Apollo Theatre

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Apollo Theatre

From 1934 until the present, the Apollo Theatre has been the most important venue for black entertainment in the United States. Located on 125th Street in New York's black Harlem neighborhood, the Apollo is more than just a venue, it is a cultural institution, a place where African Americans have come-of-age professionally, socially, and politically. As Ahmet Ertegun, chairman of Atlantic Records, noted, "[The Apollo] represented getting out of the limitations of being a black entertainer. If you're a black entertainer in Charlotte or Mississippi you have great constraints put upon you. But coming to Harlem and the Apollo—Harlem was an expression of the black spirit in America, it was a haven. The Apollo Theatre stood for the greatest—the castle that you reach when you finally make it."

The changing face of the Apollo—originally built as an Irish music hall, and later the site of a burlesque theatre—in the early twentieth century aptly represented the shifting demographics of the Harlem community itself. Real estate developers, intending to build a suburban paradise for well-off whites, found themselves forced to rent to blacks when the boom cycle went bust in the 1910s. Black movement within New York City, combined with mass migrations from the southern states, made Harlem the largest black community in America. For African Americans in the 1920s and 1930s, Harlem became the center of the earth, and although its heyday came toward the end of the "Harlem Renaissance," no cultural establishment was more in vogue than the Apollo.

Of the many shows and performers that have graced Apollo's stage, none have been as enduring, as popular, or as influential as Ralph Cooper and his Wednesday evening Amateur Nights. In the midst of the worst economic depression in American history, Cooper aimed to restore the vision of the "American dream" to the people of Harlem. As he said at the time, "We can make people a unique offer: With nothing but talent and a lot of heart, you can make it." Early shows were successful enough to merit live broadcast on WMCA, and radio exposure extended the Apollo's influence far beyond the boundaries of Harlem. As Cooper later recalled, "You could walk down any street in town and that's all you heard—and not just in Harlem, but all over New York and most of the country." The entire nation, in fact, gained its first exposure to such notable talents as Lionel Hampton, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, and more recently, Luther Vandross, Gladys Knight, and Michael Jackson, from the Apollo's Amateur Night.

Ironically, the breakthrough success that artists like Knight, Donna Summer, and other black entertainers found in the early 1970s spelled doom for "Harlem's High Spot." A surge in record royalties led to less touring for major artists, and the Apollo found itself priced out of the market, unable to compete with larger venues like Madison Square Garden and the Lincoln Center. Furthermore, a 1975 gunfight in the Apollo's upper balcony during a Smokey Robinson concert severely damaged the theatre's reputation as a safe haven in a dangerous neighborhood. Eventually, the Apollo's owners were forced to sell the ailing theatre to a church group. After church leaders declared bankruptcy a few years later, however, the theatre was taken over by the Harlem Urban Development Corporation in 1982. In 1983, the Apollo became a National Historic Landmark, securing its future as, arguably, America's most important theatre.

—Marc R. Sykes