CHICK WEBB AND OTHERS

A group of concert handbills and other ephemera for legendary Lennox Avenue dance hall the Savoy Ballroom in Harlem, New York, c.1930-1949.

Opened in 1926, the Savoy Ballroom on Lennox Avenue in Harlem, billed itself as the “World’s Finest Ballroom". In her article Swinging at the Savoy, Barbara Englebrecht notes that the club was the 'soul' of a neighbourhood, explaining that the integrated Savoy ‘was one of the more important ballrooms where black musicians and dancers converged and defined a period: music and dance at the Savoy drew attention to the fact that the tradition of black musical and dance forms were interrelated, and together were responsible for the swing phenomenon… For young black dancers who went to the Savoy night after night… dancing at the Savoy became a way of life.’ Many dances such as the Lindy Hop were developed and became famous there, leading to it becoming known downtown as “The Home of Happy Feet”.

The collection comprising: two scarce handbills advertising the annual Labor Day Barn Dances at the Savoy Ballroom, 1941 and 1942, the latter event featuring Cootie Williams and his Orchestra and the Savoy Sultans. Provenance: The Norman R. Saks Collection. [With:] a handbill for a “battle of the bands” at the Savoy Ballroom, 13 April 1935, featuring Chick Webb, Fletcher Henderson, Fess Williams and Teddy Hill, 210 x 280 mm. Provenance: The Norman R. Saks Collection. [With:] a handbill promoting a new dance sensation ‘The Big Apple – it’s the Dance of Swing’, 1937, 212 x 270 mm. Provenance: The Norman R. Saks Collection (Vail, pl.293). [With:] a souvenir photofolder, 238 x 278 mm, with original gelatin silver table photograph in the window mount, c.1930s. Provenance: The Norman R. Saks Collection (Vail, pl.292). [With:] a handbill for the Savoy Ballroom’s New Year Celebration 1937 with Chick Webb’s Orchestra, 224 x 226 mm, together with a handbill for Webb at the Alcazar Ballroom, Baltimore, 1937. [With:] a drinks menu, c.1935. Provenance: The Norman R. Saks Collection (Vail, pl.294). [And:] a concert handbill for a Sunday matinee performance by Jack Teagarden, 27 October 1949.