Based on an idea by Murray Horwitz and Richard Maltby, Jr. Directed by and choreographed Milgrom Dodge Marcia Benner Compiled by M. Christine
STUDY GUIDE
PITTSBURGH PUBLIC THEATER’S STUDY GUIDE TO Ain’t Misbehavin’: The FATS WALLER Musical Show based on an idea by Murray Horwitz and Richard Maltby, Maltby, Jr.
January 20 - February 20, 2005
TABLE OF CONTENTS About the Show • Falling in Love With Fats • This Time Around • What is a Revue? • Songs of Ain’t Misbehavin’ • Contemporary Connections
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About the Man • Fats Waller: Giant of Jazz • Harlem Stride Piano
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About the Time • Harlem: History and Rebirth • What is a Rent Party? • Dancing in Harlem • Are You Hep to the Jive? • Additional Terms
15 18 23 24 26
Resources and Suggested Readings • Fats Waller • Harlem Renaissance • Jazz
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How Ain’t Misbehavin’ came came to Broadway by M. Christine Benner Fats Waller’s song “Ain’t Misbehavin’” rose to fame in a Broadway show. show. Fats Waller Waller himself was one of the greatest performers America has ever seen. It is therefore no surprise that the show dedicated dedica ted to Fats Waller Waller’s ’s music won the love of the American public on the Broadway stage. But there were those who were amazed. Broadway is known for its musicals--big productions, immense casts, flashy costumes, and intricately choreographed Fats Waller directing his band. songs. When a show with little or no plot, five actors, and a few songs by Fats Waller won the New York Drama Circle Best Musical Award Award in 1978, many were astonished. The original production of Ain’ Ain’tt Misbehavin’ Misbehavin’ ran through the seventies and into the eighties--1,604 performances in all. Fats Waller, Waller, more than thirty years after his death, was again a sensation. Ain’tt Misbehavin’ Misbehavin’ became the sweetheart show of New York City, a teenaged boy by the Years before Ain’ name of Murray Horwitz was searching through the music of Dayton, Ohio’s Public Library. Library. He found an album entitled “Valentine “Valentine Stomp” and checked it out. Interested in both comedy and jazz, the teenager fell instantly in love with the music music he heard. For the next ten years, he pursued and collected the music of the jazz comedian, Fats Waller. Waller. Partnered with lyricist and director Richard Maltby Maltb y, Jr., Horwitz helped to create Ain’ Ain’tt Misbehavin’ Misbehavin’ . The energy and warmth that Horwitz had sensed in Fats Waller’s music as a teenager began to spread to every person that saw the show.
Nell Carter, Ken Page, Andre De Shields, Charlaine Woodard, and Armelia McQueen starred in the original production. Luther Henderson, a lengendary figure in Broadway music, played the piano-the symbol of Fats Fat s Waller’s music. Arthur Faria, an expert on 1930s dance, choreographed the show. show. Six years after the show left lef t Broadway, Carter, Page, and Henderson brought it back for another 184 performances.
The original cast of Ain’ Ain’tt Misbehavin’
Today, Ain’ Ain’tt Misbeha Misbehavin’ vin’ retains its popularity as an energetic, musically rich show. show. In January and February of this year alone, over eight Ain’tt Misbehavin’. Misbehavin’. Over sixty years after Fats theaters in the United States and Canada are producing Ain’ Waller’s last performance, new audiences are meeting and falling in love with him again. 3
A traditional revue is a group of singers and dancers “reviewing” popular songs. There is no pretense of setting or plot. • Our performers will be performing as if they were at a 1930s Harlem rent party.
Performers in a revue generally do not change costume. • Our actors will change costumes a number of times during the show. Watch for themes
or trends in costuming. Bands for revues are there to back up the singers. They are usually off to one side or unseen. • The six members of our band will be visible on stage. They They,, like the singers, are a part of
the production. The original cast consisted of five performers using their actual names--Andre, Armelia, Charlaine, Ken, and Nell--as character names. • Our cast (the standard five with three extras) have been given character names typical of
Harlem in the 1930s.
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Performers from the Ziegfeld Follies of 1915
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All songs were written or recorded by Fats Waller
ACT I How Ya Baby (1938) Lyrics by J.C. Johnson
Ain’t Misbehavin’ (1929) Music by Fats Waller and Harry Brooks Lyrics by Andy Razaf
The Jitterbug Waltz (1942) Lyrics by Richard Ma Maltby, ltby, Jr. Jr. Vocal arrangement arrange ment by William Elliott
Lookin’ Good But Feelin’ Bad (1929) Lyrics by Lester A. Santly ‘T Ain’t Nobody’s Biz-ness If I Do (1922) (The first song recorded by Fats Waller) Music and Lyrics by Porter Grainger and Everett Robbins Additional Lyrics by Richard Maltby, Jr. and Murray Horwitz
The Ladies Who Sing With the Band (1943) Lyrics by George Marion, Jr.
Honeysuckle Rose (1929) Lyrics by Andy Razaf
When the Nylons Bloom Again (1943) Lyrics by George Marion, Jr.
Squeeze Me (1925) Lyrics by Clarence Williams
Cash for Your Trash (1942) Lyrics by Ed Kirkeby
Handful of Keys (1933) Lyrics by Richard Maltby Malt by,, Jr. and Murray Horwitz (based on an idea by Marty Grosz) Vocal arrangement by William Elliott
Off-Time (1929) Music by Fats Waller and Harry Brooks Lyrics by Andy Razaf
Yacht Club Swing (1938) Music by Fats Waller and Herman Autry Lyrics by J.C. Johnson
The Joint is Jumpin’ (1938) Lyrics by Andy Razaf and J.C. Johnson
I’ve Got a Feeling I’m Falling (1929) Music by Fats Waller and Harry Link Lyrics by Billy Rose
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ACT II
FINALE:: Fats Waller Hits FINALE
Spreadin’ Rhythm Around (1935) Music by Jimmy McHugh Lyrics by Ted Koehler Additional Lyrics by Richard R ichard Maltby, Jr.
