1
00:00:02.300 --> 00:00:04.800
(jazz music)

2
00:00:07.350 --> 00:00:09.314
Chick Webb King of the dams.

3
00:00:09.314 --> 00:00:11.814
(jazz music)

4
00:00:13.233 --> 00:00:15.420
From the Southland in the city of Boston,

5
00:00:15.420 --> 00:00:17.907
we present a program of dance music played by Chick Webb

6
00:00:17.907 --> 00:00:21.433
and his Orchestra and featuring the First Lady of Swing,

7
00:00:21.433 --> 00:00:22.266
Ella Fitzgerald

8
00:00:22.266 --> 00:00:25.266
(audience clapping)

9
00:00:29.924 --> 00:00:32.341
(jazz music)

10
00:01:05.062 --> 00:01:08.395
(jazz music continues)

11
00:01:33.120 --> 00:01:35.010
He could swing it baby.

12
00:01:35.010 --> 00:01:38.430
He out swung everything that could be swung,

13
00:01:38.430 --> 00:01:39.839
that was Chick Webb.

14
00:01:39.839 --> 00:01:42.280
(jazz music)

15
00:01:42.280 --> 00:01:45.210
Giants come in all sizes.

16
00:01:45.210 --> 00:01:47.820
Leading the house band of the Savoy Ballroom,

17
00:01:47.820 --> 00:01:50.520
bringing people of all colors and backgrounds together.

18
00:01:50.520 --> 00:01:54.360
No one broke through more barriers in life and music

19
00:01:54.360 --> 00:01:57.079
than little Hunchback Chick Webb.

20
00:01:57.079 --> 00:01:59.496
(jazz music)

21
00:02:00.780 --> 00:02:03.750
Chick Webb was unique alone in his day,

22
00:02:03.750 --> 00:02:05.490
full of ambition for himself,

23
00:02:05.490 --> 00:02:07.983
his band and black people in general.

24
00:02:10.380 --> 00:02:11.731
If Chick had taken the same time,

25
00:02:11.731 --> 00:02:15.450
he'd applied to helping people and rested,

26
00:02:15.450 --> 00:02:18.510
he would've lived longer than his 30 years

27
00:02:18.510 --> 00:02:21.183
and there was so much music in that man.

28
00:02:23.640 --> 00:02:26.220
What Chick did for me can never be repaid.

29
00:02:26.220 --> 00:02:27.693
He was like a father to me,

30
00:02:29.010 --> 00:02:30.390
always thinking of others,

31
00:02:30.390 --> 00:02:33.153
always in pain, but no one knew it.

32
00:02:34.110 --> 00:02:37.473
He was the kind that comes along once every thousand years.

33
00:02:38.464 --> 00:02:40.881
(jazz music)

34
00:02:49.350 --> 00:02:52.680
I see the great change in the world,

35
00:02:52.680 --> 00:02:56.733
even in my lifetime facing segregation.

36
00:02:57.600 --> 00:03:01.530
I don't think the youngsters today realize

37
00:03:01.530 --> 00:03:03.723
what my era went through.

38
00:03:06.480 --> 00:03:09.030
Chick Webb grew up in this neighborhood,

39
00:03:09.030 --> 00:03:10.893
not too far from this church.

40
00:03:11.910 --> 00:03:15.330
My father was a good friend of Chick Webb

41
00:03:15.330 --> 00:03:18.360
and the first time I saw him

42
00:03:18.360 --> 00:03:20.580
put his hand on my head

43
00:03:20.580 --> 00:03:21.927
just like that and say,

44
00:03:21.927 --> 00:03:23.880
"Is this your son?"

45
00:03:23.880 --> 00:03:25.530
He said, "Yeah."

46
00:03:25.530 --> 00:03:27.510
That's, that's all he did.

47
00:03:27.510 --> 00:03:28.897
My father said,

48
00:03:28.897 --> 00:03:31.080
"This is Chick Webb

49
00:03:31.080 --> 00:03:33.090
and he's gonna be a great drummer one day,

50
00:03:33.090 --> 00:03:34.917
he loves to play the drums."

51
00:03:36.990 --> 00:03:38.850
Chick's father disappeared

52
00:03:38.850 --> 00:03:40.563
when he was very young.

53
00:03:42.840 --> 00:03:44.580
Chick's mom used to say

54
00:03:44.580 --> 00:03:47.310
that there's no such word as I can't,

55
00:03:47.310 --> 00:03:51.000
as a child, she instilled that into him.

56
00:03:51.000 --> 00:03:52.920
As long as you have faith

57
00:03:52.920 --> 00:03:55.410
and God and treat people right,

58
00:03:55.410 --> 00:03:58.023
you can do most anything.

59
00:04:00.240 --> 00:04:02.200
My mother, Bessie told me

60
00:04:03.480 --> 00:04:04.313
that

61
00:04:06.120 --> 00:04:07.500
they were at their house

62
00:04:07.500 --> 00:04:11.310
and saw their grandmother coming down the street

63
00:04:11.310 --> 00:04:14.940
and they ran to meet their grandmother

64
00:04:14.940 --> 00:04:18.180
and Chick fell down the steps

65
00:04:18.180 --> 00:04:19.533
and broke his back.

66
00:04:21.270 --> 00:04:24.783
As a result, he got tuberculosis of the spine.

67
00:04:26.130 --> 00:04:27.570
From that moment on,

68
00:04:27.570 --> 00:04:31.710
Chick stopped growing and got a hump in his back.

69
00:04:31.710 --> 00:04:35.073
He was in pain until the end.

70
00:04:36.240 --> 00:04:39.720
Doctor Young told his mother Marie

71
00:04:39.720 --> 00:04:41.970
that he should play the drums

72
00:04:41.970 --> 00:04:45.060
to build up his upper body strength.

73
00:04:45.060 --> 00:04:46.650
They couldn't afford drums

74
00:04:46.650 --> 00:04:49.830
and so he would make his own drumsticks

75
00:04:49.830 --> 00:04:52.023
and beat on anything around the house.

76
00:04:53.040 --> 00:04:55.113
We knew he was deformed,

77
00:04:56.940 --> 00:04:57.773
but

78
00:04:59.070 --> 00:04:59.920
with his

79
00:05:01.200 --> 00:05:04.440
deformity, he was always seemed to be active.

80
00:05:04.440 --> 00:05:08.070
He walked funny like a chicken.

81
00:05:08.070 --> 00:05:11.490
The kids in the neighborhood called him chicken

82
00:05:11.490 --> 00:05:13.293
and it was broke down to Chick.

83
00:05:14.130 --> 00:05:15.900
Webb grew up with the spirit of music

84
00:05:15.900 --> 00:05:17.700
embedded deeply in his soul,

85
00:05:17.700 --> 00:05:19.410
playing skillets and wash boards

86
00:05:19.410 --> 00:05:21.990
with his band of 10 pan musicians.

87
00:05:21.990 --> 00:05:25.230
School that was out for Chick,

88
00:05:25.230 --> 00:05:27.450
always imbued with gobs of ambition,

89
00:05:27.450 --> 00:05:29.013
he had bigger things in mind.

90
00:05:31.470 --> 00:05:33.870
He's always a hustler,

91
00:05:33.870 --> 00:05:35.943
he always knew how to make a penny.

92
00:05:37.380 --> 00:05:40.353
He saved his money to buy his first drum.

93
00:05:42.720 --> 00:05:45.420
I may not have played a lot of drums back then,

94
00:05:45.420 --> 00:05:48.513
but I sure could pedal a load of papers.

95
00:05:50.100 --> 00:05:51.600
I could sell more newspapers

96
00:05:51.600 --> 00:05:53.583
than all the other guys put together.

97
00:05:55.230 --> 00:05:58.650
I used to sell 4,000 papers a day.

98
00:05:58.650 --> 00:06:00.330
As an 11 year old boy

99
00:06:00.330 --> 00:06:02.460
Chick used to sneak away to nightclubs,

100
00:06:02.460 --> 00:06:04.680
sitting in with bands whenever he could

101
00:06:04.680 --> 00:06:07.293
and making himself some nice change in tips.

102
00:06:09.540 --> 00:06:10.500
His first real job

103
00:06:10.500 --> 00:06:13.363
was on a segregated steamboat with the Jazz Ola Band.

104
00:06:13.363 --> 00:06:15.780
(jazz music)

105
00:06:20.880 --> 00:06:22.440
There he formed a lasting friendship

106
00:06:22.440 --> 00:06:26.130
with an accomplished guitarist aptly named John Trueheart.

107
00:06:26.130 --> 00:06:28.080
In the following years except by illness,

108
00:06:28.080 --> 00:06:29.490
those two never parted.

109
00:06:29.490 --> 00:06:31.713
They shared prosperity and hardship alike.

110
00:06:33.840 --> 00:06:37.601
So he went on to, he went to New York and became famous.

111
00:06:37.601 --> 00:06:40.101
(jazz music)

112
00:06:43.800 --> 00:06:46.170
Chick Webb blew in from Baltimore

113
00:06:46.170 --> 00:06:47.763
and John Trueheart with him.

114
00:06:49.230 --> 00:06:52.620
Harlem had the world's most glamorous atmosphere.

115
00:06:52.620 --> 00:06:55.980
All over Harlem, there were great hospitable people

116
00:06:55.980 --> 00:06:57.810
to welcome us to New York.

117
00:06:57.810 --> 00:07:00.450
Sensitive and soulful singers, dancers,

118
00:07:00.450 --> 00:07:01.863
musicians and actors,

119
00:07:03.120 --> 00:07:06.450
and there were many colorful hotspots scattered about

120
00:07:06.450 --> 00:07:08.949
with no curfew to dampen the spirits.

121
00:07:08.949 --> 00:07:11.366
(jazz music)

122
00:07:15.150 --> 00:07:17.077
I used to hear the old timers say,

123
00:07:17.077 --> 00:07:19.560
"I wouldn't leave Harlem to go to heaven."

124
00:07:19.560 --> 00:07:21.570
That's a helluva statement.

125
00:07:21.570 --> 00:07:26.219
I came to New York City into Harlem in 1919.

126
00:07:26.219 --> 00:07:28.719
(jazz music)

127
00:07:29.820 --> 00:07:31.500
Not only with my father physician,

128
00:07:31.500 --> 00:07:34.350
but mama worked for the garment industry,

129
00:07:34.350 --> 00:07:36.393
Ladies International Garment Union.

130
00:07:38.190 --> 00:07:40.540
Harlem was a wonderful place for kids

131
00:07:41.818 --> 00:07:43.632
and everybody looked out for everybody.

132
00:07:43.632 --> 00:07:46.049
(jazz music)

133
00:07:49.920 --> 00:07:54.090
I was born in Little Rock, Arkansas,

134
00:07:54.090 --> 00:07:58.830
graduated there in 19 and 33

135
00:07:58.830 --> 00:08:00.750
and I ran away,

136
00:08:00.750 --> 00:08:04.920
and married a prize fighter named Georgia Net

137
00:08:04.920 --> 00:08:06.453
and I came to Harlem.

138
00:08:07.950 --> 00:08:10.650
I had heard so much about Harlem,

139
00:08:10.650 --> 00:08:12.580
but I was shocked

140
00:08:13.530 --> 00:08:14.500
because

141
00:08:16.110 --> 00:08:18.600
Harlem was the most segregated place

142
00:08:18.600 --> 00:08:20.253
I know when I came here.

143
00:08:21.330 --> 00:08:22.980
Chiles restaurant,

144
00:08:22.980 --> 00:08:26.853
no black person could go and then get served.

145
00:08:27.720 --> 00:08:29.670
The Lois Theater,

146
00:08:29.670 --> 00:08:30.503
you could go there,

147
00:08:30.503 --> 00:08:31.860
but you had to go upstairs

148
00:08:31.860 --> 00:08:34.080
the same as you did down south,

149
00:08:34.080 --> 00:08:35.700
and this was in Harlem.

150
00:08:35.700 --> 00:08:38.100
At 125th Street.

151
00:08:38.100 --> 00:08:41.070
A black person couldn't get a job

152
00:08:41.070 --> 00:08:43.380
in a Woolworth's store.

153
00:08:43.380 --> 00:08:45.840
You couldn't go in there to sit at the counter.

154
00:08:45.840 --> 00:08:47.970
You can go in there, buy whatever you wanted

155
00:08:47.970 --> 00:08:49.920
because you were in the black community,

156
00:08:49.920 --> 00:08:52.920
but it had all white employees

157
00:08:52.920 --> 00:08:56.010
and they had a fountain there where people ate and all that.

158
00:08:56.010 --> 00:08:57.720
But you could not go to that fountain

159
00:08:57.720 --> 00:09:00.300
and sit out and eat with the rest of the people.

160
00:09:00.300 --> 00:09:02.820
This is the world that little Chick in it

161
00:09:02.820 --> 00:09:03.990
eager to learn,

162
00:09:03.990 --> 00:09:05.322
trying to catch a break.

163
00:09:05.322 --> 00:09:07.739
(jazz music)

164
00:09:09.450 --> 00:09:12.360
White guys in New York had few jazz outlets.

165
00:09:12.360 --> 00:09:14.673
We were limited to dance and show bands.

166
00:09:15.870 --> 00:09:18.330
If you wanted to stretch your muscles musically,

167
00:09:18.330 --> 00:09:20.190
your only option was the clubs,

168
00:09:20.190 --> 00:09:23.550
ballrooms and after hours spots of Harlem.

169
00:09:23.550 --> 00:09:24.780
The Harlem music scene

170
00:09:24.780 --> 00:09:27.217
was very heavy, very involved.

171
00:09:27.217 --> 00:09:29.717
(jazz music)

172
00:09:32.070 --> 00:09:33.270
In spite of ourselves,

173
00:09:33.270 --> 00:09:36.630
I think music is the thing that really binds us.

174
00:09:36.630 --> 00:09:38.980
Music is, is a universal

175
00:09:40.590 --> 00:09:42.120
combiner.

176
00:09:42.120 --> 00:09:44.310
Clubs would have jam sessions

177
00:09:44.310 --> 00:09:45.143
and the drummers

178
00:09:45.143 --> 00:09:48.750
would have to wait in line to sit in

179
00:09:48.750 --> 00:09:51.723
unless you were very, very good and very popular.

180
00:09:53.100 --> 00:09:56.365
But of course, Chick was on top of all of them.

181
00:09:56.365 --> 00:09:57.780
And now and listen folks

182
00:09:57.780 --> 00:10:01.590
and you'll hear the drummer of the band.

183
00:10:01.590 --> 00:10:03.960
Now I know that he's the drummer,

184
00:10:03.960 --> 00:10:06.128
but that drum stick in his hand.

185
00:10:06.128 --> 00:10:08.628
(jazz music])

186
00:10:12.570 --> 00:10:15.510
For almost a year work was very scarce.

187
00:10:15.510 --> 00:10:18.660
Webb and Trueheart held up together in one tiny room.

188
00:10:18.660 --> 00:10:22.050
Trueheart found small jobs while Chick saved his money

189
00:10:22.050 --> 00:10:24.303
and got to know many of the cats around town.

190
00:10:25.800 --> 00:10:28.260
At first band leaders would take one look

191
00:10:28.260 --> 00:10:29.700
at little hunchback Chick

192
00:10:29.700 --> 00:10:31.500
and refuse to even let him audition.

193
00:10:32.940 --> 00:10:36.720
But Webb, he ate up any kind of fight,

194
00:10:36.720 --> 00:10:38.836
the guy just had what it takes.

195
00:10:38.836 --> 00:10:41.586
(drums pounding)

196
00:10:42.420 --> 00:10:44.280
One night I heard this great music

197
00:10:44.280 --> 00:10:46.170
coming out of a club.

198
00:10:46.170 --> 00:10:49.203
I selected a spot near the drums and found Chick Webb.

199
00:10:50.250 --> 00:10:51.900
God, what he did blew me away.

200
00:10:51.900 --> 00:10:53.900
He literally lifted the band.

201
00:10:53.900 --> 00:10:56.790
He had such power and originality.

202
00:10:56.790 --> 00:10:59.160
He didn't realize he was so small and a hunchback

203
00:10:59.160 --> 00:11:01.010
until he stepped away from the drums.

204
00:11:02.970 --> 00:11:05.850
I found direction when I first heard Chick.

205
00:11:05.850 --> 00:11:08.340
He changed everything around for me.

206
00:11:08.340 --> 00:11:10.860
All of us were enlightened by him.

207
00:11:10.860 --> 00:11:12.150
Most of the drummers in those days,

208
00:11:12.150 --> 00:11:14.700
they would be playing the symbol and keeping time,

209
00:11:14.700 --> 00:11:16.590
but Chick Webb played something

210
00:11:16.590 --> 00:11:17.760
that would enhance what they had,

211
00:11:17.760 --> 00:11:19.560
what they were playing and give it more,

212
00:11:19.560 --> 00:11:21.093
more feeling and more meaning.

213
00:11:22.530 --> 00:11:23.880
Chick was the first drummer

214
00:11:23.880 --> 00:11:26.070
who made sense in a big band.

215
00:11:26.070 --> 00:11:28.260
He knew how to shade and color

216
00:11:28.260 --> 00:11:30.000
and how to bring a band up

217
00:11:30.000 --> 00:11:31.668
and keep it there.

218
00:11:31.668 --> 00:11:34.085
(jazz music)

219
00:11:36.750 --> 00:11:38.820
Chick drew drummers by the dozen

220
00:11:38.820 --> 00:11:40.440
to where he was working.

221
00:11:40.440 --> 00:11:43.830
He's playing so clean and fast and technical

222
00:11:43.830 --> 00:11:45.390
had a kind of drive

223
00:11:45.390 --> 00:11:46.860
that's impossible to describe

224
00:11:46.860 --> 00:11:49.020
if you weren't there to feel it.

225
00:11:49.020 --> 00:11:51.510
He showed us by example how to back sections,

226
00:11:51.510 --> 00:11:53.670
how to shade for the ensemble,

227
00:11:53.670 --> 00:11:57.333
had to structure drum solos and make breaks count.

228
00:11:58.350 --> 00:12:02.177
He was a master, a little giant of the big noise.

229
00:12:02.177 --> 00:12:04.594
(jazz music)

230
00:12:15.870 --> 00:12:17.640
He was playing very inventive

231
00:12:17.640 --> 00:12:21.000
and I, I loved the feeling of what he was doing

232
00:12:21.000 --> 00:12:22.710
and I'll never forget that.

233
00:12:22.710 --> 00:12:24.540
That's one of the things that really grabbed me

234
00:12:24.540 --> 00:12:26.370
'cause he sounded

235
00:12:26.370 --> 00:12:27.930
very different

236
00:12:27.930 --> 00:12:30.393
than any of the drummers that I had heard before.

237
00:12:32.520 --> 00:12:34.890
Whenever I think of Chick, I always smile.

238
00:12:34.890 --> 00:12:36.120
Picture a bunch of musicians

239
00:12:36.120 --> 00:12:38.730
hanging around on a sidewalk near the Rhythm Club

240
00:12:38.730 --> 00:12:39.810
until you got up close

241
00:12:39.810 --> 00:12:41.400
you didn't know what was going on.

242
00:12:41.400 --> 00:12:42.660
But nine times out of 10,

243
00:12:42.660 --> 00:12:44.610
Chick was at the center of things.

244
00:12:44.610 --> 00:12:46.380
There he was all four feet of him

245
00:12:46.380 --> 00:12:47.790
hanging onto someone's lapels

246
00:12:47.790 --> 00:12:50.010
or poking his long fingers at another of the guys

247
00:12:50.010 --> 00:12:53.460
and telling the tallest stories, boasting and everything,

248
00:12:53.460 --> 00:12:56.163
but he spoke with such humor that no one took offense.

249
00:12:58.590 --> 00:12:59.423
I used to see him,

250
00:12:59.423 --> 00:13:01.590
well he had this habit of hitching up his pants

251
00:13:01.590 --> 00:13:03.030
like oh,

252
00:13:03.030 --> 00:13:04.500
he would take on a giant,

253
00:13:04.500 --> 00:13:05.333
he was that kind of guy.

254
00:13:05.333 --> 00:13:09.000
I mean, don't mess with me type of character.

255
00:13:09.000 --> 00:13:11.108
He was a little tiger.

256
00:13:11.108 --> 00:13:13.525
(jazz music)

257
00:13:14.483 --> 00:13:19.483
♪ Hello Central give me Doctor Jazz. ♪

258
00:13:19.703 --> 00:13:24.360
♪ He's got what I need, I'll say he has ♪

259
00:13:24.360 --> 00:13:25.748
Jelly Roll Morton,

260
00:13:25.748 --> 00:13:26.997
(chuckles)

261
00:13:26.997 --> 00:13:29.430
man he was something else.

262
00:13:29.430 --> 00:13:30.930
He was a big shock

263
00:13:30.930 --> 00:13:32.940
and he loved to fuss and argue.

264
00:13:32.940 --> 00:13:34.050
He knew it all.

265
00:13:34.050 --> 00:13:36.840
He and Chick Webb would stand on the street corner

266
00:13:36.840 --> 00:13:38.010
and argue so bad.

267
00:13:38.010 --> 00:13:40.440
You could have become rich from selling tickets.

