Sally Gooding

By Marv Goldberg

© 2024 by Marv Goldberg

For a while, Sally Gooding was a Hot Property. She was a singer and actress, although she only had two recording sessions in her 12-year career (both in the same year), with only three sides ever released.

Initially, I struggled to find out anything about who Sally Gooding was; not a single write-up had anything personal. Then, A "Sally Gooding" showed up in the 1940 and 1950 censuses, living in Brooklyn with her mother, Belle Gooding. Both came from South Carolina.

Sally Gooding was born in 1915 or 1916, in or around Peeples, Hampton County, South Carolina. She never married and didn't live long enough to collect Social Security, so there are no records (that I have access to) that give her father's name (if she even knew it).

Mother Belle Gooding was born Mabel Loadholt and the 1920 census shows the Loadhold family in Peeples. Sally (as "Sallie") was 4 and is there as an adopted daughter (although, since there were a lot of Loadholts, we don't know whose). Sallie has a different last name, but it's completely illegible. (What looks like a "T" is actually a horizontal line that meant she had the same last name as the person above. However, the census-taker changed his mind about it and wrote another name over that line.)

[Remember, there were certain requirements for becoming a census-taker: you had to be no more than semi-literate, be hard of hearing, and have an illegible handwriting. I can't even make out his name on the census sheet.]

Since there were a bunch of Loadholt children, it seems odd that they'd adopt another. The census rules say that one person (in this case, Mabel's mother, Carrie Loadholt) is listed as the head of the family and all others in that family are shown as being related to him or her. Therefore, technically, the census sheet says that Sallie was Carrie's adopted daughter, but I doubt it. There are choices:

1. Carrie really did adopt Sallie, who was the child of a relative or neighbor.
2. Sallie was Mabel's daughter (presumably illegitimate) and they didn't fill out the line correctly.

At any rate, the sad fact is that we'll never know who Sallie's father was or why Mabel (who, as "Belle", would represent herself as Sallie's mother later on, whether or not it was true) called herself "Gooding". Since Mabel never seems to have married anyone named "Gooding" (or anyone else, for that matter), I have no idea where that name came from. It must be noted that, in that 1920 census, Mabel Loadholt was enumerated as being married, although there's no husband. (And, let's start calling our girl "Sally".)

Here's how desperate I get. In the 1930 census, there was a Mabel "Lodchlt" in Brooklyn, living within a couple of blocks of all the Loadholts. She was 29, born in North Carolina, a widow, and a laundry folder. After years of genealogical research, I get "feelings" if something is right or not. This one seems to be. She also has a daughter, Sylvestra (13), also born in North Carolina. As far off as these seem, there was never anyone in North Carolina who matches them, nor was there any match in subsequent censuses. (Jumping ahead, in the 1950 census, mother Belle was a flat ironer in a laundry.) It's entirely possible that Mabel had a speech defect which, combined with the hearing impairment of the census-taker (remember, it's a requirement), resulted in this mess. In the next two censuses, Sally did the answering.

Here's an alternate choice: in the 1930 census, there's a Mabel Loadholt who's confined to the South Carolina Sanatorium in Richland County, South Carolina. Her age is off by about 8 years, but it's possible. Moving on...

And suddenly, there was Sally Gooding! From October 10 through December 5, 1932, at 12:15 PM each Monday, she had a 15-minute radio show over WRNY (1010 on your radio dial; it would become Alan Freed's station in later years when WINS moved to that frequency). Obviously, she had to have done something to impress the station, but she's never mentioned before this.

But it was a good springboard. On November 26, 1932, she appeared, with Louis Armstrong, at the Lafayette Theater in Harlem, in a revue called "Connie's Hot Chocolates Of 1932" (named after Connie's Inn in Harlem). The cast also included Chick Webb's band, Hamtree Harrington, the California Brown Buddies, and the 3 Cyclones.

On December 3, that show moved to the Pearl Theater in Philadelphia, for a week. After that, it was the Howard Theater in Washington, DC, the week of December 10.

Then there was an off week for "Hot Chocolates" (December 17-23), and Sally got to play the Palace Theater. Well, the Palace in Baltimore, where she was part of "The Black And White Show" ("35 White And 35 Colored Stars"). The only other cast member I was familiar with was Joe DeRita, who, in 1958, would join Moe and Larry as the last replacement in the Three Stooges.

"Hot Chocolates" had one more showing, at Baltimore's Royal Theater, the week of December 25. The December 24 Pittsburgh Courier printed her first newspaper write-up: "Sallie Gooding rates a mention for her singing 'Nobody Else But You'."

By mid-February 1933, she was part of a musical revue called "So Long, Josephine" at Billy Minsky's Brooklyn Theater. The February 21 Brooklyn Citizen said: "The piece, in two acts and twenty-seven scenes, is different from the usual run of burlesque shows." Note that "burlesque" really meant a show that was coarser than family-oriented vaudeville, although today we only associate it with strippers.

When that show ended, she (and Joe DeRita) were in another burlesque revue at Billy Minsky's. This one was called "Off to Reno" and had a cast of 60, with lots of comedy and music.