I’m Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter (1933) Music by Fred E. Ahlert Lyrics by Joe Young
Lounging at the Waldorf (1936) Lyrics by Richard Maltby, M altby, Jr. Vocal arrangement by William Elliott
Two Sleepy People (1938) Music by Hoagy Carmichael Lyrics by Frank Loesser
The Viper’s Drag (1934) “The Reefer Song” (traditional)
I’ve Got My Fingers Crossed (1935) Music by Jimmy McHugh Lyrics by Ted Koehler
Mean to Me (1929) Music and Lyrics by Roy Turk and Fred E. Ahlert
I Can’t Give You You Anything But Love (1928) Music by Jimmy McHugh Lyrics by Dorothy Fields
Your Feet’s Too Big (1936) Music and Lyrics by Ada Benson and Fred Fisher
It’s a Sin to Tell a Lie (1933) Music and Lyrics by Billy Mayhew
That Ain’t Right (1943) Music and Lyrics by Nat “King” Cole Additional Lyrics by Richard Maltby, Jr. and Murray Horwitz
Honeysuckle Rose (reprise)
Keepin’ Out of Mischief Now (1932) Lyrics by Andy Razaf Find Out What They Like (1929) Lyrics by Andy Razaf Fat and Greasy (1936) Music and Lyrics by Porter Grainger and Charlie Johnson Black and Blue (1929) Music by Fats Waller and Harry Brooks Lyrics by Andy Razaf Vocal arrangement by William Elliott
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Reprinted, with permission, from CENTERSTAGE; CENTERSTAGE; The Next Stage; January, January, 2003 Rhonda Robbins, Editor Rap, a musical poetic expression, evolved from African people in general and black people born in the United States in particular.. Its origins can be traced to West Africa lar where tribesmen held “men of words” in high regard. When slaves were brought brought to the New World, they integrated American music with the beats they remembered from Africa.
are particular forms of black expressive culture. They are are part of a continuum of “African aesthetic expressiveness.” Like many traditional African art forms, they are at once communal and competitive. Competition, especially what we now call “trash talking,” is a component of traditional African culture. However, in traditional African culture, competition is holistic (unifying) rather than dualistic (isolating). African communalism, a belief system that places the community before the individual, embraces competitiveness but not selfishness. There is not a conflict between competitiveness and communalism in the African performance tradition, because the communal essence counterbalances the aggression of competitiveness.
Another origin of rap is a form of Jamaican folk stories called “toasts.” These are narrative narrative poems that tell stories in rhyme.
Early raps included boastful tales and playful put-downs intended to taunt rival rappers. Today, rappers openly challenge their opponents to improvise clever and flawless raps on the spot in Freestyle Battling competitions such as seen in the hit television show Making the Band.
Jazz cutting contests are forums in which two musicians duel to see who is the best. Yet, even as they duel, they do so in a collective collective context, playing with their bandmates, or, in the case of piano cutting contests, drawing on a common repertoire.
Traditional African praise songs allow performers to interact with the audience through call and response as well as to showcase their “superior” abilities.
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By Richard S. Ginell, All Music Guide
Courtesy of allmusic.com
Not only was Fats Waller one of the greatest pianists jazz has ever known, he was als o one of its most exuberantly funny entertainers — and as so often happens, one facet tends to obscure the other. His extraordinarily light and flexible touch belied his ample physical girth; he could swing as hard as any pianist alive or dead in his classic James P. Johnson-derived stride manner, with a powerful left hand delivering the octaves and tenths in a tireless, rapid, seamless stream. Waller also pioneered the use of the pipe organ and Hammond organ in jazz — he called the pipe organ the “God box” — adapting his irresistible sense of swing to the pedals pedal s and a staccato right hand while making imaginative changes of the registration. As a composer and improviser, improvis er, his melodic invention rarely flagged, and he contributed fistfuls of joyous yet paradoxically winsome songs like “Honeysuckle Rose”, “Ain’t Misbehavin’”, “Keepin’ Out of Mischief Now”, “Blue Turning Grey Over You” and the extraordinary “Jitterbug Waltz” to the jazz repertoire. During his lifetime and afterwards, though, Fats Waller was best known to the world for his outsized comic personality and sly vocals, where he would send up trashy tunes that Victor Records made him record with his nifty combo, Fats Waller and his Rhythm. Yet on virtually any of his records, whether the song is an evergreen standard or the most trite bit of doggerel that a Tin Pan Alley hack could serve up, you will hear a winning combination of good knockabout humor, foot-tapping rhythm and fantastic piano playing. Today, almost all of Fats Waller’s studio recordings recordi ngs can be found on RCA’s RCA’s on-again-offagain series The Complete Fats Waller, which commenced on LPs in 1975 and was still in progress during the 1990s. Thomas “Fats” Waller came from a Harlem household where wher e his father was a Baptist lay preacher and his mother played piano and organ. Waller took up the piano at age six, playing in a school orchestra
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led by Edgar Sampson (of Chick Webb fame). After his mother died when he was 14, Waller moved into the home of pianist pian ist Russell Brooks, where he met and studied with James P. P. Johnson. Later, Waller also received classical lessons from Carl Bohm and the famous pianist Leopold Godowsky. After making his first record at age 18 for Okeh in 1922, “Birmingham Blues” and “Muscle Shoals Blues, ” he backed various blues singers and worked as house pianist piani st and organist at rent parties and in movie theatres and clubs. He began to attract attention as a composer during the early and mid-1920s, forming a most fruitful alliance with lyricist Andy Razaf that resulted in three thr ee Broadway shows in the late ’20s, Keep Shufflin’, Load of Coal, and Hot Chocolates Chocolates. Waller started making records for Victor in 1926; his most significant early records for that label were a series of brilliant 1929 solo piano sides of his own compositions like “Handful of Keys” and “Smashing Thirds.” After finally signing an exclusive Victor contract in 1934, he began the long-running, prolific series of records with his Rhythm, which won him great fame and produced several s everal hits, including includi ng “Your “Your Feet’s Too Big,” “The Joint Is Jumpin’” and “I’m Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter.” He began to appear Love and King of Burlesque in 1935 while continuing regular appearances on in films like Hooray for Love
radio that dated back to 1923. He toured Europe in 1938, made organ recordings in London for HMV and appeared on one of the first television broadcasts. He returned to London the following spring to record his most extensive composition, London Suite for piano and percussion, and embark on an extensive continental tour (which, alas, was cancelled by fears of impending war with Germany). Well aware of the popularity of big bands in the ’30s, Waller tried to form his own, but they were short-lived . Into the 1940s, Waller’s touring schedule of the U.S. escalated, he contributed cont ributed music to another musical, Early to Bed , the film appearances kept coming (including a memorable stretch of Stormy where he led an all-star band that included Benny Carter, Slam Stewart and Zutty Singleton), Weather where the recordings continued to flow, fl ow, and he continued to eat and drink in extremely heavy quantities. Years of draining alimony squabbles, plus overindulgence and, no doubt, frustration over not being taken 11
more seriously as an artist, began bega n to wear the pianist down. Finally, after becoming ill during a gig at the Zanzibar Room in Hollywood in December 1943, Waller boarded the Santa Fe Chief train for the long trip back to New York. He never made it, dying of pneumonia aboard the train during a stop at Union Station in Kansas City Cit y. While every clown longs to play pla y Hamlet as per the cliché — and Waller did have so-called serious musical pretensions, longing to follow in George Gershwin’s footsteps and compose concert music — it probably was not in the cards anyway due to the racial barriers of the first half of the 20th century. Besides, given the fact that Waller influenced a long line of pianists of and after his time, including Count Basie (who studied with Fats), Teddy Wilson, Art Tatum, Thelonious Monk, Dave Brubeck Br ubeck and countless others, his impact has been truly profound.
