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]
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
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
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
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)
Stars included Lora Pierre (tap dancer), Flash and Dash, The Three Chocolateers, Jackie Mabley, Dusty Fletcher, The Cotton Club Boys and the Harperettes
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]
Stars included Cholly and Dotty (Dotty Saulters; 1922–1962) (dancers), Benny Payne(de) (1907–1986) (vocalist), Cotton Club Boys
Selected members
Ten original members
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]
Charles "Chink" Collins
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]
Walter Shepherd
Tommy Porter (Thomas Porter)
Maxie Armstrong (Maxwell Armstrong, Jr.; 1914 - 2001) sang with the 366th Infantry Band during World War II
Louis Brown went on to become a liquor salesman
Jimmy Wright
Thomas "Chink" Lee (manager) went on to become a tavern manager
Eddie Morton (Edward James Morton, Jr.; 1910 - 1998) in 1951 married singer Ida Mae James, then in 1960 married Nan Steinburg
Subsequent members
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]
Jules Adjer (Julian Francis Adger, Jr.; 1913 - 1991) among other things, was a dancer in the 1943 film, Cabin in the Sky
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)
^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 a 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
^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
^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 vaudevillianburlesque 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
^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); OCLC53846580
^"Winifred (Winnie) Johnson, Sang With Duke Ellington's Orchestra", The New York Times, October 30, 1980