Swingin At The Savoy

by Norma Miller

The dancer and choreographer chronicles her life and provides a history of the Savoy Ballroom in Harlem and its influence on American culture.

Genres: Nonfiction, Memoir, History, Jazz, Autobiography, Biography, Adult

261 pages, Hardcover

First published September 30, 1996

About the author

Norma Miller (born December 2, 1919) is a Lindy hop dancer known as the Queen of Swing. She is also a choreographer, actress and comedian.

Norma Miller was born in Harlem, New York, in 1919 to mother Alma and father Norman, a soldier who died just a month before her birth, both from Barbados. When the Great Depression began in 1929, Miller and her family moved to a new apartment near the Savoy Ballroom>.

On Easter Sunday in 1932, when Miller was twelve years old, she was dancing outside the Savoy and approached by Twist Mouth George, “the greatest dancer at the Savoy,” as Miller put it.

Later that year, Miller entered the Savoy Lindy Hop Contest, which was held at the Apollo Theater. Miller entered with one of her high school friends, Sonny Ashby, and they won the contest. Winning gave Miller recognition and prompted Herbert "Whitey" White, the dance master at the Savoy, to ask her to join his group, Whitey's Lindy Hoppers. She was hired in 1934 at age 15, the youngest member of the group.
Next, the Lindy Hoppers were asked to appear in the 1941 movie Hellzapoppin'. She has a memorable role as a dancing cook in the film.

In 1936, the group began a tour of the U.S. with headliner, Ethel Waters. In California, the group appeared in A Day at the Races, a movie by MGM Studios. After the tour, Miller was hospitalized for exhaustion.
She rejoined the group in 1938.

Miller left the Lindy Hoppers in 1942 and began working as a producer and attending dance school. She took classes based on the techniques of Martha Graham, Hanya Holm, Doris Humphrey and Charles Weidman. She toured Canada and the United States, lived in Los Angeles for a time, and returned to New York in 1946.

From 1952 to 1968, Miller directed and toured with the Norma Miller Dancers and Norma Miller and Her Jazzmen, both of which included Frankie Manning's son Charles "Chazz" Young as well as her long-time partner Billy Ricker. In 1954, her group toured nationally with the Count Basie show. She and Cab Calloway introduced their comedy skit of Romeo and Juliet while performing in Miami Beach, where she lived until 1959. In 1972, Miller travelled to Vietnam on a solo comedy tour. She moved to Las Vegas in 1977, where she starred in and produced shows. She returned to New York In 1982, where she lived and worked until 1990 when she returned to Las Vegas.

[source: en.wikipedia.org]

Reviews

[SaraCat · Rating 3 out of 5]

My actual rating is 3.5 stars. This book was recommended by Peter Strom at a workshop weekend I went to last year, along with a few others including Frankie Manning: Ambassador of Lindy Hop.

The main issue I had with the book was that it was sometimes unclear about when and where Miller was talking about. She would follow one train of thought and time for a while, then seemed to go back and talk about a different detail, but it was unclear where it fell within the timeline as a whole. In addition, sometimes the photos included in the book were placed on pages where they had no context or connection.

That being said, whenever she described events the sights and emotions were so beautiful and well expressed that readers can almost feel like they were standing there experiencing it beside her. If you want to know more about the Lindy Hop and how it developed, transformed, and travelled across the US and the world, this memoir is a great place to start. If you aren't already familiar with some of the names of those who actively shaped this dance through either music or dance there may be a lot to take in, but I wouldn't put that as a reason to not pick this up.

[Sophiya · Rating 5 out of 5]

Must read for every Lindy Hopper!
This book is truly a tribute to the Savoy Ballroom, the breeding and growing ground of the Lindy Hop. Reading this book brought me the same love, joy, resilience, satisfaction, smiles, and at times pain/grief that I experience on the dance floor. Incredibly humbling to learn about the roots of a dance without which I cannot imagine my being. Left me with a feeling that I am part of something much bigger than myself. Absolute love!

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an impressive memoir, chronicling not only the illustrious career of dancer/performer/comedienne Norma Miller, but the history of swing music and generation of lindy hop. As a dancer, I loved learning more about her experiences. She writes with real feeling, bringing out the zeitgeist of the swing era and the struggles that black artists faced at the time. Having had the pleasure of meeting Norma and speaking with her about her past as a lindy hop dancer in the Savoy, I feel like I can imagine it in such astounding detail now. She is a big inspiration for me, and reading this book, which she claims to have written at an angry point in her life, was definitely eye-opening and expanded my perspective on one of my favourite eras.