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By Mike Lipskin
Reprinted with permission of the author Stride is a jazz piano style originating in early 20 th Century, a vibrant and rich jazz idiom with wit h a unique place in American keyboard music. Unfortunately more and more jazz commentators and self-anointed jazz scholars scholars have propagated propagated an inaccurate inaccurate characterizat characterization ion of the idiom.
Special and separate from other formative jazz piano styles; styles ; stride is one of the most classical- European oriented. It also draws on the rich traditions tra ditions of American pop music, as well as impressionist impression ist composers and Chopin. Stride influenced 20 th Century pop music and was influenced by it. You can hear George Gershwin and Cole Porter in stride and you can hear stride’s influence in them. Duke Ellington was a fine stride pianist, and his 1920s recordings sometimes sound like orchestrated James P. Johnson and Willie The Lion Smith. Art Tatum was a stride pianist, as was Count Basie, and early on, Thelonious Monk and Errol Garner.
It’s most accomplished practitioners, Fats Waller, Willie The Lion Smith, Donald Lambert, and above all, James P. Johnson, respected European musical tradition and had some formal training. Consequently they were concerned with pianistic dynamics, tone, and tension and release, more so than those who worked in other primary styles: boogie woogie, “trumpet style,” “New Orleans” sound and the “swing” sound of Jess Stacy or Joe Sullivan (not to denigrate these other great jazz piano sounds). Waller Waller and Johnson also were song writers with many pop tunes to their credit and hit Broadway shows.
Unfortunately as time passes there is less and less understanding of what stride is, with fewer pianists able to play it although they claim to. Misguided “jazz history” teachers bunch much pre-bop piano together, with little scholarly analysis or understanding understan ding of this music. The confusion is compounded by their labeling as stride other styles where the left hand alternates between the lower bass notes and the middle ones on the keyboard. Some think that Teddy Wilson, Jess Stacey and Jelly Roll Morton are playing stride. As great and innovative as these giants are, they were not stride pianists.
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Ragtime, a simple three theme written non-jazz music is sometimes mistaken for stride because it preceded the form, and has the alternating left hand. Often those who want to sound knowledgeable call ragtime stride. The harmonics and rhythms of ragtime are much simpler, more repeated, and it derives from fewer sources.
I am often asked if stride is where the left hand ha nd plays a single note or a tenth on the first and third thi rd beats, and a chord on the second and fourth or when the tempo is fast. This is a small facet of so many styles, not just stride, and does nothing to musically explain what it is. Yes, stride is so called because the left hand “strides” or alternates alternate s sometimes between low octaves or tenths (if you can play tenth intervals interval s as Waller and Tatum did, not broken) and chords toward middle C of the keyboard. But it is a musical language using many idioms, varied harmonics and rhythms, such as 2 against 3. It must be studied over a period of years so that the performer no longer has to think about each left hand alternation but can program ahead several bars. As all jazz, it is impossible to play properly by simply reading sheet music, and when younger pianists try to play a Waller or Johnson piece note for note from a written transcription, the special swing and feeling of the style are completely lost. They often sound mechanical, like piano rolls or someone at a Disneyland Pizza joint.
A good stride pianist will also respect the song being played, subtly reminding the listener of the
A player piano. Fats Waller Waller learned to play his first stride piano piece on such an insturment.
melodic line creating variations in harmonic context to what the composer asked for. A real stride pianist also plays a whole song with variations var iations on a theme for several minutes, minutes , not just two or four bars of imitative stride between whatever other style styl e (usually post bop) the pianist is conversant with. There must be varying of the dynamics, with minute retard and anticipation antic ipation between right and left hands. The sense of order underlying improvisation is sonic craftsmanship supreme.