268
00:13:40.440 --> 00:13:43.170
Chick would rile him up just to get him going.

269
00:13:43.170 --> 00:13:45.660
Jelly would tell Chick he was the greatest,

270
00:13:45.660 --> 00:13:48.840
and Chick would kid him about his old fashioned music.

271
00:13:48.840 --> 00:13:51.030
Then he'd hum a whole tune out of his head,

272
00:13:51.030 --> 00:13:52.500
top to bottom.

273
00:13:52.500 --> 00:13:53.737
Jelly would say,

274
00:13:53.737 --> 00:13:55.200
"That ain't shit,

275
00:13:55.200 --> 00:13:56.190
listen at this one."

276
00:13:56.190 --> 00:13:58.290
Then he'd go on humming his stuff.

277
00:13:58.290 --> 00:14:01.080
Ordinary people had never seen anything like that before.

278
00:14:01.080 --> 00:14:03.810
They thought there was some kind of big fight going on.

279
00:14:03.810 --> 00:14:05.220
It was a show.

280
00:14:05.220 --> 00:14:06.420
Those two guys

281
00:14:06.420 --> 00:14:08.760
Jelly with that big diamond stuck in his teeth

282
00:14:08.760 --> 00:14:11.373
and Chick with his little crooked back.

283
00:14:13.560 --> 00:14:15.300
Duke Ellington

284
00:14:15.300 --> 00:14:16.320
knew that Chick Webb

285
00:14:16.320 --> 00:14:18.540
was gonna be a bad leader

286
00:14:18.540 --> 00:14:21.630
long before Chick really realized it in himself.

287
00:14:24.074 --> 00:14:25.950
(piano music)

288
00:14:25.950 --> 00:14:28.450
Duke had a tremendous appetite for life.

289
00:14:29.580 --> 00:14:30.750
He drank, he smoked,

290
00:14:30.750 --> 00:14:33.480
he ate ice cream by the quart and he loved the ladies.

291
00:14:33.480 --> 00:14:36.120
He knew that everything in life mattered

292
00:14:36.120 --> 00:14:37.920
and that everybody in life mattered.

293
00:14:40.080 --> 00:14:41.730
I made Chick Webb a band leader.

294
00:14:41.730 --> 00:14:44.070
When I was working at the Kentucky Club.

295
00:14:44.070 --> 00:14:46.800
Some boys decided to open up a new joint.

296
00:14:46.800 --> 00:14:48.060
They came to me

297
00:14:48.060 --> 00:14:50.640
and said, "Hey, we need a band."

298
00:14:50.640 --> 00:14:53.370
I assured them everything would be all right.

299
00:14:53.370 --> 00:14:55.380
We went and hired five or six musicians

300
00:14:55.380 --> 00:14:56.790
and Chick was one of them.

301
00:14:56.790 --> 00:14:58.110
At that time,

302
00:14:58.110 --> 00:15:00.900
Chick wasn't thinking about anything but his drums.

303
00:15:00.900 --> 00:15:04.110
But I said to Chick, "Now you're the band leader."

304
00:15:04.110 --> 00:15:05.077
He said,

305
00:15:05.077 --> 00:15:07.740
"Man, I don't wanna be no band leader."

306
00:15:07.740 --> 00:15:09.210
I said, "All you have to do

307
00:15:09.210 --> 00:15:11.947
is collect the money and bring me mine."

308
00:15:11.947 --> 00:15:13.357
"Is that all I have to do?"

309
00:15:13.357 --> 00:15:15.097
"Yeah."

310
00:15:15.097 --> 00:15:17.079
"Okay. I'm a band leader."

311
00:15:17.079 --> 00:15:20.310
(jazz music)

312
00:15:20.310 --> 00:15:22.680
I was there at his opening night.

313
00:15:22.680 --> 00:15:25.110
They worked up a gang of arrangements

314
00:15:25.110 --> 00:15:27.510
even though they couldn't read a note of music

315
00:15:27.510 --> 00:15:28.710
in those days,

316
00:15:28.710 --> 00:15:30.723
anything good just got memorized.

317
00:15:31.590 --> 00:15:33.420
Now the first couple

318
00:15:33.420 --> 00:15:35.310
I'm calling up here this evening

319
00:15:35.310 --> 00:15:36.870
is Hot Foot Bennet,

320
00:15:36.870 --> 00:15:40.024
And that lady friend Lilly Highfly.

321
00:15:40.024 --> 00:15:42.524
(jazz music)

322
00:15:52.320 --> 00:15:54.120
That was a band.

323
00:15:54.120 --> 00:15:56.400
There was Elmer Williams on tenor

324
00:15:56.400 --> 00:15:58.770
and Johnny Hodges was alto.

325
00:15:58.770 --> 00:16:01.020
Bobby Stark was playing trumpet.

326
00:16:01.020 --> 00:16:02.070
John Trueheart,

327
00:16:02.070 --> 00:16:04.050
of course, was playing guitar

328
00:16:04.050 --> 00:16:05.994
and Chick was at the drums.

329
00:16:05.994 --> 00:16:09.137
(jazz music)

330
00:16:09.137 --> 00:16:12.322
(audience clapping)

331
00:16:12.322 --> 00:16:14.739
(jazz music)

332
00:16:42.390 --> 00:16:43.980
Chick thought he was the best

333
00:16:43.980 --> 00:16:47.043
and he'd tell you he was the best right quick.

334
00:16:48.210 --> 00:16:50.550
But man, things were tough.

335
00:16:50.550 --> 00:16:52.380
I've seen the time when we were so hungry

336
00:16:52.380 --> 00:16:54.210
we had to split a loaf of bread

337
00:16:54.210 --> 00:16:55.923
and a can of beans together.

338
00:16:58.260 --> 00:16:59.790
Chick used to pay $5 a week

339
00:16:59.790 --> 00:17:02.640
for a room in Harlem and 132nd Street,

340
00:17:02.640 --> 00:17:04.350
and sometimes at the end of that week

341
00:17:04.350 --> 00:17:05.730
he might not have the $5

342
00:17:05.730 --> 00:17:08.940
because he would pay $75, $100

343
00:17:08.940 --> 00:17:11.130
to buy the best arrangements.

344
00:17:11.130 --> 00:17:13.230
Every nickel Chick had

345
00:17:13.230 --> 00:17:15.723
went to buying the best arrangements.

346
00:17:16.950 --> 00:17:17.783
From months on end

347
00:17:17.783 --> 00:17:19.920
the group endured starvation regimens.

348
00:17:19.920 --> 00:17:22.020
Relying on occasional gigs to pay the rent,

349
00:17:22.020 --> 00:17:24.720
they would hold up in one room and refuse to separate.

350
00:17:25.890 --> 00:17:27.960
Chick could have worked with any of the great names,

351
00:17:27.960 --> 00:17:30.210
but he set the example by turning down jobs

352
00:17:30.210 --> 00:17:32.280
that called for changing the band.

353
00:17:32.280 --> 00:17:34.950
There's a lot to learn in this business,

354
00:17:34.950 --> 00:17:37.077
but someday I'm gonna get what I want

355
00:17:37.077 --> 00:17:38.820
and the only way to get that

356
00:17:38.820 --> 00:17:40.680
is to play the best music,

357
00:17:40.680 --> 00:17:42.690
get the best arrangements,

358
00:17:42.690 --> 00:17:46.194
and pick the best musicians I can find.

359
00:17:46.194 --> 00:17:48.611
(jazz music)

360
00:18:00.077 --> 00:18:00.910
Oh

361
00:18:03.054 --> 00:18:05.040
♪I imagined I was rich ♪

362
00:18:05.040 --> 00:18:07.252
♪ and that I did receive ♪

363
00:18:07.252 --> 00:18:09.165
♪ a cottage full of bliss ♪

364
00:18:09.165 --> 00:18:11.644
♪ in the land of make believe. ♪

365
00:18:11.644 --> 00:18:16.548
♪ My only inspiration is just imagination. ♪

366
00:18:16.548 --> 00:18:20.300
♪ Make believe, make believe♪

367
00:18:20.300 --> 00:18:23.070
Rose Danceland catering to white trade,

368
00:18:23.070 --> 00:18:26.790
but using a race orchestra is building itself a great name.

369
00:18:26.790 --> 00:18:29.160
Chick Webb's, Harlem Stompers

370
00:18:29.160 --> 00:18:31.773
being classed as one of the best in town.

371
00:18:33.510 --> 00:18:34.710
Poor Chick,

372
00:18:34.710 --> 00:18:37.620
he was always dogged by bad luck,

373
00:18:37.620 --> 00:18:40.023
and never managed to work steady for long.

374
00:18:40.860 --> 00:18:42.930
Chick Webb left Rose Danceland,

375
00:18:42.930 --> 00:18:44.460
when agents made him and the boys

376
00:18:44.460 --> 00:18:46.230
an amazingly lucrative offer

377
00:18:46.230 --> 00:18:48.330
to play several months in Vaudeville,

378
00:18:48.330 --> 00:18:50.310
but the setup was a complete phony,

379
00:18:50.310 --> 00:18:52.500
and they were soon out of a job.

380
00:18:52.500 --> 00:18:54.240
Chick Webb and his negro orchestra

381
00:18:54.240 --> 00:18:56.520
ended up on the short end of the stick yesterday,

382
00:18:56.520 --> 00:18:59.460
following a negro dance at the city auditorium,

383
00:18:59.460 --> 00:19:03.000
when the promoters absconded with $400 in ticket sales,

384
00:19:03.000 --> 00:19:06.131
leaving the Webb outfit unpaid for their performance.

385
00:19:06.131 --> 00:19:07.350
(jazz music)

386
00:19:07.350 --> 00:19:09.330
Finally things began to break for Chick

387
00:19:09.330 --> 00:19:10.500
when he went on the road

388
00:19:10.500 --> 00:19:11.580
with Louis Armstrong

389
00:19:11.580 --> 00:19:13.530
and the Hot Chocolates Touring Company.

390
00:19:15.660 --> 00:19:17.670
Louis Armstrong Show was on tour

391
00:19:17.670 --> 00:19:19.101
using Chick Webb's band.

392
00:19:19.101 --> 00:19:21.930
(jazz music)

393
00:19:21.930 --> 00:19:24.378
The night was New Year's Eve in Baltimore,

394
00:19:24.378 --> 00:19:27.787
and I saw some of the most dramatic scenes of Louis' career.

395
00:19:27.787 --> 00:19:31.110
(jazz music)

396
00:19:31.110 --> 00:19:33.630
Now Sach did five shows today,

397
00:19:33.630 --> 00:19:35.460
and in addition to being dog tired,

398
00:19:35.460 --> 00:19:37.440
he had a terrible sore lip,

399
00:19:37.440 --> 00:19:39.720
all raw and swell up

400
00:19:39.720 --> 00:19:40.980
with peeling dead skin.

401
00:19:40.980 --> 00:19:42.060
It was just agony for him

402
00:19:42.060 --> 00:19:43.913
every time he blew the horn.

403
00:19:43.913 --> 00:19:46.330
(jazz music)

404
00:19:48.930 --> 00:19:52.530
They wouldn't let Chick use his base drum on this day,

405
00:19:52.530 --> 00:19:55.020
because Louis lip was in such bad shape.

406
00:19:55.020 --> 00:19:56.400
Now without the base

407
00:19:56.400 --> 00:19:57.900
he wouldn't be pushed so hard.

408
00:19:59.310 --> 00:20:01.530
Louis raised his horn to start blowing,

409
00:20:01.530 --> 00:20:04.110
the notes all agonized and strangled,

410
00:20:04.110 --> 00:20:06.300
each one dripping in blood.

411
00:20:06.300 --> 00:20:09.063
He was fighting and sweating blood all the way.

412
00:20:09.900 --> 00:20:13.170
Chick used all the masterful tactics he knew on the drums,

413
00:20:13.170 --> 00:20:14.940
trying to roll and punch out

414
00:20:14.940 --> 00:20:16.350
his feelings for Louis,

415
00:20:16.350 --> 00:20:18.900
giving him all the foundation he could

416
00:20:18.900 --> 00:20:21.300
while tears streamed down Chick's face.

417
00:20:21.300 --> 00:20:23.280
The whole band was crying,

418
00:20:23.280 --> 00:20:24.930
and then it happened.

419
00:20:24.930 --> 00:20:26.790
With the last breath left in him,

420
00:20:26.790 --> 00:20:29.569
Louis made that tortuous climb up to high F.

421
00:20:29.569 --> 00:20:31.986
(jazz music)

422
00:20:44.257 --> 00:20:47.507
(jazz music continues)

423
00:21:02.294 --> 00:21:03.540
(audience clapping and cheering)

424
00:21:03.540 --> 00:21:04.860
The whole house shuddered

425
00:21:04.860 --> 00:21:06.690
and rocked with applause.

426
00:21:06.690 --> 00:21:07.590
Louis stood there,

427
00:21:08.490 --> 00:21:09.900
holding his horn

428
00:21:09.900 --> 00:21:12.390
and panting his mangled lip oozing blood

429
00:21:12.390 --> 00:21:13.223
that he'd lick away

430
00:21:13.223 --> 00:21:15.570
and while he managed to smile

431
00:21:15.570 --> 00:21:17.763
and bow and smile again.

432
00:21:21.778 --> 00:21:23.700
(jazz music)

433
00:21:23.700 --> 00:21:26.340
Chick's first gig at the Savoy

434
00:21:26.340 --> 00:21:28.380
was in 1927,

435
00:21:28.380 --> 00:21:31.991
appearing along with the great King Oliver.

436
00:21:31.991 --> 00:21:34.408
(jazz music)

437
00:21:38.910 --> 00:21:41.670
So much of the evolution of jazz

438
00:21:41.670 --> 00:21:42.900
it's like a real air race

439
00:21:42.900 --> 00:21:44.280
in which the baton

440
00:21:44.280 --> 00:21:47.559
gets passed from one generation to the next.

441
00:21:47.559 --> 00:21:49.519
(audience cheering)

442
00:21:49.519 --> 00:21:50.820
I would like to dedicate

443
00:21:50.820 --> 00:21:52.719
this Shim Sham

444
00:21:52.719 --> 00:21:55.719
to Chick Webb and the Savoy Ballroom

445
00:21:56.678 --> 00:21:59.842
(audience applauding)

446
00:21:59.842 --> 00:22:02.817
(speech is drowned out by applause)

447
00:22:02.817 --> 00:22:06.402
for all those cats who were swinging at the Savoy

448
00:22:06.402 --> 00:22:08.694
with Chick Webb beating on the drums, yeah.

449
00:22:08.694 --> 00:22:09.527
(participants laughing)

450
00:22:09.527 --> 00:22:12.270
And I want to see you cats behind me,

451
00:22:12.270 --> 00:22:14.955
just make believe you're a drummer.

452
00:22:14.955 --> 00:22:17.250
(laughing)

453
00:22:17.250 --> 00:22:18.180
Can we do that?

454
00:22:18.180 --> 00:22:19.132
Yeah.

455
00:22:19.132 --> 00:22:21.232
(jazz music)

456
00:22:21.232 --> 00:22:25.065
(speech drowned out by music)

457
00:22:39.540 --> 00:22:40.373
It was wonder,

458
00:22:40.373 --> 00:22:41.206
I mean

459
00:22:42.960 --> 00:22:44.070
just thinking about it now

460
00:22:44.070 --> 00:22:46.292
that makes me get goosebumples.

461
00:22:46.292 --> 00:22:48.542
(laughing)

462
00:22:50.628 --> 00:22:52.680
The Savoy was different,

463
00:22:52.680 --> 00:22:53.560
because

464
00:22:54.630 --> 00:22:56.370
that was ours,

465
00:22:56.370 --> 00:22:57.820
and we let everybody know

466
00:22:59.010 --> 00:23:00.750
that was ours.

467
00:23:00.750 --> 00:23:03.120
Savoy Ballroom was integrated,

468
00:23:03.120 --> 00:23:05.403
and the other clubs were segregated.

469
00:23:06.390 --> 00:23:08.310
The Cotton Club,

470
00:23:08.310 --> 00:23:09.720
the blacks could not go in there,

471
00:23:09.720 --> 00:23:11.940
I don't care how much money you had.

472
00:23:11.940 --> 00:23:13.690
People came to the Savoy

473
00:23:14.797 --> 00:23:16.770
and they forget about racism.

474
00:23:16.770 --> 00:23:19.560
You could be any color, any status,

475
00:23:19.560 --> 00:23:24.540
maids, pull men porters, professional people.

476
00:23:24.540 --> 00:23:26.280
Anybody who wanted to go and dance

477
00:23:26.280 --> 00:23:29.790
and have a good wholesome time.

478
00:23:29.790 --> 00:23:32.010
The first place in the world

479
00:23:32.010 --> 00:23:35.220
that black and white walked through the door together,

480
00:23:35.220 --> 00:23:36.053
the Savoy.

481
00:23:37.830 --> 00:23:41.010
They were joined by a simple thing called

482
00:23:41.010 --> 00:23:42.330
swing.

483
00:23:42.330 --> 00:23:45.810
I'm the only sone of Mo Gail,

484
00:23:45.810 --> 00:23:49.320
the principle owner of the Savoy Ballroom

485
00:23:49.320 --> 00:23:54.180
It was 1926, my father was about 27 years old,

486
00:23:54.180 --> 00:23:56.523
in the luggage business with his father,

487
00:23:57.690 --> 00:24:00.630
and he was supposed to put up some money

488
00:24:00.630 --> 00:24:03.390
for building the Savoy Ballroom.

489
00:24:03.390 --> 00:24:06.090
He was a hustler from a very young age,

490
00:24:06.090 --> 00:24:07.593
he knew how to sell.

491
00:24:07.593 --> 00:24:10.010
(jazz music)

492
00:24:12.390 --> 00:24:14.220
My father of course

493
00:24:14.220 --> 00:24:15.510
was very apprehensive,

494
00:24:15.510 --> 00:24:18.690
he knew he was taking a big gamble.

495
00:24:18.690 --> 00:24:21.450
They opened at something like eight o'clock

496
00:24:21.450 --> 00:24:24.995
and there was nobody there and he panicked.

497
00:24:24.995 --> 00:24:27.412
(jazz music)

498
00:24:35.940 --> 00:24:37.620
And then by 10 o'clock

499
00:24:37.620 --> 00:24:40.080
there was a line around the block.

500
00:24:40.080 --> 00:24:42.270
But for a couple of hours there

501
00:24:42.270 --> 00:24:45.273
he thought it was all in vain.

502
00:24:46.560 --> 00:24:47.850
The new Savoy Ballroom

503
00:24:47.850 --> 00:24:50.520
opened a midst of blaze of glory Friday night,

504
00:24:50.520 --> 00:24:52.890
when about 4,000 sought entrance

505
00:24:52.890 --> 00:24:55.710
when the doors were thrown open to the public.

506
00:24:55.710 --> 00:24:58.830
Those entering were enthralled by its grandeur.

507
00:24:58.830 --> 00:25:01.863
Nothing of it's kind has ever been attempted before.

508
00:25:02.760 --> 00:25:04.890
They should be given a great deal of credit,

509
00:25:04.890 --> 00:25:06.570
because there were a lot of politicians

510
00:25:06.570 --> 00:25:08.137
who would use that as a platform to say,

511
00:25:08.137 --> 00:25:09.810
"Well we don't want integration,

512
00:25:09.810 --> 00:25:11.790
and we're trying to put a stop to it."

513
00:25:11.790 --> 00:25:13.110
And on occasion you'd have

514
00:25:13.110 --> 00:25:14.700
police standing outside

515
00:25:14.700 --> 00:25:16.500
trying to discourage white patrons

516
00:25:16.500 --> 00:25:18.990
from even going into the place.

517
00:25:18.990 --> 00:25:21.180
We fought a war with music,

518
00:25:21.180 --> 00:25:22.013
and dance,

519
00:25:22.013 --> 00:25:24.510
and that's what opened the doors.

520
00:25:24.510 --> 00:25:26.730
It wasn't that my father initially

521
00:25:26.730 --> 00:25:29.940
headed into this venture

522
00:25:29.940 --> 00:25:31.030
to promote

523
00:25:32.940 --> 00:25:36.720
interracial understanding.

524
00:25:36.720 --> 00:25:38.463
He wanted to make a buck.

525
00:25:39.360 --> 00:25:43.260
But as he progressed,

526
00:25:43.260 --> 00:25:47.883
he began to appreciate what the Savoy could do,

527
00:25:48.720 --> 00:25:50.490
the crucial role it played

528
00:25:50.490 --> 00:25:54.150
in helping overcome a great deal of the prejudice

529
00:25:54.150 --> 00:25:57.820
and hatred that separated black and white people.

530
00:25:57.820 --> 00:26:00.930
(jazz music)

531
00:26:00.930 --> 00:26:03.540
I was the manager of the Savoy Ballroom

532
00:26:03.540 --> 00:26:04.950
from the day it opened

533
00:26:04.950 --> 00:26:06.450
until it closed.

534
00:26:06.450 --> 00:26:09.330
I had a 35% interest in the Savoy.

535
00:26:09.330 --> 00:26:11.370
Moe Gale had the balance.

