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The Cotton Club was a famous night club in New York City
New York City

The City of New York is the List of United States cities by population in the United States, while the New York metropolitan area ranks among the List of urban areas by population....
 that operated during Prohibition
Prohibition

Prohibition of alcohol, often referred to simply as prohibition, also known as The Noble Experiment, refers to a sumptuary law which prohibits alcohol....
. While the club featured many of the greatest African American
African American

African Americans or Black Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have origins in any of the Black people populations of Africa....
 entertainers of the era, such as Duke Ellington
Duke Ellington

Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington was an American composer, pianist, and bandleader.Duke Ellington was recognized during his life as one of the most influential Jazz royalty, if not in all American music and he is of only four jazz musicians ever to have been featured on the cover of Time magazine ....
, Count Basie
Count Basie

William "Count" Basie was an United States Jazz piano, organist, bandleader, and composer. Widely regarded as one of the most important jazz bandleaders of his time, Basie led his popular Count Basie Orchestra for almost 50 years....
, Bessie Smith
Bessie Smith

Bessie Smith was an United States blues singer.The most popular female blues singer of the 1920s and 1930s, Smith is often regarded as one of the greatest singers of her era, and along with Louis Armstrong, a major influence on subsequent jazz vocalists....
, Cab Calloway
Cab Calloway

Cabell "Cab" Calloway III was a famous American jazz singer and bandleader.Calloway was a master of energetic scat singing and led one of the United States' most popular African American big bands from the start of the 1930s through the late 1940s....
, The Nicholas Brothers, Ella Fitzgerald
Ella Fitzgerald

Ella Jane Fitzgerald , also known as "Jazz royalty" and the "First Lady of Song", is considered one of the most influential jazz vocalists of the 20th century....
, Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong

Louis Daniel Armstrong , nicknamed Satchmo or Pops, was an American jazz trumpeter and singer.Coming to prominence in the 1920s as an innovative cornet and trumpet player, Armstrong was a foundational influence on jazz, shifting the music's focus from collective improvisation to solo performers....
, Nat King Cole
Nat King Cole

Nathaniel Adams Coles , known professionally as Nat King Cole, was an United States musician who first came to prominence as a leading jazz pianist....
, Billie Holiday
Billie Holiday

Billie Holiday was an American jazz singer and songwriter.Nicknamed Lady Day by her loyal friend and musical partner Lester Young, Holiday was a seminal influence on jazz and pop singing....
, and Ethel Waters
Ethel Waters

Ethel Waters was an United States blues and jazz vocalist and actress. She frequently performed jazz, big band, rock and roll and pop music, on the Broadway theatre stage and in concerts, although she began her career in the 1920s singing blues....
, it generally denied admission to blacks. During its heyday, it served as a chic meeting spot in the heart of Harlem, featuring regular "Celebrity Nights" on Sundays, at which celebrities such as Jimmy Durante
Jimmy Durante

James Francis ?Jimmy? Durante was an United States singer, pianist, comedian and actor, whose distinctive gravel delivery, comic language butchery, jazz-influenced songs, and large nose ? his frequent jokes about it included a frequent self-reference that became his nickname: "Schnozzola" ? helped make him one of America's most familiar and...
, George Gershwin
George Gershwin

George Gershwin was an American composer and pianist. He wrote most of his vocal and theatrical works in collaboration with his elder brother, lyricist Ira Gershwin....
, Al Jolson
Al Jolson

Al Jolson , born in Lithuania, Russian Empire, was a highly acclaimed American singer, comedian, and actor, and, according to PBS, the "first openly Jewish man to become an entertainment star in America." His career lasted from 1911 until his death in 1950, during which time he was commonly dubbed "the world's greatest entertainer.? Numerous...
, Mae West
Mae West

Mae West was an United States actor, playwright, screenwriter, and sex symbol.Known for her bawdy double entendres, West made a name for herself in Vaudeville and on the theatre in New York City before moving to Hollywood to become a comedienne, actress and writer in the film industry....
, Irving Berlin
Irving Berlin

