–1977) was a tenor vocalist with big bands during the swing era, noted for having been a pioneer of crooning during a period of technological advances with audio amplification that allowed for it; Roberson had four siblings – two sisters and a brother; one of his sisters, Ida Mae (1903–1986), was married (her 2nd of 4 marriages) to Countee Cullen – American poet of the Harlem Renaissance; Ida Mae, when she became his widow, devoted much of her remaining life as an public exponent of Cullen's works; biographer/author Keven A. Brown is the Orlando Roberson's 2nd great nephew; that is, Ida Mae was Keven Brown's maternal great grandmother
  2. Earl Dancer (né Earl Harold Dancer; 1894–1963) was once thought to be married to Ethel Waters; in 1943 he married a pianist Viola Nicholas (née Harden; 1893–1971), widow of the late drummer Ulysses D. Nicholas (1892–1935); through her, Dancer had two stepsons: Fayard Nicholas and Harold Nicholas, who were the dancing duo known as Nicholas Brothers
  3. Sherman Coates, who is identified as a "subsequent dancer" with the Cotton Club Boys by James Haskins (1941–2005) (The Cotton Club, 1997; Tap Dancing America Database, Library of Congress; retrieved February 27, 2017) is not the same person as Sherman Coates (1872–1912), pioneer of acro dancing of an earlier generation. The earlier Sherman Coates was part of a vaudevillian burlesque comedy duo with James Grundy (1876–1911); Coates was the straight man; those two, with their wives, Lulu Coates and Sue Grundy (1887–1934), and Tennie Russell (who replaced Gertine Miller) as Sam Patterson's (1881–1955) "Watermelon Trust" on tours, coast-to-coast; as part of the Harry Bryant Extravaganza Burlesque Company.
    Harry C. Bryant was formerly with Sefton & Watson, composed of Harry Sefton and Billy "Beef Trust" Watson, né Isaac Levy; 1852–1945, owned by Mr. Hill
    In 1914, Lulu Coates and Archie Leon Ware (1892–1974), Wilfred Blanks (born 1900), Harry Irons (1898–1943), Clifford James Carter (1893–1942) formed a singing-dance troupe, the "Crackerjacks;" Lulu Coates was director until her retirement in 1922, but the Crackerjacks flourished until about 1952; this act pioneered a type of dance known as Acro dance

References
  1. "Cotton Club Boys Pioneered in Precision Chorus Dancing", Ebony, Vol. 9, No. 8, June 1954, pg. 118; ISSN 0012-9011 (accessible via EBSCO Information Services – Accession No. 48949393; subscription required)
  2. On and Off the Bandstand: A Collection of Essays Related to the Great Bands ..., by Author Bradley, iUniverse (2005); OCLC 633537244
  3. "Cotton Club Figure Dies" (Walter Brooks; 1884–1968) The New York Times, November 23, 1968, pg. 2
  4. "Cotton Club" (alt link), Cary D. Wintz & Paul Finkelman (eds.), Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance (Vol. 1 of 2; A–J), Routledge (2004), pg. 256; OCLC 648136726, 56912455
  5. "Club Venues" (encyclopedic entry), Music in American Life: An Encyclopedia of the Songs, Styles, Stars, and Stories That Shaped Our Future (Vol. 1; A–C), Jacqueline Edmondson, Ph.D. (ed.), Greenwood Press (2013); OCLC 911398950
  6. "Kirk Little Affected by Fair Competition," Pittsburgh Courier, June 1, 1940, pg. 21
  7. "Broadway's Cotton Club Closes – May Reopen With New Kirk Show in July," Pittsburgh Courier, June 22, 1940, pg. 21
  8. To Be, Or Not ... To Bop, by Dizzy Gillespie, University of Minnesota Press (1st pub. 1979; 2009), pg. 108; OCLC 442778381
  9. "Cotton Club Boys (biography)," Performing Arts Encyclopedia c/o Library of Congress (online) (retrieved February 21, 2017)
    Cotton Club Parade productions:
    (browse Encyclopedia)