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by M. Christine Benner Harlem began as a farming village, became a resort town, an upper-class neighborhood, a slum, and eventually was born as the idol of black innovation. The artists, writers, and entertainers of Harlem in the 1920s, ‘30s, and ‘40s were men and women of strength and creativity. They created works that changed American culture; they were the Harlem Renaissance. When the Dutch came to America in the mid-1600s, they were in the A sunset view of Harlem midst of their greatest span of power, sending ships from New Zealand to Indonesia, to the New World. World. During the fifty years of Dutch occupation, the “New Netherlands” was focused on a long, narrow island. A barricaded wall protected the capital city, city, New Amsterdam, from any potential attack. The north part of the island—best reached by following an old Indian trail that ran north to south—was flat and lush, ideal for farming. New Haarlem, named for a city in Holland, was built as a farming village for the settlers. Harlem kept its name long after its Dutch founders were gone. (The trail became known as Broadway, Broadway, the barricade as Wall Wall Street, and New Amsterdam as New York York City.) The considerable distance from New York York City made Harlem an ideal location for the country estates of the wealthy upper class. In the late 19th century, as improved transportation made commuting from the northern part of Manhattan possible, well-to-do white New Yorkers were seeking apartments in Harlem, away from the exploding immigrant population further downtown. Housing prices were inflated; demand was high—Harlem real estate was ballooning out of control. When the bottom fell out of the market in the early 1900s, building owners in Harlem were desperate to rent their property. An expanding black population soon filled and overfilled the empty apartments. New York had become a major destination for the hundreds of thousands of black Americans escaping the intolerant, abusive environment of the South. The “black” parts of New York City—The Tenderloin, Hell’s Kitchen, and San Juan Hill—were full to bursting; the African-American
Harlem row houses 15
population in New York York needed housing. In 1911, the Metropolitan Baptist Church became the first black church to move its meeting place to Harlem. Other churches and social institutions were soon to follow. Immigrants from both Africa and the West West Indies were also pouring into the port city. By 1930, two-thirds of the black population of New York were living in Harlem. Given the tensions between North and South, foreign- and native-born, black New Yorkers Yorkers had anything but a unified front. But the growing in numbers and influence, the power of the group as a whole was unmistakable. Organizations like Marcus Garvey’s Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) and W.E.B. DuBois’ National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) found Harlem the perfect place to begin their work. While both Garvey and DuBois taught pride and self-reliance self-relianc e for their people, DuBois encouraged participation in American institutions (such as the military); Garvey urged blacks to form their own independent nation. The culture of Harlem began to form under the increasing push for unity. Black artists observed their neighbors from the South, the North, from Africa, and from the West West Indies. In the crucible of Harlem, creative energy surged between minds. The black communities of the world were finding inspiration in each other. The Roaring Twenties, a time of youthful exuberance nationwide, was especially dynamic in Harlem. Black artists, writers, and musicians were extraordinarily extraordinarily prolific. The nightclubs, nightclubs, dance halls, and theaters of Harlem were mythically famous. Curious white New Yorkers wandered up to Harlem to see for themselves the talented young
Of the many writers of the Harlem Renaissance, Langston Hughes is perhaps the best known and the most influential. influential. Hughes took the sounds and rhythms of jazz and the blues and translated them into poetry.. In his forty years of writing, etry writing, Hughes produced sixteen books of poems, two novels, three collections of short stories, twenty plays, children’s poetry, various musicals, operas, autobiographies and more.
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artists. Black culture, brutally suppressed by the establishment of slavery, slavery, was experiencing rebirth. The Harlem Renaissance had begun. Fine artists, poets, writers and intellectuals intellectuals were amazing the world with their skill. Writers Writers like Langston Hughes, Countee Cullen, James Weldon Johnson, and Zora Neale Hurston would gather and encourage each other’s creative ventures. Their writing is still considered some of the finest American work produced. Claude McKay, McKay, writing from oversees, expressed the passionate injustice of black America in a perfect sonnet form. Painters and sculptors like Aaron Douglas, Palmer Hayden, Augusta Savage, Laura Waring, Betsy Reyneau, William H. Johnson captured the movement and color of Harlem in their work. New styles were emerging in both fields, drawing attention to these rising stars.
Heiress to great fortune from her mother’s hair product company (one branch located in Pittsburgh), A’Lelia Walker was one of the most generous benefactors benefactors of Harlem artists. artists. Her home, dubbed the “Dark Tower” To wer” by Countee Cullen, provided a meeting place for black writers and poets. Langston Hughes, upon her death, wrote of her as the “joy goddess of Harlem’s 1920s.”
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But it was the musicians and entertainers that really shone to the world. Louis Armstrong, Bill “Bojangles” Robinson, Fats Waller, Ethel Waters, Duke Ellington, Bessie Smith—these are the legends of Harlem. Once “discovered,” “discovered,” Harlem entertainers were demanded from coast to coast. In Europe, the sounds of American jazz were passionately celebrated. Through the Depression, jazz music music and dance dance remained remained as the mysterious joy of a downtrodden nation. Decades before the Civil Rights Movement championed the rights of the African-American population, the people of Harlem were creating an identity and a pride that would never be forgotten.
This essay is a firsthand account of the Harlem rent parties of the 20s and 30s. Fats Waller was known for playing stride piano at rent parties. Sometimes, he would compete with other musicians like James P. P. Johnson or Willie “the Lion” Smith. Although seemingly lighthearted, rent parties were really a means of survival for the people of Harlem. Rent parties embodied both the exuberance and the struggle of Harlem.
