If you’re a Lindy Hopper or a lover of the 1930’s/1940’s, you know the Savoy Ballroom in Harlem. You know that it is the hallowed ground of swing dancers everywhere and the ‘Home of the Happy Feet’. All the greats played here AND danced here and anyone who was anyone passed thru it’s doors. It truly was a magical place, where your skin colour did not matter, only the music and the dance did.

Savoy Plaque on the grounds where the original dance hall stood.

The Savoy turned 98 years old this past March 12th, 2024 (updated blog post–And yes the hall no longer exists but it lives in the hearts of dancers) and for today’s post I wanted to bring to life this legendary ballroom. Whether you know it’s story already or just discovering it for the first time, reading and watching videos about the Savoy never gets old.

Please grab your dance shoes friends because we are off to 596 Lenox Avenue, between 140th and 141st Streets to visit the famous Savoy Ballroom.

savoy ballroom colour vintage image — Source: The Savoy King

Savoy Ballroom-Home of the Happy Feet

Brief History & Facts About The Savoy:

Owned by Moe Gale, a Jewish man, and managed by Charles Buchanan, an African-American business man, the Savoy Ballroom opened its doors on March 12, 1926 right in the middle of Harlem

It was the first racially integrated public place in the country

The Savoy was modeled after Faggen’s downtown venue, Roseland Ballroom

10,000 square feet in size, was on the second floor and a block long. It could hold up to 4,000 people

The interior was painted pink and the walls were mirrored.Colored lights danced on the sprung layered wood floor and it had 2 bandstands (which allowed continuous music all night long)

The spacious basement checkrooms could serve up to 5,000 patrons with swift and efficient ease

Approximately 700,000 patrons visited the ballroom annually; and, consequently, the floor had to be completely replaced every three years

Nicknames included: “Home of the Happy Feet”, and “The Track” because of the elongated dance floor

Over 250 name and semi-name bands were featured at the Savoy. Bands like: Chick Webb, Fess Williams, Erskin Hawkins and Al Cooper’s Savoy Sultans (who were just some of the house bands), Benny Goodman Orchestra, Count Basie and Duke Ellington (were some of the guest bands)

Lindy Hop made its appearance in the ballroom and became its staple dance until it closed it’s doors. Purportedly named after Charles Lindbergh’s solo trans-Atlantic flight in 1927 it signifies the entire historical period known as the Swing Era

Herbert White, a.k.a. Whitey, an ex-boxer and bouncer at the Savoy, organized and cultivated a group of the best young Lindy Hoppers (and had them appear in theaters around the world as well as in films. They were called ‘Whitey’s Lindy Hoppers‘.

Lindy hop legend Frankie Manning noted that patrons were only judged on their dancing skills and not on the color of their skin

Part of the floor where the professional Lindy dancers ruled was on the 141st street side of the room and was then referred to as “the corner”. Only Whitey’s Lindy Hoppers could dance and work routines there. Dancers today know it as the “Cat’s Corner”.

It is estimated that the ballroom generated $250,000 in annual profit in its peak years from the late 1920’s to the 1940’s

“Stompin’ at the Savoy”, a 1934 Big Band classic song and jazz standard recorded by Chick Webb, was named after the ballroom

The Savoy closed permanently October, 1958 and was turned into a housing complex now called the “Savoy Park”.
Sources: Savoy Plague.org and Wikipedia

Vintage Images of the Ballroom:

Another image of the Savoy from the outside. I love the Lunchonette sign on the corner too.

Vintage Photo of the Savoy ballroom Harlem from the outside — Source: The Savoy King

The Savoy exterior vintage images of harlem — Source: The Savoy King

Who wants to attend Thursday’s Ladies Night at the Savoy?

1930s / 1940s vintage photo of the Savoy Ballroom sign with a bunch of people below it.

Vintage postcard of the interior of the Savoy.

Vintage Postcard of the Savoy Ballroom interior in Harlem New York. — Source: Flemingsbond.com

The Famous Dance Floor.

The Dancing aka THE LINDY HOP! -The Vintage Photos-

Vintage Photo of Lindy dancers at the savoy ballroom — Source: The Savoy King

A packed Lindy Hop dance floor in the 1940s.

