Cab Calloway was a legendary fireball of talent, whose infectious "hi-de-hi's," "ho-deho's," scattin', and jivin', in a baritone singing voice rich and vibrant, became the spirited cry of people wanting to be happy. "Every time I make an appearance on the stage to entertain people is a pleasure," Cab once enthused to me. "It's my top point of my life. Every time." He had conquered every branch of show business, from Harlem to Hollywood, so, toward the end of his memorable career which lasted more than 65 years, I asked Cab what the continuing attraction to performing was. "The audiences everywhere," he answered. "I don't care where it is. When I go to entertain people, boom, that's it! I give. That's all there is to that."
Perhaps we should have expected something special, since he was born on Christmas night, December 25, 1907, in Rochester, New York. The second of six children of Cabell and Martha Calloway, he was named Cabell III, after his father and grandfather. "My family was a middle, class family. We didn't have too much money," Cab said. When he was 6-years-old, they moved to Baltimore, Maryland, where, after school, he sold newspapers, shined shoes, was a checker, waited tables, and walked horses at the racetrack. His parents hoped young Cab would someday study law, but, by the time he graduated from high school at the age of 17, he had already made up his own mind to be an entertainer. "In high school I began to play drums and to sing with a small group and even do vaudeville with some kids from school," Cab recalled. "And best of all, I found out that I could get paid for entertaining. I could do two of the things most important to me - at the same time make people happy and make money."
Calloway's older sister, Blanche, was a singer and his idol. She was working in Chicago, in "Plantation Days," one of the first major African-American revues. Blanche gave him advice, and, when the show needed a replacement in a vocal quartet for a singer who was ill, she helped Cab get hired. From there, he worked in some clubs, among them the Sunset Cafe, gradually building up a reputation as a good singer, and a reliable and likeable emcee. This led to an offer to front the Alabamians, an 11-piece band that had come to Chicago. The outfit played jazz and novelties acceptably; but when Calloway took the bandstand, things perked up considerably.
|