536
00:26:11.370 --> 00:26:12.600
On an average night,

537
00:26:12.600 --> 00:26:15.303
we could have 2,000 people in the place.

538
00:26:17.130 --> 00:26:18.810
He was brilliant.

539
00:26:18.810 --> 00:26:19.860
He worked for Moe Gale,

540
00:26:19.860 --> 00:26:21.573
but everybody else worked for him.

541
00:26:22.440 --> 00:26:23.910
It was the best run ballroom

542
00:26:23.910 --> 00:26:25.710
in the history of the world.

543
00:26:25.710 --> 00:26:26.890
Tally was a riot,

544
00:26:26.890 --> 00:26:27.723
(chuckles)

545
00:26:27.723 --> 00:26:29.130
Tally Bean,

546
00:26:29.130 --> 00:26:32.250
yeah well he kept, he kept the Savoy hopping.

547
00:26:32.250 --> 00:26:35.400
Buchanan had his hand into everything

548
00:26:35.400 --> 00:26:36.233
from the

549
00:26:37.470 --> 00:26:39.660
floor cleaners,

550
00:26:39.660 --> 00:26:41.379
to the bands.

551
00:26:41.379 --> 00:26:42.510
(jazz music)

552
00:26:42.510 --> 00:26:44.460
The Savoy was something else.

553
00:26:44.460 --> 00:26:46.110
All the top bands in the country

554
00:26:46.110 --> 00:26:47.250
really wanted to come in there

555
00:26:47.250 --> 00:26:49.750
and see how they could make out with those dances.

556
00:26:51.720 --> 00:26:54.750
We hired two bands every night of the week.

557
00:26:54.750 --> 00:26:57.030
So even if we only had 500 people on the floor,

558
00:26:57.030 --> 00:26:58.833
we still had to pay for two bands.

559
00:27:00.240 --> 00:27:01.847
I had a tin ear for music,

560
00:27:01.847 --> 00:27:04.833
'cause I knew good beat, a good rhythm.

561
00:27:06.900 --> 00:27:09.150
What a thrill it was to

562
00:27:09.150 --> 00:27:11.040
just see the marquis outside

563
00:27:11.040 --> 00:27:13.306
the Savoy the finest ballroom in the world.

564
00:27:13.306 --> 00:27:15.723
(jazz music)

565
00:27:20.460 --> 00:27:21.900
Walking up is like

566
00:27:21.900 --> 00:27:24.330
walking up the stairway to heaven.

567
00:27:24.330 --> 00:27:26.130
As you come up the stairway,

568
00:27:26.130 --> 00:27:27.420
your back is to the band,

569
00:27:27.420 --> 00:27:29.940
and then you turn around,

570
00:27:29.940 --> 00:27:32.973
you face this floor full of people on it.

571
00:27:34.260 --> 00:27:36.870
The home of happy feet.

572
00:27:36.870 --> 00:27:39.070
They're jumping up like four asses up there.

573
00:27:40.470 --> 00:27:42.420
Oh we had fun.

574
00:27:42.420 --> 00:27:43.950
That was some place.

575
00:27:43.950 --> 00:27:46.447
We used to call it the track.

576
00:27:46.447 --> 00:27:49.050
"You going to the track tonight?"

577
00:27:49.050 --> 00:27:51.303
You could feel the floor bouncing,

578
00:27:52.650 --> 00:27:55.260
and the bands burning.

579
00:27:55.260 --> 00:27:57.210
It was a helluva feeling

580
00:27:57.210 --> 00:27:58.140
It was the Lindy

581
00:27:58.140 --> 00:28:00.630
that put the Savoy on the map.

582
00:28:00.630 --> 00:28:03.840
They came to dance the Lindy,

583
00:28:03.840 --> 00:28:05.597
the world came.

584
00:28:05.597 --> 00:28:08.220
(jazz music)

585
00:28:08.220 --> 00:28:10.098
There is rhythm and the Lindy Hump,

586
00:28:10.098 --> 00:28:11.690
at Harlem's land of clean.

587
00:28:11.690 --> 00:28:13.410
Homeland of happy feet,

588
00:28:13.410 --> 00:28:15.183
and birth place of many new dances.

589
00:28:16.020 --> 00:28:19.050
So, Harlem swings until dawn,

590
00:28:19.050 --> 00:28:22.170
where work does not start again until then.

591
00:28:22.170 --> 00:28:23.790
Truck on down,

592
00:28:23.790 --> 00:28:24.960
swing that Lindy,

593
00:28:24.960 --> 00:28:26.400
beat off that rhythm.

594
00:28:26.400 --> 00:28:28.380
Loose jointed girls and boys

595
00:28:28.380 --> 00:28:30.037
made of India rubber.

596
00:28:30.037 --> 00:28:32.454
(jazz music)

597
00:28:36.630 --> 00:28:38.970
A key to the success of the Savoy

598
00:28:38.970 --> 00:28:41.640
was that we maintained such a standard of order,

599
00:28:41.640 --> 00:28:43.713
that the girls were not afraid to come.

600
00:28:44.550 --> 00:28:45.960
Outside of the music,

601
00:28:45.960 --> 00:28:48.810
if you can't get girls to come you have nothing.

602
00:28:48.810 --> 00:28:50.070
The girls came,

603
00:28:50.070 --> 00:28:51.660
because we guaranteed

604
00:28:51.660 --> 00:28:53.280
the best behavior.

605
00:28:53.280 --> 00:28:55.560
There'd be all these attractive young women

606
00:28:55.560 --> 00:28:58.260
sitting on the sides waiting.

607
00:28:58.260 --> 00:29:00.300
The gentlemen they roamed up and down,

608
00:29:00.300 --> 00:29:02.130
and they would always look,

609
00:29:02.130 --> 00:29:05.100
and they'd single out some lady

610
00:29:05.100 --> 00:29:06.057
they wanted to dance with,

611
00:29:06.057 --> 00:29:07.593
and they snapped their finger.

612
00:29:09.720 --> 00:29:11.010
In other words,

613
00:29:11.010 --> 00:29:11.850
you want to come out

614
00:29:11.850 --> 00:29:14.313
and do the ring, dang, doo.

615
00:29:15.510 --> 00:29:16.560
If anybody came in

616
00:29:16.560 --> 00:29:18.030
and somebody get drunk,

617
00:29:18.030 --> 00:29:18.930
and they would say something

618
00:29:18.930 --> 00:29:20.133
or threaten somebody,

619
00:29:21.120 --> 00:29:22.350
one of the bouncers would come over

620
00:29:22.350 --> 00:29:25.320
and say, "Hey don't start that in here."

621
00:29:25.320 --> 00:29:27.840
Nobody fought in the Savoy Ballroom.

622
00:29:27.840 --> 00:29:29.250
That was the rule.

623
00:29:29.250 --> 00:29:31.200
You might find yourself

624
00:29:31.200 --> 00:29:33.723
accidentally falling down a flight of stairs.

625
00:29:35.220 --> 00:29:36.720
We used to see the same kids

626
00:29:36.720 --> 00:29:38.460
come there every day,

627
00:29:38.460 --> 00:29:41.130
some of them had holes in their shoes.

628
00:29:41.130 --> 00:29:42.600
There were a certain group of young people,

629
00:29:42.600 --> 00:29:44.520
the Savoy was their life.

630
00:29:44.520 --> 00:29:45.843
That's all they had.

631
00:29:46.958 --> 00:29:49.847
Oh, ban, ban, ban, ban, 1,2,3

632
00:29:49.847 --> 00:29:52.824
ban, ban, ban, ba, 1,2,3,4.

633
00:29:52.824 --> 00:29:55.657
Ban, ban, ban, ba, 1,2,3 and stop.

634
00:29:56.764 --> 00:30:00.207
Now you gonna go all the way through, go!

635
00:30:00.207 --> 00:30:01.620
I'm a kid living in Harlem,

636
00:30:01.620 --> 00:30:03.060
I'm living in Tenament.

637
00:30:03.060 --> 00:30:06.570
I dreamed what it was like to be in the Savoy,

638
00:30:06.570 --> 00:30:07.830
and I was 12 years old

639
00:30:07.830 --> 00:30:09.807
when I went into the Savoy Ballroom to dance

640
00:30:09.807 --> 00:30:11.580
for the first time.

641
00:30:11.580 --> 00:30:13.830
Oh those were the days.

642
00:30:13.830 --> 00:30:15.900
You would see limousines pulling up

643
00:30:15.900 --> 00:30:18.183
with all of the big stars.

644
00:30:19.950 --> 00:30:21.020
We had Archie Balds

645
00:30:21.020 --> 00:30:23.100
in a Chesterfield black overcoat.

646
00:30:23.100 --> 00:30:25.200
Dolores del Río in white fur.

647
00:30:25.200 --> 00:30:27.423
Lana Turner, Greta Garbo.

648
00:30:28.410 --> 00:30:32.520
You see Cab Calloway, Hi-De Hi-De-Ho,

649
00:30:32.520 --> 00:30:34.856
and then you see Fes Waller

650
00:30:34.856 --> 00:30:37.560
♪ I need some girls.♪

651
00:30:37.560 --> 00:30:40.710
Jack Johnson was a wonderful dancer.

652
00:30:40.710 --> 00:30:42.690
I think Joe Louis was about the only one

653
00:30:42.690 --> 00:30:43.809
who couldn't dance.

654
00:30:43.809 --> 00:30:45.300
(laughing)

655
00:30:45.300 --> 00:30:47.490
You see the Nichols brothers,

656
00:30:47.490 --> 00:30:49.410
Fred Estaire.

657
00:30:49.410 --> 00:30:51.960
We had Micky Rooney and Judy Garland.

658
00:30:51.960 --> 00:30:53.460
Bing Crosby,

659
00:30:53.460 --> 00:30:56.144
everybody had to lean how to swing.

660
00:30:56.144 --> 00:30:57.840
(jazz music)

661
00:30:57.840 --> 00:30:59.100
I remember when

662
00:30:59.100 --> 00:31:00.217
somebody ran over and say,

663
00:31:00.217 --> 00:31:02.550
"Hey man Clark Gable just came in the house with,

664
00:31:02.550 --> 00:31:04.300
with a whole bunch of celebrities."

665
00:31:05.550 --> 00:31:06.817
And then somebody say,

666
00:31:06.817 --> 00:31:08.457
"Oh yeah, can he dance man?"

667
00:31:09.840 --> 00:31:11.370
And then he said, "Well no."

668
00:31:11.370 --> 00:31:12.605
He said "No." He said, "Well we don't want,

669
00:31:12.605 --> 00:31:14.155
we don't want to see him."

670
00:31:14.155 --> 00:31:15.060
(chuckles)

671
00:31:15.060 --> 00:31:16.217
If he can't dance, we don't care no more,

672
00:31:16.217 --> 00:31:18.526
I'll see him in the movies.

673
00:31:18.526 --> 00:31:20.633
(chuckles)

674
00:31:20.633 --> 00:31:23.400
♪ Savoy the home of happy feet. ♪

675
00:31:23.400 --> 00:31:26.050
Savoy (scatting)

676
00:31:30.572 --> 00:31:32.989
(jazz music)

677
00:31:35.640 --> 00:31:36.513
It was 1933

678
00:31:36.513 --> 00:31:39.570
when a Ranger Edgar Sampson joined the band.

679
00:31:39.570 --> 00:31:41.790
They recorded a number of his instrumentals,

680
00:31:41.790 --> 00:31:43.680
which years later became virtual anthems

681
00:31:43.680 --> 00:31:44.513
for the swing era

682
00:31:44.513 --> 00:31:46.690
when performed by Benny Goodman's orchestra.

683
00:31:47.580 --> 00:31:50.400
They call that Is Anthen, the lamb,

684
00:31:50.400 --> 00:31:53.370
because he just had that sweetness about him,

685
00:31:53.370 --> 00:31:55.770
and talent

686
00:31:55.770 --> 00:31:58.440
to create stomping at the Savoy,

687
00:31:58.440 --> 00:32:00.300
and when dreams come true,

688
00:32:00.300 --> 00:32:01.410
and Blue Lou,

689
00:32:01.410 --> 00:32:03.417
and "Don't be that way".

690
00:32:04.710 --> 00:32:06.690
Edgar Sampson should really

691
00:32:06.690 --> 00:32:08.280
go down in history as

692
00:32:08.280 --> 00:32:11.071
one of the great jazz composers and a Rangers.

693
00:32:11.071 --> 00:32:13.440
(jazz music)

694
00:32:13.440 --> 00:32:15.120
In 1934

695
00:32:15.120 --> 00:32:18.150
Chick had one of the best band he'd ever had,

696
00:32:18.150 --> 00:32:20.640
and he was working steady at the Savoy,

697
00:32:20.640 --> 00:32:23.940
after having taken it on the chin for some time.

698
00:32:23.940 --> 00:32:24.810
Chick excelled

699
00:32:24.810 --> 00:32:27.090
at the art of captivating an audience.

700
00:32:27.090 --> 00:32:28.920
The up town musicians labeled this

701
00:32:28.920 --> 00:32:30.063
spinning the web.

702
00:32:32.610 --> 00:32:35.430
Chick used to do acrobatics with the sticks.

703
00:32:35.430 --> 00:32:36.660
He'd throw 'em up in the air

704
00:32:36.660 --> 00:32:37.740
and catch one over here,

705
00:32:37.740 --> 00:32:38.880
and catch one here,

706
00:32:38.880 --> 00:32:41.139
and laugh at the same time.

707
00:32:41.139 --> 00:32:42.539
Boom, dong, chi, dong, chi, dong, chi, dong,

708
00:32:42.539 --> 00:32:43.973
chi, dong, chi, dong, chi, dong, chi, dong.

709
00:32:43.973 --> 00:32:46.297
Bip Pop, chibidty pop, ,

710
00:32:46.297 --> 00:32:48.714
(indistinct)

711
00:32:55.470 --> 00:32:56.479
The people loved it.

712
00:32:56.479 --> 00:32:58.896
(jazz music)

713
00:33:01.246 --> 00:33:02.730
(fingers snapping)

714
00:33:02.730 --> 00:33:03.750
Chick was booked

715
00:33:03.750 --> 00:33:05.280
more then any of the other bands,

716
00:33:05.280 --> 00:33:07.140
because the audience loved him,

717
00:33:07.140 --> 00:33:09.453
and required that Moe Gale book him.

718
00:33:10.380 --> 00:33:13.080
So, Chick became the house band,

719
00:33:13.080 --> 00:33:15.273
and the King of the Savoy Ballroom.

720
00:33:18.300 --> 00:33:19.770
My father told me

721
00:33:19.770 --> 00:33:23.460
that he never had a formal contract with Chick Webb,

722
00:33:23.460 --> 00:33:26.340
that it was done on a handshake.

723
00:33:26.340 --> 00:33:29.310
He loved Chick Webb,

724
00:33:29.310 --> 00:33:30.250
and he took

725
00:33:31.230 --> 00:33:36.141
great pride in the band, and their success.

726
00:33:36.141 --> 00:33:38.558
(jazz music)

727
00:33:42.372 --> 00:33:44.849
♪ You can have your sweet romance ♪

728
00:33:44.849 --> 00:33:46.333
♪ Sing Me A Swing Song ♪

729
00:33:46.333 --> 00:33:48.531
♪ And let me dance. ♪

730
00:33:48.531 --> 00:33:51.149
♪ Mr. Trombone, play some corn ♪

731
00:33:51.149 --> 00:33:54.041
♪ I ain't carin' what notes. ♪

732
00:33:54.041 --> 00:33:57.177
♪ Mr. Trumpet, grab a horn ♪

733
00:33:57.177 --> 00:34:00.540
♪ Brother, give me hot notes ♪

734
00:34:00.540 --> 00:34:01.373
♪ Oh baby, I don't want ♪

735
00:34:01.373 --> 00:34:06.373
♪ Any tune, on a cello ♪

736
00:34:06.531 --> 00:34:09.077
♪ Give the rhythm men a chance ♪

737
00:34:09.077 --> 00:34:12.703
♪ Sing Me A Swing Song and let me dance ♪

738
00:34:12.703 --> 00:34:15.679
♪ Ol' Chick Webb is beatin' it out ♪

739
00:34:15.679 --> 00:34:18.646
♪ Makes me feel like I want to shout ♪

740
00:34:18.646 --> 00:34:21.383
♪ All the boys are ready to prance, so ♪

741
00:34:21.383 --> 00:34:25.803
♪ Sing Me A Swing Song and let me dance ♪

742
00:34:25.803 --> 00:34:27.630
Only 24 years old

743
00:34:27.630 --> 00:34:29.640
Chick Webb has been playing dance music

744
00:34:29.640 --> 00:34:32.250
for more years then he cares to remember.

745
00:34:32.250 --> 00:34:34.260
Despite facing great odds,

746
00:34:34.260 --> 00:34:36.360
friends say Webb has always cherished

747
00:34:36.360 --> 00:34:37.380
an ambition of some day

748
00:34:37.380 --> 00:34:40.181
having the greatest band ever heard.

749
00:34:40.181 --> 00:34:43.200
(jazz music)

750
00:34:43.200 --> 00:34:45.060
There've been a lot of bands that have swung,

751
00:34:45.060 --> 00:34:46.410
the base in all those bands,

752
00:34:46.410 --> 00:34:48.240
even Duke and the rest of them,

753
00:34:48.240 --> 00:34:49.230
and they've had,

754
00:34:49.230 --> 00:34:50.550
they had their own styles,

755
00:34:50.550 --> 00:34:51.660
and of course there was that,

756
00:34:51.660 --> 00:34:53.220
but Chick Webb's band

757
00:34:53.220 --> 00:34:56.640
was, I would say the swingiest band.

758
00:34:56.640 --> 00:34:58.710
Those are the guys you wanted to play like,

759
00:34:58.710 --> 00:35:00.033
or to play against.

760
00:35:01.170 --> 00:35:03.150
Chick had a house full of great arrangements

761
00:35:03.150 --> 00:35:05.430
with guys like Edgar Sampson,

762
00:35:05.430 --> 00:35:06.930
Van Alexander writing for them.

763
00:35:06.930 --> 00:35:09.450
And they would bring those flutes

764
00:35:09.450 --> 00:35:11.820
and toots, and boots,

765
00:35:11.820 --> 00:35:14.118
and just doing the hell out of everything.

766
00:35:14.118 --> 00:35:16.200
(jazz music)

767
00:35:16.200 --> 00:35:17.370
When I'm at the drums

768
00:35:17.370 --> 00:35:22.353
and I feel the band thick and strong around me with swing,

769
00:35:23.340 --> 00:35:25.710
it's like loving a special girl,

770
00:35:25.710 --> 00:35:27.030
and you don't see her for a year,

771
00:35:27.030 --> 00:35:28.410
and then she comes back.

772
00:35:28.410 --> 00:35:30.000
It's something inside you.

773
00:35:30.000 --> 00:35:32.280
You get hot, and the crowd feels it,

774
00:35:32.280 --> 00:35:33.780
and they're swinging too.

775
00:35:33.780 --> 00:35:35.730
Man it's a feeling.

776
00:35:35.730 --> 00:35:37.173
Swing is here to stay.

777
00:35:41.400 --> 00:35:42.840
When I first came from Toronto

778
00:35:42.840 --> 00:35:44.400
I knew very little,

779
00:35:44.400 --> 00:35:46.350
but I was in love with jazz,

780
00:35:46.350 --> 00:35:47.760
and I was surprised to find out

781
00:35:47.760 --> 00:35:50.133
jazz musicians were looked on very poorly.

782
00:35:51.000 --> 00:35:52.620
I loved Chick dearly,

783
00:35:52.620 --> 00:35:54.333
and I think it was reciprocated.

784
00:35:56.340 --> 00:35:57.540
Chick was a game setting

785
00:35:57.540 --> 00:35:58.833
fighter jazz ever had.

786
00:36:00.232 --> 00:36:02.340
I remember on our first visit to New York,

787
00:36:02.340 --> 00:36:04.980
Chick took Helen and me out one night.

788
00:36:04.980 --> 00:36:06.390
We went to the Britwork

789
00:36:06.390 --> 00:36:08.373
a club where guys went to jam.

790
00:36:09.270 --> 00:36:10.770
It was a small place.

791
00:36:10.770 --> 00:36:12.770
I think Lips paid for his playing there.

792
00:36:14.490 --> 00:36:18.270
I do remember there were three trombones blowing that night.

793
00:36:18.270 --> 00:36:19.890
Suddenly an argument broke out

794
00:36:19.890 --> 00:36:21.570
involving these three guys.

795
00:36:21.570 --> 00:36:22.950
I don't know what it was about,

796
00:36:22.950 --> 00:36:25.260
but one of them drew a knife.

797
00:36:25.260 --> 00:36:26.430
Then Chick hopped up

798
00:36:26.430 --> 00:36:28.500
thrust himself in the midst of things,

799
00:36:28.500 --> 00:36:29.875
and he stopped the quarrel.

800
00:36:29.875 --> 00:36:32.460
(jazz music)

801
00:36:32.460 --> 00:36:34.320
Chick was a go between,

802
00:36:34.320 --> 00:36:35.610
a man of respect,

803
00:36:35.610 --> 00:36:37.233
the sort of Mayor of Harlem.

