Lightnin' Hopkins_ His Life and Blues - Alan Govenar [22]
During the 1930s, the acclaimed music program of Phillis Wheatley High School in the Fifth Ward vied with Jack Yates High School in the Third Ward for local recognition. Their marching bands were a breeding ground for aspiring musicians, and the competition between them reflected the breadth of the Houston blues and jazz scene. Student members of the marching bands played at football and basketball games, and orchestra students played at all school functions. On weekends, many of the school band directors performed around the city (and some, like Abner Jones, Sammy Harris, and later Conrad Johnson, led jazz orchestras). Student musicians were often featured at church socials and at events sponsored by civic organizations, such as Jack and Jill of America, and Links, and by the numerous sororities and fraternities in the African American community.
By the late 1930s the Informer had started to use the phrase “Heavenly Houston” to describe the can-do attitude of the upwardly mobile African American population pulling out of the Great Depression. The Third Ward had the highest concentration of African Americans, and Dowling Street became the main street of black Houston. Lined with churches and African American owned businesses, it was the epicenter of community life. The opening of the El Dorado Ballroom on December 5, 1939, on the second floor of a Deco-style professional building at the corner of Elgin and Dowling Streets was a banner day for African Americans in Houston.4 C. A. Dupree, treasurer of the El Dorado Social Club and an employee of the very exclusive (white) River Oaks Country Club, was the driving force behind the building. The El Dorado Social Club was in existence for many years prior to the formation of the ballroom and lent it their name and support. The ballroom was comanaged by Dupree and his wife Anna and quickly became the showplace of the Third Ward, if not all of black Houston. “The El Dorado Ballroom made us feel like we were kings and queens,” blues vocalist Carolyn Blanchard recalled. “When you went there, from the moment you walked through the door, everything was taken care of. Anna and Mr. Dupree didn’t let you want for anything. They would get whatever you wanted for you. We always held our heads a little higher after leaving the El Dorado.”5
Black social clubs and fraternal organizations dominated the El Dorado Ballroom, and the Houston Informer usually covered their festivities. On March 9, 1940, for example, the Informer reported: “Amid a conglomeration of laughter, colorful gowns, well-fitted tuxedos and good music, sepia Houstonians came to the realization, last Tuesday evening at the swank El Dorado Ballroom, that this hitherto flat and backward Southern town has definitely broken into the glorious realm of glamorous and chic society. Seven hundred or more socialites were present to witness the advent of this great phenomena, a strictly formal affair given by the El Dorado Social Club, one of the oldest and yet one of the most active organizations.”
The El Dorado Ballroom featured touring stars and local performers, as well as talent shows and teen dances. Some of the top bands that performed there were the I. H. Smalley Orchestra, the Sammy Harris Orchestra, the Sherman Williams Orchestra, and the Milton Larkin Orchestra, which was a breeding ground for aspiring musicians, such as Arnett Cobb, Illinois Jacquet, Cedric Haywood, Wild Bill Davis, and Tom Archia. These local big bands, six to twelve pieces deep, played the music of Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Lionel Hampton, Louis Jordan, and the orchestrated swing-era hits of the time. And when they weren’t performing at the El Dorado, they might be found at other clubs around the city. The Downtown Grill, Pyramid Club, the Rendezvous Club, the Harlem Grill (a.k.a. Sportsman’s Club), Tick Tock Tavern, Southgates, and Abe and Pappy’s (a white club) all featured black bands on weekends and special occasions. Bigger-name national acts,