Irving Berlin was a Jewish American composer and lyricist, and one of the most prolific American songwriters in history. Berlin was one of the few Tin Pan Alley/Broadway theater songwriters who wrote both lyrics and music for his songs....
, Eddie Cantor
Eddie Cantor

Eddie Cantor was an United States comedian, singer, actor, and songwriter. Familiar to Broadway theatre, radio and early television audiences, this "Apostle of Pep" was regarded almost as a family member by millions because his top-rated radio shows revealed intimate stories and amusing anecdotes about his wife Ida and five children....
, Moss Hart
Moss Hart

Moss Hart was an American playwright and theatre director of plays and musical theater....
, New York mayor Jimmy Walker
Jimmy Walker

James John Walker, often known as Jimmy Walker and colloquially as Beau James , was the mayor of New York City during the Jazz Age....
 and other luminaries would appear.

Heavyweight
Heavyweight

Heavyweight is a division, or boxing weight classes, in boxing. Fighters who weigh over 200 pounds are considered heavyweights by the major professional boxing organizations: the International Boxing Organization, the World Boxing Association, the World Boxing Council, and the World Boxing Organization....
 champion Jack Johnson
Jack Johnson (boxer)

John Arthur Johnson , better known as Jack Johnson and nicknamed the ?Galveston Giant?, was an United States boxing and arguably the best heavyweight of his generation....
 opened the Club De Luxe at 142nd Street and Lenox Avenue in Harlem
Harlem

Harlem is a Neighbourhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan, long known as a major African-American residential, cultural, and business center....
 in 1920.






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The Cotton Club was a famous night club in New York City
New York City

The City of New York is the List of United States cities by population in the United States, while the New York metropolitan area ranks among the List of urban areas by population....
 that operated during Prohibition
Prohibition

Prohibition of alcohol, often referred to simply as prohibition, also known as The Noble Experiment, refers to a sumptuary law which prohibits alcohol....
. While the club featured many of the greatest African American
African American

African Americans or Black Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have origins in any of the Black people populations of Africa....
 entertainers of the era, such as Duke Ellington
Duke Ellington

Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington was an American composer, pianist, and bandleader.Duke Ellington was recognized during his life as one of the most influential Jazz royalty, if not in all American music and he is of only four jazz musicians ever to have been featured on the cover of Time magazine ....
, Count Basie
Count Basie

William "Count" Basie was an United States Jazz piano, organist, bandleader, and composer. Widely regarded as one of the most important jazz bandleaders of his time, Basie led his popular Count Basie Orchestra for almost 50 years....
, Bessie Smith
Bessie Smith

Bessie Smith was an United States blues singer.The most popular female blues singer of the 1920s and 1930s, Smith is often regarded as one of the greatest singers of her era, and along with Louis Armstrong, a major influence on subsequent jazz vocalists....
, Cab Calloway
Cab Calloway

Cabell "Cab" Calloway III was a famous American jazz singer and bandleader.Calloway was a master of energetic scat singing and led one of the United States' most popular African American big bands from the start of the 1930s through the late 1940s....
, The Nicholas Brothers, Ella Fitzgerald
Ella Fitzgerald

Ella Jane Fitzgerald , also known as "Jazz royalty" and the "First Lady of Song", is considered one of the most influential jazz vocalists of the 20th century....
, Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong

Louis Daniel Armstrong , nicknamed Satchmo or Pops, was an American jazz trumpeter and singer.Coming to prominence in the 1920s as an innovative cornet and trumpet player, Armstrong was a foundational influence on jazz, shifting the music's focus from collective improvisation to solo performers....
, Nat King Cole
Nat King Cole

Nathaniel Adams Coles , known professionally as Nat King Cole, was an United States musician who first came to prominence as a leading jazz pianist....
, Billie Holiday
Billie Holiday

Billie Holiday was an American jazz singer and songwriter.Nicknamed Lady Day by her loyal friend and musical partner Lester Young, Holiday was a seminal influence on jazz and pop singing....
, and Ethel Waters
Ethel Waters

