The Apollo Theater. Constructed in 1914 on Harlem’s 125th Street, the Apollo Theater featured live stage shows, often introducing new singers who later would go on to become famous. The theater quickly became known as the place “where stars are born and legends are made.” Ella Fitzgerald got her start at the Apollo as one of the first winners of the popular Amateur Nite at the Apollo talent contests. The Apollo still features up-and-coming singers and is one of Harlem’s noted historic landmarks.
Max Baer (1909–1959). Known as “Madcap Maxie,” Baer was one of the most charismatic boxers of his time. Folks admired Baer for his movie-star good looks and his showmanship in the ring. He was hailed as having one of the hardest punches in heavyweight history. After retiring from boxing, Baer became a screen, radio, and vaudeville actor. Baer was the father of Max Baer Jr., also an actor, known for his role as Jethro on the popular sixties television series The Beverly Hillbillies.
Jack Benny (1894–1974). Jack Benny was a vaudeville stage performer who later became a national radio personality with The Jack Benny Program, a weekly radio show that ran from 1932 to 1948 on NBC and from 1949 to 1955 on CBS. Benny was popular for his comedy routines that often took everyday situations and made them funny. After his radio show, he hosted a popular television program.
James Braddock (1905–1974). James Walter Braddock was known for his powerful right-handed punch, though his boxing career went through several ups and downs. Like many during the Great Depression, Braddock struggled to support his family, and his responsibilities often took him away from boxing. He suffered from injuries to his hands, which also affected his ability to fight consistently. Because of his skill in winning fights in which he was the underdog, Braddock gained the nickname “Cinderella Man.”
Duke Ellington (1899–1974). Edward Kennedy Ellington, called the “King of the Keys” by his fans, was a world-renowned jazz pianist. In 1927 Duke Ellington and His Orchestra began a highly successful run at Harlem’s Cotton Club. He also played at the Savoy Ballroom. Ellington was a leader in swing jazz, and through a career that spanned fifty years, he wrote, produced, and performed thousands of compositions, many of which became hits that remain popular today. These include “Caravan,” “Sophisticated Lady,” and “It Don’t Mean a Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing).”
Ella Fitzgerald (1917–1996). Ella Jane Fitzgerald never knew her father and suffered the death of her mother when she was a teenager. Soon afterward, Ella joined the Chick Webb Orchestra. Under Chick’s care, Ella’s career soared. She became a vocal virtuosa, best known for her scat singing. She went on to become one of the leading ladies of jazz, winning more than a dozen Grammy Awards, and in 1979 was named by President Jimmy Carter as one of the most talented American performers who ever lived.
Mike Jacobs (1880–1953). Boxing promoter Michael Strauss Jacobs is said to have been the most powerful promoter in the sport from the mid-1930s until he retired in 1946. Though he was well known in boxing circles, Jacobs’ career took a dramatic turn in 1935 when he met with the managers of Joe Louis, who was an up-and-coming heavyweight contender at that time. Louis had been managed by a group of men from his hometown of Detroit, Michigan, but chose to work with Jacobs as his boxing career gained momentum. The hiring of a private railroad car to take Joe on a tour of exhibition matches really happened. “The Brown Bomber Box Campaign” is a fictional creation, though Jacobs advanced Joe’s profile and fame in many creative ways. It was Mike Jacobs who promised a heavyweight champion title shot to Louis at a time when racial barriers kept black boxers from obtaining a world championship. In 1982 Jacobs was posthumously elected to the World Boxing Hall of Fame, and the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1990.
Bob Pastor (1914–1996). Born in New York City, Pastor was a boxer who became famous for entering the ring twice against heavyweight champion Joe Louis. Pastor was enrolled in New York University, but he gave up college to pursue his career as a fighter. In sixty-five bouts from 1935 to 1942, he had a record of 53–7–5, with seventeen knockouts. Pastor had one fight for the heavyweight title, when he went up against Joe Louis in Detroit on September 20, 1939. After retiring from boxing, Pastor joined the Army, where he trained ski troops.
Charlie Retzlaff (1904–1970). Known by his fans as “The Duluth Dynamiter,” Retzlaff was a heavyweight professional boxer from Duluth, Minnesota, who remained undefeated through his first twenty-one fights.
The Savoy Ballroom. Located in Harlem on Lenox Avenue between 140th and 141st Streets, the Savoy was a popular nightclub and dance spot from 1926 to 1958. Known as “The Home of Happy Feet” by those who frequented the dance floor, the Savoy also featured live jazz orchestra performances and vocal selections that were broadcast live for radio audiences. Swing Time at the Savoy is a fictional radio show name, though each week radio listeners could tune in to enjoy an array of selections coming from the ballroom.
Max Schmeling (1905–2005). German boxer Maximillian Adolph Otto Siegfried Schmeling fought Joe Louis on two occasions. Both fights brought boxing to international attention, because of their social and political significance when the Nazi regime in Germany was at its height. Schmeling was never a supporter of the Nazi party, but he cooperated with the government’s efforts to soften negative views of the Nazis. However, it later became known that Schmeling risked his life to save the lives of two Jewish children in 1938. Schmeling was heavyweight boxing champion of the world between 1930 and 1932.
Jack Sharkey (1902–1994). Born Joseph Paul Zukauskas in Binghamton, New York, Jack Sharkey had solid success in the ring. In an effort to gain more publicity, Zukauskas came up with the stage name Jack Sharkey by combining the names of two of his idols, heavyweight boxing icons Jack Dempsey and Tom Sharkey. Sharkey was a daring fighter who often took on opponents who had more experience than he did. He was the only man with few boxing credentials who was brave enough to face two reputable opponents—prizefighters Jack Dempsey and Joe Louis.
Madam C. J. Walker (1867–1919). Born Sarah Breedlove, Madam C. J. Walker was an entrepreneur who became the first black female millionaire. Walker built an empire by developing and marketing a line of hair-care products for African American women. Walker was also known for her civil rights activism and her philanthropy, leaving two-thirds of her estate to educational institutions and charities, including the NAACP, the Tuskegee Institute, and Bethune-Cookman College.
Fats Waller (1904–1943). Thomas “Fats” Waller was a pianist, bandleader, and jazz musician known for playing stride piano (a jazz piano style) and organ music. He was the son of the pastor of Harlem’s well-attended Abyssinian Baptist Church, where he learned to play the organ. Waller is best known for his recordings of the jazz hits “Honeysuckle Rose” and “Ain’t Misbehavin’.”
Chick Webb (birth year disputed–1939). William Henry “Chick” Webb was a leader in swing jazz. He was born somewhere between 1902 and 1909. As a child, Chick contracted spinal tuberculosis, which stunted his growth and left him with little use of his legs. He was less than five feet tall, but he took the music world by storm with his drumming. In 1927, at the suggestion of Duke Ellington, Webb formed a quintet called the Harlem Stompers. He started playing at the Savoy Ballroom, where crowds came to hear his flamboyant drum rhythms. In 1931, he formed the Chick Webb Orchestra. The band became the house band for the Savoy, with such songs as “Stompin’ at the Savoy,” “If Dreams Come True,” and “Blue Lou.” The song “Harlem Congo” was arranged by guitarist Charlie Dixon. It was recorded in November 1937 after it had gained popularity from being performed by Ella Fitzgerald in front of live audiences and played on the radio several months before.