804
00:36:38.670 --> 00:36:41.910
Another night Helen and I had a marvelous experience.

805
00:36:41.910 --> 00:36:42.743
It was late,

806
00:36:42.743 --> 00:36:44.550
we were sitting with Chick talking away,

807
00:36:44.550 --> 00:36:47.160
when he leaned forward and smiled.

808
00:36:47.160 --> 00:36:49.380
Chick looked at Stanley and then at me,

809
00:36:49.380 --> 00:36:50.467
and said

810
00:36:50.467 --> 00:36:53.340
"Ogley this kid's in love with you."

811
00:36:53.340 --> 00:36:56.610
And of course naturally Stanley didn't expect that.

812
00:36:56.610 --> 00:36:58.320
Later Helen and I were married

813
00:36:58.320 --> 00:37:00.357
and we had four children.

814
00:37:00.357 --> 00:37:02.774
(jazz music)

815
00:37:06.480 --> 00:37:07.313
In those days

816
00:37:07.313 --> 00:37:09.900
Webb was still fighting every inch of the way.

817
00:37:09.900 --> 00:37:11.760
Black bands were seldom able to break out

818
00:37:11.760 --> 00:37:13.560
of the twilight that contained them.

819
00:37:14.400 --> 00:37:15.960
He badly needed promotion,

820
00:37:15.960 --> 00:37:16.793
and to give a DM

821
00:37:16.793 --> 00:37:19.680
I added his band to the accounts I handled,

822
00:37:19.680 --> 00:37:21.240
not that he could pay me.

823
00:37:21.240 --> 00:37:23.250
I was paid $15 a week,

824
00:37:23.250 --> 00:37:24.180
but I went with him,

825
00:37:24.180 --> 00:37:25.920
because that little hunchback drummer

826
00:37:25.920 --> 00:37:28.290
had the most wonderful band.

827
00:37:28.290 --> 00:37:30.120
He never seemed to get anywhere,

828
00:37:30.120 --> 00:37:33.300
but he was absolutely just in love with music,

829
00:37:33.300 --> 00:37:36.153
and I thought it's time that Webb came into his own.

830
00:37:37.350 --> 00:37:39.630
Here's the real Chick Webb specialty

831
00:37:39.630 --> 00:37:40.779
breaking them down.

832
00:37:40.779 --> 00:37:44.343
(audience clapping)

833
00:37:44.343 --> 00:37:46.760
(jazz music)

834
00:38:01.470 --> 00:38:02.820
Chick Webb and his orchestra

835
00:38:02.820 --> 00:38:06.150
have been signed by NBC for three weekly broadcasts

836
00:38:06.150 --> 00:38:07.890
as an exclusive sustaining feature

837
00:38:07.890 --> 00:38:09.453
on a coast to coast hookup.

838
00:38:10.440 --> 00:38:12.120
Mogul of the Savoy Ballroom

839
00:38:12.120 --> 00:38:14.340
negotiated the deal for Chick,

840
00:38:14.340 --> 00:38:16.350
and this mark is said to be the first time

841
00:38:16.350 --> 00:38:17.400
that a colored orchestra

842
00:38:17.400 --> 00:38:18.630
has ever been signed for

843
00:38:18.630 --> 00:38:20.673
a network studio sustaining program.

844
00:38:22.920 --> 00:38:24.600
In the history of radio

845
00:38:24.600 --> 00:38:25.920
the outlet for colored talent

846
00:38:25.920 --> 00:38:27.840
has reached a new milestone.

847
00:38:27.840 --> 00:38:30.330
Chick Webb has done the race proud

848
00:38:30.330 --> 00:38:32.940
and given listeners from the rock bound coast of Maine

849
00:38:32.940 --> 00:38:35.370
to the sun kissed shores of California

850
00:38:35.370 --> 00:38:37.383
a program second to none.

851
00:38:39.150 --> 00:38:40.440
When I was a boy,

852
00:38:40.440 --> 00:38:42.780
we didn't have no radio or gramophone,

853
00:38:42.780 --> 00:38:45.300
that's how jive it felt to be poor.

854
00:38:45.300 --> 00:38:48.000
But next door Miss Amanda did,

855
00:38:48.000 --> 00:38:48.833
and I would go there

856
00:38:48.833 --> 00:38:50.160
to listen to the broadcast

857
00:38:50.160 --> 00:38:52.383
from the Savoy Ballroom in New York City.

858
00:38:53.940 --> 00:38:54.960
Chick Webb

859
00:38:54.960 --> 00:38:56.580
the midget band leader

860
00:38:56.580 --> 00:38:59.850
is at present the favorite of the country.

861
00:38:59.850 --> 00:39:02.370
Each week after his regular Wednesday night broadcast

862
00:39:02.370 --> 00:39:05.550
as a feature attraction on the gems of color program,

863
00:39:05.550 --> 00:39:07.320
the little fellow of much music

864
00:39:07.320 --> 00:39:09.543
received bags and bags of mail.

865
00:39:11.010 --> 00:39:12.823
When I first heard Chick Webb

866
00:39:12.823 --> 00:39:14.550
I was a teenager at that time,

867
00:39:14.550 --> 00:39:16.740
and wanting to be a drummer

868
00:39:16.740 --> 00:39:20.070
I bought this recording Liza,

869
00:39:20.070 --> 00:39:22.800
that featured Chick.

870
00:39:22.800 --> 00:39:23.970
I just wore that record out,

871
00:39:23.970 --> 00:39:26.175
just would play that one record all of the time.

872
00:39:26.175 --> 00:39:28.592
(jazz music)

873
00:39:37.201 --> 00:39:39.784
(drum playing)

874
00:39:46.196 --> 00:39:47.548
Salt peanuts, salt peanuts

875
00:39:47.548 --> 00:39:50.131
(drum playing)

876
00:39:53.233 --> 00:39:56.160
Working in my dad's music store

877
00:39:56.160 --> 00:39:57.030
I had access to

878
00:39:57.030 --> 00:39:58.800
all the records,

879
00:39:58.800 --> 00:40:02.610
John Pacey, Duke Ellington, Gene Krupa.

880
00:40:02.610 --> 00:40:04.227
But when I put a record on,

881
00:40:04.227 --> 00:40:06.450
and it said Chick Webb,

882
00:40:06.450 --> 00:40:07.326
I said

883
00:40:07.326 --> 00:40:09.960
(drum playing)

884
00:40:09.960 --> 00:40:12.690
I really want to know more about this man,

885
00:40:12.690 --> 00:40:13.893
he changed my life.

886
00:40:15.480 --> 00:40:16.410
My wife

887
00:40:16.410 --> 00:40:19.770
my family, and my home,

888
00:40:19.770 --> 00:40:21.450
I really owe all,

889
00:40:21.450 --> 00:40:22.390
all of this

890
00:40:23.430 --> 00:40:25.620
to dear old Chick Webb.

891
00:40:25.620 --> 00:40:27.360
In high school,

892
00:40:27.360 --> 00:40:30.480
sometimes with my girlfriend,

893
00:40:30.480 --> 00:40:32.190
who I later married,

894
00:40:32.190 --> 00:40:33.723
and sometimes by myself.

895
00:40:34.620 --> 00:40:37.577
I would go to the Savoy three, four times a week.

896
00:40:37.577 --> 00:40:40.160
(jazz playing)

897
00:40:41.040 --> 00:40:42.870
After being there

898
00:40:42.870 --> 00:40:44.400
weeks at a time

899
00:40:44.400 --> 00:40:45.480
I'd struck up

900
00:40:45.480 --> 00:40:47.790
sort of a nodding acquaintance with Chick.

901
00:40:47.790 --> 00:40:48.877
Like he'd say...

902
00:40:48.877 --> 00:40:51.705
"Hey kid you're here again uh?"

903
00:40:51.705 --> 00:40:54.087
And I'd say, "Yeah I can't get enough."

904
00:40:55.020 --> 00:40:56.797
And finally during the break I said,

905
00:40:56.797 --> 00:40:58.347
"Chick I, I have an arrangement at home

906
00:40:58.347 --> 00:41:01.290
and I think might fit your orchestra.

907
00:41:01.290 --> 00:41:04.320
Would you be interested in trying to rehearse it?"

908
00:41:04.320 --> 00:41:07.587
He said, "Sure kid bring it, bring it back Friday night."

909
00:41:07.587 --> 00:41:08.790
(trolley bell ringing)

910
00:41:08.790 --> 00:41:10.800
So, with a little fear and intrepidation

911
00:41:10.800 --> 00:41:12.900
I went down to the Savoy

912
00:41:12.900 --> 00:41:14.290
and unbeknownst to me

913
00:41:15.180 --> 00:41:17.160
Chick didn't start the rehearsal

914
00:41:17.160 --> 00:41:18.720
until after the job was over

915
00:41:18.720 --> 00:41:20.490
which was one o'clock.

916
00:41:20.490 --> 00:41:21.323
And then the fellows

917
00:41:21.323 --> 00:41:23.220
would stop for a break,

918
00:41:23.220 --> 00:41:26.250
and have a little Muscatel wine.

919
00:41:26.250 --> 00:41:29.610
They came back at 1:30, two o'clock

920
00:41:29.610 --> 00:41:30.600
and saw the rehearsal,

921
00:41:30.600 --> 00:41:32.760
but there were other guys before me,

922
00:41:32.760 --> 00:41:34.320
and I didn't get to hear my thing

923
00:41:34.320 --> 00:41:36.330
until about four o'clock in the morning.

924
00:41:36.330 --> 00:41:37.710
My mother was frantic,

925
00:41:37.710 --> 00:41:39.270
she called the police,

926
00:41:39.270 --> 00:41:42.390
she said, "My son was in Harlem at the Savoy Ballroom,

927
00:41:42.390 --> 00:41:45.420
what can they be doing this time of the morning?"

928
00:41:45.420 --> 00:41:47.370
They finally got to my arrangement

929
00:41:47.370 --> 00:41:48.720
and the guys liked it

930
00:41:48.720 --> 00:41:49.710
and Chick liked it,

931
00:41:49.710 --> 00:41:50.543
and they said...

932
00:41:50.543 --> 00:41:51.990
"I'll give you $10

933
00:41:51.990 --> 00:41:53.100
but I don't have it,

934
00:41:53.100 --> 00:41:54.150
I have to borrow it,

935
00:41:54.150 --> 00:41:55.860
take an advance on my salary."

936
00:41:55.860 --> 00:41:57.960
He called Charlie Buchanan the manager,

937
00:41:57.960 --> 00:41:58.793
and they said...

938
00:41:58.793 --> 00:42:00.750
"Get the kid $10."

939
00:42:00.750 --> 00:42:03.170
Well I was on cloud nine.

940
00:42:04.260 --> 00:42:06.000
This kid with modern ideas,

941
00:42:06.000 --> 00:42:08.460
he always wanted to write progressive chords

942
00:42:08.460 --> 00:42:09.660
and things like that.

943
00:42:09.660 --> 00:42:12.270
Sometimes Chick would feel it was just not to his ear,

944
00:42:12.270 --> 00:42:14.370
little things were very important to Chick.

945
00:42:14.370 --> 00:42:15.247
He would say...

946
00:42:15.247 --> 00:42:17.670
"Don't tell me about G.

947
00:42:17.670 --> 00:42:20.160
I don't know G from F.

948
00:42:20.160 --> 00:42:21.120
This is what I hear.

949
00:42:21.120 --> 00:42:22.380
This is what I want.

950
00:42:22.380 --> 00:42:23.670
If I don't hear that,

951
00:42:23.670 --> 00:42:25.140
and I'm a musician,

952
00:42:25.140 --> 00:42:28.020
how do you expect the common people to hear that?"

953
00:42:28.020 --> 00:42:31.710
When Chick finally start making money,

954
00:42:31.710 --> 00:42:34.083
he always took care of his family.

955
00:42:34.920 --> 00:42:38.010
Chick's mother made him know

956
00:42:38.010 --> 00:42:41.010
who he was and where he came from.

957
00:42:41.010 --> 00:42:44.310
She made sure he never got the big head.

958
00:42:44.310 --> 00:42:48.003
He was William, he was William the dam.

959
00:42:50.730 --> 00:42:55.380
Chick Webb was a sharp dresser, sharp.

960
00:42:55.380 --> 00:42:58.250
I'm the best dressed little man going,

961
00:42:58.250 --> 00:43:00.207
and I dress better then you do.

962
00:43:00.207 --> 00:43:01.320
And he always had

963
00:43:01.320 --> 00:43:03.030
a good looking chick on his arm.

964
00:43:03.030 --> 00:43:05.190
She was always tall.

965
00:43:05.190 --> 00:43:08.370
He seemed to have a infinity for show girls.

966
00:43:08.370 --> 00:43:11.340
Chick was a big time band leader

967
00:43:11.340 --> 00:43:13.290
and had no trouble at all

968
00:43:13.290 --> 00:43:14.670
attracting girls.

969
00:43:14.670 --> 00:43:16.833
They just wanted to be seen with Chick.

970
00:43:18.656 --> 00:43:21.169
♪ Love marching on ♪

971
00:43:21.169 --> 00:43:24.655
♪ And meets a lonely girl, a lonely boy, ♪

972
00:43:24.655 --> 00:43:26.749
♪ And takes them by the hand, ♪

973
00:43:26.749 --> 00:43:30.240
♪ And marches on.♪

974
00:43:30.240 --> 00:43:33.570
Chick married Sally in 1934,

975
00:43:33.570 --> 00:43:36.420
that much is known about her background,

976
00:43:36.420 --> 00:43:39.780
if she was a hostess at the Savoy.

977
00:43:39.780 --> 00:43:42.030
They not only were very attractive,

978
00:43:42.030 --> 00:43:46.290
but they were excellent conversationalists,

979
00:43:46.290 --> 00:43:50.523
and these were a remarkable group of young women.

980
00:43:52.650 --> 00:43:54.563
Don't I got a good looking wife?

981
00:43:55.650 --> 00:43:58.350
Sally would be at the Savoy

982
00:43:58.350 --> 00:44:00.000
almost every night.

983
00:44:00.000 --> 00:44:01.710
She was a lovely looking lady,

984
00:44:01.710 --> 00:44:04.620
and certain took care of Chick.

985
00:44:04.620 --> 00:44:08.520
They lived in one of the Brownstone apartment buildings,

986
00:44:08.520 --> 00:44:10.950
not too far from the Savoy.

987
00:44:10.950 --> 00:44:13.140
He wasn't making a lot of money in those days,

988
00:44:13.140 --> 00:44:15.360
and and it wasn't like a great place

989
00:44:15.360 --> 00:44:17.973
but it was clean and, and suitable.

990
00:44:18.900 --> 00:44:21.930
In fact the only extravagant thing

991
00:44:21.930 --> 00:44:25.380
that he had his Cadillac, his white Cadillac,

992
00:44:25.380 --> 00:44:27.300
and his white German Shepherd.

993
00:44:27.300 --> 00:44:29.583
I guess he was satisfied with that.

994
00:44:30.480 --> 00:44:31.830
My husband was the President

995
00:44:31.830 --> 00:44:35.223
of the Harlem Dusters Motorcycle Club.

996
00:44:36.270 --> 00:44:38.850
And Chick used to love to ride behind him

997
00:44:38.850 --> 00:44:40.143
on that motorcycle.

998
00:44:41.100 --> 00:44:43.290
It was a little difficult

999
00:44:43.290 --> 00:44:45.330
for Chick to get on the bike,

1000
00:44:45.330 --> 00:44:48.990
but he would wrap his arms around my husband's waist,

1001
00:44:48.990 --> 00:44:50.277
and away they would go

1002
00:44:50.277 --> 00:44:52.950
and he would bury his head

1003
00:44:52.950 --> 00:44:56.212
in my husband's back,
(chuckles)

1004
00:44:56.212 --> 00:44:57.840
and when he get off the bike,

1005
00:44:57.840 --> 00:44:58.673
he would

1006
00:44:59.677 --> 00:45:01.080
"I told you to slow down,

1007
00:45:01.080 --> 00:45:02.850
why didn't you slow down?

1008
00:45:02.850 --> 00:45:04.680
I told you to slow down."

1009
00:45:06.217 --> 00:45:08.493
And my husband just laugh, laugh, laugh.

1010
00:45:09.712 --> 00:45:10.740
(jazz music)

1011
00:45:10.740 --> 00:45:13.230
Chick Webb was a dance drummer,

1012
00:45:13.230 --> 00:45:16.320
who painted pictures of dances with his drums.

1013
00:45:16.320 --> 00:45:18.480
The reason he had such control,

1014
00:45:18.480 --> 00:45:21.840
such command of his audiences at the Savoy Ballroom,

1015
00:45:21.840 --> 00:45:23.160
was because he was always

1016
00:45:23.160 --> 00:45:25.260
in communication with the dancers,

1017
00:45:25.260 --> 00:45:27.142
and felt it the way they did.

1018
00:45:27.142 --> 00:45:29.559
(jazz music)

1019
00:45:33.599 --> 00:45:35.376
When I did the air step,

1020
00:45:35.376 --> 00:45:37.710
which is the first time it had ever been done,

1021
00:45:37.710 --> 00:45:40.260
that was a, an electrical night.

1022
00:45:40.260 --> 00:45:42.660
They had this linear all contest,

1023
00:45:42.660 --> 00:45:43.950
so I told my partner

1024
00:45:43.950 --> 00:45:46.290
that I had an idea for another step you know.

1025
00:45:46.290 --> 00:45:48.537
So, we rehearsed it,

1026
00:45:48.537 --> 00:45:51.300
and the night of, of the contest,

1027
00:45:51.300 --> 00:45:52.267
there were six teams,

1028
00:45:52.267 --> 00:45:54.930
and I was the last team to go out there,

1029
00:45:54.930 --> 00:45:56.550
and everybody that went out there,

1030
00:45:56.550 --> 00:45:57.600
and then tore the house up,

1031
00:45:57.600 --> 00:45:58.980
so I don't want to go out there

1032
00:45:58.980 --> 00:46:00.810
behind all them people you know.

1033
00:46:00.810 --> 00:46:02.610
When I was getting ready to dance,

1034
00:46:02.610 --> 00:46:04.830
Chick Webb asked me

1035
00:46:04.830 --> 00:46:07.650
what song did I want them to play for me,

1036
00:46:07.650 --> 00:46:10.470
and he hadn't asked anybody else that.

1037
00:46:10.470 --> 00:46:12.720
So, I was kind taken back,

1038
00:46:12.720 --> 00:46:15.060
I was surprised but

1039
00:46:15.060 --> 00:46:16.260
Chick Webb was my man

1040
00:46:16.260 --> 00:46:17.940
and I guess I was his man, you know,

1041
00:46:17.940 --> 00:46:19.710
and the band's band you know so,

1042
00:46:19.710 --> 00:46:21.840
he said, "Well we got to play for Frankie,

1043
00:46:21.840 --> 00:46:23.156
'cause this is our

1044
00:46:23.156 --> 00:46:23.989
(chuckles)

1045
00:46:23.989 --> 00:46:25.080
this is our salvation,

1046
00:46:25.080 --> 00:46:26.200
this is our man.

1047
00:46:26.200 --> 00:46:28.617
(jazz music)

1048
00:46:35.130 --> 00:46:38.100
Then he started swinging it out for me, boy,

1049
00:46:38.100 --> 00:46:40.200
and he caught everything I was doing.

1050
00:46:40.200 --> 00:46:42.780
I, you know, I'd kick my (indistinct)

1051
00:46:42.780 --> 00:46:44.580
She'd twist, he'd say, (indistinct).

1052
00:46:46.350 --> 00:46:47.433
Oh it was great.

1053
00:46:50.190 --> 00:46:51.720
I feel what he's playing,

1054
00:46:51.720 --> 00:46:54.270
and what he's playing is, is, is, like,

1055
00:46:54.270 --> 00:46:57.420
inspired me to you know do it better,

1056
00:46:57.420 --> 00:46:58.530
or do it harder,

1057
00:46:58.530 --> 00:47:00.123
or put more into it,

1058
00:47:01.200 --> 00:47:03.330
or when I did the air step,

1059
00:47:03.330 --> 00:47:05.700
Chick Webb even caught the motion of it,

1060
00:47:05.700 --> 00:47:07.680
as she's coming over my back,

1061
00:47:07.680 --> 00:47:10.044
you know he's say, "Tsde de, de, de,"

1062
00:47:10.044 --> 00:47:12.253
and when she land he'd say "De, de, de, de,de, boom"

1063
00:47:12.253 --> 00:47:15.750
And I mean he's playing all this on the drum, tsche, tsche

1064
00:47:15.750 --> 00:47:19.681
and she's going over he'd say, "tsche, tsche, tsche, shom."

1065
00:47:19.681 --> 00:47:20.514
Oh it was thrilling,

1066
00:47:20.514 --> 00:47:22.724
and he's not only catching her,

1067
00:47:22.724 --> 00:47:23.940
but he's having her come down,

1068
00:47:23.940 --> 00:47:25.110
and go through the legs,

1069
00:47:25.110 --> 00:47:27.930
and then come up with that stumbling all,

1070
00:47:27.930 --> 00:47:29.880
in a rhythmic fashion.

