"Where stars are born and legends made"...
When Sidney Cohen bought the Seamon's Music Hall in 1933 he renamed it the Apollo Theater and in his letter to "friends and patrons" he called the renovated theater, "the finest theater in Harlem" with "high fidelity RCA sound equipment equal to Radio City Music Hall". It was on this night in 1934 that it was time to show off his new theater...
The Apollo's first show featured "Jazz a la Carte" with Benny Carter's big band and from that night on, the Apollo became the mecca for jazz bands in the '30s and '40s. By the '50s the theater was the nation's top stage for established black artists and with "Amateur Night" once a week, a staple since the theater's opening, unknown performers had a springboard to expose their talent...
Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Pearl Bailey and Nancy Wilson are just some of the artists who are graduates of Apollo's "Amateur Night". The list of artists who have perfomed at the legendary theater is endless and includes Duke Ellington, Count Basie, James Brown, all the major Motown acts and local R&B groups like the Chantels and Channels...
The official website of Harlem's world famous Apollo Theater traces the history of the theater in addition to providing schedule and ticket information for current shows: www.apollotheater.com
Some personal memories of the Apollo Theater in my commentary...
More January 26 Memories...
1784) In a letter to his daughter, Benjamin Franklin expresses his unhappiness over the eagle as the symbol of America rather than the turkey which he proposed (I mean come on people, wouldn't you rather be gnawing on some fresh eagle on Thanksgiving ?)...
1875) George F. Green patents the electric dental drill (it hurts just to type this)...
1934) The Apollo Theater opens in Harlem (feature story)...
1960) 33-year old Los Angeles Rams GM Pete Rozelle is elected commissioner of the NFL succeeding Bert Bell (Rozelle is named on the 23rd ballot)...
1961) Elvis Presley is #1 with "Are You Lonesome Tonight?"...
1962) Ranger 3 is launched to land scientific instruments on the moon but the probe misses its target by 22,000 miles (oops !)...
1970) The Jackson 5 top the charts with "I Want You Back"...
1970) John Lennon writes and records "Instant Karma"...
1979) Former Vice President and New York Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller dies suddenly at age 70...
1979) "The Dukes of Hazzard" premieres on CBS-TV (eee ha). The show will run until August 16, 1985 (the Jessica Simpson movie was over before it started)...
1983) Bear Bryant dies of a heart attack 41 days after retiring as Alabama coach. Bryant who stepped down with 323 victories and 6 national titles was 69...
1984) Michael Jackson's hair catches on fire while filming a Pepsi commercial (contrary to rumors, he was not singing "Light My Fire")...
1984) Mickey Spillane's "Mike Hammer" debuts on CBS-TV (previously a syndicated show that premiered in 1957)...
1986) The good news is the Patriots play in their 1st Super Bowl. The bad news is they get crushed by the Bears 46-10 and even William (The Refrigerator) Perry scores a touchdown...
1988) The Andrew Lloyd Webber musical "Phantom of the Opera" opens at the Majestic Theater on Broadway...
1996) First lady Hillary Rodham Clinton testifies before a grand jury connected to the Whitewater probe...
1997) The Green Bay Packers beat the Patriots 35-21 in Super Bowl XXXI (not a good date for the home team in Super Bowl history but it gets better and it was a good halftime show with ZZ Top, James Brown and the Blues Brothers performing)...
1998) President Bill Clinton makes his famous "I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky" speech...
1999) The NTSB concludes that John Denver's 1997 fatal airplane crash was caused by too little fuel in the tank at the time of takeoff...
2003) Billy Joel is hospitalized after crashing his car into a tree in Sag Harbor (a lift?, uh, no thanks Billy)...
To ensure accuracy multiple reference sources were used in the timeline...
Happy Birthday To...
1925) Paul Newman...
1935) The highly entertaining baseball play-by-play guy Bob Uecker...
1957) Eddie Van Halen...
1958) Ellen DeGeneres...
1961) Hockey Hall of Famer Wayne Gretzky...
Commentary...
I was not yet out of high school the first time I went to the Apollo Theater to see one of their great shows. There was something that set the Apollo apart from other Rock and Roll venues like the Brooklyn and New York Paramount Theaters, the Brooklyn Fox, Academy of Music and others and it was the relaxed atmosphere for the artists who felt at home playing there. The crowds were just as loud and enthusiastic but it was just different and somehow better. The acts would do several shows a day and there was a movie (usually a bad one) that was the opening act for each show. The credits would roll and you would see the band (usually led by Ruben Phillips) through the curtain as they warmed up and then it was "show time at the Apollo" and I was never disappointed by any show I ever saw there. I even got to go back stage one time, watching the acts preparing to go on. The Apollo Theater became a national historic landmark in 1983 and manages to survive through a series of rough times through the years. The old theater is still rocking though on 125th Street and 7th Avenue...
Today is the 26th day of 2006 with 329 days left in the year but only 53 days until Spring and just 21 days until pitchers and catchers report...