1940s vintage photo of Lindy Hoppers dancing at the savoy ballroom in Harlem, New York — Source: The Savoy King

You could not help but smile when you were dancing at the Savoy, just look how much fun everyone is having?!

1940s vintage photo of lindy hoppers at the Savoy Ballroom with white and Black dancers watching off to the side. — Source: The Savoy King

These photos were not taken at the Savoy but here is the famous Whitey’s Lindy Hoppers dancing somewhere in NYC in their jackets.

Whitey's Lindy Hoppers jackets nyc vintage image — Source: New York Public Library

The Vintage Advertisements

“Every Saturday Nite, see a Sensational Lindy Hop Contest! Colored & White Teams. Featuring the country’s BEST Lindy Hop teams competing for fame and fortune”.

1930s / 1940s vintage advertisement for the Lindy Hop contest at the famous Savoy Ballroom in Harlem, New York — Source: Dogpossum.org

Sunday December 5th, 1937….”The Return of the King of the Drums…CHICK WEBB and his Savoy Swing Orchestra”! Gosh what a party that would of been.

1930s vintage advertisements for chick webb performing at the Savoy Ballroom in 1937. — Source: The Savoy King

1930s News Ad for the Savoy Ballroom starting it’s regular season in New York.

Battle of the Big Bands (this was a regular feature at the Savoy)

Two of the most famous battles involved Chick Webb & The Benny Goodman Orchestra (May 11th, 1937) and Chick Webb vs Count Basie w/ Billie Holiday & Ella Fitzgerald (January 16th, 1938). Chick Webb won both times in the battles making him the ‘King of Swing’!

Benny Goodman vs Chick Webb vintage 1930s poster / vintage ad for the famous Battle of the Bands at the Savoy Ballroom.

Chick vs Basie the Breakdown:

Count Basie vrs Chic Webb at the Savoy Ballroom vintage poster

Battle of the Bands at the Savoy Ballroom Chick Webb vs Count Basie — Source: Swing Music.net

Truck on Down for a Battle of the Bands with not 2 but 4 Bands! Who will you pick?

Savoy Ballroom Battle of the Bands vintage poster — Source: Dogpossum.org

Super Cool Tidbit:

Did you know that in Ian Fleming’s James Bond book ‘Live and Let Die’, Bond visits Harlem and the Savoy?

By the time they left the restaurant it was ten-thirty and the Avenue was almost deserted. They took a cab to the Savoy Ballroom, had a Scotch-and-soda, and watched the dancers.

Most modern dances were invented here,’ said Leiter. ‘That’s how good it is. The Lindy Hop, Truckin’, the Susie Q, the Shag. All started on that floor. Every big American band you’ve ever heard of is proud that it once played here – Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Cab Galloway, Noble Sissle, Fletcher Henderson. It’s the Mecca of jazz and jive.’

They had a table near the rail round the huge floor. Bond was spellbound. He found many of the girls very beautiful. The music hammered its way into his pulse until he almost forgot what he was there for (Source).

Before I close I will leave you with a photo of my husband and I recreating a famous Lindy Hop move in front of the plaque (this is tradition for all dancers).

I sure hope you enjoyed this visit to the Savoy Ballroom friends and don’t be afraid to share this post to help spread the word about the greatest ballroom on the planet!

FURTHER READING: Collection of Vintage Blog Posts on Swing Dance & The Big Band Era

Liz

This Weekend in NYC I am attending a celebration of life for one of the most amazing woman I have ever met, Dawn Hampton (she passed away Sept 25th, 2016). She was an awe-inspiring woman who achieved so much in her life and what she gave to the Lindy Hop world alone will never ever be forgotten.

It is also Black History month, so I think it’s important that the planet (or at least my readers) learn a bit more about the unforgettable Dawn and her accomplishments.

Black History Month: Dawn Hampton was an American cabaret and jazz singer, saxophonist, dancer, and songwriter. Hampton began her lifelong career as a musical entertainer touring the Midwest as a three-year-old member of the Hampton family's band The Hampton Sisters in the late 1930s

“The Light Is On”- Let’s Meet Dawn Hampton

15 Awesome Facts!

1. Dawn was born in 1928, in Middletown Ohio and was one of 12 children in her family.

2. Her father Clark Deacon Hampton, Sr., had a family band and vaudeville act, which was part of a traveling carnival. Dawn grew up listening to the music of the family band, ‘Deacon Hampton’s Pickaninnys’.

