City - Chicago, IL - Entertaining Chicago 1941 Jigsaw Puzzle
Colorized photo from 1941 Original title: The movies are popular in the Negro section of Chicago, IL Photographer: Russell Lee Location: 4719 South Parkway (now Martin Luther King Drive, Chicago, IL In the past they would often call this location, The Harlem of Chicago. First we have the Regal Theater, it was more than just a movie theater, they also had big Broadway type shows there. Many famous singers performed there: Louis Armstrong, County Baise, Cab Calloway, Miles Davis, Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie, Lena Horne, the Ink Spots, Moms Mabley, the Mills Brothers, and Bessie Smith. The Regal theater was built in 1928, it was a center of entertainment, the interior looked like a palace; covered in gold leaf, design and color. The stage had a large arch over it, it had the look of an Oriental temple, covered in gold, blue and maroon. They equipped the stage with a state of the art ventilation system, dressing rooms, an orchestra pit, and even had a Wurlitzer organ that was able to rise up out of the floor using a hydraulic system. But what made it unusual (for its time anyway), is that they hired an all black staff. Where as most places at that time would hire white people, placing black people in background jobs like janitor, this place had all black staff. From ushers to to the management staff. The theater ran till about 1968, when a suspicious fire broke out and burned a lot of it. Though it could have been fixed, it wasn't, and it was demolished a few years later. The Savoy ballroom was mostly known for its roller skating rink. But they also had many of the same entertainers as the Regal: Louis Armstrong, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Earl Hines, Stan Kenton, Dizzy Gillespie, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Gene Krupa, Woody Herman. They also had a roller skating rink, and had other actitivies such as boxing, figure skating and bask. They would perform jazz music while everyone skated. It too was a very fancy building, it had a checkroom that could hold 6000 hats and coats, and of course they also had a very large ballroom. Like the Regal, they had a similar group of people perform there, Jazz artists that included: Louis Armstrong, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Earl Hines, Stan Kenton, Dizzy Gillespie, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Gene Krupa, Woody Herman. They also had a roller skating rink, and had other actitivies such as boxing, figure skating and basketball. Speaking of basketball, they had their own team, they were called the Savoy Big Five who entertained with their crazy stunts. Later on they changed their name calling themselves the Harlem Globetrotters. Every day they would run two bands per night. When one was on a break, the other was playing. They were open seven days a week, and though many of the patrons were black, more and more white folk went there too. The Savoy was closed in 1948, demolished in the 1970's. Currently that location has the Lou Rawls Theater Cultural Center.
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