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Harlem Goes Broadway - Broadway Goes Harlem

"The Ziegfeld Follies of the Colored Race!" With this all-appropriate appellation bestowed upon it by critics and theatricians who speak with authority, the coloradomadura revusical which is the Cotton Club Parade has dared to desert its native heath in the heart of Harlem for the greener pastures of Broadway and 48th Street. A new sepian palace, more brilliant than any before constructed, has been set up at the crossroads of the world at a cost of $100,000. And within it has been lodged a spectacular and fast-stepping chocolate extravaganza that calls forth the entire corps of worthy superlatives. For thirteen years the Cotton Club reigned as the nightlife capitol of Harlem. Celebrities from all portions of the globe made the trip to Lenox Avenue to visit this shrine of sepialand. To thousands the Cotton Club became the epitome of the colored race. When the Cotton Club announced its removal to Broadway, conservative counsellors saw only a drastic step leading to chaos and Cain's Warehouse. Competition would be too stern in the new territory, they argued. The sepian palace would be out of place on the Great White Way. But the more courageous, in whose hands Cotton Club destiny rested, envisaged a greater night club in a region easily accessible and well populated by those entertainment seekers who deem their shekels well invested when they bring an appreciable return in gaiety and diversion. Julian Harrison, ex-scenic designer for Cecil B. De Mille's lavish motion-picture productions, was engaged to design and decorate the new club. Clarence Robinson was brought from the Palladium in London to stage the production under the supervision of Dan Healy. Veronica, who created the wardrobe for all the Florenz Ziegfeld "Follies," was signed to execute the costumes designed by William Weaver. 
  The new Cotton Club opened on September 24th, 1936 with such a fanfare as has seldom greeted any musical production in club or theatre. Glaring klieg lights sunned the entrance to greet the visiting notables. Cordons of police held back the hundreds of rubber-neckers blockading the short stretch between Broadway and 7th Avenue on 48th Street.
  The premiere of the 27th edition of the Cotton Club Parade was welcomed with tumultuous applause and lasted for three hours. It was early dawn before the last duty had been done and the Cotton Clubbers could sit back to await the verdict of the public.
  The decision was immediate and overwhelming. Not since the dark days of 1930 has a night club soared into the big money as rapidly as the Cotton Club. 15,000 patrons invaded it during the first week, and an equal number had to be turned away because of the limited space.
  More than $45,000 was grossed in the second week, and before two months had passed 100,000 persons had crowded their way in to see the elaborate revue. Overnight the Cotton Club had captured Broadway and was the biggest hit in nightclub history. 

  Notables Noted
 Chief among the surprises in this Cotton Club success story has been the social-register attendance at the sepain palace. Not since the gay days of Elsa Maxwell at the Casino de Parce had society's blue-bloods ventured west of Fifth Avenue for their midnight entertainment. But with the premiere of the Cotton Club they once more invaded Broadway with a vengeance.
 Among the prominent socialites who have been visitors at the Cotton Club are the Countess of Warwick, James and Woolworth Donahue, Jock Whitney, Gloria Vanderbilt, Lady Thelma Furness, Duncan Mac Martin, Ethel du Pont, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Jr., Angie Duke, Kermit Roosevelt, Cobina Wright, Mrs. Stanwood Mencken, William Vanderbilt and Jules Bache.
 No less frequent attendants at the Cotton Club are the theatrical notables. From the stage have come Evelyn Laye, Frank Lawton, Sir Cedric Hardwicke, Judith Anderson, Gilbert Miller, Sam Harris, George M. Cohan, Fannie Brice, Billy Rose, Tamara Geva, Ray Bolger, Bob Hope, Tallulah Bankhead, Gertrude Lawrence, Noel Coward, Ruth Gordon, William Gaxton and James Barton. 
  Hollywood visitors have included Ernst Lubitsch, Anita Louise, Buddy Rogers, Mary Pickford, Bert Wheeler, Robert Woolsey, Charles Ruggles, William Frawley, Will Hays, Joan Blondell, Dick Powell, George Raft, Corinne Griffith, Rouben Mamoulien, Ted Healy, William Wyler, Eleanor Powell, Cecil B. De Mille and Herbert Marshall.
  The radio world has been represented with Amos n/ Andy, Ben Bernie, Ted Husing, Kate Smith, Ed Wynn, Fred Allen, Colonel Stoopnagle and Budd, Rudy Vallee, Phil Baker, Connie Boswell, Horace Heidt, Jessica Dragonette, James Melton, Jack Pearl, Ozzie Nelson, Harriet Hilliard, Hildegarde, Graham Mac Namee, Clem McCarthy and Goodman Ace. 
 From the sports world have come Jesse Owens, Joe Louis, James Braddock, Max Schmeling, Jack Dempsey, Lou Gehrig, Babe Ruth, Fred Perry, Mike Jacobs, Tony Canzoneria, Nuvolari, Johnny Weismuller, Eleanor Holm Jarrett, Mickey Cochrane, Gregory Mangin, Mickey Walker and Jim Crowley.

The Cotton Club Setting
  The setting in which this magnificent assemblage has found itself is an immense room dominated by a raised stage of generous dimensions which serve as the dance floor when the revue is not in progress. Intimate boxes surround the room and are elevated sufficiently to assure a perfect view of the performance.
  The ceiling includes 10,000 square feet of fresco. It depicts minstrels, crows and cupids in amusing consummation of their varied tasks and in the largest fresco of this type in America. The
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