NAME OF WORKER: Frank Byrd ADD DDRE RESS: SS: 22 4 W. 1 3 5 th St. New York York City DATE: Augus t 23, 1938 SUBJECT:
HARLEM RENT PARTIES
Reprin ted from th e Libra ry of Congress, Reprin Congress, Ma nu script Division, Division, WPA WPA Federal Writers’ Projectt Collection . Projec
The history of the Harlem house-rent house-rent party dates dates back as far far as the World World War [I]. To understand what gave such such an impetus impetus and community community wide significance to this institution, it is necessary to get a picture of living conditions as they were in Harlem at that time. During the early nineteen twenties it is estimated that more than 200,000 Negroes migrated to Harlem: West Indians, Africans and American Negroes from the cotton fields and cane brakes of the Deep South. They were all segregated in a small section of Manhattan about fifty blocks long and seven or eight blocks wide; an area teeming with life and activity. Housing experts have estimated that, sometimes, as many as five to seven thousand people have been known to live in a single block. Needless to say, living conditions under such circumstances were anything but wholesome and and pleasant. It was a typical slum and tenement tenement area little little different from many others in New York except for the fact that in Harlem rents were higher; always have been, in fact, since the great war-time migratory influx of colored labor. Despite these exorbitant rents, apartments and furnished rooms, however dingy; were in great demand. Harlem property owners, for the most part Jews, began to to live in comparative comparative ease on the the fantastic profits profits yielded by their their antiquated dwellings. dwellings. Before Negroes inhabited them, they could be let for virtually a song. Afterwards, Afterwards, however, they brought handsome handsome incomes. incomes. The tenants, by hook or crook, managed to barely scrape together the rents. In turn they stuck their roomers for enough profit to yield themselves a meager living. A four or five five room apartment apartment was (and (and still is) often often crowded to capacity with roomers. In many instances, two entire families occupy space intended for only 18
one. When bedtime comes, there is the feverish activity of moving furniture about, making down cots or preparing floor-space as sleeping quarters. The same practice of overcrowding is followed by owners or lesees of private houses. Large rooms are converted into two or three small ones by the simple process of strategically placing beaverboard partitions. partitions. These same cubby holes are rented at the price of full sized rooms. In many houses, dining and living rooms are transformed into bed rooms soon after, if not before, midnight. Even “shiftsleeping” is not unknown in many places. During the night, a day-worker uses the room and soon after dawn a night-worker moves in. Seldom does the bed have an opportunity to get cold. In lower Harlem, sometimes referred to as the Latin Quarter and populated mostly by Cubans, Puerto Puerto Ricans and and West Indians, Indians, accommodations accommodations are worse. The Spanish seen to require even less privacy than their American cousins. A three or four room apartment often houses ten or twelve people. Parents invariably have the two or three youngest children bedded down in the same room with themselves. The dining room, kitchen and hallway are utilized as sleeping quarters by relatives or friends. Negroes constitute the bulk of the Harlem population, however, and have (as was aforementioned) since the War. At that time, there was a great demand for cheap industrial labor. Strong backed, physically capable Negroes from the South were the answer to this demand. They came North in droves, beginning what turned out to be the greatest migration of Negroes in the history of the United States. The good news about jobs spread like wildfire throughout the Southlands. There was money, good money, to be made in the North, especially New York. New York; the wonder, the magic magic city. The name alone implied glamour glamour and adventure. adventure. It was a picture to definitely catch the fancy of restless, over-worked sharecroppers and farmhands. And so, it was on to New York, the mecca of the New Negro, the modern Promised Land. Not only Southern, but thousands of West Indian Negroes heeded the call. That was the beginning beginning of housing housing conditions conditions that have been a headache headache to a succession of political administrations and a thorn in the side of community and civic organizations that have struggled valiantly, but vainly, to improve them. With the sudden sudden influx of so many Negroes, who apparently instinctively instinctively headed for Harlem, property that had been a white elephant on the hands of many landlords immediately took an upward swing. The majority of landlords were delighted but those white property owners who made their homes in Harlem were panic-stricken. At first, there were only rumblings of protest against this unwanted dark invasion but as the tide of color continued to rise, threatening to completely envelop the Caucasian brethren, they quickly abandoned their fight and fled to more remote parts; Brooklyn, Bronx, Queens and Westchester. As soon as one or two Negro families moved into a block, the whites began moving out. Then the rents were raised. In spite of this, Negroes continued continued to pour in until there was a solid mass of color in every direction. 19
Harlemites soon discovered that meeting these doubled, and sometimes tripled, rents was not so easy. They began to think of someway to meet their ever increasing deficits. Someone evidently got the idea of having a few friends in as paying party guests a few days before the landlord’s scheduled monthly visit. It was a happy; happy; timely thought. thought. The guests guests had a good good time and entered wholeheartedly into the spirit of the party. Besides, it cost each each individual very little, probably much less than he would have spent in some public amusement place. Besides, it was a cheap way to help a friend in need. It was such a good, easy way out of one’s difficulties that others decided to make use of it. Thus was the Harlem rent-party born. Like the Charleston and Black Bottom, it became an overnight rage. Here at last, was a partial partial solution to the problem of excessive rents and and dreadfully subnormal incomes. Family after family and hundreds of apartment tenants opened wide their doors, went the originators of the idea one better, in fact, by having a party every Saturday night instead of once a month prior to the landlord’s call. The accepted admission price became twenty five cents. It was also expected that the guests would partake freely of the fried chicken, pork chops, pigs feet and potato salad (not to mention homemade “cawn”) that was for sale in the kitchen or at a makeshift bar in the hallway. Saturday night became the gala night in Harlem. Some parties even ran well into Sunday morning, calling a halt only after seven or eight o’clock. Parties were eventually held on other nights also. Thursday particularly became a favorite in view of the fact fact that “sleep “sleep in” domestic workers had a day day off and were free to kick up their heels without restraint. Not that any other week-day offered Saturday any serious competition. It always retained its popularity because of its all round convenience as a party day. To begin with, the majority of working class Negroes, maids, porters, elevator operators and the like, were paid on Saturday and, more important than that, were not required to report to work on Sunday. Saturday, therefore, became the logical night to “pitch” and “carry on”, which these pleasure-hungry children did with abandon. The Saturday night party, like any other other universally popular popular diversion, soon fell into the hands of the racketeers. Many small-time pimps and madames who, up to that time, had operated under-cover buffet flats, came out into the open and staged nightly so-called Rent Parties. This, of course, was merely a “blind” for more illegitimate activities that catered primarily to the desire of travelling salesmen, pullman porters, inter-state truck drivers other transients, for some place to stop and amuse themselves. Additional business could always be promoted from that large army of single or unattatched males and females who prowled the streets at night in search of adventure in preference to remaining in their small, dingy rooms in some ill-ventilated flat. There were hundreds of young men and women, fresh from the hinterlands, unknown in New York and eager for the opportunity of meeting people. And so, they would stroll the Avenue until they saw some flat with a red, pink or blue light in the window, the plunk of a tinpanny piano and sounds of half-tipsy merry making fleeting out into the night air; then they would venture in, be greeted volubly by the hostess, introduced around 20
and eventually steered to the kitchen where refreshments were for sale. Afterwards, there there was probably probably a night full full with continuous drinking, drinking, wild, wild, grotesque dancing and crude love-making. But it was, at least, a temporary escape from humdrum loneliness and boredom. The party givers were were fully aware aware of the conditions conditions under which the majority of these boys and girls lived and decided to commercialize on it as much as possible. They began advertising advertising their get-togethers get-togethers on little little business cards that were naive naive attempts at poetic jingles. The following is a typical sample: There’ll be brown skin mammas mammas High yallers too And if you ain’t got nothin to do Come on up to ROY and SADIE’S 228 West 126 St. Sat. Night, May 12th. There’ll be plenty of pig feet An lots of gin Jus ring the bell An come on in.
