- published: 16 Nov 2009
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Cabell "Cab" Calloway III (December 25, 1907 – November 18, 1994) was an American jazz singer and bandleader. He was strongly associated with the Cotton Club in Harlem, New York City where he was a regular performer.
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. Calloway's band featured performers including trumpeters Dizzy Gillespie and Adolphus "Doc" Cheatham, saxophonists Ben Webster and Leon "Chu" Berry, New Orleans guitar ace Danny Barker, and bassist Milt Hinton. Calloway continued to perform until his death in 1994 at the age of 86.
Cab Calloway was born in a middle-class family in Rochester, New York, on Christmas Day in 1907. He lived there until moving to Baltimore, Maryland in 1918. His father, Cabell Calloway II, was a lawyer and his mother, Martha Eulalia Reed, was a teacher and church organist. When Cab was young, he enjoyed singing in church. His parents recognized their son's musical talent and he began private voice lessons in 1922. He continued to study music and voice throughout his formal schooling. Despite his parents' and vocal teachers' disapproval of jazz, Calloway began frequenting and eventually performing in many of Baltimore's jazz clubs, where he was mentored by drummer Chick Webb and pianist Johnny Jones.
Actors: Cab Calloway (actor), Frank Fitzpatrick (composer), Frank Fitzpatrick (director), Frank Fitzpatrick (producer), Frank Fitzpatrick (writer), Fats Waller (actor), Mira Tweti (writer), Val Kuklowsky (editor), David Tobocman (composer), Taps Miller (actor),
Genres: Documentary, Music, Short,Actors: J. Don Ferguson (actor), Robert Klein (actor), Mark Joy (actor), Brion James (actor), Ned Beatty (actor), Bo Hopkins (actor), Bobcat Goldthwait (actor), George Burns (actor), Dylan Baker (actor), Wilbur Fitzgerald (actor), Scott Michael Campbell (actor), Billy Barty (actor), Corbin Bernsen (actor), Joseph Lawrence (actor), Harvey Korman (actor),
Plot: In 1939, WBN, a fourth radio network, is about to take to America's airwaves. As if the confusion of the premiere night wasn't enough, Penny Henderson, the owner's secretary, must deal with an unhappy sponsor, an overbearing boss and a soon-to-be ex-husband who desperately wants her back. As the broadcast begins, a mysterious voice breaks the broadcast and suddenly members of the cast turn up dead. It's up to her husband Roger, to find out whodunit as the police chase him through the halls of WBN.
Keywords: 1930s, accordion, actor, actress, announcer, applause, audience, backstage, baseball-bat, box-office-flopActors: Mark Margolis (actor), Fred Gwynne (actor), Paul Herman (actor), Bob Hoskins (actor), Richard Gere (actor), Giancarlo Esposito (actor), Joe Dallesandro (actor), Dayton Allen (actor), Gregory Hines (actor), Laurence Fishburne (actor), Nicolas Cage (actor), Bill Cobbs (actor), Allen Garfield (actor), James Remar (actor), Ed O'Ross (actor),
Plot: The Cotton Club was a famous night club in Harlem. The story follows the people that visited the club, those that ran it, and is peppered with the Jazz music that made it so famous.
Keywords: 1920s, 1930s, african-american, band, based-on-novel, biracial, black-american, box-office-flop, controversy, cotton-club-manhattan-new-york-cityActors: Cab Calloway (actor), Hal Seeger (writer), Louis Hesse (editor), Jeni Le Gon (actress), Josh Binney (director), Peters Sisters (actress), Augustus Smith (actor), George Wiltshire (actor), E.M. Glucksman (producer), Dusty Fletcher (actor), David Bethea (actor), Ida James (actress), James Dunmore (actor), Edgar Martin (actor), Frederick Johnson (actor),
Plot: Bandleader Cab Calloway is tiring of his sexy girlfriend Minnie, who in turn is jealous of Cab's manager Nettie. When Nettie gets Cab a job at the Brass Hat Club, Minnie retaliates for his imagined infidelity by setting gangster Boss Mason, owner of a rival club, against him. Will she regret her action before it's too late? (This plot resolves halfway through the film; the rest is a series of 'soundies' featuring the Calloway band's inimitable jive). All-black cast.
Keywords: african-americanActors: Wendell Niles (actor), Dennis O'Keefe (actor), Sam Lufkin (actor), Earle Hodgins (actor), Jack Chefe (actor), Robert Homans (actor), George Humbert (actor), Stanley Andrews (actor), Eddy Chandler (actor), Joe Devlin (actor), Robert Dudley (actor), W.C. Fields (actor), Cab Calloway (actor), James Conaty (actor), Eugene Pallette (actor),
Genres: Musical,Actors: Nick Castle (miscellaneous crew), James B. Clark (editor), Helen Rose (costume designer), Andrew L. Stone (director), Nick Stewart (actor), Cyril J. Mockridge (composer), Frederick J. Jackson (writer), Lena Horne (actress), William LeBaron (producer), Harold Nicholas (actor), Fayard Nicholas (actor), Matthew 'Stymie' Beard (actor), Cab Calloway (actor), Ernest Whitman (actor), Louise Franklin (actress),
Plot: Dancing great Bill 'Williamson' sees his face on the cover of Theatre World magazine and reminisces: just back from World War I, he meets lovely singer Selina Rogers at a soldiers' ball and promises to come back to her when he "gets to be somebody." Years go by, and Bill and Selina's rising careers intersect only briefly, since Selina is unwilling to "settle down." Will she ever change her mind? Concludes with a big all-star show hosted by Cab Calloway.
Keywords: african-american, dancer, jazz, scat-singing, singer, tap-dancingActors: Cab Calloway (actor), Fred Waller (director), Milton Hockey (writer), Fred Rath (writer), Fredi Washington (actress), Ethel Moses (actress),
Plot: Cab Calloway advises a train conductor to get his wife a radio so she won't step out. But she does anyway, meeting Cab at the Cotton Club. While the husband's away, Cab visits the wife at home; but there's a surprise in store for all concerned.
Keywords: character-name-in-titleActors: George Barbier (actor), Leonid Kinskey (actor), Edgar Norton (actor), Irving Bacon (actor), Dewey Robinson (actor), Spec O'Donnell (actor), Leila Hyams (actress), Cab Calloway (actor), Thomas Carrigan (actor), Alex Melesh (actor), Bing Crosby (actor), George Burns (actor), Stuart Erwin (actor), Benjamin Glazer (producer), Mary Stewart (actress),
Plot: A radio-singer, Bing Hornsby, is none-too-concerned about his job, and an affair with Mona leads to his dismissal. When it appears Hornsby is getting and paying a lot of attention to his fiancée, Anita Rogers, station manager Leslie McWhinney buys the station, gives Hornsby his job back, and goes on a honeymoon with Anita.
Keywords: 1930s, actor-shares-first-name-with-character, based-on-play, brother-brother-relationship, deception, fiancee, guitar, guitar-player, husband-wife-relationship, loss-of-job