Ethel Waters was an United States blues and jazz vocalist and actress. She frequently performed jazz, big band, rock and roll and pop music, on the Broadway theatre stage and in concerts, although she began her career in the 1920s singing blues....
, it generally denied admission to blacks. During its heyday, it served as a chic meeting spot in the heart of Harlem, featuring regular "Celebrity Nights" on Sundays, at which celebrities such as Jimmy Durante
Jimmy Durante

James Francis ?Jimmy? Durante was an United States singer, pianist, comedian and actor, whose distinctive gravel delivery, comic language butchery, jazz-influenced songs, and large nose ? his frequent jokes about it included a frequent self-reference that became his nickname: "Schnozzola" ? helped make him one of America's most familiar and...
, George Gershwin
George Gershwin

George Gershwin was an American composer and pianist. He wrote most of his vocal and theatrical works in collaboration with his elder brother, lyricist Ira Gershwin....
, Al Jolson
Al Jolson

Al Jolson , born in Lithuania, Russian Empire, was a highly acclaimed American singer, comedian, and actor, and, according to PBS, the "first openly Jewish man to become an entertainment star in America." His career lasted from 1911 until his death in 1950, during which time he was commonly dubbed "the world's greatest entertainer.? Numerous...
, Mae West
Mae West

Mae West was an United States actor, playwright, screenwriter, and sex symbol.Known for her bawdy double entendres, West made a name for herself in Vaudeville and on the theatre in New York City before moving to Hollywood to become a comedienne, actress and writer in the film industry....
, Irving Berlin
Irving Berlin

Irving Berlin was a Jewish American composer and lyricist, and one of the most prolific American songwriters in history. Berlin was one of the few Tin Pan Alley/Broadway theater songwriters who wrote both lyrics and music for his songs....
, Eddie Cantor
Eddie Cantor

Eddie Cantor was an United States comedian, singer, actor, and songwriter. Familiar to Broadway theatre, radio and early television audiences, this "Apostle of Pep" was regarded almost as a family member by millions because his top-rated radio shows revealed intimate stories and amusing anecdotes about his wife Ida and five children....
, Moss Hart
Moss Hart

Moss Hart was an American playwright and theatre director of plays and musical theater....
, New York mayor Jimmy Walker
Jimmy Walker

James John Walker, often known as Jimmy Walker and colloquially as Beau James , was the mayor of New York City during the Jazz Age....
 and other luminaries would appear.

Heavyweight
Heavyweight

Heavyweight is a division, or boxing weight classes, in boxing. Fighters who weigh over 200 pounds are considered heavyweights by the major professional boxing organizations: the International Boxing Organization, the World Boxing Association, the World Boxing Council, and the World Boxing Organization....
 champion Jack Johnson
Jack Johnson (boxer)

John Arthur Johnson , better known as Jack Johnson and nicknamed the ?Galveston Giant?, was an United States boxing and arguably the best heavyweight of his generation....
 opened the Club De Luxe at 142nd Street and Lenox Avenue in Harlem
Harlem

Harlem is a Neighbourhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan, long known as a major African-American residential, cultural, and business center....
 in 1920. Owney Madden
Owney Madden

Owney "The Killer" Madden was a leading underworld figure in Manhattan, most notable for his involvement in organized crime during Prohibition....
, a prominent bootlegger and gangster, took over the club in 1923 while imprisoned in Sing Sing
Sing Sing

Sing Sing Correctional Facility is a Supermax prison in the Ossining , New York, Ossining , New York, New York, United States. It is located approximately 30 miles north of New York City on the banks of the Hudson River....
 and changed its name to the Cotton Club. While the club was closed briefly in 1925 for selling liquor, it reopened without trouble from the police. The dancers and strippers occasionally performed for Madden in Sing Sing
Sing Sing

Sing Sing Correctional Facility is a Supermax prison in the Ossining , New York, Ossining , New York, New York, United States. It is located approximately 30 miles north of New York City on the banks of the Hudson River....
 after his return there in 1933.