On April 2, 1933, Sally was part of the "Cotton Club Parade", which starred Ethel Waters, George Dewey Washington, Dusty Fletcher, Ivie Anderson, Henry "Rubberlegs" Williams, the Nicholas Brothers, and the Duke Ellington Orchestra. It was first presented at Harlem's Cotton Club (as the 22nd edition of that show), and in it, Ethel Waters introduced the song "Stormy Weather". The song became so popular that, when the revue was taken on the road, the name was changed to the "Cotton Club Stormy Weather Revue". Therefore, the song was identified with Waters long before Lena Horne ever sang it. Here's the story behind "Stormy Weather":

The tune was written by Ted Koehler and Harold Arlen in early 1933. They threw it together at a party, intending to give it to Cab Calloway when he appeared in the Cotton Club's yearly Parade show. But when it was finished, they decided it would sound better sung by a woman (and, Calloway wasn't hired for that year's show anyway). It was thus given to Ethel Waters to be introduced in the Parade revue. Ethel appeared standing under a stage lamppost with a log cabin in the background (do log cabins really come with lampposts?). She also recorded it that year (on May 3, for Columbia). Ethel Waters later said of the song: "... I sang 'Stormy Weather' from the depths of my private hell in which I was being crushed and suffocated." With passion like that poured into a song, it had to become a hit.

Actually, Ethel Waters wasn't really the first to introduce it. There's a listing (March 10, 1933) for Leo Reisman's orchestra playing it on his 9:30 radio program. One listing said it was from the "Connie's Inn Revue". Of course, that doesn't tie in with this blurb from the March 26 Brooklyn Times Union:

For the first time on the air, Leo Reisman will play the newest Harold Arlen-Ted Kohler composition, "Stormy Weather" on his next broadcast. The song is from the coming edition of the Cotton Club revue and is considered Arlen's masterpiece.

Harold Arlen even sang the song himself on Reisman's April 7 radio show. The Brooklyn Citizen of that date opined "The tune has possibilities." The same night, orchestra leader Vincent Lopez played the song on his radio show. An April 14 radio listing promised that "Reisman airs, for the first time, 'Stormy Weather', the new 'Cotton Club' hit tune. It's amazing how many times Reisman could present a song for the first time.

The "Cotton Club Stormy Weather Revue" played the Capitol Theater on Broadway from May 26 through June 1. Since Duke Ellington led the orchestra, even though she wasn't his band singer, she'd capitalize on that later on.

Aside from whatever else Sally did in the show, she was the understudy to Ethel Waters (something else she'd capitalize on later).

On September 1, 1933, the "Stormy Weather" revue was at Loew's Metropolitan in Brooklyn. By then, there had been a big turnover in the cast. Duke Ellington had been replaced by the Mills Blue Rhythm Band and Ethel Waters had left to start rehearsals for the Broadway show "As Thousands Cheer", which would open on September 30. At this point, Sally was the one who got to sing "Stormy Weather". The Mills Blue Rhythm Band was managed by Irving Mills, who also, at some point, became Sally's manager. While they'd appear together often, Sally wasn't the band's official singer.

This was probably the time that Sally and the band were in a Vitaphone short movie, "Mills Blue Rhythm Band", filmed at the Vitaphone New York studio. This 11-minute extravaganza was released in late 1933, and Sally's name appears in the credits right after the Mills band. She sings a lively version of "There Goes My Headache", with some scatting and dance steps, proving that she's a really good performer. Her second number was "Love Is The Thing" (a standard that Jimmy Ricks would later record). She also had a speaking part, which probably didn't result in an Oscar nomination. (Much more impressive was the guy who skipped rope while tap dancing.)

Compare the photos of Sally in that 1933 movie to the professional head shot done two years later (the photo at the top of this article). It's amazing what makeup can do. With the Vitaphone rush job, Sally looks decades older than her actual age of 18. In the publicity photo, when she's 20, she looks closer to her age.

On September 29, 1933, "Sally Goodings" appeared, with Cab Calloway (and "His Famous Cotton Club Orch.") at Loew's Jersey City. She was not his band singer either, although some future ads would try to capitalize on that too. Another act on the bill was the 3 Dukes, a dance act that was also in the Mills movie.

By November 4, with the addition of Aida Ward, they were all at the Capitol Theater in Manhattan. They were probably still at the Cotton Club too. The cast there was: Cab Calloway, Aida Ward, the Nicholas Brothers, Dusty Fletcher, Bessie Dudley, Herbert Brown, the 3 Dukes, Claude Hopkins & His Roseland Ballroom Orchestra, Orlando Roberson, and a really young Lena Horne.

Up to now, Sally's name had been mentioned in cast lists, but nothing was ever said about her. That omission was remedied in the November 11 New York Age, talking about the Cotton Club's floor show, which called her "the gorgeous Sally Gooding".

On January 9, 1934 the Brooklyn Times Union mentioned that "On the same program are presented, in Vitaphone short subjects ... Mills Blue Ribbon Band, with Sally Goulding [sic], Freddie [sic; should be "Freddi"] Washington...." It was still being shown in some theaters in October. Here's a review from the February 17, 1934 Chillicothe (Ohio) Constitution Tribune:

Mills' Blue Rhythm Band, Marlem's [sic] 'hotcha' syncopaters of New York's famous Cotton Club, come to the Ritz tomorrow and Monday in their first Vitaphone musical brevity. After a night club introduction, Hamtree Harrington takes the gang up to his Harlem penthouse apartment for a special party.

Lively music, hot singing and fast stepping dancers make this Vitaphone subject an ace attraction.

Fred Washington and Sally Gooding are featured with the band. [I'm sure Freddi was upset to see her name spelled that way.]

