savoy

The Grande Opening of the Harlem of Chicago
With more than a half an acre of dancing space, the Savoy Ballroom of Chicago can hold over 4000 people. For their opening night hundreds of high society people, celebrities, and famous musicians turned up to attend the gala-ball held on the night of November 23, 1927. This opening marks the seven-day per week shows with matinees on the weekends. Along with food, dancing, and fun there was also stage entertainment. Musicians such as Charles Elgar, Sammy Stuart, and also other orchestras where there for the guests to swing and sway to their music. The line up of these famous jazz musicians shows that the Savoy will be a dependable place for the jazzy music that the public loves. There, also for the guests’ entertainment, were comedians Moss and Frye who had the crowd in a laughing fit. The entertainment choices of the management of the Savoy, made proved to make a very successful night of the gala-ball. During the course of the night the people that came in were all dressed in beautiful clothing. Men were in suits and women in dresses that usually showed their arms and showed their knees when they walked, and especially when they danced, and they had no corsets on. The way that these women were wearing their clothes, loose and covering less of their bodies, benefited the dancing because if they had had corsets on it would have restricted their movement immensely. The high hemlines of these women’s dresses also allowed the kicking and swinging of the new jazzy modern dances. The couples dancing on the floor were doing the Charleston, the Lindy Hop, and other modern dances. Some of the guests were even doing the Black Bottom that originated in New Orleans, which is the heart of jazz. All of these dances required a lot of movement, kicking, throwing the girls in the air, and being close to your partner. This wonderful facility provides a physician and a nurse on hand in case of any injuries. When dancing the way that most do now, and how close the dancing happens during this fast pace music, there is a chance of injury. With the capacity of 4000 people they had a coat rack that could hold over 6000 hats and coats but only had a 1000 space parking lot. Most dance halls or ballrooms through out the city don’t allow the African American employees to serve the customers. Even though most of the costumers of the Savoy Ballroom were black, they had no segregation for the few white people that were there. This caused a big up roar with some of the more conservative generation because they believed ballrooms and dance halls should not be integrated. The management has no intention of having this ballroom being segregated. The management does have future plans for the Savoy Ballroom to have a night for roller-skating dancing. This sounds like a crazy idea, but the public really seemed to jump at the idea when this was announced at the gala.