08:16

[Music – The Charleston by The Savoy Orpheans, Album Fascinating Rhythm – Great Hits of the 20s]

Section 2 – History & Historiography

[Music fade out]

08:28

As mentioned previously, Cobina Wright was one of the supreme hostesses of her time.  Her success was largely based on her ability to combine people from all walks of life.  The Oregon pioneer girl turned international opera star before marrying into Newport wealthy elite would always opt to mix her wide social circle across multiple lines – the super rich with entertainment stars, the larger the divide the more interesting prospects.  One never knew who all might appear at one of her gatherings. 

08:55

Cobina was also one who always spoke glowingly of others preferring to give rose-tinted views of those around her.  She might address a rumor without disparaging either party.  She definitely was socially ambitious, and her success came from generosity of both spirit and wealth.  She directly promoted the hell out of this soiree, writing columns that appeared across the country and giving endless details of the night and guests.

The effect of Cobina’s recital should not be underestimated in its influence and timing.  It wasn’t the first time an international audience was exposed to America’s black culture, but it definitely forged important connections for those involved.

09:31

The French curiosity in the Spirituals began in 1857 when French musician Oscar Comettant first wrote about their poetry and charm in his travelogue covering his 3 years in the United States.  In 1895, Paul Bourget described hearing a spiritual at a Georgian plantation.  Nine years later, Jules Huret would recount hearing the amazing singing of 1,400 students at Tuskegee.

09:53

But it was post World War I, that the flourish and interest grew as Roland Hayes and others performed in Paris for both devout religious Catholics and jazz fans.  The revised slave songs referred commonly as the Negro Spirituals had the distinction of both saintly Biblical origins while also serving as the foundation of the blues.  The religious tales with large emotional swings morphed into another distinct sound emanating from New Orleans which spread to St. Louis and around the world as jazz.

10:19

With Prohibition and the Roaring Twenties, the emergence of jazz came deeply tied to another cultural movement the Harlem Renaissance, at the time called “The New Negro Movement.”  A cultural explosion amongst African Americans in poetry, music, dancing, and other achievements.  Black themes, storylines, and entertainment elevated into both high brow and mass popular entertainment.  The adoption of more traditionally white indications of wealth and success amongst the rising blacks were both celebrated and criticized within the community.  Regardless, widespread racial division still meant segregation and often times black artists performing to white only crowds.

10:55

Then came the mecca of the movement – the Savoy Ballroom, modeled after the white swing club Roseland.  White entrepreneur and Roseland owner Jay Faggen with Jewish businessman Moe Gale built the new facility, and black British West Indies Charles Buchanan served as the manager while also becoming a local civic leader.  Located in Harlem at 596 Lenox Avenue between 140th & 141st Streets, the Savoy was an upscale joint with 10,000 square feet, could hold 4,000 people, and named after London’s famed Savoy Hotel.  It featured a glass cut chandelier and a marble staircase.  The bouncers wore tuxedos, and the Savoy Hostesses were Harlem’s most beautiful women and would teach people how to dance.  Poet Langston Hughes called the Savoy the Heartbeat of Harlem.

11:40

On Savoy’s opening night in 1926, 2,000 people had to be turned away.  It had a no discrimination policy unlike the white only clientele Cotton Club and similar establishments.  While it could be predominantly 85% black and 15% white, some nights the crowd might be 50 / 50. 

11:59

The biggest determinant of admission was how good one could dance especially the famed swing step known as the Lindy Hop.  When Clark Gable appeared one evening, the only question seemed to be – could he dance?  Several dance steps were developed at the Savoy including the Lindy Hop (named after famed aviator Charles Lindbergh and later called Jitterbug), Flying Charleston, Jive, Snakehips, Rhumboogie, and variations of the Shimmy and Mambo.

12:23

By late 1930s, the Savoy would host Battle of the Bands, the first one involved Benny Goodman against House regular Chick Webb.  Webb won and would later fend off Count Basie.  Another regular Savoy player was Benny Carter, whose music is often used in this podcast’s musical transitions.

Barely upon arriving in the United States in January 1928, the ultramodern French Impressionist composer Maurice Ravel had a small dinner with Cobina Wright.  Upon learning about his fascination with jazz and modern dance, Cobina offered a few suggestions to help him explore the various African American culture within the Harlem Renaissance which he immediately jumped upon.  

13:01

Ravel dived into the world of Harlem nightclubs, musicians, and dancers.  He even learned a few dance steps and saw an original run performance of Porgy – a play adapted by white Southerner Dubose Heyward and his wife Dorothy from his own short novel.  They insisted on an all black cast becoming the first authentic representation of black culture on Broadway.

Ravel’s immense passion and delight gave Cobina an idea.  She offered to host a reception the night of his premiere.  He indicated the interest in doing something with George Gershwin, but Cobina already had other plans.  When she explained her intentions to her husband Bill, he replied, “That is a tall order.”

13:37

She set herself the challenge of hosting a reception featuring the very best and most original talent in America, she knew exactly what to do and went to the headwaiter at the Savoy who pointed her to Hall Johnson.