The club reproduced the racist imagery of the times, often depicting blacks as savages in exotic jungles or as "darkies" in the plantation
Plantation

A plantation is usually a large farm or Estate , especially in a tropical or semitropical country, like Brazil or Nicaragua on which cotton, tobacco, lice coffee, sugar cane and the like are cultivated, usually by resident laborers....
 South
Southern United States

The Southern United States—commonly referred to as the American South, Dixie, or simply the South—constitutes a large distinctive region in the southeastern and south-central United States....
. The club imposed a more subtle color bar on the chorus girls whom the club presented in skimpy outfits: they were expected to be "tall, tan, and terrific", which meant that they had to be at least 5 feet 6 inches tall, light skinned, and under twenty-one years of age. Ellington was expected to write "jungle music" for an audience of whites.

Nonetheless, the club also helped launch the careers of Fletcher Henderson
Fletcher Henderson

Fletcher Hamilton Henderson, Jr. was an United States pianist, bandleader, arrangement and composer, important in the development of big band jazz and Swing ....
, who led the first band that played there in 1923, and Ellington, whose orchestra was the house band there from 1927 to 1931. The club not only gave Ellington national exposure through radio broadcasts originating there, but enabled him to develop his repertoire while composing not only the dance tunes for the shows, but also the overtures, transitions, accompaniments, and "jungle" effects that gave him the freedom to experiment with orchestral colours and arrangements that touring bands rarely had. Ellington recorded over 100 compositions during this era, while building the group that he led for nearly fifty years. The club eventually relaxed its policy of excluding black customers slightly in deference to Ellington's request. Cab Calloway's orchestra brought its Brown Sugar revue to the club in 1930, replacing Ellington's group after its departure in 1931; Jimmie Lunceford
Jimmie Lunceford

James Melvin "Jimmie" Lunceford was an United States jazz alto saxophonist and bandleader of the swing era.Lunceford was born in Fulton, Missouri, but attended school in Denver and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree at Fisk University....
's band replaced Calloway's in 1934, while Ellington, Armstrong, and Calloway returned to perform at the club in later years. The club was also the first show business opportunity for Lena Horne
Lena Horne

Lena Mary Calhoun Horne is an American singer and actress. She has recorded and performed extensively, independently and with other jazz notables, including Artie Shaw, Teddy Wilson, Billy Strayhorn, Duke Ellington, Charlie Barnet, Benny Carter, and Billy Eckstine....
, who began there as a chorus girl at the age of sixteen. Dorothy Dandridge
Dorothy Dandridge

Dorothy Jean Dandridge was an United States actress and popular singer. Dandridge was the first African American to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress....
 performed there while still one of The Dandridge Sisters, while Coleman Hawkins
Coleman Hawkins

Coleman Randolph Hawkins , nicknamed "Hawk" and sometimes "Bean", was a prominent jazz Tenor saxophone.He is commonly regarded as the first important and influential jazz musician to use the instrument: Joachim E....
 and Don Redman
Don Redman

Donald Matthew Redman was an American jazz musician, arranger, and composer.Redman was born in Piedmont, West Virginia. His father was a music teacher, his mother was a singer....
 played there as part of Henderson's band. Tap dancers Bill "Bojangles" Robinson
Bill Robinson

Bill ?Bojangles? Robinson was an American tap dancing and actor of stage and film....
, Sammy Davis Jr. (as part of the Will Mastin Trio), and the Nicholas Brothers
Nicholas Brothers

The Nicholas Brothers were a famous African-American team of dancing brothers, Fayard Nicholas and Harold Nicholas . With their highly acrobatic technique , high level of artistry and daring innovations, they were considered by many the greatest tap dancers of their day....
 starred there as well.

The club also drew from white popular culture of the day. Walter Brooks, who had produced the successful Broadway
Broadway theatre

Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 39 large professional theaters with 500 seats or more located in the Theatre District, New York in Manhattan, New York City....
 show Shuffle Along
Shuffle Along

Shuffle Along was the first major African American hit musical theatre. Written by F. E. Miller and Aubrey Lyles, with music and lyrics by Noble Sissle and Eubie Blake, the musical premiered on 23 May 1921 on Broadway theatre and ran for 504 performances....
, was the nominal owner. Dorothy Fields
Dorothy Fields