They were careful, careful, however, to give these cards to only the “right” “right” people. Prohibition was still in effect and the police were more diligent about raiding questionable apartments apartments than they were about known “gin mills” that flourished on almost every corner. Despite this fact, the number of personal Saturday night responses, in answer to the undercover advertising, was amazing. The party hostess, eager and glowing with freshly straightened hair, hair, would roll roll back the living living room carpets, dim the lights, seat the musicians, (usually drummer, piano and saxophone player) and, with the appearance appearance of the first cash customer, customer, give the signal signal that would would officially officially get the “rug-cutting” under way. Soon afterwards she would disappear into the kitchen in order to give a final, last minute inspection to the refreshment counter: a table piled high with pig-feet, fried chicken, fish and potato salad. The musicians, fortified with with a drink or two of King King Kong (home (home made corn whiskey) begin “beating out the rhythm” on their battered battered instruments while the dancers keep time with gleeful whoops, fantastic body-gyrations and convulsions that appear to be a cross between the itch and a primitive mating-dance. mating-dance. After some John John buys a couple couple of rounds rounds of drinks, things things begin to hum in earnest. The musicians instinctively improvise as they go along, finding it difficult, perhaps, to express the full intensity of their emotions through a mere arrangement, no matter how well written.
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But the thing that makes the house-rent party (even now) so colorful and fascinating is the unequalled picture created by the dancers themselves. When the band gets hot, the dancers get hotter. hotter. They stir, throw or bounce bounce themselves about with complete abandon; their wild, grotesque movements silhouetted in the semi-darkness like flashes from some ancient tribal ceremony. They apparently work themselves up up into a frenzy frenzy but never lose lose time with the music despite their frantic acrobatics. Theirs’ is a coordination absolutely unexcelled. It is simple, primitive, inspired. As far as dancing is concerned, there are no conventions. You do what you like, express what you feel, take the lid off if you happen to be in the mood. In short, anything goes. About one o’clock o’clock in the morning; hilarity hilarity reaches its its peak. “The Boys”, Boys”, most of whom are hard-working hard-working hard-drinking hard-drinking truck drivers, long-shoremen, long-shoremen, moving men, porters or laborers, settle down to the serious business of enjoying themselves. They spin, tug, tug, and fling fling their buxom, buxom, amiable partners partners in all directions. When When the music finally stops, they are soaked and steaming with perspiration. “The Girls”, the majority of whom are cooks, laundresses, maids or hair-dressers, set their hats at a jaunty angle and kick up their heels with glee. Their tantalizing grins and the uniformly wicked gleam in their eyes dare the full blooded young bucks to do their darndest. They may have been utter strangers during the early part of the evening but before the night is over, they are all happily sweating and laughing together in the beat of spirits. Everything they do is free and easy; typical of that group of hard-working Negroes who have little little or no inhibitions inhibitions and and the fertility fertility of imagination imagination so necessary necessary to the invention and unrestrained expression of new dance-steps and rhythms. The dancers organize organize little impromptu impromptu contests among themselves themselves and this competition is often responsible for the birth of many new and original dancesteps. The house-rent party takes credit for the innovation of the Lindy-Hop that was subsequently subsequently improved upon upon at the Savoy Savoy Ballroom. For years, it has has been a great favorite with the regular rug-cutting crowd. Nothing has been able to supplant it, not ever the Boogie-Woogie that has recently enjoyed a great wave of popularity in Uptown New York. Such unexpected delights as these made the house-rent party, during its infancy, a success with more than one social set. Once in awhile a stray ofay or a small party of pseudo-artistic young Negroes, the upper-crust, the creme-de-la-creme of Black Manhattan society, would would wander into one of these parties and gasp or titter (with cultured restraint, of course) at the primitive, untutored Negroes who apparently had so much fun wriggling their bodies about to the accompaniment of such mad, riotously abandoned music. Seldom, however, did these outsiders seem to catch the real spirit of the party, and as far as the rug-cutters were concerned, they simply did not belong. With the advent advent of Repeal, the rent-party went went out, became became definitely a thing of the past. It was too dangerous to try to sell whiskey after it became legal. With its passing went one of the most colorful eras that Harlem has ever known. 22
The Savoy Ballroom, covering an entire city block, was Harlem’ss most popular ballroom Harlem’ ballroom and the first to be completely integrated. integrated. The Savoy would always hire two bands a night; there was never a lull in the the dancing. Due to such constant use, the wooden floor had to be replaced every three years. Other prominent entertainment locations were the Cotton Club and the Apollo Theatre.
Two dances, the Breakaway and the Charleston, combined to form form the Lindy Hop. Hop. Named in honor of Charles Lindbergh’s flight across the Atlantic, the dance is an athletic series of smooth moves and “air-steps.” Later, the dance became known as the “Jitterbug.”
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Originating in its South Carolina namesake city, the Charleston first came to Harlem stages stages in 1913. By the early 1920s, it had become a dance sensation. The dance was so popular that waiters and waitresses were expected to perform it for customers upon request. The birdlike steps and movements remain the trademark dance of the 1920s.
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Reprinted, with permission, from CENTERSTAGE; The Next Stage; January, 2003 Rhonda Robbins, Editor Chassis: The structural framework of a car or truck, satirized here into meaning the portion of the body below the waist. Dowager: A widow who holds a title or property inherited from her deceased husband, or an elderly woman of high social station. Duses: Pretty, “natural” women; after the Italian actress Eleonora Duse, who was known for her realistic portrayals of down-to-earth characters, particularly in the plays of Gabriele d’Annunzio. Jitterbug: A strenuous dance performed to quicktempo swing or jazz music, consisting of various two-step patterns embellished with twirls and sometimes acrobatic maneuvers. Also one who performs this dance. Mose: Slang term for an African American: Florida’s Fort Mose was the first free black settlement in America.