Sally Gooding and the Turbin [sic] Boys "Late Stars Cotton Club" were at the State Theater in Poughkeepsie, New York on April 10-12, in a show called "Vogues Of 1934". On April 14, now called "Creole Follies", Sally ("stage and screen star") and the Three Turbans ("a very novel dancing act") were at the Howard Theater in Washington, DC for a week.

The week of June 8, Sally appeared at the Apollo Theater. Finally, Sally became more than just a name on a list. The New York Age review on June 16 said: "A pleasing eyeful with a nice personality and a good strong voice for torch singing meets with the approval of the audience. That girlie is all right." In spite of that, however, her name didn't make it to the Apollo's ad.

On July 24, 1934, Sally was one of the acts on comedian Dave Vine's radio show (WOR, New York, at 9:00 PM). I never heard of any of the others. She was there again on July 31.

Another movie. This one was called "Hits Of Today", starring George "Doc" Rockwell (as the Master Of Ceremonies), the Radio Aces (Goodman Ace and his wife, Jane), Frances Langford, Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, Willie Bryant, and Dusty Fletcher (among others). (Here's a useless fact to amaze your friends with: it was the first East Coast movie to be granted a Production Code Seal of Approval, on July 27, 1934.) Filmed at the Biograph Studios in the Bronx, it was released August 15. It seems like she sang a tune called "Give All Your Love To Me". I could only find a single ad for it playing anywhere (August 31 at the Metropolitan Theater in Washington, DC; the ad only named Dr. Rockwell, Frances Langford, and the Radio Aces).

However, columnist Vere E. Johns saw it and wrote a scathing review ("Not Black Enough?") for the November 17 New York Age (without actually naming the film):

Just as I was beginning to think that white producers in general had taken on a new idea of the colored performer and the manner in which he should be presented before the public, I have had a grave and disgusting setback. At the Lafayette Theatre this week, an added attraction on the outside display is "Willie Bryant and Orchestra on the screen." That was something new, we have seen Duke and Cab and Claude Hopkins and even Louis Armstrong, but Willie Bryant - not yet. And so we went in and prepared to enjoy the sight of Mrs. Bryant's pet son on the screen.

A Universal short featuring "Doc" Rockwell, took the screen and various white performers were introduced and did their stuff. Then the Doc gave Willie Bryant a great sendoff and that Lafayette audience cheered lustily and all eyes were focused on those curtains, As Minnie the Moocher would put it, "Then the curtains parted - and there stood Willie!" But oh, my God! What on earth had they done to him? The figure was Willie, the teeth were Willie's, the eyes were Willie's, but someone had gone and smeared a lot of black stuff over Willie's face and destroyed his whole personality. I cannot even say that they made a blackface comedian out of him for he was anything but funny.

I groaned, the audience groaned and Willie's face had such a strange expression on it that I believe he was groaning while he made the picture. The truth of the matter is that the asses who made that short considered that Willie was too light to represent Harlem and decided to black him up. They were afraid that if they photographed him in his natural complexion, people might think he was white and wonder what a white man was doing leading a colored band. They must have been thinking of the cracker theatres where they expect to make a lot of money out of that short. But they have only fooled themselves - as the picture looks now, Willie Bryant looks just like a white man blackened up to represent a Negro, and a poor job at that. They even put a little paint on Sally Gooding and of course, Dusty Fletcher had on burnt cork, so he must have been perfectly satisfactory to them. [Dusty Fletcher routinely appeared in blackface back then.]

The point that I should like cleared up is why was it allowed? I don't believe that Bryant and his band got rich off that musical short, so why allow a thing like that to be done to him? His men are photographed a la naturelle and serve to show up the hideousness of his get-up. It seems to me that either Willie Bryant or his manager could have said to the Universal fools when they made this impudent suggestion, "You will photograph all of us are we are, or no picture." They would have won some respect and retained their own self-respect even if they did not get the job. After all they don't dare suggest things like that to Cab Calloway or Duke Ellington any longer, and Willie Bryant and others must learn that they will never get anywhere if they allow low, prejudiced white producers and directors to make monkeys out of them on the screen or stage. If I were in Bryant's place I should buy that film and make a bonfire of it,

With two films under her belt, Sally now hit Broadway in a revue show called "Keep Moving". The July 23, 1934 New York Daily News said: "Sally Gooding, who sang 'Stormy Weather' at the Cotton Club after Ethel Waters left, has been added to 'Keep Moving', new Broadway revue set for early August opening." She was in two sketches: "Midtown" and "Superstition". "Midtown" was a song sung by Woods Miller, Sally Gooding, and the Metropolitan Octet. "Superstition" was a song sung only by Sally.

It opened, for tryouts, on August 14, at the Boulevard Theater in Jackson Heights, Queens, New York. The review in the August 15 Brooklyn Daily Eagle was quite favorable.

It was supposed to open on Broadway at the Forrest Theater on August 20, but was postponed for three days in order to incorporate new material. It opened, therefore, on August 23, but didn't keep moving, closing on September 8, after only 20 performances.

The show's Playbill had this to say about her: "Sally Gooding arrives on Broadway by way of the Harlem Cotton Club, where she succeeded Ethel Waters in the 'Stormy Weather' revue. She has also worked in the Cab Calloway organization." That's interesting wording. It basically says that she was part of Cotton Club shows, but not the singer with Calloway's band (although they would have backed her in performances).