1071
00:47:29.880 --> 00:47:32.157
I mean not, not one misstep,

1072
00:47:32.157 --> 00:47:34.713
or, or out of rhythm of the music.

1073
00:47:35.550 --> 00:47:37.230
Then everybody just erupted,

1074
00:47:37.230 --> 00:47:38.820
the whole place just erupted.

1075
00:47:38.820 --> 00:47:41.107
They, this came out of that and say,

1076
00:47:41.107 --> 00:47:42.517
"Oh wow did, did, did..."

1077
00:47:42.517 --> 00:47:44.790
you know, they were, they, they didn't know

1078
00:47:44.790 --> 00:47:47.051
if they had seen what they saw.

1079
00:47:47.051 --> 00:47:48.899
(laughing)

1080
00:47:48.899 --> 00:47:53.608
♪ Oh moonlight, and magnolias ♪

1081
00:47:53.608 --> 00:47:57.570
♪ Made the world a paradise.♪

1082
00:47:57.570 --> 00:48:01.440
Chick's band had a singer Charles Lenton,

1083
00:48:01.440 --> 00:48:03.450
and there was not many bands

1084
00:48:03.450 --> 00:48:06.933
that had all female singers in the band.

1085
00:48:08.032 --> 00:48:09.000
If it wasn't for Chick

1086
00:48:09.000 --> 00:48:10.830
we wouldn't had Ella.

1087
00:48:10.830 --> 00:48:12.213
She was a poor little girl,

1088
00:48:13.080 --> 00:48:15.600
an orphan, and had a

1089
00:48:15.600 --> 00:48:17.578
a terrible childhood.

1090
00:48:17.578 --> 00:48:19.995
(jazz music)

1091
00:48:22.350 --> 00:48:24.810
I was like a little gang girl in Yonkers.

1092
00:48:24.810 --> 00:48:27.240
I never considered myself a singer.

1093
00:48:27.240 --> 00:48:29.283
My real ambition was to dance.

1094
00:48:30.270 --> 00:48:33.270
My friends and I we all wanted to get on stage,

1095
00:48:33.270 --> 00:48:34.440
and we drew straws to see

1096
00:48:34.440 --> 00:48:35.273
which one of us

1097
00:48:35.273 --> 00:48:37.350
would go on the amateur night at The Appollo.

1098
00:48:38.310 --> 00:48:39.963
I drew the short straw.

1099
00:48:40.920 --> 00:48:42.150
My legs turned to water

1100
00:48:42.150 --> 00:48:45.420
and a million butterflies played tag in my stomach.

1101
00:48:45.420 --> 00:48:48.240
They almost had to shove me on stage.

1102
00:48:48.240 --> 00:48:50.430
There I was nervous as can be,

1103
00:48:50.430 --> 00:48:52.890
only 15 years old and I froze.

1104
00:48:52.890 --> 00:48:54.510
I got cold feet.

1105
00:48:54.510 --> 00:48:55.620
The man in charge said

1106
00:48:55.620 --> 00:48:57.683
that I better do something up there.

1107
00:48:59.007 --> 00:49:01.260
I saw Ella at The Apollo

1108
00:49:01.260 --> 00:49:02.433
and they booed her.

1109
00:49:04.140 --> 00:49:07.290
And I felt so sorry for her.

1110
00:49:07.290 --> 00:49:09.780
We booed Ella Fitzgerald,

1111
00:49:09.780 --> 00:49:11.910
'cause she came on stage looking like

1112
00:49:11.910 --> 00:49:14.080
who you got to be kiddin.

1113
00:49:15.480 --> 00:49:17.190
The audience was laughing,

1114
00:49:17.190 --> 00:49:19.800
I didn't know one key from the other,

1115
00:49:19.800 --> 00:49:21.528
I just sang.

1116
00:49:21.528 --> 00:49:22.781
♪ And his eyes say yes, ♪

1117
00:49:22.781 --> 00:49:26.790
♪ you're warming your guess that Judy, ♪

1118
00:49:26.790 --> 00:49:27.623
bye... ♪

1119
00:49:27.623 --> 00:49:29.100
Honey we heard a voice

1120
00:49:29.100 --> 00:49:31.230
and like I said before,

1121
00:49:31.230 --> 00:49:33.210
she shut us up so fast

1122
00:49:33.210 --> 00:49:35.013
you could hear a rat piss on cotton.

1123
00:49:36.240 --> 00:49:38.190
She rocked the house.

1124
00:49:38.190 --> 00:49:39.990
Three encores later

1125
00:49:39.990 --> 00:49:43.410
the $25 prize was mine.

1126
00:49:43.410 --> 00:49:46.200
That was the turning point of my life.

1127
00:49:46.200 --> 00:49:49.080
There's so many stories about Ella,

1128
00:49:49.080 --> 00:49:50.163
her beginnings,

1129
00:49:51.420 --> 00:49:53.460
some of them are true,

1130
00:49:53.460 --> 00:49:54.333
some aren't.

1131
00:49:56.814 --> 00:49:59.670
Bardou Ali was utilized by Chick

1132
00:49:59.670 --> 00:50:01.953
as a front man on stage.

1133
00:50:03.060 --> 00:50:04.350
He was a handsome guy,

1134
00:50:04.350 --> 00:50:06.960
and Bardou did a great job.

1135
00:50:06.960 --> 00:50:08.670
He's the one that heard Ella sing

1136
00:50:08.670 --> 00:50:10.260
at the Apollo Theater,

1137
00:50:10.260 --> 00:50:11.510
and he took her to Chick.

1138
00:50:12.660 --> 00:50:13.493
You know how it is

1139
00:50:13.493 --> 00:50:15.210
when someone's very busy,

1140
00:50:15.210 --> 00:50:18.150
and there's so many demands on Chick's time.

1141
00:50:18.150 --> 00:50:21.150
Well I kept going back every day that week.

1142
00:50:21.150 --> 00:50:24.450
Finally Chick was playing the next day at Yale University,

1143
00:50:24.450 --> 00:50:26.250
and he was hurrying after the show

1144
00:50:26.250 --> 00:50:27.780
to pack up and leave.

1145
00:50:27.780 --> 00:50:29.400
But Bardou Ali kept pleading

1146
00:50:29.400 --> 00:50:31.470
for just one chance for me,

1147
00:50:31.470 --> 00:50:33.903
and Chick agreed to listen to one song.

1148
00:50:34.920 --> 00:50:38.100
I sang Judy just as I had on amateur night,

1149
00:50:38.100 --> 00:50:39.517
and he said,

1150
00:50:39.517 --> 00:50:40.737
"You've got the job."

1151
00:50:41.639 --> 00:50:44.069
♪ My fur coat's sold, oh, Lord ain't it cold ♪

1152
00:50:44.069 --> 00:50:45.083
♪ But I'm not going to holler ♪

1153
00:50:45.083 --> 00:50:46.341
♪ 'cause I still got a dollar ♪

1154
00:50:46.341 --> 00:50:47.917
♪ And when I get low ♪

1155
00:50:47.917 --> 00:50:51.300
♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh I get high ♪

1156
00:50:51.300 --> 00:50:52.740
Listen to that voice,

1157
00:50:52.740 --> 00:50:55.110
she's got youth and talent here

1158
00:50:55.110 --> 00:50:57.450
and above all else a freshness.

1159
00:50:57.450 --> 00:51:00.120
Now I hope she's willing to be taught a few things.

1160
00:51:00.120 --> 00:51:04.290
Ella didn't have many smarts about being a peformer,

1161
00:51:04.290 --> 00:51:06.150
like how to dress,

1162
00:51:06.150 --> 00:51:07.080
how to talk,

1163
00:51:07.080 --> 00:51:09.690
how to act when she's on stage.

1164
00:51:09.690 --> 00:51:10.860
The public likes beauty,

1165
00:51:10.860 --> 00:51:13.050
and I know I'm no glam girl.

1166
00:51:13.050 --> 00:51:14.280
So when a singer comes up

1167
00:51:14.280 --> 00:51:16.350
and she looks like me,

1168
00:51:16.350 --> 00:51:17.600
the odds are against her.

1169
00:51:18.491 --> 00:51:23.491
♪ It's my turn now ♪

1170
00:51:23.874 --> 00:51:25.540
♪ You always ...♪

1171
00:51:25.540 --> 00:51:27.750
Chick and his wife were wonderful to her.

1172
00:51:27.750 --> 00:51:29.940
Sally took her in hand,

1173
00:51:29.940 --> 00:51:31.380
and bought her clothing,

1174
00:51:31.380 --> 00:51:33.810
and taught her how to dress,

1175
00:51:33.810 --> 00:51:35.823
and how to even talk.

1176
00:51:37.440 --> 00:51:38.670
Little by little

1177
00:51:38.670 --> 00:51:40.440
she came from the waif

1178
00:51:40.440 --> 00:51:42.993
into an elegant woman.

1179
00:51:44.340 --> 00:51:45.960
Chick became Ella's legal guardian

1180
00:51:45.960 --> 00:51:47.853
and took her into his home to live.

1181
00:51:49.050 --> 00:51:50.700
You know no matter how good a person

1182
00:51:50.700 --> 00:51:52.530
may be in his line of work,

1183
00:51:52.530 --> 00:51:54.210
unless there is a person behind you

1184
00:51:54.210 --> 00:51:56.250
to encourage and back you,

1185
00:51:56.250 --> 00:51:57.513
you never get very far.

1186
00:51:59.582 --> 00:52:04.582
♪ And so it's my turn now ♪

1187
00:52:05.940 --> 00:52:07.860
I thought my singing was pretty much hollering,

1188
00:52:07.860 --> 00:52:09.090
but Mr. Webb didn't.

1189
00:52:09.090 --> 00:52:11.880
He gave me the confidence I needed.

1190
00:52:11.880 --> 00:52:12.840
He'd say ...

1191
00:52:12.840 --> 00:52:14.760
Don't come up like a shooting star

1192
00:52:14.760 --> 00:52:16.620
and drop just as a fast.

1193
00:52:16.620 --> 00:52:19.170
Take your time, build.

1194
00:52:19.170 --> 00:52:21.810
And Mr. Webb was unusually kind,

1195
00:52:21.810 --> 00:52:23.130
taking a fatherly interest

1196
00:52:23.130 --> 00:52:24.180
and giving me advice

1197
00:52:24.180 --> 00:52:25.710
when it was most needed,

1198
00:52:25.710 --> 00:52:28.053
even seeing that I take care of my money.

1199
00:52:29.550 --> 00:52:31.860
My mother had great love for Chick Webb.

1200
00:52:31.860 --> 00:52:33.600
In the studio

1201
00:52:33.600 --> 00:52:35.880
it's like two children

1202
00:52:35.880 --> 00:52:38.040
playing together.

1203
00:52:38.040 --> 00:52:39.400
There's a sense of

1204
00:52:41.460 --> 00:52:44.190
an inside joke, but it's not so inside,

1205
00:52:44.190 --> 00:52:47.580
that everybody else isn't included in it,

1206
00:52:47.580 --> 00:52:52.020
and there's just a , just a joy between the two of them

1207
00:52:52.020 --> 00:52:53.343
that you can hear.

1208
00:52:54.330 --> 00:52:55.530
Webb immediate grasped

1209
00:52:55.530 --> 00:52:58.380
the full significance of her extraordinary talents.

1210
00:52:58.380 --> 00:53:00.420
He foresaw as no one else did

1211
00:53:00.420 --> 00:53:02.400
the career that was to follow.

1212
00:53:02.400 --> 00:53:04.650
He cherished many artistic personalities,

1213
00:53:04.650 --> 00:53:07.230
but none so warmly as hers.

1214
00:53:07.230 --> 00:53:09.690
I didn't always look at him when I came out,

1215
00:53:09.690 --> 00:53:11.790
but I knew he was there.

1216
00:53:11.790 --> 00:53:13.137
He'd tap out the beat

1217
00:53:13.137 --> 00:53:15.212
and then I sang.

1218
00:53:15.212 --> 00:53:19.696
♪ Can't you hear me singin', la-la-la-la-la ♪

1219
00:53:19.696 --> 00:53:23.884
♪ While the band is swingin' ♪

1220
00:53:23.884 --> 00:53:28.343
♪ Oh, Chick Webb's sockin' ♪

1221
00:53:28.343 --> 00:53:32.592
♪ And the band is rockin' ♪

1222
00:53:32.592 --> 00:53:35.252
♪ So send me lightly, politely ♪

1223
00:53:35.252 --> 00:53:37.856
♪ Brightly, and slightly ♪

1224
00:53:37.856 --> 00:53:41.913
♪ Ho-ho-ho, rock it for me ♪

1225
00:53:41.913 --> 00:53:43.980
Hear this chick sing,

1226
00:53:43.980 --> 00:53:45.840
she can really sing.

1227
00:53:45.840 --> 00:53:46.890
Oh this is it,

1228
00:53:46.890 --> 00:53:48.930
I've a real singer now.

1229
00:53:48.930 --> 00:53:51.570
Ella, she always knew exactly what she had to do.

1230
00:53:51.570 --> 00:53:53.010
She was smart.

1231
00:53:53.010 --> 00:53:54.450
You give her a piece of sheet music,

1232
00:53:54.450 --> 00:53:55.283
she'd read it

1233
00:53:55.283 --> 00:53:57.030
and dongla dinga, ding,

1234
00:53:57.030 --> 00:53:58.224
she straight in,

1235
00:53:58.224 --> 00:54:00.240
dongla, dinga ding.

1236
00:54:00.240 --> 00:54:02.463
Chick wanted to rehearse all the time.

1237
00:54:03.360 --> 00:54:04.770
Chick would rehearse every night

1238
00:54:04.770 --> 00:54:06.600
if he had newer (indistinct).

1239
00:54:06.600 --> 00:54:08.460
Listen to the beat child,

1240
00:54:08.460 --> 00:54:09.900
you're rushing it.

1241
00:54:09.900 --> 00:54:12.330
Relax, go with beat,

1242
00:54:12.330 --> 00:54:14.680
always with the beat.

1243
00:54:14.680 --> 00:54:17.901
(drums playing)

1244
00:54:17.901 --> 00:54:20.300
♪ E E-I, E-I, E, E-I ♪

1245
00:54:20.300 --> 00:54:22.031
♪ E E-I, E-I, E, E-I ♪

1246
00:54:22.031 --> 00:54:23.220
♪ E doobie, doo, doobie... ♪

1247
00:54:23.220 --> 00:54:24.632
Yeah that's it,

1248
00:54:24.632 --> 00:54:25.904
now you're swingin'.

1249
00:54:25.904 --> 00:54:27.390
♪ B d, d, do bob boo bi ♪

1250
00:54:27.390 --> 00:54:28.544
I was there when they,

1251
00:54:28.544 --> 00:54:29.790
they had little spats,

1252
00:54:29.790 --> 00:54:33.210
like old friends do at times.

1253
00:54:33.210 --> 00:54:34.323
Ella was still a teenager,

1254
00:54:34.323 --> 00:54:36.300
and, and she wanted to

1255
00:54:36.300 --> 00:54:37.980
party a little bit,

1256
00:54:37.980 --> 00:54:39.247
and he said,

1257
00:54:39.247 --> 00:54:40.710
"No you're staying."

1258
00:54:40.710 --> 00:54:43.387
And she, "I wanted to go out, I had a date."

1259
00:54:43.387 --> 00:54:47.010
"You're staying for the rehearsal and that's the end of it."

1260
00:54:47.010 --> 00:54:50.190
And as we know musicians are notorious

1261
00:54:50.190 --> 00:54:51.720
for partying

1262
00:54:51.720 --> 00:54:53.550
Although my mom she did tell me one time

1263
00:54:53.550 --> 00:54:56.460
that she didn't do drugs,

1264
00:54:56.460 --> 00:54:58.653
she said she smoked marijuana once,

1265
00:54:59.550 --> 00:55:01.440
and she said,

1266
00:55:01.440 --> 00:55:04.110
she just ended up giggling and laughing so much,

1267
00:55:04.110 --> 00:55:06.393
that nobody ever gave her drugs again.

1268
00:55:07.420 --> 00:55:10.003
(jazz playing)

1269
00:55:11.880 --> 00:55:13.230
Ella had a boyfriend

1270
00:55:13.230 --> 00:55:15.123
in the band, Louis Jordan.

1271
00:55:16.048 --> 00:55:17.314
Now fellas,

1272
00:55:17.314 --> 00:55:18.840
you see these girls with these fine diamonds

1273
00:55:18.840 --> 00:55:21.690
and the fox furs, and fine clothes?

1274
00:55:21.690 --> 00:55:23.690
Well Jack they're looking for a husband,

1275
00:55:24.600 --> 00:55:25.433
and you're looking at a man who know.

1276
00:55:25.433 --> 00:55:26.373
Get 'em hooked.

1277
00:55:27.529 --> 00:55:28.830
They ain't foolin.

1278
00:55:28.830 --> 00:55:30.000
Louis Jordan was great,

1279
00:55:30.000 --> 00:55:31.230
there was no question about that.

1280
00:55:31.230 --> 00:55:33.750
He was a great entertainer.

1281
00:55:33.750 --> 00:55:35.790
He was a very likable tribe

1282
00:55:35.790 --> 00:55:37.680
and talented Jew,

1283
00:55:37.680 --> 00:55:38.513
but at that time

1284
00:55:38.513 --> 00:55:39.450
nobody even thought

1285
00:55:39.450 --> 00:55:41.850
that he would be the big success

1286
00:55:41.850 --> 00:55:44.310
on his own that he turned out to be.

1287
00:55:44.310 --> 00:55:46.485
Then he became the father of Rhythm and Blues.

1288
00:55:46.485 --> 00:55:50.284
♪ Yes you went out last night ♪

1289
00:55:50.284 --> 00:55:52.800
♪ to a dinner show and a dance ♪

1290
00:55:52.800 --> 00:55:54.570
Personally I didn't like the way he was acting,

1291
00:55:54.570 --> 00:55:55.403
so I said,

1292
00:55:55.403 --> 00:55:58.260
"Louis are you taking advantage of this girl here?"

1293
00:55:58.260 --> 00:55:59.093
And he said,

1294
00:55:59.093 --> 00:55:59.926
"No, no, no I'm a married man."

1295
00:55:59.926 --> 00:56:00.759
And I said,

1296
00:56:00.759 --> 00:56:03.270
"Yeah, yeah, I know that you're a married man.

1297
00:56:03.270 --> 00:56:05.942
And I don't want you not to respect this lady."

1298
00:56:05.942 --> 00:56:08.525
(jazz playing)

1299
00:56:11.220 --> 00:56:13.680
Chick ended up firing Louis

1300
00:56:13.680 --> 00:56:15.510
for trying to get Ella to leave Chick

1301
00:56:15.510 --> 00:56:17.013
and join his new band.

1302
00:56:17.880 --> 00:56:18.713
They;d shoot this,

1303
00:56:18.713 --> 00:56:21.723
everybody try to steal from somebody in show business.

1304
00:56:22.890 --> 00:56:25.920
Chick Webb was recently offered $5,000

1305
00:56:25.920 --> 00:56:27.330
for Ms Fitzgerald's contract

1306
00:56:27.330 --> 00:56:29.580
by white band leader Benny Goodman.

1307
00:56:29.580 --> 00:56:31.500
Webb said Goodman's been trying to get Ella

1308
00:56:31.500 --> 00:56:32.943
in the worst way.

1309
00:56:34.080 --> 00:56:35.370
He knows me well.

1310
00:56:35.370 --> 00:56:37.260
But instead of coming to me direct,

1311
00:56:37.260 --> 00:56:39.000
he went to other individuals

1312
00:56:39.000 --> 00:56:41.430
and tried to get them to coerce Ella

1313
00:56:41.430 --> 00:56:42.723
to join his orchestra.

1314
00:56:43.830 --> 00:56:45.030
There is no money

1315
00:56:45.030 --> 00:56:47.580
that would get me to release her.

1316
00:56:47.580 --> 00:56:50.973
My mother was never about the money,

1317
00:56:53.017 --> 00:56:55.260
now it was about the art.

1318
00:56:55.260 --> 00:56:57.990
I would've never left the band,

1319
00:56:57.990 --> 00:57:00.346
they were like my family.

1320
00:57:00.346 --> 00:57:03.202
(jazz music)

1321
00:57:03.202 --> 00:57:05.883
♪ I'm just a Jitterbug ♪

1322
00:57:05.883 --> 00:57:08.578
♪ A happy jitterbug ♪

1323
00:57:08.578 --> 00:57:13.578
♪ A little jitterbug lookin' for a place to jive. ♪

1324
00:57:13.946 --> 00:57:16.586
♪ I'm not a corny hick, (scat) ♪

1325
00:57:16.586 --> 00:57:19.432
♪ I know a real hot lick, (scat) ♪

1326
00:57:19.432 --> 00:57:23.959
♪ 'Cause I'm a jitterbug, mighty glad that I'm alive ♪

1327
00:57:23.959 --> 00:57:26.714
♪ Give me a solid ascender ♪

1328
00:57:26.714 --> 00:57:29.299
♪ Not just an elbow bender ♪

1329
00:57:29.299 --> 00:57:31.455
♪ Don't want no old time jazz ♪

1330
00:57:31.455 --> 00:57:34.451
♪No razzamataz, just swing ♪

1331
00:57:34.451 --> 00:57:37.075
♪ 'Cause I'm just a jitterbug ♪

1332
00:57:37.075 --> 00:57:39.756
♪ A happy jitterbug, ♪

1333
00:57:39.756 --> 00:57:42.059
♪ A little jitter jitter jitterbug ♪

1334
00:57:42.059 --> 00:57:43.887
♪ lookin' for a place to jive.♪

1335
00:57:43.887 --> 00:57:46.304
(jazz music)

1336
00:57:53.392 --> 00:57:54.330
Chick and I

1337
00:57:54.330 --> 00:57:55.773
we became good friends.

