CONTINUITIES

Mama Lu Parks and the Jiving Lindy Hoppers

Such deep social roots were created by the astute pattern of entertainment at the Savoy, on both a weekly and an annual basis that their survival was virtually guaranteed despite the actual closure of the Ballroom. "Street" level activities like the Lindy Hop preliminaries for the Harvest Moon Ball continued to be staged by the indefatigable "Mama Lu" Parks, who continued to send champion Lindy Hoppers to Madison Square Gardens until it was no longer possible. The Savoy was also remembered though among the upper crust of black society in the annual Beaux Arts Balls that found new locations downtown after the ballroom finally locked its doors. In between these two social extremes were many other organisations that used to hold functions at the Savoy and carried on elsewhere remembering all the wonderful times they spent there up on Lenox Avenue. Whilst the Savoy was open there were so many of these "annual" events that they added up to quite a busy social calendar, and like all such celebrations each one had a special quality regular evening entertainments could never evoke. Time has taken its toll and there are only a few now taking place each year and the relevance of the Savoy to their continued existence has tended to fade into the background. However it would be impossible to understand the story of how the memory of the Savoy was kept alive without taking note of two most obvious examples that have been mentioned above:

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The Harvest Moon Ball preliminary
The Beaux Arts Ball.