The review in the August 24, 1934 Daily News, was decidedly lukewarm (they only really liked a quartet of dancers and gave the revue 1+ stars). The August 24 Brooklyn Times Union didn't like it at all. The August 24 Brooklyn Daily Eagle was trapped; they liked it in the tryouts a couple of weeks before, so they had to give it a good review this time too.

The September 8 New York Age talked about her in "Keep Moving".

Harlem was well represented by Sally Gooding of the Cotton Club revue who put over in a striking manner her number "Superstition". She had the proper setting, she got into the right mood, and with a good, strong, pulsating voice, she gave of her best and her best was damn good. She also assisted Woods Miller in singing "Midtown".

However, remember that the Age was a weekly paper and this piece was printed on the same day the show folded.

November 14 found her at the Howard Theater in Washington, DC, along with Don Redman's Orchestra, Harlan Lattimore, Dusty Fletcher, and Chuck & Chuckles.

On November 30, 1934, said the ad (date confirmed), Sally was at the Lafayette Theater in Harlem, for a week, with Willie Bryant's band. However, this conflicts with the next item. Not to worry, when the Lafayette show was talked about in the December 1 New York Age, Sally wasn't listed in the cast, nor was she in the theater's ad.

Sally was at the Cotton Club in Washington, DC ("Visit Harlem In Washington") for a week, probably starting on November 30, 1934 (the December 1 ad date was also confirmed). The December 1 Washington Times had this to say: "Another star, who took Ethel Waters' place in the last Cotton Club Revue in New York, is Sally Gooding. Her singing is the best heard in Washington in some time." The ad called Sally "Ethel Waters' understudy, queen of blues singers. Direct from COTTON CLUB, N.Y." Remember, boys and girls, the phrase "direct from" in ads or write-ups means that the performer had probably been there at some time or another, but probably not right before this show. It's just name-dropping.

She was still in DC on Christmas week, when Dusty Fletcher was added to the show. The December 22 Washington Times said: "Sally Gooding cannot sing enough in the truly Ethel Waters style to send the customers home satisfied." I think that's a compliment, but it would be nice to have her praised on her own merits rather than be compared to Ethel Waters all the time. (But it shows you how big a star Ethel was.)

The January 5 Washington Times tried it: "Close on the above pair's heels [Chuck & Chuckles] are Sally Gooding and Dusty Fletcher. The patrons cannot seem to get enough of the former's singing, especially her rendition of 'Harlem Moon'. Dusty Fletcher can dance as well as produce laughter, and when you put them both together, you have an act that is an act."

On February 8, 1935, she began a week at the Stanley Theater in Pittsburgh. Also on the show was the Mills Blue Rhythm Band, which had been taken over by Lucky Millinder, in October 1933, upon his return from Europe. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette of February 11 told us why Sally was in that show: "Sally Gooding was a last-minute addition to Lucky Millinder's unit at the Stanley, filling in for Leitha Hill, who was unable to get out of her contract at Harlem's Cotton Club."

On March 5-7, 1935 "Sallie" and Lucky were at the Colonial Theater in Allentown, Pennsylvania. She was now the "Brown Bundle Of Blues".


Sally was at the Plantation Cafe in Philadelphia on April 24, as part of "Blackbirds Of 1935", which appeared along with the Duke Ellington Orchestra.

She was back with the Mills band at the Howard Theater the week of May 17. The May 18 Washington Times called the Mills Blue Rhythm Band "A bang-up musical group with an hour of paprika entertainment." Also on the bill was tenor Chuck Richards, who in a few months would audition for the lead singer part in the Four Ink Spots (but lose out to Bill Kenny).

On July 1, 1935, Sally opened at the Memphis Club in Philadelphia. The show also presented, said the July 3 Philadelphia Inquirer, "the sepia chorus girls in the new Harlem dance craze, 'Trucking'." The Baltimore Afro-American of August 24, 1935, mentioned that ".... Sally Gooding is in her tenth week [actually ninth] at the Memphis Club in Philly...." She'd remain there through October 9.

The week of October 11, she was back at the Howard Theater, along with the Mills Blue Rhythm Band and Chuck Richards. Right after that, she returned to the Memphis Club until the last week in December.

But she closed out the year with a week at the Howard Theater, opening December 28. The headliner was Fats Waller; also there was dancer Bill Bailey (brother of singer Pearl Bailey).

On March 1, 1936, Sally appeared at the Lincoln Theater in Philadelphia, headlined by the Claude Hopkins Orchestra, with Orlando Robeson. She was part of the Cotton Club Show, with Butterbeans & Susie, Nina Mae McKinney, [Flournoy] Miller and Mantan [Moreland], Jessie Cryor, and Rubberlegs Williams.

In early April 1936, she'd been added to the floor show at the Kit Kat Club in Midtown Manhattan. Also on the bill were Aida Ward and Johnny & George. You've probably never heard of Johnny & George, but here's what you need to know about them and the song "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen":

The original "Bei Mir Bist Du Schön" had been written by Jacob Jacobs and Sholom Secunda for a 1932 Yiddish production called "I Would If I Could". The song became popular in New York City and in the Catskills, selling 10,000 copies of the sheet music. It seems to have originally been spelled "Bei Mir Bistu Shein", meaning "to me, you are beautiful".

Johnny & George (Johnny "Baby Face" Macklin and George MacLean) had been around for a few years; their first mention was on January 14, 1934. Johnny was the main singer; George played piano and also did some singing.