The highly desired Ravel was very much in demand both for performances as well as an honored guest, yet he constantly gravitated back to Cobina’s company.  He would eventually celebrate his March birthday with George Gershwin to make up for the digression in plans.  Still for Ravel on this trip, the most memorable occasion was the night of Cobina Wright’s recital in his honor. 

14:08

On January 15th, 1928, after his premiere performance of his Pro-Musica concert American tour, Maurice Ravel and other distinguished guests attended the reception afterwards hosted by Cobina Wright.  Months and years later the memories would ripple outwards both for the attendees and performers at this party.

Maurice Ravel enjoyed the night and publicly proclaimed support of Hall Johnson and his choir.  Press releases included his quotes, “Charmed… by the beauty of voices and the musicianship of the artists.” 

14:35

Along with quotes from Ravel and other guests, the promotional brochure for the choir stated:

The Hall Johnson Negro Choir is composed of genuine down-South Negroes, led by a conductor born and brought up in the center of Georgia, twenty miles from a railroad and where his grandmother, a former slave, taught him to sing the melodies of her childhood.

After the performance for Cobina Wright and Maurice Ravel, Hall Johnson and his choir’s popularity soared.  Thanks to Cobina and her distinguished and esteemed musical guests, more performances were soon arranged. 

15:05

On February 29th at the Pythian Temple and March 20th at New York’s Town Hall.  By April 1928, they performed on radio, followed by tours including Rochester in October.  In 1929, Hall Johnson and choir performed in the small independent short film St Louis Blues with Bessie Smith (the musical recording featured in Section 1).  More out of town tours, radio, and even an ongoing engagement with the New York Philharmonic orchestra in the summer stadium concerts followed.  Hall had formed his choir in September 1925, stayed focused, had one prior performance on December 20, 1927, then seemingly overnight became an instantaneous success in 1928.

15:47

In 1930, Hall arranged the music for The Green Pastures musical featuring stories of the Bible’s Old Testament performed by an all black cast.  Another of Cobina’s guests Rowland “Rollo” Stebbins – professionally went by Laurence Rivers – was a former stockbroker turned full time theatrical producer in 1929 financed the play without any concern of making a penny back.  Instead the play ran for 16 months at Mansfield Theatre and won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for the white playwright Marc Connelly, who adapted the story from a book by the white author Roark Bradford.

16:21

In 1936 the film adaptation of The Green Pastures would be one of only 6 all black cast films during the Hollywood Studio era.  Opening at New York’s Radio City Music Hall, it was an instant success, selling 6,000 tickets per hour and playing in some theaters for over a year.  It was the top grossing all black cast film until 1954’s Carmen Jones starring Dorothy Dandridge and Harry Belafonte.

16:45

In 1933, Hall directed his second Broadway musical Run Li’l Chillun which was another hit.  Hall Johnson’s work would include over thirty feature length films, including Disney’s 1937 Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs when Snow White is awakened by the Prince’s kiss to a heavenly choir singing Someday My Prince Will Come,  another film Hal Roach’s Zenobia, and more distinctively vocals for Disney’s 1941 Dumbo including “When I See An Elephant Fly”.  Johnson himself provided the voice for the character Preacher Crow, with the choir as the voices of other crow characters.

17:19

In 1935, the play Porgy was transformed into an opera Porgy and Bess by George Gershwin with vaudeville star and tap dancer John Bubbles in a supporting role.  The film adaptation in 1959 was directed by Otto Preminger and starred Sidney Poitier, Dorothy Dandridge, & Sammy Davis Jr.  The film was both a commercial and critical flop.  However the opera continues to be performed to great acclaim and ongoing success.

17:42

It should be noted that the explosion of black culture also had its criticisms.  In part, the white washing of more upwardly mobile and gentrified blacks within the community.  The Green Pastures and Porgy stories were both written by white authors and eventually films and plays with white directors.  Although the writers and other higherups sincerely attempted to provide authenticity especially in dialect and provide sympathetic characters, the depictions were nonetheless very stereotypical, patronizing, and riddled with complicated racial under and overtones. 

18:11

The big breakthrough came within casting.  There were harsh fights over having actual black actors rather than white actors in blackface.  It had been proposed that Fred Astaire, Al Jolson, and Rita Hayworth perform in blackface for the 1959 Porgy and Bess film.  The insistence on and actual use of black only performers was a large step forward, and those successes helped show that African American culture did have mainstream and financial appeal.

18:38

A quick note: today’s episode’s publication date is September 3rd – on this day in 1929 the stock market reached its highest peak at 381.17 on the Dow Jones, shortly prior to the October 29th Crash.  It would not return to that mark for another 25 years until 1954 (the same year as the film Carmen Jones).  Soon we will cover this peak within our story, but for now we have so much more to cover before that & the Crash.

Still a few seeds are planted once again, in the ongoing saga of our very complicated and twisted tale.  Any namedropped might rise and suddenly disappear like Bubbles on a warm summer day.