[Ceste Stanly · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read Frankie Manning's autobio back in Sept of last yr, so it was pretty cool to read Norma's less than a yr later. To read about the same events from 2 different perspectives...I had just finished Twyla Tharp's autobio few weeks ago & some of the struggles Norma had w/ sustaining a dance group financially were similar to Twyla's. Best part of the book was the way that Norma just transported you back to the '30s w/ her vivid descriptions. I loved all the different jazz musicians that had large sections talking about their perspective experiencing the evolution of jazz, swing bands, & lindy hop. Being a prof musician, lindy hopper, & a lover of jazz, I just inhaled it all. :-)

[Dominic Howarth · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a Lindy Hopper, this book was absolutely invaluable as a recourse of constant inspiration, information, and joy. I loved the nitty gritty details of the Savoy, the way business was handled, how it was a cultural hub...Norma really does take you there, paints that picture, of what the Savoy meant to jazz music, jazz dancing, and the Harlem African-American community, and I as a dancer and as a person am better for it.

[Brian Wasserman · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really liked this book, but I am not sure that it would be of as much interest to people who don't swing dance. I was also surprised by the amount of grammatical errors, as if the book had not been edited before going to print. I think Frankie Manning's biography was more polished and better organized, and would therefore be more enjoyable to people in the swing dancing scene.

[Darlene Askew Gist]

Excellent book, chronicling Norma's history and her many contributions to dance and showbiz as a whole. She left no stone unturned, and was a true SAVOY ORIGINAL! Happy to have shared in her life and dance group: The Norma Miller Jazz Dancers. What a glorious time! SALUTE

[Andy Lind · Rating 5 out of 5]

By far the best memoir I have ever read. This is a must-read for all people who do swing dancing. Norma Miller brings tears to the eyes of readers as she describes in detail what it was like dancing in the '30s, 40's, 50's at the legendary Savoy Ballroom in Harlem, New York.

[Marcela · Rating 5 out of 5]

This should be the “Bible” of anyone interested in swing. Any musician, any dancer, any historian. So well-documented, so personal, so artistic. A life lived for the love of dancing. A beautiful read.

[Cecelia · Rating 4 out of 5]

After having read this, I feel like I have a better idea of who the dancers and musicians were during this period, which greatly enriches my experience of the dance today.

[Matt Person · Rating 5 out of 5]

Told straight from the heart

[Ellen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Loved learning about Norman Miller

[Sea Poked · Rating 5 out of 5]

Phenomenal historical retelling from the eyes of an incredibly important figure of the era of Lindy Hop.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great memoir of a legendary dancer. Pretty darn awful recording, read this one in print.

[Dan Gorman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thorough account of the origins of swing dance, and how Norma Miller managed to continue performing jazz dance professionally even after swing lost its cultural power in the post-WWII era. Miller talks in greater detail about racism, the struggles of being a dancer, and being a starving artist than did Frankie Manning in his own memoir of swing dance. Manning had a more pleasant experience in some ways, touring on his own in the pre-WWII years and missing some of the hardships and mismanagement that Norma suffered back in America. So I think this book is the superior account of how swing dance weathered the 20th century, because Norma Miller is willing to plunge her story into the shadows, and show that a happy dance sometimes was propagated by some not particularly nice managers and choreographers.

[Anne Banan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really great picture of what it was like for Whitey's Lindy-Hoppers pre-WWII.

[Douglas Hillman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great history of both a fascinating woman and the heyday of swing dancing.

[Josh · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lively, first person view of the start of swing. Are you interested in the golden days of Harlem? Or dancing to jazz? Then read this book.

[Mary Ruth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun memoir of the 'old days' of Lindy dancers.

[Sandra]

Got the meet the 98 year old Queen of Swing recently, would love to get this as an audio read by her. It was cool to hear her first person account of traveling as an entertainer in a world where African Americans couldn’t get a hotel room, dealing with racism and her interactions with other greats like Sammy Davis Jr, Ella Fitzgerald, Lena Horn, and Joe Lewis.