Cab Calloway

NEARLY every Baltimorean has heard of such hometown favorites as Eubie Blake, Cab Calloway and Billie Holiday, but scarcely remembered today are the many classically trained African-American musicians who flourished from the post-Civil War years to the 1960s.During much of this century, Baltimore's black community was a hotbed of musical talent, producing many versatile musicians who performed jazz in clubs and social halls on Saturday nights, gospel in churches on Sunday mornings and classical or big band music at a variety of venues on Sunday afternoons.

IT WAS JUST before 9 last Wednesday morning when the duck appeared in the outer offices of Douglass High School."Quack, quack to you," quoth the duck just before all 5 foot 6 inches of it strode through a pair of swinging doors and then out another door that led to the hallway. Within seconds the duck was at the front door, greeting the steady parade of Douglass students as they hurried in for classes."Welcome! Hurry up! Put some pep in your step!" the duck chided. "This means getting to school every day on time."

Two professional educators -- a former school principal and a Johns Hopkins University researcher -- will be appointed today to the Baltimore school board to replace members who have left before their terms expired, the governor's office confirmed.The office of Gov. Parris N. Glendening also confirmed yesterday that a third board member, Dorothy Siegel, was reappointed.Camay Calloway Murphy, a cultural development consultant at Coppin State College and former principal, will fill out the remaining two-year term of Bonnie S. Copeland, who moved out of the city last fall.

More than 900 guests attended the Baltimore premiere of Spike Lee's Oscar-nominated documentary "4 Little Girls" recently at Coppin State College. The premiere was sponsored by HBO, co-producer of the film with Spike Lee, and TCI Communications Inc. of Baltimore.The complimentary tickets to the screening were distributed throughout the community as part of a partnership among the two companies, Coppin State and Bethel A.M.E. Church.Coles B. Ruff Jr., president and GM of TCI Baltimore, said he was "encouraged by HBO's efforts over the years, . . . especially those geared toward diversity of cable viewers."

Harriet Browne, 65, a tap dancer who toured with Cab Calloway in the 1950s and later danced with the Silverbelles, died Monday in New York after a long illness.Kaaren Erickson, 44, a soprano who sang at the Metropolitan Opera, died Saturday in Maryville, Tenn., after a two-year battle with cancer.James Wear Walker, 90, the uncle of President George Bush and son of the founder of golf's Walker Cup, died Saturday in Hobe Sound, Fla. An avid golfer, he was the son of George Herbert Walker, the founder of the Walker Cup competition, an international tournament for amateur golfers.

BALTIMORE HAS long had a reputation as a good jazz town. Such legends as Eubie Blake, Cab Calloway and Chick Webb hailed from here. The contemporary Baltimore talent ranges from songstress Ethel Ennis and keyboardist Cyrus Chestnut to veteran pianist Ellis Larkins. And yet, a debate rages about whether Baltimore still is a good jazz town and whether America still appreciates this unique music form.That's why it is good to hear Ken Burns is turning his attention to jazz. The film maker, who dramatically chronicled the Civil War and baseball, will have his new public television series, "The West," aired next month.

A FEW WEEKS BACK the movie ''Primal Fear'' was the big hit across America. The lead was played by superstar Richard Gere, but many thought that the real star was the young supporting actor, Baltimore (or Columbia) born and bred Edward Norton -- who played ''Roy'' masterfully. So masterfully that stardom is assured the gifted Mr. Norton, who joins other Baltimoreans who made it out of Baltimore to Hollywood and New York.We start our list in the 1920s. Some of you might not connect until later on.Francis X. Bushman, raised on Argyle Avenue near Mosher Street, is remembered as America's first movie ''star,'' ''first matinee idol'' and first millionaire actor.

THE YEAR OF our Lord Nineteen Hundred and Fifty Seven. Cold War. Atomic jitters. Man has become Death, the destroyer of worlds and the squares are sipping champagne music from Lawrence Welk's accordion.Across the land, pulpits fulminate with warnings about communism, Armageddon and race music. The Beat Generation on the road with Jack Kerouac, exploring the Coney Island in Lawrence Ferlinghetti's mind and/or digging blue notes in smoke-filled clubs in New York and Frisco.It was the year that Norman Mailer wrote "The White Negro," an essay about black hipsters and their white imitators.

Bandleader-singer Cab Calloway made his fame more than six decades ago through performances at Harlem's fabled Cotton Club, live radio broadcasts and concert tours that took "the King of Hi-De-Ho" and his high-flying band to nightclubs and dance halls around the world. But Mr. Calloway -- who died at age 86 last Friday, five months after suffering a stroke -- never forgot Baltimore, where he lived with his family from the time he was 10 until he was about 20 years old.A graduate of Frederick Douglass High School, Cabell "Cab" Calloway III remembered Baltimore in a mostly fond light, despite the segregation of the day. The reverence he felt for his family and teachers was matched by his fondness for the characters he encountered in what he called "that rough and raucous Baltimore Negro night life with loud music, heavy drinking and the kind of moral standards that my parents looked down on."