They'd been appearing at Manhattan's Yacht Club (one of the West 52nd Street jazz clubs) in April and May 1937. However, by the end of May, the Yacht Club closed for the summer (this was before air conditioning), so they hunted around for somewhere new to perform.

Over the summer of 1937, they played Grossinger's Hotel in New York's Catskill Mountains (which catered to a Jewish clientele). It was owned by Jennie Grossinger, who, in early 1938, claimed to have taught "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen" (in Yiddish) to Johnny And George. (Why she would have done this was never explained).

Whatever the reason, they learned it, taking a Yiddish song, singing it with the original Yiddish lyrics, but using a Swing arrangement. It went over so well with Grossinger's customers that they kept it in their act.

On August 13, 1937, back in New York, they played Harlem's Apollo Theater. Later accounts said they sang their swing arrangement of BMBDS there to thunderous applause, but I doubt it. The August 21, 1937 New York Age, talking about J&G at the Apollo, said that: "The two boys from Leon & Eddie's, Johnny and George (MacLean and Macklin [last names were backwards]) whooping it up on the Apollo Theater stage. Beyond the tops in their particular field these boys after almost three years at the celebrated Yacht Club where they co-starred with the glamorous Alice Faye and the scintillating singer of the Blues, Helen Morgan, come to Harlem for the second time and have shown every sign of being held over. The last time Johnny and George played the 125th Street boards they were mobbed at the stage entrance after the performance by autograph hunters." Note that it said nothing about them having sung a Yiddish song, which would have been unusual enough to have been noted.

Therefore, I have to believe that they introduced it at the Yacht Club later on that year (after it had re-opened). This is borne out by an article about BMBDS in the January 31, 1938 Life magazine. It had a photo of J&G and said: "Johnny & George sang it in Yiddish at the Yacht Club in Manhattan where, they claim, songwriters Sammy Cahn and Saul Chaplin heard them...."

Cahn and Chaplin thought the song would have promise (although not in Yiddish). They hunted up the original writers (Jacob Jacobs and Sholom Secunda, who'd unsuccessfully tried to sell the song to Eddie Cantor, who thought it was too ethnic). When Cahn offered each one $30 for the rights, the offer was accepted.

Cahn and Chaplin kept the swing arrangement and wrote English lyrics for it. It first seemed to be played by Guy Lombardo on his radio show in early December 1937 and was a big hit, with other orchestra leaders playing it over the airwaves. Soon after, the relatively unknown Andrews Sisters (mostly advertised as dancers up to now), recorded it for Decca. Released in December 1937, it was a smash hit by the end of the year.

The next time Johnny & George appeared at the Apollo, on January 28, 1938, they were called the "Originators of B. M. B. D. S. in Swingtime". However, nothing said if they sang it in English or Yiddish at the Apollo.

This whole story made it to the January 31, 1938 edition of Life.

By May 1939, they were famous enough to be replaced, for three weeks, at the Little Rathskeller (Philadelphia) by the Four Ink Spots, who had just had a hit with "If I Didn't Care".

Strangely, they never recorded the song themselves.

Don't say I never teach you anything.

By late June, Sally was at the Town Casino Club at 152 East 55th Street in Manhattan.

On July 17, she began a week at the Metropolitan Theater in Boston with the 4 Ink Spots, the 4 Step Brothers, and Teddy Hill's band.

In mid-August, she appeared with clarinetist Arthur Davy's Orchestra at Villepigue's in Sheepshead Bay (Brooklyn, NY) for a few weeks. (Davy would be in the Red Caps in 1946 and the 4 Blues by the end of that decade.) At this time, he seems to have had the house band at the restaurant; she always appeared with him there, but nowhere else. The September 4 Brooklyn Daily Eagle said that "Sally Gooding, the Three Cyclones, Palmer and Peaches, and Arthur Davy's orchestra also will continue for the rest of the season."

On January 27, 1937, she entertained at a dinner dance given by the Port Chester (New York) Young Men's Republican Club. She was a big hit, said the January 29 Port Chester Daily Item: "What keeps Sally Gooding off Broadway, guests at the Young G. O. P. dinner-dance were asking after the buxom Negro blues singer finished her songs and encores the other night. Sally's sensational singing was the talk of the town yesterday."

Finally, Sally got to record. On March 9, 1937 she was part of a 3 Peppers session for Variety Records. Both she and the 3 Peppers (as well as the Mills Blue Ribbon Band) were managed by Irving Mills, who probably set up this session (I base that assumption on the fact that he also owned Variety). Of the four songs recorded, she was the vocalist on three of them: "It Must Be Love", "Smile Up At The Sun", and "Yours All Yours". I really like the jivey "It Must Be Love", but the other two are nothing special.

Sally was at the Top Hat in Union City, New Jersey on April 20, 1937, along with Conway & Parks, Billie & Millie, and Susay Brown. She was still there on April 29, when it was renamed Club Stadium. With her then were Chuck & Chuckles and the Berry Brothers.

In May, Variety released two of her tunes (as "Sally Gooding and the Three Peppers"): "Smile Up At The Sun" and "Yours All Yours". (Naturally, they held back on the one I like.) The disc was mentioned in the July 31 Indianapolis Recorder:

[After talking about the 3 Peppers' first record, "Get The Gold"] Still the Three Peppers - this time they appear with Sally Gooding, Cab Calloway's favorite singing "find", in "Yours All Alone" [sic] and "Smile Up At The Sun". There is a small supporting jam band with the song-shouting crew to give this platter plenty of Variety.