1338
00:57:57.870 --> 00:58:00.030
I remember when my band was taking form,

1339
00:58:00.030 --> 00:58:02.010
now and then he would come by and listen.

1340
00:58:02.010 --> 00:58:03.210
During one of those rehearsals

1341
00:58:03.210 --> 00:58:04.710
he sat very quietly

1342
00:58:04.710 --> 00:58:05.850
chewing gum,

1343
00:58:05.850 --> 00:58:07.530
obviously deep in thought.

1344
00:58:07.530 --> 00:58:08.520
When we got finished,

1345
00:58:08.520 --> 00:58:09.720
he came over to me

1346
00:58:09.720 --> 00:58:10.597
and said,

1347
00:58:10.597 --> 00:58:12.060
"You know something man,

1348
00:58:12.060 --> 00:58:14.640
some day I'm going to come walking up the street one way,

1349
00:58:14.640 --> 00:58:16.560
and you're going to be coming down the other way,

1350
00:58:16.560 --> 00:58:18.120
and we're going to pass each other,

1351
00:58:18.120 --> 00:58:19.950
and I'm going to say,

1352
00:58:19.950 --> 00:58:22.020
'Hello best white band in the world.'

1353
00:58:22.020 --> 00:58:23.364
And you're going to say,

1354
00:58:23.364 --> 00:58:25.980
'Hello best colored band in the world.'

1355
00:58:25.980 --> 00:58:27.360
You know that."

1356
00:58:27.360 --> 00:58:29.220
And he bravely shook hands with me

1357
00:58:29.220 --> 00:58:30.600
on that statement,

1358
00:58:30.600 --> 00:58:34.410
almost as if we were entering into a solemn pact,

1359
00:58:34.410 --> 00:58:35.700
and in a way

1360
00:58:35.700 --> 00:58:37.203
I suppose we actually were.

1361
00:58:38.400 --> 00:58:40.320
Chick he taught me more then anybody.

1362
00:58:40.320 --> 00:58:41.790
I don't think anybody had a better idea

1363
00:58:41.790 --> 00:58:43.530
of how to put together an orchestra

1364
00:58:43.530 --> 00:58:45.573
and how to play arrangements then Chick,

1365
00:58:46.447 --> 00:58:48.420
and he was hard on the brass, very hard.

1366
00:58:48.420 --> 00:58:49.680
When you have something to attack,

1367
00:58:49.680 --> 00:58:51.880
he'd hit the big cymbols so hard, like ding,

1368
00:58:52.811 --> 00:58:53.827
and he'd say,

1369
00:58:53.827 --> 00:58:55.770
"You got to hit that note right,

1370
00:58:55.770 --> 00:58:57.360
right on the beat.

1371
00:58:57.360 --> 00:58:59.460
I want the best band,

1372
00:58:59.460 --> 00:59:01.590
I've got to get to the top."

1373
00:59:01.590 --> 00:59:04.590
To me he was the best,

1374
00:59:04.590 --> 00:59:06.390
the best jazz leader in the country.

1375
00:59:08.460 --> 00:59:09.750
If you're running a band,

1376
00:59:09.750 --> 00:59:11.880
there's enormous pressure

1377
00:59:11.880 --> 00:59:14.070
you got to make payroll 45 weeks a year,

1378
00:59:14.070 --> 00:59:15.620
you got to keep the band going.

1379
00:59:17.970 --> 00:59:19.290
You're running a traveling show,

1380
00:59:19.290 --> 00:59:21.540
it becomes nuts.

1381
00:59:21.540 --> 00:59:22.590
In the sense

1382
00:59:22.590 --> 00:59:24.090
it is a business.

1383
00:59:24.090 --> 00:59:25.200
You have to do what you can

1384
00:59:25.200 --> 00:59:26.730
to keep your band together.

1385
00:59:26.730 --> 00:59:28.923
But also make a stand for something.

1386
00:59:31.710 --> 00:59:33.120
Chick Webb blew into Harlem

1387
00:59:33.120 --> 00:59:35.850
at the close of his first tour of the south.

1388
00:59:35.850 --> 00:59:38.190
Chick went immediately to the Savoy,

1389
00:59:38.190 --> 00:59:39.390
where he's spending the week

1390
00:59:39.390 --> 00:59:40.440
charming Harlemites

1391
00:59:40.440 --> 00:59:41.730
while resting from the road

1392
00:59:41.730 --> 00:59:42.960
and trying out new tunes

1393
00:59:42.960 --> 00:59:45.600
which he'll dish out on his second big southern tour

1394
00:59:45.600 --> 00:59:46.953
which begins next Friday.

1395
00:59:49.860 --> 00:59:53.010
Chick always stayed at the family house

1396
00:59:53.010 --> 00:59:54.633
when he came to Baltimore,

1397
00:59:55.620 --> 00:59:58.770
even when he got recognition.

1398
00:59:58.770 --> 00:59:59.680
He was

1399
01:00:01.830 --> 01:00:02.820
I guess you could say

1400
01:00:02.820 --> 01:00:05.280
a pretty big mamma's boy.

1401
01:00:05.280 --> 01:00:07.800
He was playing at the Hippodrome,

1402
01:00:07.800 --> 01:00:11.730
and they wouldn't let the family

1403
01:00:11.730 --> 01:00:12.990
come in the front door,

1404
01:00:12.990 --> 01:00:15.540
because it was segregated,

1405
01:00:15.540 --> 01:00:17.940
and black folks

1406
01:00:17.940 --> 01:00:20.490
couldn't sit in the balcony.

1407
01:00:20.490 --> 01:00:22.830
They had to go in the stage door,

1408
01:00:22.830 --> 01:00:25.650
and stand on the side of the stage

1409
01:00:25.650 --> 01:00:27.420
to hear him play.

1410
01:00:27.420 --> 01:00:28.950
Here we're

1411
01:00:28.950 --> 01:00:32.850
speaking about one of the biggest stars in the country,

1412
01:00:32.850 --> 01:00:36.680
and his family couldn't come hear him play

1413
01:00:36.680 --> 01:00:38.103
in his home town.

1414
01:00:39.150 --> 01:00:40.800
The road boy...

1415
01:00:40.800 --> 01:00:42.270
Back in those days,

1416
01:00:42.270 --> 01:00:44.908
can you imagine a black band going south?

1417
01:00:44.908 --> 01:00:48.128
♪ I didn't get my Dixie drawl ♪

1418
01:00:48.128 --> 01:00:50.927
♪ A drinkin' out of a Dixie cup ♪

1419
01:00:50.927 --> 01:00:54.810
♪ Yes sir, I'm strictly from Dixie ♪

1420
01:00:54.810 --> 01:00:56.670
Traveling, bumping around

1421
01:00:56.670 --> 01:00:58.230
you didn't know whether those old buses

1422
01:00:58.230 --> 01:00:59.970
were going to make it to the next town

1423
01:00:59.970 --> 01:01:01.200
for your next gig,

1424
01:01:01.200 --> 01:01:03.450
and you're eatin, and sleeping accommodations

1425
01:01:03.450 --> 01:01:05.010
were Jim Crow,

1426
01:01:05.010 --> 01:01:07.050
even when you're the hottest attraction

1427
01:01:07.050 --> 01:01:09.690
in the top nice spot in the town.

1428
01:01:09.690 --> 01:01:11.160
Life's a bitch,

1429
01:01:11.160 --> 01:01:13.410
and if it's not one damn thing,

1430
01:01:13.410 --> 01:01:15.210
it's going to be somethin else.

1431
01:01:15.210 --> 01:01:16.410
If you can't drink

1432
01:01:16.410 --> 01:01:18.840
from the same water fountain as another guy,

1433
01:01:18.840 --> 01:01:21.600
you know damn well you're in a foreign country.

1434
01:01:21.600 --> 01:01:22.770
And some of the cities

1435
01:01:22.770 --> 01:01:23.640
there were no hotels,

1436
01:01:23.640 --> 01:01:25.200
we had to get out of the bus,

1437
01:01:25.200 --> 01:01:27.990
and just go to people's houses,

1438
01:01:27.990 --> 01:01:29.739
and ask if they had rooms.

1439
01:01:29.739 --> 01:01:32.322
(jazz playing)

1440
01:01:34.530 --> 01:01:37.020
We played some white dances in the south

1441
01:01:37.020 --> 01:01:38.580
and some negro.

1442
01:01:38.580 --> 01:01:40.710
Some had a rope stretched across the floor,

1443
01:01:40.710 --> 01:01:43.290
so that whites danced on one side,

1444
01:01:43.290 --> 01:01:45.600
and the Negros on the other.

1445
01:01:45.600 --> 01:01:47.580
In others the whites would be dancing,

1446
01:01:47.580 --> 01:01:49.410
and the blacks upstairs listening,

1447
01:01:49.410 --> 01:01:52.710
and they all paid the same price.

1448
01:01:52.710 --> 01:01:54.333
That used to burn me up.

1449
01:01:55.920 --> 01:01:57.060
That was a helluva period

1450
01:01:57.060 --> 01:01:58.743
in, in, in this country.

1451
01:01:59.910 --> 01:02:00.900
I've always wanted

1452
01:02:00.900 --> 01:02:03.390
deep in my heart to help my people.

1453
01:02:03.390 --> 01:02:06.270
If I can do something that will change things,

1454
01:02:06.270 --> 01:02:08.880
so that poor kids can get a break,

1455
01:02:08.880 --> 01:02:10.053
I'd die happy.

1456
01:02:12.060 --> 01:02:13.860
Chick Webb regularly

1457
01:02:13.860 --> 01:02:16.860
used his celebrity fame

1458
01:02:16.860 --> 01:02:19.042
to further black causes.

1459
01:02:19.042 --> 01:02:21.459
(jazz music)

1460
01:02:22.962 --> 01:02:26.850
♪ You showed me the way ♪

1461
01:02:26.850 --> 01:02:28.650
Eight negro boys,

1462
01:02:28.650 --> 01:02:30.420
three of them only 14

1463
01:02:30.420 --> 01:02:32.070
and all minors

1464
01:02:32.070 --> 01:02:34.320
are being held in Kilby Prison Alabama

1465
01:02:34.320 --> 01:02:35.910
awaiting execution

1466
01:02:35.910 --> 01:02:37.383
on charge of alleged rape.

1467
01:02:38.730 --> 01:02:40.830
Without being given time to prepare the defense

1468
01:02:40.830 --> 01:02:44.250
and without having had their parents consulted in any way,

1469
01:02:44.250 --> 01:02:46.450
the boys were sentenced to a legal lynching.

1470
01:02:48.870 --> 01:02:50.490
The Scottsboro Defense Ball

1471
01:02:50.490 --> 01:02:51.750
will be held next Friday night

1472
01:02:51.750 --> 01:02:53.280
at the Savoy Ballroom.

1473
01:02:53.280 --> 01:02:55.230
Chick Webb's orchestra will get together

1474
01:02:55.230 --> 01:02:57.270
to improvise swing music.

1475
01:02:57.270 --> 01:02:59.520
The proceeds will help carry on the defense

1476
01:02:59.520 --> 01:03:02.284
of the Scottsboro boys at this crucial time.

1477
01:03:02.284 --> 01:03:05.891
♪ Oh you showed me the way ♪

1478
01:03:05.891 --> 01:03:08.391
(jazz music)

1479
01:03:10.140 --> 01:03:11.760
Chick Webb and his Savoy orchestra

1480
01:03:11.760 --> 01:03:14.130
will play for Crispus Basket Fund Benefit,

1481
01:03:14.130 --> 01:03:16.050
sponsored by the Negro Theater Guild

1482
01:03:16.050 --> 01:03:17.613
Friday at the Apollo Theater.

1483
01:03:19.920 --> 01:03:22.860
Chick Webb has endorsed the Philadelphia Couriers

1484
01:03:22.860 --> 01:03:24.450
fight for equal recognition

1485
01:03:24.450 --> 01:03:27.351
of negro enlisted men in the US Army and Navy.

1486
01:03:27.351 --> 01:03:30.510
(jazz music)

1487
01:03:30.510 --> 01:03:31.890
Chick Webb has offered to play

1488
01:03:31.890 --> 01:03:33.510
on any authorized benefit

1489
01:03:33.510 --> 01:03:34.620
to aid homeless victims

1490
01:03:34.620 --> 01:03:36.600
of the floods throughout the country.

1491
01:03:36.600 --> 01:03:39.392
He's also sending cash contributions.

1492
01:03:39.392 --> 01:03:41.809
(jazz music)

1493
01:03:45.270 --> 01:03:47.001
Of all the musicians in Chick's band

1494
01:03:47.001 --> 01:03:49.890
there's only one left of the original eight.

1495
01:03:49.890 --> 01:03:51.688
He is John Trueheart.

1496
01:03:51.688 --> 01:03:53.760
(jazz music)

1497
01:03:53.760 --> 01:03:55.745
John Trueheart

1498
01:03:55.745 --> 01:03:58.020
was a guitarist in the band.

1499
01:03:58.020 --> 01:04:00.570
He was one of Chick's dearest friends,

1500
01:04:00.570 --> 01:04:01.840
and Trueheart

1501
01:04:02.700 --> 01:04:04.713
contracted tuberculosis.

1502
01:04:06.390 --> 01:04:08.340
Chick Webb recently lent a helping hand

1503
01:04:08.340 --> 01:04:09.510
to a member of his orchestra,

1504
01:04:09.510 --> 01:04:11.010
now in ailing health.

1505
01:04:11.010 --> 01:04:12.570
Contributing for the past six months

1506
01:04:12.570 --> 01:04:14.580
the financial support of John Trueheart,

1507
01:04:14.580 --> 01:04:16.353
the highly acclaimed guitarist.

1508
01:04:17.730 --> 01:04:19.050
Chick climaxed his efforts

1509
01:04:19.050 --> 01:04:20.370
by sending his brother musician

1510
01:04:20.370 --> 01:04:23.370
to a convalescent home at Saranac Lake New York.

1511
01:04:23.370 --> 01:04:25.230
Chick included the assurance of a job

1512
01:04:25.230 --> 01:04:27.243
awaiting Trueheart on his return.

1513
01:04:32.100 --> 01:04:32.933
Chick Webb,

1514
01:04:32.933 --> 01:04:34.633
he wouldn't miss his show for nothing.

1515
01:04:34.633 --> 01:04:37.050
(jazz music)

1516
01:04:45.210 --> 01:04:46.156
He never stopped.

1517
01:04:46.156 --> 01:04:48.573
(jazz music)

1518
01:04:55.230 --> 01:04:56.400
It was tough

1519
01:04:56.400 --> 01:04:57.570
and grueling,

1520
01:04:57.570 --> 01:05:00.120
grueling task of playing the Savoy Ballroom,

1521
01:05:00.120 --> 01:05:01.260
and then leaving the Ballroom

1522
01:05:01.260 --> 01:05:02.760
going into the theaters,

1523
01:05:02.760 --> 01:05:04.188
doing four shows a day.

1524
01:05:04.188 --> 01:05:06.605
(jazz music)

1525
01:05:20.640 --> 01:05:22.618
Oh baby it was inhuman.

1526
01:05:22.618 --> 01:05:25.035
(jazz music)

1527
01:05:33.450 --> 01:05:35.040
One of the challengers for the title

1528
01:05:35.040 --> 01:05:37.500
of King of Swing is Chick Webb,

1529
01:05:37.500 --> 01:05:40.230
a hunchback colored boy from Baltimore,

1530
01:05:40.230 --> 01:05:41.880
who commands a negro swing band

1531
01:05:41.880 --> 01:05:42.713
that's so hot,

1532
01:05:42.713 --> 01:05:43.800
it dared to even have the notes

1533
01:05:43.800 --> 01:05:44.670
written on paper

1534
01:05:44.670 --> 01:05:46.558
for fear they'll burn up.

1535
01:05:46.558 --> 01:05:48.975
(jazz music)

1536
01:05:50.250 --> 01:05:51.900
I used to let Benny Goodman come up

1537
01:05:51.900 --> 01:05:53.790
and rehearse at the Savoy.

1538
01:05:53.790 --> 01:05:56.070
He wanted to get that Chick Webb rhythm.

1539
01:05:56.070 --> 01:05:57.247
Webb would say to him...

1540
01:05:57.247 --> 01:05:59.186
"You'll never get my rhythm."

1541
01:05:59.186 --> 01:06:01.603
(jazz music)

1542
01:06:02.490 --> 01:06:05.280
Benny was a top drawing band in the country.

1543
01:06:05.280 --> 01:06:06.500
He was a star.

1544
01:06:06.500 --> 01:06:08.917
(jazz music)

1545
01:06:13.520 --> 01:06:16.260
(drums pounding)

1546
01:06:16.260 --> 01:06:18.390
He was a demanding guy,

1547
01:06:18.390 --> 01:06:19.620
Benny could drive near the edge

1548
01:06:19.620 --> 01:06:21.720
with his need for perfection.

1549
01:06:21.720 --> 01:06:23.610
He was a task master,

1550
01:06:23.610 --> 01:06:26.823
but I never lost respect for Benny musically.

1551
01:06:28.560 --> 01:06:30.510
One thing about Benny Goodman,

1552
01:06:30.510 --> 01:06:32.370
he didn't have any color bias.

1553
01:06:32.370 --> 01:06:34.230
It didn't exist for him.

1554
01:06:34.230 --> 01:06:35.940
The only bias he had

1555
01:06:35.940 --> 01:06:37.710
was a music bias.

1556
01:06:37.710 --> 01:06:39.090
I was doing publicity for Chick

1557
01:06:39.090 --> 01:06:41.850
and wanted to do something that was really news worthy.

1558
01:06:41.850 --> 01:06:44.070
Goodman had never played Harlem before,

1559
01:06:44.070 --> 01:06:46.374
and his popularity had reached a peak.

1560
01:06:46.374 --> 01:06:48.791
(jazz music)

1561
01:06:52.110 --> 01:06:53.760
Generating CP a rhythm,

1562
01:06:53.760 --> 01:06:55.830
Chick Webb and his famous swing band

1563
01:06:55.830 --> 01:06:58.980
will strive to out play Benny Goodman's wider heat,

1564
01:06:58.980 --> 01:07:01.110
when America's four most dance orchestras

1565
01:07:01.110 --> 01:07:02.973
tangle at the Savoy Ballroom.

1566
01:07:03.960 --> 01:07:04.980
The terrific rivalry

1567
01:07:04.980 --> 01:07:06.480
that has steamed up between the band leaders

1568
01:07:06.480 --> 01:07:08.160
should be settled once and for all

1569
01:07:08.160 --> 01:07:09.720
when they cross musical weapons

1570
01:07:09.720 --> 01:07:10.950
before the largest crowd

1571
01:07:10.950 --> 01:07:12.750
that has witnessed the swing battle.

1572
01:07:13.770 --> 01:07:15.240
It was just the greatest night ever

1573
01:07:15.240 --> 01:07:17.190
in the history of dance and music,

1574
01:07:17.190 --> 01:07:19.013
the biggest night and I was there.

1575
01:07:19.013 --> 01:07:21.470
The place opened at eight o'clock at night

1576
01:07:21.470 --> 01:07:22.680
and I think at

1577
01:07:22.680 --> 01:07:23.880
five in the afternoon

1578
01:07:23.880 --> 01:07:26.400
the people started lining up outside,

1579
01:07:26.400 --> 01:07:27.690
and down the street,

1580
01:07:27.690 --> 01:07:28.650
around the block

1581
01:07:28.650 --> 01:07:30.167
waiting to get in.

1582
01:07:31.740 --> 01:07:33.900
There were crowds and crowds of people,

1583
01:07:33.900 --> 01:07:36.120
5,000 in, 5,000 a night.

1584
01:07:36.120 --> 01:07:38.190
All the big band leaders were there.

1585
01:07:38.190 --> 01:07:40.473
It was a helluva a night.

1586
01:07:41.370 --> 01:07:42.900
When we came to work that day,

1587
01:07:42.900 --> 01:07:44.190
Chickie gathered us together,

1588
01:07:44.190 --> 01:07:45.877
he looked us in the eye and he said,

1589
01:07:45.877 --> 01:07:48.480
"Fellas, I don't have to tell you

1590
01:07:48.480 --> 01:07:51.513
this is the biggest thing that's going to happen to us.

1591
01:07:52.350 --> 01:07:54.843
Tonight we've got to make history.

1592
01:07:55.800 --> 01:07:58.683
Our future depends on tonight.

