Cab Calloway

RADIO STATION WITH is celebrating its golden anniversary. If you were among those Baltimoreans born in the 1930s or '40s, WITH's 50 years are at least partially parallel to yours. The station is something of a scrapbook of your life.To begin with, there was the innovative news, weather and sports format that blew away forever the networks' once sacrosanct schedule of soap operas and big bands. Then there were the local personalities -- "Buddy" Deane, Bill Dyer, Chuck Thompson, Howard Rudolph, Danny Sheelds -- and the first broadcasts of the early Orioles, Colts and Bullets games.

THE LIFE AND TIMES OF PORGY AND BESS: The Story of an American Classic. By Hollis Alpert. Knopf. 354 pages. $35.NEVER underestimate the power of the press.In March 1924, a 91-word story in the Charleston, S.C., News and Courier caught the eye of DuBose Heyward, a genteelly impoverished Southern aristocrat and poet who wanted to give up his modest insurance business to concentrate on literary pursuits. The story described a minor contretemps with police involving Sammy Smalls, a crippled black beggar who got around Charleston in a tiny cart pulled by a goat.

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.

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.

It's not often in judging the biography of a great artist that you can just pick up the phone and call one of the people who knew him best - and remains a principal keeper of the historical flame. But that is exactly the case with Cab Calloway, the Baltimore-raised jazz bandleader, singer and actor who is profiled in TV's "American Masters" series at 10 p.m. Monday on PBS. Camay Calloway Murphy, the performer's daughter, lives here and is happy to talk about her late father and how she feels he is treated in "American Masters Cab Calloway: Sketches.

Dec. 25 A.D. 336 The first recorded celebration of Christmas on Dec. 25 took place in Rome. 1907 Jazz singer and bandleader Cab Calloway was born in Rochester, N.Y.

Fourth of July activities in Washington will begin with the National Indepence Day parade at noon, along Constitution Avenue from Seventh to 17th streets. From 4 p.m. to 9:20 p.m. the Sylvan Theatre will offer entertainment by Lou Rawls, the international musical road show "Up With People," the Navy Concert Band, a dance troupe from Hersheypark, Pa., and the trio Riders in the Sky. The National Symphony Orchestra will perform at 8 p.m. on the west lawn of the Capitol with guests Tony Bennett, Cab Calloway, Diahann Carroll and Joel Grey.

A throwback to the 1940s and '50s, the Cadillac Parade and Royal Theater Music Festival was revived for the ninth year Saturday. The original Cadillac Parade was a major event in the city's black community, in which Baltimoreans would ride along or watch as Cadillacs cruised down Pennsylvania Avenue. Before the 1960s, The Avenue was a center of commerce and night life, home to the Royal Theater, the Lucky Number Club and the exclusive Sphinx Club. Jazz greats including Cab Calloway, Billie Holiday, Louis Armstrong and John Coltrane performed here.

Al Grey, 74, a jazz trombonist whose unique plunger-mute style was recorded on nearly 100 albums, died Friday in Phoenix. He had suffered from several ailments, including diabetes. Bass player Milt Hinton, who gained fame as part of the Cab Calloway Band, said Mr. Grey was certainly among the best of his generation. Mr. Grey played with a litany of jazz's elite during his career, including Benny Carter, Frank Sinatra, Lionel Hampton, Dizzy Gillespie, Count Basie and Ella Fitzgerald. Helen Venturelli, 86, whose family tragedy caused her to push for better benefits for widows of New York police officers and firefighters killed on the job, died March 15. She served as president of the Police and Fire Line of Duty Widows of New York City for 20 years, until 1997.

The choice of Brian McKnight for headliner at Artscape is not the only poor decision made by the Baltimore Office of Promotion and the Arts ("X-rated songs by Artscape headliner stir controversy," July 19). They also nearly eliminated jazz from the concert line-up, except for trumpeter Dontae Winslow (who at least is a good choice). Over the last few years, jazz has been featured on a dedicated stage at the end of Charles Street. The performances have featured many of Baltimore's stellar jazz musicians and have been well-attended.