On June 1, Sally appeared with Duke Ellington, at the Loew's State Theater in Manhattan, for a six day engagement. An odd thing happened on the last day.

There was a Danish Baron named Timme Rosenkrantz. A huge jazz fan, he made some trips to America in the 1930s; one of them was in 1937. He later wrote a book ("Harlem Jazz Adventures") and this is the relevant passage:

I remember on this, my twenty-sixth birthday [July 6, 1937], I took a little stroll down Broadway and stopped at Loews State, a huge cinema where Duke Ellington and His Orchestra were playing between movies. I could think of no better place to celebrate.

The music was, as usual - there is only one word for it - Ellingtonian. There was also a marvelous show imported from the Cotton Club in Harlem. The star was a lady I will be a long time forgetting. She was built like Frederiksborg Castle, stately, brown, and gorgeous, and how she could sing. She was already known for her blues records and had long been prima donna at the Cotton Club, where she was the vocalist with Cab Calloway's band.

For three entire shows, movie and music, I sat bewitched. The movie I took no notice of. It was just she, and even the Ellington orchestra faded into the background.

After the third show, I went backstage for a chat with the boys. One of my very best friends, the saxophonist Otto (Toby) Hardwick, grabbed me and asked, "Why do you look so exalted, Timme?"

"It's my birthday."

"Come on, then, let's have a drink on it!" And Toby led me to the nearest bar and bought me one little pink drink after another. (When I first met Otto in London, he had a penchant for green drinks, but now he had switched to "anything pink" - pink gins, pink champagne, pink ladies.)

"Is there anything you'd like to have for your birthday?" Otto asked me. "Well," I blurted, "I'd like to have the woman who sang 'Stormy Weather," and felt myself blush as I said it.

"Oh," he smiled, "you mean Sally Gooding. All right, Timme, you've been a friend for a long time. You shall have her."

It was evening by now, and the last show was about to begin. I gave Otto my address and invited him to stop by on his way home, promising him a pink drink.

At midnight my doorbell rang, and there stood Otto with the goddess Gooding beside him, as good as his word. "It's late and I must be getting home," he said, "but I just thought I'd drop off your birthday present."

The sloe gin was pink, and Otto was happy and, believe me, so was I. Miss Gooding seemed to enjoy the situation. Otto had told her about me, and it tickled her to be a birthday present, something she had never tried before.

So Otto went home and Sally took off her coat and stayed for fourteen days.

Fourteen days or so later, Sally was at Boston's Southland Club when it reopened on September 22, 1937. She was part of the cast of "Black Rhapsody", starring Blanche Calloway (Cab's older sister) and her Hi-Di-Ho Boys, the original Tramp Band (see my Doctor Sausage article for more about tramp bands), Willa Mae Lane, and the Ten Georgia Peaches. She'd be there for around eight weeks. The November 13, 1937 Chicago Defender told us that she was finishing up her engagement at the club (although Calloway was there until the end of the year).

Sally opened at the Club Plantation in Detroit on November 12, joining long-held-over dancer, Bill Bailey. Sally was advertised, sadly, as "Another Ethel Waters". Sometimes you just can't break away.

On December 3, Sally began another week at the Apollo Theater, along with Willie Bryant's orchestra, Chuck & Chuckles, and the comedy of Dusty Fletcher, Sandy Burns, and George Wiltshire.

Sally had another recording session on December 17, 1937, this time with pianist Teddy Wilson's band, for Brunswick Records. (This and the ones with the 3 Peppers seem to be the only recordings she ever made.) The band had a few musicians you might know: Pee Wee Russell (clarinet), Alan Reuss (guitar), Chu Berry (tenor saxophone), and Hot Lips Page (trumpet). The two songs were: "My First Impression Of You" (which Wilson rerecorded, with Billie Holiday, three weeks later, on January 6, 1938) and "With A Smile And A Song". More jazzy than jivey, I'm not really impressed with them (they mostly spotlight the band, anyway). Both sides remained unreleased until albums decades later.

By June 1938, Variety Records was gone, but Vocalion had acquired the masters. They had the sense to release the third song by Sally and the 3 Peppers (the one I like): "It Must Be Love". The flip wasn't by the 3 Peppers at all, but "Liza (All The Clouds'll Roll Away)", by the Clarence Williams Trio.

Sally was part of a benefit for crippled children given at the St. George Hotel (Brooklyn) sometime towards the end of June. Now, she was referred to as "blues singing star of 'Stormy Weather'," (for a change without reference to Ethel Waters).

On September 22, 1938, she started at the Grand Terrace in Chicago, along with the Earl Hines band, Dusty Fletcher, the team of Bert Howell & Honi Coles, Son & Sonny, and Dorothy Saulters. Sally's big song was "Can't Face The Music". She was still there in mid-December.

She was also a party animal. This was in the October 22 Pittsburgh Courier (while she was at the Grand Terrace): "Scoops Carey, Ray Nance, and Johnny Hartfield [sic; I think they meant Johnny Hartman], recent members of the Earl Hines aggregation, turned out enmass [sic] for a farewell party at Sally Gooding's, Thursday morning." In January 1939, Ray Nance would marry Melrose Colbert (just thought I'd throw that in).