1593
01:08:00.120 --> 01:08:02.250
I don't want any excuses,

1594
01:08:02.250 --> 01:08:04.620
I don't want anybody drunk,

1595
01:08:04.620 --> 01:08:07.023
I don't want anybody to miss a note.

1596
01:08:07.890 --> 01:08:10.170
Anyone do any little thing wrong,

1597
01:08:10.170 --> 01:08:12.510
don't look for me to give you notice,

1598
01:08:12.510 --> 01:08:14.430
just pack up and go on home,

1599
01:08:14.430 --> 01:08:16.170
because this

1600
01:08:16.170 --> 01:08:17.307
is my life."

1601
01:08:20.318 --> 01:08:22.735
(jazz music)

1602
01:08:23.850 --> 01:08:25.740
Benny had come up a few times before

1603
01:08:25.740 --> 01:08:27.420
and listened to what we were doing,

1604
01:08:27.420 --> 01:08:30.600
and every time we would slow down our tempo.

1605
01:08:30.600 --> 01:08:31.440
Right before the battle

1606
01:08:31.440 --> 01:08:32.820
we had a rehearsal,

1607
01:08:32.820 --> 01:08:36.405
and we put everything back the way it was supposed to be.

1608
01:08:36.405 --> 01:08:38.822
(jazz music)

1609
01:08:40.814 --> 01:08:42.330
When he arrived that night,

1610
01:08:42.330 --> 01:08:45.570
Benny wanted us to move off our number one bandstand.

1611
01:08:45.570 --> 01:08:46.403
We said,

1612
01:08:46.403 --> 01:08:47.580
"That's all right,

1613
01:08:47.580 --> 01:08:49.617
we'll play on any bandstand."

1614
01:08:51.360 --> 01:08:52.980
With five policemen on the platform

1615
01:08:52.980 --> 01:08:55.230
to scare the crowd from rising on the stand,

1616
01:08:55.230 --> 01:08:57.780
Benny's boys fired the first shot.

1617
01:08:57.780 --> 01:08:59.700
The crowd went wild.

1618
01:08:59.700 --> 01:09:02.287
Its white idol was really shellin' out.

1619
01:09:02.287 --> 01:09:04.870
(jazz playing)

1620
01:09:10.770 --> 01:09:12.726
But then here come Chick.

1621
01:09:12.726 --> 01:09:15.476
(drums playing)

1622
01:09:18.369 --> 01:09:20.786
(jazz music)

1623
01:09:22.857 --> 01:09:24.914
The ballroom went bananas.

1624
01:09:24.914 --> 01:09:27.150
(jazz music)

1625
01:09:27.150 --> 01:09:29.666
This night Chick Webb was on.

1626
01:09:29.666 --> 01:09:30.973
(laughing)

1627
01:09:30.973 --> 01:09:33.390
(jazz music)

1628
01:09:36.870 --> 01:09:38.880
Chick wasn't going to let nobody,

1629
01:09:38.880 --> 01:09:39.713
don't care who it was

1630
01:09:39.713 --> 01:09:40.953
run him off no bandstand,

1631
01:09:42.210 --> 01:09:43.650
and he'd kick ass, baby,

1632
01:09:43.650 --> 01:09:45.210
he kicked ass.

1633
01:09:45.210 --> 01:09:47.310
That's some Gene Cooper
(chuckles)

1634
01:09:47.310 --> 01:09:48.480
sitting up there looking at Chick

1635
01:09:48.480 --> 01:09:50.381
wherever he's shaking his head man,

1636
01:09:50.381 --> 01:09:53.580
this can't wait he's out of sight.

1637
01:09:53.580 --> 01:09:54.750
For those who've never heard Chick

1638
01:09:54.750 --> 01:09:57.720
I feel no small amount of compassion.

1639
01:09:57.720 --> 01:09:58.720
At the Savoy

1640
01:09:59.580 --> 01:10:02.190
Chick gassed me but good.

1641
01:10:02.190 --> 01:10:04.620
I repeat now what I said then,

1642
01:10:04.620 --> 01:10:07.323
I was never cut by a better man.

1643
01:10:08.820 --> 01:10:10.560
Chick was a self made man,

1644
01:10:10.560 --> 01:10:13.170
and he knew where he wanted to go next year

1645
01:10:13.170 --> 01:10:14.730
and the next year.

1646
01:10:14.730 --> 01:10:15.933
He was on his way.

1647
01:10:17.036 --> 01:10:19.754
♪ Vote for Mister Rhythm, ♪

1648
01:10:19.754 --> 01:10:21.938
♪ Let freedom ring ♪

1649
01:10:21.938 --> 01:10:25.501
♪ And soon we'll all be singing ♪

1650
01:10:25.501 --> 01:10:27.776
♪ "Of thee I swing!" ♪

1651
01:10:27.776 --> 01:10:30.926
♪ Now when I'd say vote for Mister Rhythm ♪

1652
01:10:30.926 --> 01:10:33.640
♪ You all know I mean Chick Webb ♪

1653
01:10:33.640 --> 01:10:36.104
♪ That's all, my friends, I came to state ♪

1654
01:10:36.104 --> 01:10:39.010
♪ Now listen to a noble candidate ♪

1655
01:10:39.010 --> 01:10:41.427
(jazz music)

1656
01:10:47.980 --> 01:10:50.160
Chick was not in good health,

1657
01:10:50.160 --> 01:10:51.450
and he knew it,

1658
01:10:51.450 --> 01:10:52.530
but he didn't complain,

1659
01:10:52.530 --> 01:10:55.630
but I, I, I think he wanted to get as much

1660
01:10:56.940 --> 01:10:58.890
done as he possibly could,

1661
01:10:58.890 --> 01:11:02.010
because he, he felt that sooner or later

1662
01:11:03.957 --> 01:11:05.925
it was going to be taken from him.

1663
01:11:05.925 --> 01:11:08.130
(jazz music)

1664
01:11:08.130 --> 01:11:12.894
♪ So far that I grew a pop ♪

1665
01:11:12.894 --> 01:11:15.589
♪ Oh bop (indistinct) ♪

1666
01:11:15.589 --> 01:11:18.006
(jazz music)

1667
01:11:20.923 --> 01:11:23.840
(trumpet playing)

1668
01:11:28.515 --> 01:11:30.450
Dizzy Gilespie oh,

1669
01:11:30.450 --> 01:11:33.390
I first met Dizzy in 1937,

1670
01:11:33.390 --> 01:11:35.250
oh but he wanted to give Dizzy a gig,

1671
01:11:35.250 --> 01:11:37.950
nobody because Dizzy was always joking around,

1672
01:11:37.950 --> 01:11:39.690
but let me tell you,

1673
01:11:39.690 --> 01:11:41.670
he was a serious player,

1674
01:11:41.670 --> 01:11:44.595
and I knew he was way ahead of his time.

1675
01:11:44.595 --> 01:11:47.428
(trumpet playing)

1676
01:11:49.170 --> 01:11:50.003
I thought he was

1677
01:11:50.003 --> 01:11:51.480
the greatest thing I had ever heard.

1678
01:11:53.190 --> 01:11:55.590
Those were exciting times.

1679
01:11:55.590 --> 01:11:58.350
Chick took a liking to me when I was very young.

1680
01:11:58.350 --> 01:12:01.740
I was going up to the Savoy Ballroom every night.

1681
01:12:01.740 --> 01:12:03.870
I always had my horn you know,

1682
01:12:03.870 --> 01:12:05.070
I had it everywhere,

1683
01:12:05.070 --> 01:12:07.680
and finally Chick motioned for me

1684
01:12:07.680 --> 01:12:09.450
to come to the bandstand.

1685
01:12:09.450 --> 01:12:11.250
He asked me play some,

1686
01:12:11.250 --> 01:12:12.083
I had said,

1687
01:12:12.083 --> 01:12:14.217
"Yes Sir I want to play some."

1688
01:12:15.600 --> 01:12:17.010
That was strange.

1689
01:12:17.010 --> 01:12:19.620
Chick musta really liked the way I sounded,

1690
01:12:19.620 --> 01:12:21.990
'cause he never let nobody sit in

1691
01:12:21.990 --> 01:12:23.130
in his band

1692
01:12:23.130 --> 01:12:23.963
but me.

1693
01:12:23.963 --> 01:12:26.820
I was the only one he used to let do that,

1694
01:12:26.820 --> 01:12:28.083
and I ain't lyin.

1695
01:12:28.920 --> 01:12:30.900
That's how I met Mario Bowzer,

1696
01:12:30.900 --> 01:12:32.340
the Cuban trumpeter.

1697
01:12:32.340 --> 01:12:34.890
He was playing first trumpet with Chick Webb.

1698
01:12:34.890 --> 01:12:36.570
Mario was like my father,

1699
01:12:36.570 --> 01:12:37.770
he helped me a lot,

1700
01:12:37.770 --> 01:12:39.510
and he was the first to impress me

1701
01:12:39.510 --> 01:12:41.883
with the importance of Afro-Cuban music.

1702
01:12:43.440 --> 01:12:45.510
The first arrangement I wrote for a big band

1703
01:12:45.510 --> 01:12:47.340
was "Good Night My Love."

1704
01:12:47.340 --> 01:12:49.500
Ella Fitzgerald sang that for Chick Webb

1705
01:12:49.500 --> 01:12:51.067
and I loved that number.

1706
01:12:51.067 --> 01:12:55.503
♪ Goodnight my love, ♪

1707
01:12:55.503 --> 01:12:59.871
♪ the tired old moon is descending ♪

1708
01:12:59.871 --> 01:13:00.704
♪ Good night... ♪

1709
01:13:00.704 --> 01:13:01.860
I like songs with changes,

1710
01:13:01.860 --> 01:13:04.020
songs that represent a kind of challenge

1711
01:13:04.020 --> 01:13:05.610
and make yourself say,

1712
01:13:05.610 --> 01:13:07.590
what am I going to do with this?

1713
01:13:07.590 --> 01:13:08.980
One day Ella said to me

1714
01:13:10.230 --> 01:13:12.720
geez I got a great idea for a song.

1715
01:13:12.720 --> 01:13:14.310
Why don't you try to work up something

1716
01:13:14.310 --> 01:13:18.120
on the, the old nursery rhyme A-Tisket, A-Tasket.

1717
01:13:18.120 --> 01:13:20.970
Oh I've had gobs and gobs of song ideas.

1718
01:13:20.970 --> 01:13:23.040
For Tisket I picked out the melody

1719
01:13:23.040 --> 01:13:26.610
from a drop the handkerchief game I used to play in school.

1720
01:13:26.610 --> 01:13:28.410
I said that's a great idea Ella

1721
01:13:28.410 --> 01:13:29.820
let me think about it.

1722
01:13:29.820 --> 01:13:32.730
Well I had assignments

1723
01:13:32.730 --> 01:13:34.230
two and three weeks in advance,

1724
01:13:34.230 --> 01:13:37.260
so I didn't have the time to think about it.

1725
01:13:37.260 --> 01:13:39.072
Consequently she

1726
01:13:39.072 --> 01:13:41.040
(chuckles)
got a little testy,

1727
01:13:41.040 --> 01:13:41.873
and she said,

1728
01:13:41.873 --> 01:13:43.560
"Well look if you don't want to do it,

1729
01:13:43.560 --> 01:13:45.600
I'm going to ask Edgar Sampson."

1730
01:13:45.600 --> 01:13:46.433
I said,

1731
01:13:46.433 --> 01:13:47.266
"Hold the phone Ella,

1732
01:13:47.266 --> 01:13:48.420
I'll get to it this week,

1733
01:13:48.420 --> 01:13:49.560
I promise you."

1734
01:13:49.560 --> 01:13:51.630
And I pledged for Ella first,

1735
01:13:51.630 --> 01:13:53.430
and she said "Oh that's wonderful."

1736
01:13:53.430 --> 01:13:54.840
Well don't say walk on this, this,

1737
01:13:54.840 --> 01:13:56.840
she was trucking on down the avenue.

1738
01:13:56.840 --> 01:13:58.500
When I told Chick about it,

1739
01:13:58.500 --> 01:14:00.438
he suggested that we record it,

1740
01:14:00.438 --> 01:14:02.635
and that it might go over.

1741
01:14:02.635 --> 01:14:06.254
♪ A-tisket, a-tasket ♪

1742
01:14:06.254 --> 01:14:09.222
♪ A brown and yellow basket ♪

1743
01:14:09.222 --> 01:14:12.338
♪ I send a letter to my mommy ♪

1744
01:14:12.338 --> 01:14:14.850
♪ On the way I dropped it ♪

1745
01:14:14.850 --> 01:14:17.482
♪ I dropped it, I dropped it ♪

1746
01:14:17.482 --> 01:14:20.458
♪ Yes, on the way I dropped it ♪

1747
01:14:20.458 --> 01:14:23.271
♪ A little girlie picked it up ♪

1748
01:14:23.271 --> 01:14:25.834
♪ And put it in her pocket ♪

1749
01:14:25.834 --> 01:14:28.906
♪ She was truckin' on down the avenue ♪

1750
01:14:28.906 --> 01:14:31.327
♪ But not a single thing to do ♪

1751
01:14:31.327 --> 01:14:34.598
♪ She went peck, peck, peckin' all around ♪

1752
01:14:34.598 --> 01:14:37.047
♪ When she spied it on the ground ♪

1753
01:14:37.047 --> 01:14:39.819
♪ She took it, she took it ♪

1754
01:14:39.819 --> 01:14:42.611
♪ My little yellow basket ♪

1755
01:14:42.611 --> 01:14:45.363
♪ And if she doesn't bring it back ♪

1756
01:14:45.363 --> 01:14:48.486
♪ I think that I will die ♪

1757
01:14:48.486 --> 01:14:49.430
doodle-diddle, doodle-diddle

1758
01:14:49.430 --> 01:14:51.263
doodle-diddle doodie do

1759
01:14:51.263 --> 01:14:52.096
dee ta ta,

1760
01:14:52.096 --> 01:14:53.996
de ta ta, dee dabi do

1761
01:14:53.996 --> 01:14:55.416
dee ta ta,

1762
01:14:55.416 --> 01:14:56.791
dee dabido

1763
01:14:56.791 --> 01:14:57.624
dee ta ta

1764
01:14:57.624 --> 01:14:58.880
be-doodle da

1765
01:14:58.880 --> 01:14:59.840
da be-doodle da da

1766
01:14:59.840 --> 01:15:00.720
da be-doodle da da.

1767
01:15:00.720 --> 01:15:02.190
man that was slick.

1768
01:15:02.190 --> 01:15:04.905
Every kid was walking down the street singing

1769
01:15:04.905 --> 01:15:07.530
♪ A-tisket, a-tasket ♪

1770
01:15:07.530 --> 01:15:09.885
♪ Bring me that yellow basket ♪

1771
01:15:09.885 --> 01:15:11.551
♪ If I don't get it ♪

1772
01:15:11.551 --> 01:15:14.982
♪ Really sing another stone will pass me ♪

1773
01:15:14.982 --> 01:15:17.284
♪ Forget it, forget it. ♪

1774
01:15:17.284 --> 01:15:20.430
♪ Let's go upstairs and get it. ♪

1775
01:15:20.430 --> 01:15:21.720
Our ears are being assailed

1776
01:15:21.720 --> 01:15:22.770
by a swing version

1777
01:15:22.770 --> 01:15:23.910
of an old nursery rhyme

1778
01:15:23.910 --> 01:15:26.790
that we used to know as A-tisket, a-tasket,

1779
01:15:26.790 --> 01:15:28.980
which still travels among the jitterbugs

1780
01:15:28.980 --> 01:15:30.630
under the same name.

1781
01:15:30.630 --> 01:15:32.250
A-tisket, a-tasket

1782
01:15:32.250 --> 01:15:34.580
happens to be the nation's number one song.

1783
01:15:34.580 --> 01:15:39.409
♪ Oh, why was I so careless with that basket of mine ♪

1784
01:15:39.409 --> 01:15:44.409
♪ That itty-bitty basket was a joy of mine ♪

1785
01:15:45.562 --> 01:15:48.320
♪ A-tisket, a-tasket ♪

1786
01:15:48.320 --> 01:15:50.910
♪ I lost my yellow basket ♪

1787
01:15:50.910 --> 01:15:53.941
♪ Won't someone help me find my basket ♪

1788
01:15:53.941 --> 01:15:56.405
♪ And make me happy again, again ♪

1789
01:15:56.405 --> 01:15:59.352
♪ (Was it red?) no no no no ♪

1790
01:15:59.352 --> 01:16:02.154
♪ (Was it green?) no no no no ♪

1791
01:16:02.154 --> 01:16:05.261
♪ (Was it cerise?) no no no no ♪

1792
01:16:05.261 --> 01:16:10.261
♪ Just a little yellow basket ♪

1793
01:16:10.778 --> 01:16:13.694
♪ A little yellow basket ♪

1794
01:16:13.694 --> 01:16:17.850
♪ (jazz music) ♪

1795
01:16:17.850 --> 01:16:19.140
Ella is without a doubt

1796
01:16:19.140 --> 01:16:20.394
the best attraction I've got

1797
01:16:20.394 --> 01:16:22.920
since she started A-Tisket.

1798
01:16:22.920 --> 01:16:24.060
On the present tour

1799
01:16:24.060 --> 01:16:25.890
she's been asked to repeat that number

1800
01:16:25.890 --> 01:16:28.083
at least seven or eight times a night.

1801
01:16:29.160 --> 01:16:30.810
After he got Ella

1802
01:16:30.810 --> 01:16:32.550
Chick's point of view changed.

1803
01:16:32.550 --> 01:16:33.690
He began to see

1804
01:16:33.690 --> 01:16:36.090
there could be a commercial future for the band.

1805
01:16:37.590 --> 01:16:40.110
No doubt he adored the way she sang,

1806
01:16:40.110 --> 01:16:41.400
but I regretted the change,

1807
01:16:41.400 --> 01:16:42.297
because it meant the band

1808
01:16:42.297 --> 01:16:44.400
and Chick had to take a back seat.

1809
01:16:44.400 --> 01:16:47.040
I used to argue about it with Chick all the time,

1810
01:16:47.040 --> 01:16:49.470
but he was committed to go his own way.

1811
01:16:49.470 --> 01:16:50.670
Well boom

1812
01:16:50.670 --> 01:16:51.660
she could swing,

1813
01:16:51.660 --> 01:16:52.800
and she could sing ballads,

1814
01:16:52.800 --> 01:16:53.633
and that whole thing,

1815
01:16:53.633 --> 01:16:57.210
and Chick was involved in doing all of that so great.

1816
01:16:57.210 --> 01:16:59.310
I loved everything I heard

1817
01:16:59.310 --> 01:17:01.047
that Ella did with Chick

1818
01:17:01.047 --> 01:17:05.670
and I love the music that the band played without Ella.

1819
01:17:05.670 --> 01:17:07.470
He didn't care so much about the public.

1820
01:17:07.470 --> 01:17:08.370
He cared more about

1821
01:17:08.370 --> 01:17:10.560
how he thought the music should be played,

1822
01:17:10.560 --> 01:17:12.360
and that was a helluva of thing in those days,

1823
01:17:12.360 --> 01:17:15.360
especially a colored man to white people.

1824
01:17:15.360 --> 01:17:17.880
After they had the hit with A-tisket, a-tasket,

1825
01:17:17.880 --> 01:17:20.850
they were able to book 'em in white hotels,

1826
01:17:20.850 --> 01:17:23.117
that never employed a black man

1827
01:17:23.117 --> 01:17:25.534
(jazz music)

1828
01:17:34.260 --> 01:17:35.640
Chick Webb it is reported

1829
01:17:35.640 --> 01:17:37.500
will receive $2,000 weekly

1830
01:17:37.500 --> 01:17:39.360
plus a nightly cut on cover charges

1831
01:17:39.360 --> 01:17:41.310
at the Park Central this month.

1832
01:17:41.310 --> 01:17:42.450
It's the first colored band

1833
01:17:42.450 --> 01:17:44.095
to play the New York hotel.

1834
01:17:44.095 --> 01:17:46.770
(jazz music)

1835
01:17:46.770 --> 01:17:48.420
The country wide success

1836
01:17:48.420 --> 01:17:50.310
which the Chick Webb orchestra has achieved

1837
01:17:50.310 --> 01:17:53.640
is one of the theatrical miracles of the year.

1838
01:17:53.640 --> 01:17:55.710
Riding the top most crested popularity,

1839
01:17:55.710 --> 01:17:59.586
Chick Webb has America's number one swing band.

1840
01:17:59.586 --> 01:18:02.003
(jazz music)

1841
01:18:03.600 --> 01:18:05.520
He was really a sick little guy,

1842
01:18:05.520 --> 01:18:07.470
but he was too devoted to the people about him

1843
01:18:07.470 --> 01:18:09.720
to consider a layoff for the band.

1844
01:18:09.720 --> 01:18:12.480
On stage he remained as impressive as ever,

1845
01:18:12.480 --> 01:18:15.720
but many times after a show he would pass out.

1846
01:18:15.720 --> 01:18:17.490
He'd bleed profusely

1847
01:18:17.490 --> 01:18:19.950
and lose a tremendous amount of blood.