Tin Pan Alley: Genre of U.S. popular music that started in New York York in the late 19th century. century. The name was coined by the songwriter Monroe Rosenfeld and acted as a nickname for the street where the industry was centered. “Tin pan” referred to the sound of pianos furiously pounded by “song pluggers” demonstrating tunes to publishers. The name eventually became synonymous with U.S. popular music until Rock and Roll was born in the 1950s. Turtle-Dovin’: Romantic snuggling, which mimics the action sand low “purring” of the monogamous turtledoves. V-Disc: Recordings made exclusively for members of the US Armed Forces stationed abroad during World War II. WACS: The Women’s Army Corps. 150,000 female soldiers belonged to the US Army during World War II.
Old Ned: Mythologized beloved slave character Wagon: The “paddy wagon” is the name for the immortalized in Stephen Foster’s 1848 vehicle used to cart a large number of people to composition “Uncle Ned.” jail; often associated associated with those picked up for being drunk in public. Raggin’: Partying; plays of “ragtime,” the musical Waldorf: The Waldorf Astoria Hotel, long considancestor of jazz and swing. ered one of Manhattan’s finest. Reet: Slang for “right.” Waldorf Cake: A red velvet cake, thought to have originated d at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel. Also Schism: A separation or division into factions; originate disunion; discord. known as $100 Cake; legend has it that a patron bought the secret recipe from the hotel chef for Sutton: A high-end residential hotel on $100. Manhattan’s east side known for housing artists, musicians, and intellectuals intellectuals in the 1930s and ‘40s. Mr. Wallace: Henry Agard Wallace (1888-1965) Or Sutton Place, a street known for its multiple was elected Vice President in 1940 and served high-rises. during President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s third term. Three-Quarter Rhythm: The meter of music that Waltz: A ballroom dance in triple time with a strong characterizes a waltz. accent on the first beat; an instrumental or vocal Thrombosis: a blood clotting disorder that can composition in triple time. Informally Informally,, something lead to heart attacks, hemorrhages, and strokes. that is easy and can be accomplished with little effort.
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FATS WALLER Ain’t Misbehavin’: The Story of Fats Waller. Waller. W.T. Kirkeby. Kirkeb y. Da Capo Press, 1975. !
W.T. .T. Kirkeby, Fats Waller Waller’’s manager, manager, gives an account of Fats’ Fats ’ professional life. The book examines Fats as a musician and performer.
Fats Waller Waller.. Maurice Waller Waller and Anthony Calabrese. Macmillan Publishing Company, Company, 1977. !
Fats Waller Waller’’s son, Maurice Waller Waller,, tells the story sto ry of his father ’s life. The story follows his hi s musical developments, acquaintances, troubled troubled marriages, etc. Recommended reading. reading.
“Fats Waller Waller Forever Digital Exhibit.” Rutgers University. University. !
Rutgers has has assembled assembled a collection collection of information information and and reflections reflections on the life of Fats Fats Waller Waller.. Letters from from Fats, touring touring accounts, accounts, beautiful beautiful photos, etc. etc. His entire entire career career and life history can be found within these pages. Excellent resource. resource. Readings and recordings available.
“A story of Fats Waller.” !
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This site contains a biography of Fats Waller. Waller. It is an example of the continued European interest in Fats’ work; it is based in France. Well-researched and interesting. 4 pages, printed. On the left-hand side of the page, a link to “Harlem and the kings of Stride” is available. It is a succinct overview of the careers of James P. Johnson, Willie “The Lion” Smith, and Fats Waller.
Movies with Fats Waller: Hooray for for Love (1935). Ann Sothern, Gene Raymond. Directed by Walter Lang. ! ! King of Burlesque (1935). Warner Baxter, Alice Faye. Directed by Sidney Langfield. Stormy Weather (1943). Lena Horne, Bill “Bojangles” Robinson. Directed by Andrew L. ! Stone.
HARLEM RENAISSACE: its time and people “American Memory from the Library of Congress.”
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The Library of Congress has innumerable resources available regarding American history. Search for topics related to jazz, Harlem, the Harlem Renaissance, etc. Photos, newspaper articles, first-hand accounts, and more available. Suggested title: Race in Harlem are at “Wits End” for Houses.
“American Life Histories.” !
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The Federal Writer’s Project of the Work Project Administration (WPA) collected and recorded the life histories of thousands of Americans from 1936-1940. Search function available. Suggested titles: Eddie’s Eddie’s Bar, Bar, Buffet Flat, Dancing Girls, Amateur Night, Cocktail Party, The Whites Invade Harlem, Savoy Ballroom, Harlem, “Slick” Reynolds, Bernice, Betty (if not found, see next resource). resource). Suggested topics: New York York City, Harlem, and Jazz. Note: not all all stories are are recommende recommended d for young children, children, as they contain contain accounts accounts of serious drug and alcohol use and prostitution.
A Renaissance in Harlem: Lost Essays of the WPA. Edited by Lionel C. Bascom. Amistad, 2001. !
This book is a collection of Harlem-related WPA WPA Life Histories. See above resource resource for recommended titles.
Daily Life in the United States, 1920-1940: How American s Lived Through the “Roaring Twenties” and the Great Depression. David E. Kyvig. Ivan R. Dee, 2004. !
This book is a detailed account of everyday life in a post World War War I United States. Subjects include the advent of electricity and radio, diet, housing, culture and crime. An in-depth period study study..
“Drop Me Off in Harlem.” The Kennedy Center !
The Kennedy Center’s Education Department has created a wonderful site for the exploration of Harlem culture. Audiovisual resources, Renaissance figures, Harlem history, and classroom connections are all available on the main page. Educational, thorough, and easy to explore. Highly recommended! recommended!
Extraordinary people of the Harlem Har lem Renaissance. P. Stephen Hardy & Sheila Jackson Hardy. Hardy. Children’s Press, 2000. !
