Of Minnie the Moocher & Me

by Cab Calloway, Bryant Rollins

From dust jacket notes: "From the back streets of Baltimore where he hustled as a kid, through the jazz clubs of Chicago in the raw and roaring twenties, to the Cotton Club, Hollywood, Paris, and beyond, here in his own words is the story of Cab Calloway - the man who made Minnie the Moocher a household heroine and became one of the most respected jazz musicians and best loved entertainers in America. He sang and danced like no other performer of his time. Tall, slender, handsome and resplendent in a white zoot suit, his presence on stage was electric. 'Hi-de-hi-de-ho,' he'd sing. 'Hi-de-hi-de-ho,' the audience would answer. 'Wah-de-do-de-way-de-ho,' he'd intone. 'Wah-de-do-de-way-de-ho,' they'd roar back. And on it would go until the crowd was singing and stomping and dancing in the aisles. It was the Great Depression, but he made them forget. More than that, he made them happy. That has always been Cab Calloway's profession - and the secret of his monumental success - knowing how to make people happy. He has entertained presidents and crowned heads of Europe, Mr. and Mrs. America (as they were then called) over network radio and the first integrated audiences in the South - as well as those still segregated by a rope down a concert hall. He has starred in Broadway shows, made scores of movies, and written hundreds of songs. He has worked - and played - with the greats of his profession from Louis Armstrong to Lena Horne, Duke Ellington to Al Jolson, Dizzy Gillespie to Bill Robinson...."

Genres: Music, Autobiography, Nonfiction, Jazz, Biography, Memoir, 20th Century

282 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1976

About the author

Cabell "Cab" Calloway III 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.

Reviews

[Maggie Joyce · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cab's huge personality just jumps and jives right off the page the split second this book is opened. And for an extra bonus Cab included a hipster dictionary in the index! I have been, as you know, reading about extraordinary musicians of the depression and WWII eras. This autobiography stands out among the others as the most entertaining.

[Eric Leubner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Liked:
* Cab's journey to leading a band, including his childhood, his hustles in his teen years, his mother's push for him to become a lawyer, and his athletic talents (including playing professional basketball and getting offered a spot on the Globetrotters)
* Cab's account of the big band era at its peak—all the musicians he worked with and description of places like the Cotton Club
* Cab's pure love of performance and embrace of everything he has created

Tough to read:
* The passages written by his children and what they thought about him
* Cab's infatuation with gambling and horse races
* Cab's romantic life

I appreciated his honesty, even on the tough-to-reads, and it was refreshing to hear it all in his own words. Clearly a generational talent. The additions in the back of the book—Hepster's Dictionary and Swingformation Bureau—rocked me, pops. Really helped my jive get solid, can't be caught comin' up on the wrong riff at the frolic pad!

[Forrest · Rating 4 out of 5]

Three stars for the autobiography itself, which has plenty of good anecdotes but also the usual problems: a narrative that jumps around like crazy, too many gaps, and a general fuzziness in the fact department. Calloway's voice and personality really come through, however, and that's why I picked up the book in the first place.

Also included are a killer-diller reproduction of Cab's famous Hepster's Dictionary and an amazing cartoon map of Harlem. And some of the gaps in Cab's own narrative are filled in by third-party testimony from friends and family. Overall, the impression is of a flawed but honest account of a fascinating life. So I'll bump this up to four stars overall.

[Chet Taranowski · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cab wasn't a perfect guy. He loved the horses and he wasn't always there for his kids. But he did have an interesting life. His descriptions of Harlem, the Cotton Club and life in the 1930s were fascinating. I have always loved his music and it was fascinating to hear the story behind it. This guy was ambitious and a really hard worker, not at all like the music-crazed, strutting character he played as a band leader.

This is a pretty good book, but it really helps if you are a fan.

[Jefferson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great story told like I like it, first person, intimate and peppered with personal slang - and speaking of, Cab wrote and published The Cab Calloway Hepster's Dictionary - Language of Jive. Included in the book. t's the Official jive language reference book of the New York Public Library and as of the books publication, the edition printed was in it's sixth edition since 1938.

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun read! Cab Calloway was a well-known big band director, actor, and entertainer from nearby Baltimore. He was quite a character! I really enjoyed the history of the big band era, especially the black big bands. I have to admit a connection to this story that spurred me to read it. His first daughter, Camay, attends the same church as I do. I'm proud to call her my friend.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book in a local second hand bookshop and found it to be a fascinating read. Of course I knew some of Mr Calloway's music having a compilation album of some of his best known songs. I've even seen the Cab Calloway Orchestra, led by Cab's first born grandson, C. Calloway Brooks. The first 2/3's of this book is fabulous, especially his life growing in middle class black neighbourhoods in Baltimore. He was born in Philadelphia, but as a young child the family moved to Baltimore. His father wasn't around much and then died young, and so he was raised mostly by his mother. and to a lesser extent his Grandmother. Money was always short, and Cab started hustling as a young child. Between the ages of 11 and 14 (1918 to 1920), he rarely attended school, and was out hustling, selling newspapers, sometimes going to the horse racing track and help out in the stables and at times walked the horses after a race to cool them down. He would bring home $20 or $25 per week at times, which helped in the big household to put food on the table. He goes into how he started working in theatre, with advice from his older sister, who already was treading the boards and later joining show bands. These were large bands that played the tin-pan alley songs and show tunes for dance crowds, what today we'd call MOR (middle of the road). Once he started his own band and started writing his own songs he was on his way to stardom. The story of how the Hi De Hi De Hey, Hi De Hi De Ho's came to be in the song Minnie the Moocher is worth the price of the book (if you can find it). That song was written to be his theme song. All the big bands in the 30's had one. Throughout the 30's until about 1946 he was a big star and then the shows and tours dried up. Tastes were changing. After a couple of lean years he got back out there in theatre and then small combo groups. He continued to do gigs until the end of the book which was published in 1976. The last couple of chapters deals extensively with his enjoyment of the race track and descriptions of his gambling buddies and horse racing aficionados which took a bit of the enjoyment of reading this book for me. But overall a great portrait of a great musician - one of the best.

[Gijs Grob · Rating 3 out of 5]

'Of Minnie the Moocher & Me' is swing star Cab Calloway's autobiography. Calloway has quite a personality, and the book paints a lively portrait of this proud, money-loving, strong-willed and tough character. Apart from Calloway there are testimonies by pianist Bennie Payne, bass player Milt Hinton, and by Calloway's wife and daughters. The latter paint a picture of Calloway the father. Much more interesting, however, are Calloway's memories of his road to fame and his success during the swing era, which also was an era of segregation. At times it's like Calloway's sitting next to you telling his tales. Calloway suffered when the swing era rapidly expired after 1945, and the remaining chapters are hardly as interesting as the first. In the end there's a nice dictionary of the jive talk Calloway and his comrades used in the 1930s and 1940s.

[marcali · Rating 3 out of 5]

great history-- has cool appendix of hep dictionary, etc.-- also, gave wife/kids chapter to comment! (nice counterpoint, like how Questlove had his manager give own account of certain events!)

[Jordan Neff · Rating 4.5 out of 5]

**4.5 what a class act

[Melissa Jean · Rating 5 out of 5]

a MUST for all Cab fans, incredible life & professionalism