    Uptown Cotton Club:
    24th ed. (Spring 1934)
    25th ed. (Fall     1934)
    26th ed. (Spring 1935)
    ??    ed. (Fall     1935)
    Midtown Cotton Club:
    1st   ed. (Fall     1936)
    2nd  ed. (Spring 1937)
    3rd   ed. (Fall     1937)
    4th   ed. (Spring 1938)
    6th   ed. (Spring 1939)
    7th   ed. (Fall     1939)
  10. "Cotton Club Boys (biography)," Performing Arts Encyclopedia (continued)
    Music and literature:
    (browse Encyclopedia)
    24th ed. (Spring 1934)
    6th   ed. (Spring 1939)
    World's Fair ed. (1940)
  11. Vaudeville Old & New – An Encyclopedia of Variety Performers in America (Vol. 1), Frank Cullen, Routledge (2004); OCLC 53155485
  12. "New Cotton Club Revue Premieres 'Mid Celebs – Show, Produced By Ted Koehler, Stars Nina Mae, Torch Singer," by A. McM, New York Age, July 27, 1935, pg. 4
  13. "Clarence Robinson Presents Greatest Colored Show To Gay Broadway via Famed Cotton Club," by William L. "Billy" Rowe (1913–1997), Pittsburgh Courier, October 3, 1936
  14. "Cotton Club Boys (biography)," Performing Arts Encyclopedia (continued)
    Other productions:
    (browse Encyclopedia)
    Black Rhythm (December 1936)
    Original source: The Cotton Club by James Edward Haskins (1941–2005)
  15. A Century of Musicals in Black and White: An Encyclopedia of Musical Stage Works By, About, or Involving African Americans, by Bernard L. Peterson, Greenwood Press (1993), pps. 46–47; OCLC 770995297
  16. "The Play – Out of Tune" (performance review), by B.C. (Bosley Crowther), The New York Times, December 21, 1936
  17. "Cotton Club presents Cotton Club Parade" (program; 5th ed.) (1938); OCLC 951748496
  18. "The New Play – 'The Hot Mikado,' Non-WPA Version, Opens at the Broadhurst Theater," by Richard Lockridge, New York Sun, March 24, 1939, pg. 22
  19. Glenn and Jenkins Scrapbook, 1922–1962, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts; OCLC 122686765
  20. An Encyclopedia of South Carolina Jazz and Blues Musicians Benjamin V. Franklin V, PhD (born 1939), University of South Carolina Press (2016); OCLC 927379753
          "Jenkins, Walter (Walter Manigault)" (pg. 366)
         "Glenn, William Henry" (pg. 259)
  21. "News of Night Clubs", by Theodore Strauss (né Theodore William Strauss; 1912–1989), The New York Times, March 19, 1939
  22. "Broadway Applauds Star-Studded Cast," by Isadora Smith, Pittsburgh Courier, April 2, 1939, pg. 20
  23. "Cotton Club Boys' Smooth Act A Hit," Pittsburgh Courier, June 1, 1940, pg. pg. 20 (with photo) (accessed via www.newspapers.com)
  24. "Cab Calloway's New Revue Set For The Apollo Theatre," New York Age, November 22, 1940, pg. 4
  25. Swingin' on the Ether Waves: a Chronological History of African Americans in Radio and Television Broadcasting, 1925–1955, by Henry T. Sampson, Scarecrow Press (2005); OCLC 53846580
  26. "Winifred (Winnie) Johnson, Sang With Duke Ellington's Orchestra", The New York Times, October 30, 1980
  27. A Dancer in the Revolution: Stretch Johnson, Harlem Communist at the Cotton Club, Howard Eugene Johnson, Fordham University Press (2014), pg. 33; OCLC 907437335
  28. "Veteran Troupe Celebrates 'This Is the Army'" by Kathryn Shattuck, The New York Times, June 9, 1997
  29. "Let the Punishment Fit the Crime: The Vocal Choreography of Cholly Atkins," by Jacqui Malone, Dance Research Journal, Vol. 20, No. 1, Summer 1988, pps. 11–18 (retrieved March 17, 2917, via JSTOR)
  30. Class Act: The Jazz Life of Choreographer Cholly Atkins, by Cholly Atkins & Jacqui Malone, Columbia University Press (2001), pg. 43; OCLC 974087440
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