The December 17 Pittsburgh Courier had this useless little piece:

Red Duncan may not get anything for the holidays . . . Here's the story. He was supposed to have a little party for a girl named Sally Gooding at the Ritz, but Dot Saulters, her mother, and Ann Jones dropped in for a visit which cost Duncan ten rocks in drinks. . . . The lad had to come to work at Club 65 (COD).

Hey, I don't write this junk, but if I have to slog through it, why shouldn't you?

The week starting February 23, 1939, she played another engagement with Lucky Millinder and the Blue Rhythm Band. This one was at Loew's State Theater on Broadway. The 4 Step Brothers were there, as was Millinder's vocalist, Trevor Bacon. The February 25 Chicago Defender said: "The dapper orchestra leader has prepared an entirely new musical presentation for his Broadway followers, using Miss Sally Gooding, Harlem night club favorite, and Trevor Bacon, golden-voiced tenor, for the vocal specialties."

After that, Sally was in a new revue, at Harlem's Plantation Club, called "See Harlem First". It opened on April 30 and had the Chris Columbus band, plus a lot of "stars" I never heard of. However, the first sentence of the blurb in the April 22 New York Age continues to cause problems:

"See Harlem First", a new musical revue, which will be Harlem's contribution to the entertainment of incoming World's Fair visitors, will make its premiere on Sunday, April 30th at the Plantation Club.

It's a simple sentence, but if you don't read it carefully, you might think that this was one of the attractions at the New York World's Fair (which, coincidentally also opened on April 30). But it was actually designed to lure World's Fair patrons into Manhattan, since many came from out of town and would be looking for things to do. Many sites talk about Sally singing at the World's Fair; nothing at the time said she did.

Another film, this time "The Notorious Elinor Lee". Sally was in the cast list as "singer". Filming had finished by the end of April 1939.

Toward the end of May, the Plantation Club opened its newly-decorated Bojangles Bar, where both Sally and Amanda Randolph were entertaining. Sally was still part of "See Harlem First" at the beginning of August, when Skeets Tolbert's band was brought in.

But then she returned to Brooklyn. The Pittsburgh Courier of August 26, 1939 said:

RETREAT FEATURES SALLY GOODING - Sally Gooding, blues singer, is now a nightly feature at Villepigue's, the historic dining and dancing retreat at Sheepshead Bay [Brooklyn] which has revived week-end revues with Arthur Davey [sic] and his Cotton Club band doing the playing.

On October 20, she opened at the Brass Rail in Mountain View, New Jersey, along with Johnnie Keys and his Swing Kats.


1940 began with "The Notorious Elinor Lee"; it was in general release on January 30. However, although she's listed as "singer", I watched it and there was no sequence with a singer in the film. To be fair, however, the only version on the Internet doesn't have sound for most of it, so she might have only sung in the background. Sound or not, it doesn't look like a very good film. If she even appeared on the screen, I couldn't pick her out. Mark Cantor, of Celluloid Improvisations, managed to get hold of the filming script and, on page 3, there are the lyrics to "I Cried For You". The script would drive any actor crazy, since there's no clue as to who speaks any line or where any action takes place. Presumably the song is sung in the background while the dialog is being spoken, but I can't tell.

By February 21, she was singing with the Emperor Jones Orchestra at the Brick Club (145 West 47th Street in Manhattan). She was advertised for two weeks.

Then, it was up to the Post Lodge in Larchmont, New York in late March. Once again, she was advertised as "Understudy To Ethel Waters".


While she was at the Post Lodge, the 1940 census rolled around. In it, Sally was living in Brooklyn with her mother, Belle Gooding. She was 24, single, had finished high school, and was an "actress - theatrical". In the prior week, she'd worked 42 hours. In 1939, she'd earned $3000. From the X next to her name, we know that she answered the questions herself. While Sally said her mother was divorced, I can't find any trace of a husband in her life, ever. I'll say again: I don't know where the "Gooding" came from.

Speaking of Brooklyn, on May 4 (the Saturday the restaurant opened for its 54th season) she was back at Villepigue's in Sheepshead Bay (along with, of course, Arthur Davy). The Brooklyn Eagle of July 26, 1940 said "Pleased that its business this year far exceeds last year's, Villepigue's Inn in Sheepshead Bay today extended the engagement of Arthur Davy's Orchestra through this its 54th season. Sally Gooding is the featured vocalist...." But after July 6, they stopped putting performers' names in their ads.

Another year, another revue. "Tan Manhattan" had its break-in performances at the Howard Theater (Washington, DC) the week beginning January 20, 1941. It then came to the Apollo Theater, the week beginning February 7, in a 90-minute condensed version. After that, it was going on a road tour. Staged by Irvin C. Miller, it had sketches devised by his brother, Flournoy Miller; music by Eubie Blake, with lyrics by Andy Razaf (between them, they'd already written "Memories Of You", "I'm Just Wild About Harry", "Honeysuckle Rose", and "Ain't Misbehavin'"); and dances choreographed by Henry LeTang. The cast of 75 included Nina Mae McKinney, Evelyn Keyes, Avon Long, Winnie Johnson, and Dorothy Saulters. (That's the same Dot Saulters I who was mentioned in that December 17, 1938 puff piece, above.) Sally sang "I Am A Great Big Baby", "Tan Manhattan", and "Hit The Road You Bum Bumble Bee".