THE RECENT death of Cab Calloway brings to mind the many great black entertainers who spent much of their formative years in Baltimore. The list includes Eubie Blake, Billie Holiday, Avon Long, Bill Kenny of the Ink Spots singing group and Ethel Ennis. Such internationally known artists have lots of stories about their climb up the ladder of fame, but few probably can match that of "the King of Hi-De-Ho."Cab Calloway, a swing-era singer, band leader and actor, in an interview once recalled how he quite by chance joined a band: "I was hanging around with a gang on Druid Hill Avenue and North [Avenue]

What killed tap," Ed Terry told a bunch of hoofer enthusiasts last Sunday, "was the invention of television." Tomorrow night, Terry will do his best to revive tap. But that statement's not completely true. Tap never really died, thanks to people like Terry. Terry teaches tap dancing at the Flair Dance and Modeling Studio, a 40-year-old business run by Willia Bland and her daughter, Andrea Bland Travis. Last Sunday, on National Tap Dance Day, Terry gave a brief history of tap, along with some fundamentals of the dance form, at the School 33 Arts Center on Light Street.

Every day, Derek Kang used to chase 20 to 30 people he suspected of dealing drugs out of the vestibule of Sweet Sixteen, a women's clothing store he manages on Pennsylvania Avenue. Now it's down to just one or two, he said, after Baltimore police began a new strategy to eradicate one of the city's largest open-air drug markets: Take away the parking. Business has been down since late fall, when orange "No Stopping" bags first appeared on the meters lining four blocks of the West Baltimore commercial district, and Kang and other merchants along the strip have felt the impact on their bottom line.

Sharon Clark was no longer a bespectacled 45-year-old receptionist yesterday. Dressed in a shimmering black-and-gold striped top, Clark stood onstage of the Meyerhoff Symphony Hall channeling Billie Holiday. With eyes shut and hips swinging, she sang "Just Friends" in a rich, deep voice, sprinkling in scat phrases and electrifying the audience, which rose in a standing ovation. "Just friends, lovers no more. Just friends, but not like before," crooned Clark, the winner of the annual Billie Holiday Vocal Competition, who was accompanied by a pianist.

What: Jazz at the Garrett-Jacobs Mansion Where: 11 W. Mount Vernon Place When: 2 p.m. Sunday. Why: Because Chris Calloway Brooks and the Nu Yook City Cotton Club Ensemble are playing in one of the prettiest rooms in Baltimore. Brooks is the grandson of band leader (and onetime Baltimorean) Cab Calloway. At the concert, Brooks will talk a bit about his grandfather's work and how it changed American music. Information: Call 410-433-0354. Admission: Tickets are $15 and can be purchased at www.missiontix.

That hi-de-ho man from Baltimore, Cab Calloway, was the ultimate hepcat, the zoot-suited jitterbug who led one of America's most popular orchestras through all of the swing era. Calloway performed in the hepster's knee-length drape coat, high-top, voluminous, peg pants and wide-brimmed fedora, all usually blazing white, along with the mandatory dangling gold watch chains - while conducting one of the country's finest jazz bands. Sometimes he nodded slightly toward convention and appeared in white tie and tails.

Baltimoreans might know that abolitionist Frederick Douglass, civil rights pioneer Thurgood Marshall and jazz great Cab Calloway all called Charm City home. City leaders hope to promote those legends to the world with the latest and most ambitious push to market Baltimore's African-American history and legacies to visitors. Mayor Martin O'Malley and the Baltimore Area Convention and Visitors Association unveiled yesterday Baltimore's African American Heritage and Attraction Guide. The glossy 25-page guide includes an overview of the city's black history and details on cultural landmarks and museums.

When your father was a legendary entertainer, how do you build a showbiz career for yourself? If you're singer/actress Cecilia Calloway -- one of five daughters born to Baltimore bandleader Cab Calloway -- you simply do what you love. "When I was very young, I went on the road with my dad, singing and dancing. I hated it," chuckles Calloway, who grew up in New York and currently lives in Columbia. "My life took a different turn, raising three children. But I missed entertaining. I am committed to doing this.

Bottle show Serious and novice collectors can search for rare bottles at the Baltimore Antique Bottle Club's 21st annual Bottle Show and Sale from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday in the Athletic Center, Essex campus of the Community College of Baltimore County, 7201 Rossville Blvd. In addition to antique bottles of all shapes and sizes, jugs, tins, jars, pottery and small antiques will be displayed by dealers from 20 states and two foreign countries. Educational exhibits and free bottle appraisals are also offered.

Roy L. "Tanglefoot" McCoy, a jazz trumpeter whose 60-year career took him from the stage of Baltimore's Royal Theater to New York's famed Apollo Theater, died Monday of pneumonia at St. Agnes HealthCare. He was 80 and had lived in Baltimore. Mr. McCoy was an integral part of the Baltimore music scene for more than 60 years. He played with some of America's greatest jazz artists, including Louis Armstrong and Lionel Hampton. In addition to the famed Royal on Pennsylvania Avenue, a major stop for African-American entertainers, he played the Ritz, the largest club on The Avenue, and other local clubs.

CHILDREN ARE often unaware how good or how bad they have it. Kings Contrivance resident Cecelia Calloway didn't know how rich her life was when she was a child. Daughter of bandleader and scat singer Cab Calloway, Cecelia Calloway led a life not just rich in possessions, but rich in history and tradition. "For the longest time, I didn't even realize what my dad did," Cecelia Calloway said. What she did know was that her father often was not home. He was on the road performing but he always returned at Christmastime.