1848
01:18:19.950 --> 01:18:20.910
But game as anything

1849
01:18:20.910 --> 01:18:22.668
he would never quit.

1850
01:18:22.668 --> 01:18:24.561
(car horns beeping)

1851
01:18:24.561 --> 01:18:26.978
(jazz music)

1852
01:18:27.960 --> 01:18:29.910
There was another band on the horizon.

1853
01:18:29.910 --> 01:18:31.449
Count Basie was coming in.

1854
01:18:31.449 --> 01:18:33.866
(jazz music)

1855
01:18:39.210 --> 01:18:42.000
Chick Webb played swing,

1856
01:18:42.000 --> 01:18:44.006
Count Basie swung the blues.

1857
01:18:44.006 --> 01:18:46.506
(jazz music)

1858
01:18:49.860 --> 01:18:51.690
1938 you had

1859
01:18:51.690 --> 01:18:54.480
the classic battle of the bands at the Savoy

1860
01:18:54.480 --> 01:18:57.496
between Chick Webb and Count Basie.

1861
01:18:57.496 --> 01:19:00.600
(jazz music)

1862
01:19:00.600 --> 01:19:04.740
Ella being of course the vocalist, and Chick

1863
01:19:04.740 --> 01:19:06.000
and Billy Holiday

1864
01:19:06.000 --> 01:19:08.332
the vocalist for the Basie band.

1865
01:19:08.332 --> 01:19:10.749
(jazz music)

1866
01:19:18.753 --> 01:19:21.390
I idolized Billy and her songs.

1867
01:19:21.390 --> 01:19:23.460
She was really the first modern singer

1868
01:19:23.460 --> 01:19:25.410
to my way of thinking.

1869
01:19:25.410 --> 01:19:27.433
We all wanted to be like her.

1870
01:19:29.010 --> 01:19:31.710
My band must have been too crazy or green

1871
01:19:31.710 --> 01:19:34.080
to be as scared as we shoulda been.

1872
01:19:34.080 --> 01:19:35.310
Those cats were acting like

1873
01:19:35.310 --> 01:19:36.480
they didn't think anything

1874
01:19:36.480 --> 01:19:38.908
about being up against the great Chick Webb.

1875
01:19:38.908 --> 01:19:41.325
(jazz music)

1876
01:19:47.640 --> 01:19:48.960
The guys in my band

1877
01:19:48.960 --> 01:19:50.400
they went on and really played.

1878
01:19:50.400 --> 01:19:52.200
That, they were really carrying on.

1879
01:19:52.200 --> 01:19:54.120
I was really surprised at them

1880
01:19:54.120 --> 01:19:55.443
and at myself too.

1881
01:19:56.580 --> 01:19:58.170
When I wasn't on the stage,

1882
01:19:58.170 --> 01:20:00.210
I went and found me a place

1883
01:20:00.210 --> 01:20:02.550
so I could stand and listen.

1884
01:20:02.550 --> 01:20:04.590
The Savoy was Chick's turf,

1885
01:20:04.590 --> 01:20:06.330
and the little giant took charge

1886
01:20:06.330 --> 01:20:07.830
of the big bandstand.

1887
01:20:07.830 --> 01:20:09.963
And I mean he really took charge.

1888
01:20:11.760 --> 01:20:13.710
It was a fight to the finish,

1889
01:20:13.710 --> 01:20:15.600
and nevertheless the ballot taking

1890
01:20:15.600 --> 01:20:17.220
showed Chick Webb's band

1891
01:20:17.220 --> 01:20:19.170
well in the lead over Basie's,

1892
01:20:19.170 --> 01:20:20.310
and Ella Fitzgerald

1893
01:20:20.310 --> 01:20:23.130
well out in front over Billy Holiday.

1894
01:20:23.130 --> 01:20:24.390
From seeing Chick play

1895
01:20:24.390 --> 01:20:25.740
you would never know

1896
01:20:25.740 --> 01:20:28.320
that he was ill at any particular time,

1897
01:20:28.320 --> 01:20:32.010
because he was very ebullient

1898
01:20:32.010 --> 01:20:34.350
while he was playing, you know

1899
01:20:34.350 --> 01:20:36.810
he put all, anything he had

1900
01:20:36.810 --> 01:20:38.918
into his, into his drumming.

1901
01:20:38.918 --> 01:20:41.610
(jazz music)

1902
01:20:41.610 --> 01:20:42.443
The hard work

1903
01:20:42.443 --> 01:20:44.670
really began to tell on Chick.

1904
01:20:44.670 --> 01:20:45.900
Every time when we closed

1905
01:20:45.900 --> 01:20:47.790
the valet had to go and pick Chick up,

1906
01:20:47.790 --> 01:20:49.216
and carry him off stage.

1907
01:20:49.216 --> 01:20:51.840
(jazz music)

1908
01:20:51.840 --> 01:20:54.183
The band must not hear about this.

1909
01:20:55.770 --> 01:20:57.600
I got to keep my boys working

1910
01:20:57.600 --> 01:20:59.250
and I don't want people reading about me

1911
01:20:59.250 --> 01:21:00.423
being sick in bed.

1912
01:21:01.860 --> 01:21:04.440
Chick Webb the drummer king

1913
01:21:04.440 --> 01:21:05.840
entered the hospital Friday.

1914
01:21:08.280 --> 01:21:09.360
Webb will remain in bed

1915
01:21:09.360 --> 01:21:11.100
for a semi-annual check up

1916
01:21:11.100 --> 01:21:12.930
rejoining the outfit the following week

1917
01:21:12.930 --> 01:21:15.210
at the Royal Theater Baltimore.

1918
01:21:15.210 --> 01:21:16.983
Webb suffers from Kidney trouble.

1919
01:21:18.360 --> 01:21:19.193
Eventually the group

1920
01:21:19.193 --> 01:21:20.640
set off on a tour of the south,

1921
01:21:20.640 --> 01:21:22.650
opening with a date in Washington

1922
01:21:22.650 --> 01:21:24.630
on one of the river boats.

1923
01:21:24.630 --> 01:21:26.490
At the conclusion of the dance

1924
01:21:26.490 --> 01:21:28.020
Chick allowed himself to be driven over

1925
01:21:28.020 --> 01:21:30.417
to John Hopkins Hospital in Balitmore.

1926
01:21:32.370 --> 01:21:34.560
Chick was in and out of the hospital.

1927
01:21:34.560 --> 01:21:36.270
He had fluid in his back,

1928
01:21:36.270 --> 01:21:38.520
something was happening with that.

1929
01:21:38.520 --> 01:21:41.130
So they figured they had to have it drained

1930
01:21:41.130 --> 01:21:43.080
and it made him worse.

1931
01:21:43.080 --> 01:21:45.030
He was frightened of hospitals.

1932
01:21:45.030 --> 01:21:46.710
He figured like a lot of people

1933
01:21:46.710 --> 01:21:47.640
that if he went in

1934
01:21:47.640 --> 01:21:49.113
he might never come out.

1935
01:21:50.190 --> 01:21:51.863
His wife Sally

1936
01:21:51.863 --> 01:21:54.357
she was by his side all the time

1937
01:21:54.357 --> 01:21:56.253
and she saw what was happening.

1938
01:21:57.540 --> 01:22:01.140
I can't understand the pain God gave me.

1939
01:22:01.140 --> 01:22:03.630
I can't understand my sickness,

1940
01:22:03.630 --> 01:22:05.253
but that's secondary.

1941
01:22:06.150 --> 01:22:07.950
The main thing

1942
01:22:07.950 --> 01:22:11.100
is the Lord gave me the talent to play drums.

1943
01:22:11.100 --> 01:22:13.803
He gave me some years to play,

1944
01:22:14.700 --> 01:22:16.250
and that's what I wanted to do.

1945
01:22:17.610 --> 01:22:19.650
One night I sat with Chick and Sally

1946
01:22:19.650 --> 01:22:20.947
and I said

1947
01:22:20.947 --> 01:22:22.800
"Man you're going to be all right.

1948
01:22:22.800 --> 01:22:25.350
You know everything is going to be all right."

1949
01:22:25.350 --> 01:22:27.000
Chick looked at me and said...

1950
01:22:27.000 --> 01:22:30.030
No, anything happens to me

1951
01:22:30.030 --> 01:22:31.023
take care of Ella.

1952
01:22:31.890 --> 01:22:33.723
Just take care of Ella.

1953
01:22:35.400 --> 01:22:37.560
He was at death's door for two or three days

1954
01:22:37.560 --> 01:22:39.840
and resisting it bravely

1955
01:22:39.840 --> 01:22:41.133
it was just astonishing.

1956
01:22:42.030 --> 01:22:43.770
Then he propped himself up on his pillows

1957
01:22:43.770 --> 01:22:45.750
and he suddenly said..

1958
01:22:45.750 --> 01:22:48.453
I'm sorry, but I gotta go.

1959
01:22:52.800 --> 01:22:55.800
One of my few memories of my childhood

1960
01:22:55.800 --> 01:22:56.633
was

1961
01:22:57.570 --> 01:22:59.230
seeing my father break down

1962
01:23:00.330 --> 01:23:03.220
in tears when he heard the news

1963
01:23:05.730 --> 01:23:06.903
that Chick had died.

1964
01:23:09.120 --> 01:23:12.093
It made a tremendous impression on me,

1965
01:23:14.100 --> 01:23:16.470
and I think that more then anything

1966
01:23:16.470 --> 01:23:19.870
indicates the depth of his love

1967
01:23:21.270 --> 01:23:23.103
and feel, feeling for Chick.

1968
01:23:29.880 --> 01:23:31.080
According to doctors

1969
01:23:31.080 --> 01:23:32.910
at John Hopkins Hospital,

1970
01:23:32.910 --> 01:23:34.980
Webb died of internal complications

1971
01:23:34.980 --> 01:23:37.650
brought on by tuberculosis of the spine

1972
01:23:37.650 --> 01:23:39.360
and kidney and bladder trouble.

1973
01:23:39.360 --> 01:23:42.540
However, to those who knew him better than any doctor could,

1974
01:23:42.540 --> 01:23:45.333
Chick died because he loved his music too well.

1975
01:23:47.340 --> 01:23:49.800
Taken to Waters A.M.E. Church

1976
01:23:49.800 --> 01:23:52.080
near where he once sold papers,

1977
01:23:52.080 --> 01:23:53.310
the king of drums' body

1978
01:23:53.310 --> 01:23:56.580
was greeted by the sadness of more then 10,000 people.

1979
01:23:56.580 --> 01:23:58.260
Never in the history of this city

1980
01:23:58.260 --> 01:24:00.603
has a man been given a more fitting funeral.

1981
01:24:01.860 --> 01:24:03.540
Traffic had to been stopped

1982
01:24:03.540 --> 01:24:06.930
People were sitting on top of trolley cars,

1983
01:24:06.930 --> 01:24:08.370
just to get a glimpse

1984
01:24:08.370 --> 01:24:11.523
at some of the notable people that were attending.

1985
01:24:13.136 --> 01:24:15.570
{Narrator 3] John Trueheart, Bardou Ali,

1986
01:24:15.570 --> 01:24:16.965
and the other members of the Chick Webb band

1987
01:24:16.965 --> 01:24:19.020
served as honorary pallbearers

1988
01:24:19.020 --> 01:24:22.260
dressed in tan Gabardine suits with black armbands,

1989
01:24:22.260 --> 01:24:24.870
along with Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway,

1990
01:24:24.870 --> 01:24:27.000
Jimmie Lunceford, Gene Krupa,

1991
01:24:27.000 --> 01:24:29.553
Charles Buchanan, and Moe Gale.

1992
01:24:31.290 --> 01:24:32.733
I couldn't get inside,

1993
01:24:33.750 --> 01:24:36.480
even being a member of this church.

1994
01:24:36.480 --> 01:24:38.940
This church was packed.

1995
01:24:38.940 --> 01:24:42.450
I remember standing across the street,

1996
01:24:42.450 --> 01:24:44.733
looking overhead at the crowd.

1997
01:24:46.290 --> 01:24:48.660
It was from all walks of life,

1998
01:24:48.660 --> 01:24:51.060
all walks of life, all colors,

1999
01:24:51.060 --> 01:24:52.830
they were all there.

2000
01:24:52.830 --> 01:24:54.960
Segregation wasn't thought about

2001
01:24:54.960 --> 01:24:56.220
at that funeral.

2002
01:24:56.220 --> 01:24:59.523
We were just, just everybody was one,

2003
01:25:00.495 --> 01:25:02.790
and all at once

2004
01:25:02.790 --> 01:25:05.970
the heavens opened up, the rains came.

2005
01:25:05.970 --> 01:25:08.460
They stood in the rain.

2006
01:25:08.460 --> 01:25:10.140
They didn't run nowhere,

2007
01:25:10.140 --> 01:25:12.840
they weathered the storm.

2008
01:25:12.840 --> 01:25:13.673
That's what they did,

2009
01:25:13.673 --> 01:25:15.483
they weathered the storm.

2010
01:25:18.810 --> 01:25:20.760
Inside the church

2011
01:25:20.760 --> 01:25:22.710
Chick's mother, Mrs Marie Webb

2012
01:25:22.710 --> 01:25:24.460
sobbed as if her heart would break.

2013
01:25:26.250 --> 01:25:29.940
Ella looking tired from her vigil with the family

2014
01:25:29.940 --> 01:25:32.820
comforted Sally Webb wife of Chick,

2015
01:25:32.820 --> 01:25:35.670
who has been almost prostrate with grief since his death.

2016
01:25:36.990 --> 01:25:38.520
Ella wept

2017
01:25:38.520 --> 01:25:40.470
but it wasn't until she went up to the pulpit

2018
01:25:40.470 --> 01:25:43.113
to sing "My Buddy" that she broke down completely.

2019
01:25:44.430 --> 01:25:45.960
In a voice that was so unsteady

2020
01:25:45.960 --> 01:25:48.390
it could scarcely follow the strings of the song

2021
01:25:48.390 --> 01:25:49.413
she sang the ballad.

2022
01:25:50.575 --> 01:25:53.922
♪ Nights are long since you went away ♪

2023
01:25:53.922 --> 01:25:58.108
♪ I think about you each and every day ♪

2024
01:25:58.108 --> 01:26:01.265
♪ My buddy, your buddy ♪

2025
01:26:01.265 --> 01:26:03.765
♪ Misses you. ♪

2026
01:26:04.770 --> 01:26:06.330
We've lost a

2027
01:26:06.330 --> 01:26:07.650
a great man.

2028
01:26:07.650 --> 01:26:09.030
A good,

2029
01:26:09.030 --> 01:26:09.863
honest

2030
01:26:11.070 --> 01:26:13.380
down to earth man.

2031
01:26:13.380 --> 01:26:16.380
And it's a strange thing,

2032
01:26:16.380 --> 01:26:18.750
after that thunderstorm

2033
01:26:18.750 --> 01:26:23.250
one of beautifulest rainbows appeared,

2034
01:26:23.250 --> 01:26:26.583
and the sun came out bright.

2035
01:26:27.510 --> 01:26:30.240
I said heaven just glorified

2036
01:26:30.240 --> 01:26:31.653
the coming of Chick Webb.

2037
01:26:33.000 --> 01:26:35.417
(jazz music)

2038
01:26:46.170 --> 01:26:48.690
The knocks and the bruises

2039
01:26:48.690 --> 01:26:50.490
he went through

2040
01:26:50.490 --> 01:26:52.620
was the beauty of his life.

2041
01:26:52.620 --> 01:26:53.910
It's not

2042
01:26:53.910 --> 01:26:57.661
I can't, but I will, and I can.

2043
01:26:57.661 --> 01:27:00.078
(jazz music)

2044
01:27:22.800 --> 01:27:24.180
When I go to heaven

2045
01:27:24.180 --> 01:27:25.480
I hope it's like the Savoy.

2046
01:27:25.480 --> 01:27:26.580
(chuckles)

2047
01:27:26.580 --> 01:27:27.810
I'm going to see all these cats,

2048
01:27:27.810 --> 01:27:30.866
I'm going to see Chick, and Duke, and Cam, and Callen.

2049
01:27:30.866 --> 01:27:33.720
(laughing)

2050
01:27:33.720 --> 01:27:35.707
Enter with lots and all them cats waiting up there.

2051
01:27:35.707 --> 01:27:36.750
"Hey Frankie man,

2052
01:27:36.750 --> 01:27:38.091
we've been waiting for you."

2053
01:27:38.091 --> 01:27:40.080
(laughing)

2054
01:27:40.080 --> 01:27:40.913
I said

2055
01:27:40.913 --> 01:27:42.347
"Let's get it on, let's get it on."

2056
01:27:42.347 --> 01:27:44.597
(laughing)

2057
01:27:49.980 --> 01:27:51.867
Featuring Chick Webb at the drums,

2058
01:27:51.867 --> 01:27:53.967
and the first lady of swing

2059
01:27:53.967 --> 01:27:55.890
Ella Fitzgerald.

2060
01:27:55.890 --> 01:27:57.210
This program originated

2061
01:27:57.210 --> 01:27:58.050
through facilities

2062
01:27:58.050 --> 01:28:00.810
of Face and WNAC in Boston,

2063
01:28:00.810 --> 01:28:02.280
and reached you

2064
01:28:02.280 --> 01:28:04.413
through the National Broadcasting Company.

2065
01:28:06.293 --> 01:28:09.043
(soothing music)

2066
01:28:15.189 --> 01:28:16.610
♪ Savoy ♪

2067
01:28:16.610 --> 01:28:19.290
♪ Is the home of sweet romance ♪

2068
01:28:19.290 --> 01:28:21.138
♪ Savoy ♪

2069
01:28:21.138 --> 01:28:24.213
♪ It wins you at a glance ♪

2070
01:28:24.213 --> 01:28:25.863
♪ Savoy ♪

2071
01:28:25.863 --> 01:28:29.047
♪ Gives happy feet a chance ♪

2072
01:28:29.047 --> 01:28:33.828
♪ To dance ♪

2073
01:28:33.828 --> 01:28:35.655
♪ Your form ♪

2074
01:28:35.655 --> 01:28:38.441
♪ Just like a clinging vine ♪

2075
01:28:38.441 --> 01:28:40.283
♪ Your lips ♪

2076
01:28:40.283 --> 01:28:43.389
♪ So warm and sweet as wine ♪

2077
01:28:43.389 --> 01:28:45.071
♪ Your cheeks ♪

2078
01:28:45.071 --> 01:28:48.172
♪ So soft and close to mine ♪

2079
01:28:48.172 --> 01:28:53.172
♪ Divine ♪

2080
01:28:54.135 --> 01:28:58.931
♪ How my heart is singing ♪

2081
01:28:58.931 --> 01:29:03.781
♪ While the band is swinging ♪

2082
01:29:03.781 --> 01:29:08.192
♪ Never tired of romping ♪

2083
01:29:08.192 --> 01:29:11.040
♪ And stomping with you ♪

2084
01:29:11.040 --> 01:29:12.895
♪ At the Savoy ♪

2085
01:29:12.895 --> 01:29:14.099
♪ What joy ♪

2086
01:29:14.099 --> 01:29:16.913
♪ A perfect holiday ♪

2087
01:29:16.913 --> 01:29:18.664
♪ Savoy ♪

2088
01:29:18.664 --> 01:29:21.589
♪ Where we can glide and sway ♪

2089
01:29:21.589 --> 01:29:23.648
♪ Savoy ♪

2090
01:29:23.648 --> 01:29:26.427
♪ They let me stomp away ♪

2091
01:29:26.427 --> 01:29:28.677
♪ With you ♪

2092
01:29:32.399 --> 01:29:35.066
(Ella scatting)

2093
01:30:07.386 --> 01:30:09.886
(jazz music)

2094
01:30:27.287 --> 01:30:30.037
(drums playing)

2095
01:30:34.642 --> 01:30:37.142
(jazz music)

2096
01:30:46.653 --> 01:30:47.591
♪ Dance Savoy ♪

2097
01:30:47.591 --> 01:30:48.424
♪ The home of sweet romance. ♪

2098
01:30:48.424 --> 01:30:49.670
♪ Dance Savoy ♪

2099
01:30:49.670 --> 01:30:50.651
♪ Wins you at a glance ♪

2100
01:30:50.651 --> 01:30:52.043
♪ Swinging Savoy ♪

2101
01:30:52.043 --> 01:30:52.876
♪ Happy feet a chance ♪

2102
01:30:52.876 --> 01:30:53.709
♪ Dance Savoy ♪

2103
01:30:53.709 --> 01:30:55.138
♪ To dance at the Savoy ♪

2104
01:30:55.138 --> 01:30:56.096
♪ Another Chick Webb ♪

2105
01:30:56.096 --> 01:30:56.958
♪ Like a clinging vine ♪

2106
01:30:56.958 --> 01:30:58.272
♪ Yeah you remember Lulu ♪

2107
01:30:58.272 --> 01:30:59.624
♪ So warm and sweet as wine ♪

2108
01:30:59.624 --> 01:31:00.850
♪ What about McGannon? ♪

2109
01:31:00.850 --> 01:31:05.433
♪ And close to mine ♪