Dorothy Fields was an United States libretto and lyrics.She wrote over 400 songs for Broadway theatre musical theaters and films. Along with Ann Ronell, Dana Suesse, Bernice Petkere, and Kay Swift, she was one of the first successful Hollywood and Tin Pan Alley female songwriters....
 and Jimmy McHugh
Jimmy McHugh

James Francis McHugh was a United States composer. One of the most prolific songwriters from the 1920s to the 1950s, he composed over 270 songs....
, one of the most prominent songwriting teams of the era, and Harold Arlen
Harold Arlen

Harold Arlen was an United States Jewish composer of popular music.Having written over 400 songs, a number of which have become known the world over, Arlen is a highly regarded contributor to the Great American Songbook....
 provided the songs for the revue
Revue

A revue is a type of multi-act popular theatre entertainment that combines music, dance and sketch comedy. The revue has its roots in nineteenth-century American popular entertainment and melodrama, but grew into a substantial cultural presence of its own during its golden years from ca....
s, one of which, "Blackbirds of 1928", featuring the songs "I Can't Give You Anything But Love" and "Diga Diga Doo", was produced by Lew Leslie
Lew Leslie

Lew Leslie was a Broadway theatre writer and producer. Although Caucasian race, he was the first to present African American artists on stage. He became famous for his stage shows at the Cotton Club and later for his Blackbirds revues, which he mounted in 1928, 1930, 1933, and 1939....
 on Broadway.

Closed temporarily in 1936 after the race riot
Race riot

A race riot or racial riot is an outbreak of violent civil disorder in which Race is a key factor. The term had entered the English language in the United States by the 1890s....
 in Harlem the previous year, the Cotton Club reopened later that year at Broadway and 48th Street. It closed for good in 1940, under pressure from higher rents, changing tastes and a federal investigation into tax evasion by Manhattan
Manhattan

Manhattan is one of the five borough of New York City, located primarily on Manhattan Island at the mouth of the Hudson River.With a United States Census of 1,620,867 living in a land area of 22.96 square miles , Manhattan, coextensive with New York County, is the most population density county in the United States, w...
 nightclub owners. The Latin Quarter
Latin Quarter (nightclub)

Latin Quarter is a nightclub in New York City.The Club which originally opened in 1942 featured big name acts. In recent years it has a focus of hip hop and rap music....
 nightclub opened in its space and the building was torn down in 1989 to make way for a hotel. A new club with the same name opened in 1978 in Harlem.

A West Coast branch of the Cotton Club existed in Culver City, California
Culver City, California

Culver City is a city in western Los Angeles County, California. As of the 2000 census, the city had a population of 38,816. The community is mostly surrounded by the city of Los Angeles, but also has a border with unincorporated areas of Los Angeles County....
 in the late 1920s and early 1930s, featuring performers from the original Cotton Club such as Armstrong, Calloway and Ellington.

The Cotton Club
The Cotton Club (film)

The Cotton Club is a 1984 in film crime film-drama film, centered on a popular real-life Harlem, Manhattan jazz club in the 1930s, the Cotton Club....
 is a movie directed by Francis Ford Coppola
Francis Ford Coppola

Francis Ford "Frank" Coppola is a five-time Academy Award-winning United States film director, Film producer and screenwriter. Away from showbusiness, Coppola is also a vintner, publisher and Hotel manager....
, which offers a fictionalized history of the club in the context of race relations in the 1930s and the battles between Madden, Dutch Schultz
Dutch Schultz

Dutch Schultz was a New York City-area gangster of the 1920s and 1930s. Born Arthur Flegenheimer, he made his fortune in organized crime-related activities such as rum-running alcohol and the numbers racket....
, Vincent "Mad Dog" Coll
Mad Dog Coll

Vincent "Mad Dog" Coll was an Ireland mob hitman in early 20th-century New York City. Coll gained notoriety for the accidental killing of a young child during a mob kidnap attempt....
, Lucky Luciano
Lucky Luciano

Charles "Lucky" Luciano was a Sicilian mobster. Luciano is considered the father of modern organized crime and the mastermind of the massive postwar expansion of the international heroin trade....
, and Ellsworth "Bumpy" Johnson.

External links

  • by Ted Gioia