Apollo Theater

[@DeeDeeWarwickMusic]

1:38 Huge photo of Dee Dee Warwick. Thank you for appreciating Dee Dee's contribution to the music of the 60s and 70s. Dee Dee Warwick performed at the Apollo solo and with Dionne as a background vocalist.

[@sharonpope1737]

Yes I remember going to the Apollo seeing so many greats so many wonderful memories with my family

[@leendaleenda]

Ella Fitzgerald started her career as a young girl at the Apollo Theater. My grand father in law, Morris Sussman, was the manager and co-owner of the theater. My mother in law tells me many wonderful stories of her family’s association with the Apollo. One of Shirley’s favorites is the story of Ella Fitzgerald performing in one of the Apollo’s talent shows. She prepared a dance routine but Ella panicked when she realized she could never win against the other dancers. Ella quickly switched her talent entry to singing, hoping the competition would not be as stiff. “She was just 15 when she came to dance but sang instead.” (1) The last minute changes shook her confidence and she was booed off the stage but the audience was asked to give her another chance. She won over the crowd and soon became a favorite. “The future First Lady of Jazz was just a teenager then, and so scared she almost blew the performance that launched her career.” (2) Morris Sussman loved the theater and the African-American community and that love was returned. The theater was protected during the Harlem riots. “He [Morris Sussman] had the absolute willingness to learn and do things that were right for the people who worked for him, for the performers and for the black community itself. So word got out fast about the Apollo.” (3) According to his daughter, Shirley, my mother in law, a white theater patron once asked her father, if he could have the black patrons of the Apollo Theater sit in the balcony. He said, no, but you can.” Sussman’s dream was to have a theater for the black community, their own place! (4) Against all odds, in 1934, Morris achieved his dream by opening the Apollo in Harlem with Sid Cohen and starting, “Amateur Night at The Apollo! (5) And the rest is history! Quotes from the book, Amateur Night at the Apollo by Ralph Cooper with Steve Dougherty

[@CharlieBrown-uv6uw]

When Smokey appeared at the Apollo for the first time he virtually froze with stage fright the place had such a fearsome reputation & if the crowd didn't like your act for whatever reason they certainly let you know it, it was similar in many ways to the Glasgow Empire or the comedians graveyard as it was sometimes known, good to see that it is being looked after once more as it was seriously deteriorating for a good many years.

[@worldpeacehavethegreatestc3577]

He's telling the truth, also the first Apollo Theater in 1914 was on Fulton street and Troop Ave. The heart of Brooklyn. It's a McDonald's now.

[@duran007fan5]

I walk on that block five days a week when going to work, it's across the street from Junior's. right?

[@v8valiant68]

the race barrier was broken there, BUDDY HOLLY, absolute legend

[@vivid2650]

Buddy Holly...?

[@jorris58]

Why doesn't even someone like Ella Fitzgerald get mentionned? She's probably one of the most important Jazz singers of ALL age, discovered at one of the Talent nights at the Apollo, in 1934. It's sad that more and more popular culture gets to be regarded from 60ies and on. Our grandparents go waaaay before!

[@carolwhite1922]

I performed at the Apollo theater around 1984. Is there anyway to get the video?

[@briangoguen6798]

No mention of Buddy Holly performing there?

[@angelogarza6394]

Explain plz??,from TX here!

[@MrSanti0000]

Awesome shit

[@letsfly7562]

Look at the way the audience was dressed. With class not pants hanging off their asses. What happened to our hoods????