This book, designed for children, is full of excellent pictures from the Harlem Renaissance and informative essays on key figures in literature, music, art, and politics. Highlighted people include: include: Louis Louis Armstrong, Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Ellington, Ethel Waters, Waters, Henry Henry Ossawa Tanner, anner, Nancy Elizabeth Elizabeth Prophet, Prophet, Langston Langston Hughes, Hughes, Countee Countee Cullen, Jean Jean Toomer Toomer,, W.E.B. W.E.B. Du Bois, Bois, Marcus Marcus Garvey, Garvey, and Alain Leroy Leroy Locke.
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James P. P. Johnson. Scott E. Brown and Robert Hilbert. Hilbert. Rowan & Littlefield, 1992. !
James P. P. Johnson’s Johnson’s musical career career and recor recordings dings are are accounted accounted for in this this book. Photos, bibliography, discography, biography included.
“James P. P. Johnson: A Composer Rescued.” Leslie Stifelman. !
Stifelman writes about her journey to recover the symphonic works of James P. Johnson. Manhattan’s Manhattan’s Concordia Concordia Chamber Chamber Symphony Symphony orchestra orchestra performed performed the pieces, for the the first time since Johnson’s Johnson’s lifetime, in 1992. This is the story of the quest for and recovery of Johnson’s Johnson’s landmark orchestral arrangements.
“The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain.” Modern American Poetry. !
Langston Hughes’ Hughes’ss 1926 essay essay on racial struggle struggle is reprinted reprinted here here.. Hughes writes writes to black black intellectuals and artists to refuse the standards of white expectation and rise to a unique success including the jazz culture of the time. 3 pages, printed.
The Power of Pride: stylemakers and rule breakers of the Harlem Renaissance. Carole Marks and Diana Edkins. Crown Publishers, Publishers, 1999. !
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This book examines, through essays and marvelous photos, seventeen important people from the Harlem Renaissance: Josephine Baker, Walter White, Zora Neale Hurston, A’Lelia Walker, James Weldon Johnson, Ethel Waters, Louis Armstrong, Bessie Smith, Alberta Hunter, Hunter, Jessie Fauset, Fauset, Nella Larsen, Larsen, Florence Florence Mills, Duke Duke Ellington, Ellington, Bill “Bojangles” “Bojangles” Robinson, Carl Carl Van Van Vechten, Vechten, Langston Langston Hughes, Hughes, and Dorothy Dorothy West. West. “A Nightclub map of Harlem,” E. Simms Campbell’s stunning caricature of 1932 Harlem, is included in this book.
JAZZ: music and dance “Dance History Archives.” StreetSwing.com !
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This page contains tabs for dancers, dance halls (including the Savoy), dance terms, dance timelines, etc. A search function is available. Suggested topics: Charleston, Lindy Hop, Savoy Ballroom, Black Bottom, Cotton Club, and Rent Parties. Each entry has a list of of cross-re cross-refere ferences nces refer referencing encing contemporar contemporaryy dances, music, music, etc.
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“Fats Waller-Great Waller-Great Solos, 1929-1941.” Hal Leonard, publisher. publisher. !
If your students students are are interested interested in playing playing Fats Waller piano pieces, this this book of sheet sheet music is is a transcription of his stride piano solos. Songs include: Ain’t Ain’t Misbehavin’, Alligator Crawl, Handful of Keys, Honeysuckle Honeysuckle Rose, Rose, Smashing Smashing Thirds, Thirds, etc.
“JAZZ: A Film By Ken Burns.” PBS !
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Explore Explore this website website for a full history history of jazz, jazz, its musicians, musicians, and its influence. influence. Artist biographies, classroom applications, and various links are provided. There is also a section for younger younger children children under “Jazz “Jazz Kids.” There is an accompanying book (by the same name), found at local libraries, authored by Ken Burns and Geoffrey Ward. The film is excellent. Produced by PBS Home Video Video Studios, it was released in 2001 on DVD. Check local local libraries. libraries. 10 episodes, episodes, less than two two hours each. each. Episodes 1-7 1-7 focus on the history and events of the time in which Ain’t Misbehavin’ is set.
“A Passion for Jazz!” !
With two main categories on the main site—Jazz History and Jazz Education—this site is ideal for students focusing on jazz. Timelines, lingo, photos of important events, and other instructions and explanations surrounding jazz are available.
“Pittsburgh Jazz: Book & Music Lists.” Carnegie Library. !
Carnegie Library has a list of resources found in their collection relating to jazz history in Pittsburgh. Listed are books about Pittsburgh jazz musicians and recordings recordings from Pittsburgh jazz artists.
“Pittsburgh Jazz Society.” !
The Pittsburgh Jazz Society website has links to local jazz artists, information about local events, and opportunities for participation in jazz.
“The Red Hot Jazz Archive.” !
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This website provides a history of pre-1930 jazz. Tabs for musicians, films, essays, and other information are provided provided with cross-references. cross-references. A search function is available. Suggested names: Fats Waller (and his Rhythm), James P. Johnson, and Langston Hughes. Fats Waller’s brief biography is accompanied by an extensive list of songs he recorded or wrote. The songs can be played, with good sound quality, quality, through the computer. computer.
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Rent Party Jazz. William Miller and Charlotte Riley-Webb. Riley-Webb. Lee & Low Books, 2001. !
Written for children ages 9-12, this novel tells the story of a New Orleans family’s experience with jazz. Set in the 1930s, a young boy throws throws a rent rent party to help his mother pay for their apartment after she loses her job.
Steppin’ on the Blues: The Visible Rhythms of African American Dance. Jacqui Malone. University of Illinois Press, 1996. !
A complete look at jazz dance, its history history and contempor contemporary ary applications. applications.
Stride! John L. Fell. Fell. Rowman & Littlefield, 1999. !
John Fell traces traces the history history of stride stride piano from from ragtime to the present. present. Both the musicians musicians and the nature of the music itself are discussed.
Swingin’ at the Savoy: The Memoir of a Jazz Dancer. Norma Miller and Evette Evette Jensen. Temple University Press, 1996. !
Norma Miller Miller, comedian, comedian, dancer, dancer, and choreograph choreographer er,, tells her story of growing growing up in Harlem near the Savoy. She recounts her interactions with the legends of jazz and traces the influence of dance on culture.
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