Palladium Ballroom

For the later downtown club, see Palladium (New York City).

The Palladium Ballroom was a New York City night club. The US mambo craze that started in 1948 began at the Palladium Ballroom. On March 15, 1946, it opened at the northeast corner of Broadway and 53rd Street.

Palladium Ballroom

Big Three

In 1948, the Palladium Ballroom gained in stature because of the Big Three acts: Tito Puente, Tito Rodríguez, and Machito. The careers of the Big Three expanded on the strength of their bookings there. These bands recorded many mambo hits such as "Asia Minor" and "Babarabatiri", "Picadillo", "Ran Kan Kan", and "Mambo Mona". Dámaso Pérez Prado's "Mambo No. 5" (1952) was a cross-over hit.

Dancers and dances

The Palladium was known for its dancers as well as its music, fueled by weekly dance competitions and pie contests along with a Female Best Leg Contest. Ability to dance, not class or color, was the social currency. The Palladium's top dancers, Augie and Margo Rodríguez were the mambo dancing champions. Carlos Arroyo, who partnered with Mike Ramos as The Cha Cha Taps, and also known as Mr Cha Cha Taps is featured in the 1955 short film Mambo Madness. Another popular act was the groups of The Mambo and Cha-Cha Aces Carlos and Mike-Aces with Andy and Tina Vasquez. Joe Vega and Freddie Rios did their side by side act. Marilyn Winters covered the entire floor in her one-woman show, as did Carmen Cruz. The Palladium became a showcase for the chachachá, merengue, and the pachanga. These became as popular as the mambo.

At its height, the Palladium attracted Hollywood and Broadway stars, especially on Wednesday nights, which included a free dance lesson. Dance instructors such as "Killer Joe" Piro — who briefly served as master of ceremonies when Federico Pagani was not available — Augie and Margo were featured dancers there. Pedro Aguilar, better known as Cuban Pete, and Millie Donay appeared internationally. Carmen Marie Padilla offered mass dance lessons.

Jazz musicians, celebrities and Latin bands

The Palladium was near jazz clubs on West 52nd Street such as Birdland, CuBop City, and the Onyx Club. Jazz musicians and some celebrities sat in and played with the Latin bands. Others watched and enjoyed the show. Examples of notables who went to the ballroom include Count Basie, Desi Arnaz, Marlon Brando, Dave Brubeck, Paul Desmond, Joe Morello, Sammy Davis Jr., Pupi Campo Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Dizzy Gillespie, Billie Holiday, Gene Krupa, Jerry Lewis, Peter Lawford, Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, George Burns, Bing Crosby, Buddy Rich, Tony Bennett, George Shearing, Cal Tjader, Pedro Vargas, Chano Pozo, Arturo Sandoval, and Ed Sullivan. Wayne Shorter, who lived in the New York City area during the ballroom's heyday, composed a piece during the 1970s called "Palladium" while he was a member of the jazz-fusion group Weather Report. The song appears on their album Heavy Weather, and features a driving Latin rhythm.

Mambo declines

By the early 1960s, tastes had shifted, ending the Palladium's run in 1966. Dancers' and music fans' enthusiasm for the music was not diminished. The Village Gate in Greenwich Village offered Latin Night on Mondays and Wednesdays. Federico Pagani started Latin Nights with radio host Symphony Sid Torin and Joe Gaines. Federico Pagani offered a Latin Night at various clubs, including Tony Roma's El Corso on 86th Street andThird Avenue, Barney Googles, and the Cheetah, Casa Blanca, Caboroeno, Broadway 96, Trudiheller's Trix, Peppermint Lounge, Les Violins, Village Gate Nightclub, The Roseland, Manhattan Center, The 3 In One In Brooklyn Heights Prospect Park, St. George Hotel, La Epoca, Cerromar, Nightclub, Hippocampo, Caravana Club, Hunt's Point Palace, Bronx Casino, La Campana Bar Restaurant, and Carlos Ortiz El Tropicoro Bronx. These venues hosted "the scene" after the Palladium. Pagani was an advisor for Nuestra Cosa (Our Latin Thing ) at the Cheetah and The Red Garder with Symphony Sid Torrin.('Mambo Kings'). Pagani produced and was responsible for all the Latin concerts In Madison Square Garden.

Further reading

• Conzo, Joe (October 9, 2004). "The Palladium Ballroom, home of the mambo and cha-cha". Times Herald-Record.
• García, David F. (Spring 2004). "Contesting that Damned Mambo: Arsenio Rodríguez, Authenticity, and the People of El Barrio and The Bronx in the 1950s" (PDF). Centro Journal. Vol. XVI, no. 1. pp. 154–175.
• García, David F. (2006). Arsenio Rodríguez and the transnational flows of Latin popular music. Philadelphia: Temple University Press. ISBN 9781592133864. Cf. p. 64 and various (see book index).
• Hutchinson, Sydney (2004). "Mambo On 2: The birth of a new form of dance in New York City". Centro Journal. Vol. 16, no. 2. pp. 109–137.
• "Mambonicks: The Palladium & its Dancers ( Hour 1, Chapter 5". Latin Music USA. Public Broadcasting Service: WGBH. October 2009.
• Rondón, César Miguel (2008). The Book of Salsa: A Chronicle of Urban Music from the Caribbean to New York City. Translated by Aparicio, Frances R.; White, Jackie. University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 978-0-8078-5859-2. Cf. pp. 1–6 and various (see book index)