Savoy Ballroom

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.

[2] It was in operation from March 12, 1926,[3] to July 10, 1958,[4] 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".

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 ..."[5][7] The Savoy was modeled after Faggen's downtown venue, Roseland Ballroom.

In 1926, the Savoy contained a spacious lobby framing a huge, cut glass chandelier and marble staircase.

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".

Occasionally, groups of dancers such as Whitey's Lindy Hoppers turned professional and performed in Broadway and Hollywood productions.

[10] Whitey turned out to be a successful agent, and in 1937 the Marx Brothers' movie A Day at the Races featured the group.

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.

[13] Other dances that were conceived at the Savoy are The Flying Charleston, Jive, Snakehips, Rhumboogie, and variations of the Shimmy and Mambo.

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.

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.

[16] 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".

Other prominent Savoy house bandleaders included Al Cooper, Erskine Hawkins, Lucky Millinder (with Wynonie Harris on vocals), Buddy Johnson, and Cootie Williams.

[24] On May 26, 2002, Frankie Manning and Norma Miller, members of Whitey's Lindy Hoppers, unveiled a commemorative plaque for the Savoy Ballroom on Lenox Avenue between 140th and 141st Streets.

[11] On the 19th anniversary of the plaque's installation, the Savoy Ballroom was honored with an interactive Google Doodle rhythm game, which featured popular swing dance tunes like Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong's "Let's Call the Whole Thing Off" duet.