Vintage Photo of the Deacon Hampton's Pickaninnys

3. Dawn began performing at the age of 3 and two years later sang “He Takes Me to Paradise” (Source).

4. When she was very young, she wanted to be a ballet dancer then she found out that ballet does not swing (source).

5. In the mid 1950s Dawn and her sisters became the ‘Hampton Sisters’ after several of their brothers went off to study music. They had a very long career together.

1950s vintage photo of the 'Hampton Sisters' singing group featuring Dawn Hampton. Black History Month. — Hampton Sisters (left)-Carmelita, Dawn, Altera, Virtue

6. 1958 Dawn joined the cast of the Off-Broadway hit show, “Greenwich Village, U.S.A.”. The show ran for a year at New York’s legendary ‘The Bon Soir’. An original cast album of the show features several solo tracks by Dawn.

Vintage Record: 1958 Dawn joined the cast of the Off-Broadway hit show, "Greenwich Village, U.S.A.". The show ran for a year at New York's legendary 'The Bon Soir'. An original cast album of the show features several solo tracks by Dawn. — Source: Richard Skipper

7. During the early 60’s, Dawn worked as the house singer at the ‘Lion’s Den’. The Lion’s Den was also the scene of a singer’s talent competition. Barbara Streisand relates in a Vanity Fair interview that one of her first times singing on stage was at one of these competitions. She tells how she was a little unnerved, because she came on stage after Dawn, “and the lusty applause for Dawn Hampton [was] ringing in my ears.”

8. Surgery in 1964 to her vocal cords saw Dawn lose most of her vocal range BUT she never lost her eagerness or ability to perform and her optimistic spirit.

9. Dawn spent much of the next 20 years performing as a cabaret singer in clubs around New York City. Reviewers called her a “singer’s singer” and dubbed her the “Queen of Cabaret”.

10. Dawn is talented in writing music and lyrics: In 1989 Dawn collaborated with pianist/performer Mark Nadler, writing music and lyrics for the honky-tonk mini-opera ‘Red Light’ which was given the Manhattan Association of Cabarets (MAC) Award in 1990. Dawn and Mark also collaborated on ‘An Evening with Dawn Hampton’, which enjoyed an extended run at ‘Don’t Tell Mama’.

Dawn also wrote the music and lyrics for the play “Madame C. J. Walker” (Madame (1867-1919) was an African-American entrepreneur, philanthropist, and a political and social activist. Eulogized as the first female self-made millionaire in America).

Lastly, she would find time to write a book with her niece, entitled ‘Two Penny Soap Opera’.

Deacon Hampton's Pickaninnys — Source: Richard Skipper

11. 1992-Dawn appeared with Frankie Manning in the Movie ‘Malcom X’.

12. In the late 1990s and into the early 2000s, Hampton took advantage of the craze for swing dance by bringing to the scene her smooth style and theatrical presence that has brought her international acclaim. She has never stopped since those early days.

Dawn Hampton and frankie Manning — Dawn Hampton with Frankie Manning (June 2007) by photographer Eli Pritykin.

Dawn Hampton, Ryan Francois, John Dokes – Splanky at Frankie’s Centennial Savoy Ball 2014 – Photo by Jane Kratchovil

13. Dawn lived in NYC and could be found in New York City dancing and listening to some of the best swing bands around.

14. Dawn and her family are in a documentary called ‘The Unforgettable Hampton Family’ that aired in 2011 (click on image to watch doc).

15. Dawn has been known to answer her phone saying “God Is Good. The Light Is On!” (source).

Dawn Hampton - Black History Month — Source: Advanced Style Blog Post

In Conclusion…

Watching Dawn dance heightens the experience of merely listening to jazz and reunites the relationship between music and movement. In Dawn’s own words, “The light IS on!”

Check out Dawn’s talk at Toronto Lindy Hop’s Sunday of TOWLHD, as well as watch her dance dance dance 🙂

Lastly, here is my husband and I with Dawn during her visit to Toronto in 2015 (We are both wearing Dawn on our shirt).

Hope you enjoyed learning about Dawn and her life. If you have any stories about Dawn, please share them in the comments section below.

FURTHER READING:

Liz

Tag: Swing Dance

98th Anniversary of the Savoy Ballroom-Home of the Happy Feet