The February 15 New York Age complained that the premiere on the 7th "was spoiled for the first-nighters by the showing of a government film on the training of aviators for the U.S. Navy." That needs some explanation, and the paper gave one:

This film opened with scenes from the Naval Training Station at Pensacola, Fla., which was described as a glorified technical college where all races meet. In view of the act that Negroes are not permitted in the Navy, except as mess attendants, and in the Naval Air Corps under no condition, the showing of such a film to a Harlem audience appeared to this reviewer as a bit of satire calculated to stir up resentment rather than entertainment.

Critics didn't particularly like "Tan Manhattan", although audiences packed the theaters. In spite of a blurb saying that the Schubert Theater had purchased the show for a Broadway presentation, it never surfaced again after the Apollo.

On June 6, 1941, Sally ("Ethel Waters' Understudy") opened at Henry "Cuba" Lopez's new Night Club in Asbury Park, New Jersey (which, claimed the ad, was already "world famous"). Also there were Skeets Talbert's band and comedian Sam "Spo-Dee-O-Dee" Theard. They were also in the club's July 12 ad.

However, this conflicted with the report (Dayton Forum of June 6, 1941) that Sally Gooding was part of the cast of "Tan Town Topics", the successor show to "Tan Manhattan". It had opened at the Apollo on March 28. In May, June, and July it toured as far as Dayton and Nashville. I suppose she might have been at Cuba's club for only those two nights while "Tan Town Topics" was moving from place to place.

In August, she was at the Plantation in Long Branch, New Jersey, along with MC Spizzy Canfield and tap dancer Bo Jenkins. The show was reviewed in the August 30 Billboard. This is what they had to say: "Show opens with Sally Gooding, a blues singer, hefty but personable, and with a nice delivery which went over okeh."

Later that year, Sally was advertised at Valeant's in Milnesville, Pennsylvania from November 29 through at least January 3, 1942. She was, said the ad, "The Peer Of Blues Singers".

On April 24, 1942, she was part of the show at the Gaiety Burlesque house ("Harlem Gone Broadway"). The show also had Benny Carter's band and Stepin Fetchit, Freddie & Flo, and the dance team of the 3 Speed Kings. The Gaiety was one of the burlesque houses that had recently lost its "stripper license" and had substituted "sepia vaudeville" instead. Sally sang "Empty Bed Blues", an old Bessie Smith tune.

However, there were no further mentions of Sally for another year.

By May 25, 1943, Sally was part of a USO show ("Little Ol' New York") that played the Recreation Hall in Harding Field (Baton Rouge, Louisiana). The other named performers were comedian "Speedy" Williams and pianist Minto Kato. I couldn't find any other mention of the show (or of Sally) in 1943.

But in 1944, Sally joined the touring "Heigh Ho" USO show, playing Camp Butner (Durham, North Carolina) on April 8, 10, and 11. The rest of the cast consisted of John "Spider Bruce" Mason, John Vigal, and Edna "Yack" Taylor (comedians and Apollo Theater mainstays), Mabel Lee (swing dancer), Hutchie & Vernie (dancers), Fetaque Sanders (comic magician), Gladys Easter (pianist), Heckle & Jive (dancers), Great Bender (contortionist), and the Six Dancing Chicks. Note that acts would come and go over the months and no one ever reviewed her performances.

July 11 found the show at the Naval Air Training Center at Pensacola, Florida, as well as other nearby camps (11 days in all). Here are some other places that "Heigh Ho" played in 1944:

August 9 - Keesler Field - Biloxi, Mississippi (3 days)
August 1-4 - Camp Shelby - Hattiesburg, Mississippi
September 4 - Camp Van Dorn - Centreville, Mississippi
September 22 - San Marcos Army Air Force base, near Austin, Texas
October 19 - Foster Field - Victoria, Texas
October 30 - Barksdale Field - Bossier Parish, Louisiana
November 14 - Smyrna (Tennessee) Army Air Field
November 15-16 - Nashville Army Air Forces Convalescent Hospital
December 12-13 - Camp Gruber - near Braggs, Oklahoma

On February 10, 1945, Sally was part of a different USO show: "Riffs And Rhythms", which played at the Pampa, Texas Army Airfield. However, most of the cast of "Heigh Ho" carried over: the Six Dancing Chicks, John "Spider Bruce" Mason, Edna "Yack" Taylor, Mabel Lee, Gladys Easter, and Hutchie & Vernie. New was Leonard Rodgers, the show's MC, who'd replaced Johnny Vigal.

After that, the show stopped listing personnel for a while. When they started again, at Fort Lewis, near Tacoma, Washington, on June 7-9, Sally's name was no longer there, although the show ran through the end of 1945.

Actually, now that I revisit the Pampa show, it was first advertised in the January 21 Pampa Daily News (to be presented on February 10), with Sally's name as part of the cast. However, by the time it was mentioned again, on February 9, the only name in the blurb was that of MC Leonard Rogers. It's entirely possible that she never appeared in that revue at all.

January 21, 1945 thus became the last professional mention of Sally Gooding (whether or not she was actually in the show when it was presented). Presumably something bad happened to her (you'll see why in the 1950 census), but whatever it was never made the papers.

On February 2, 1950, Sally was one of the many people mentioned as having shown up (not performing) at the Orchid Room of Farrell's Tavern in Harlem. This was the site, that week, of the Manhattan Round Robin, an event put on by the New York Age. Every week, a show was put on at a different night spot and well-known people were encouraged to show up. As the February 9 New York Age put it:

The N.Y. Age - Manhattan Round Robin is the only event of its kind in the area that weekly features "live" stars, celebrities, et al. This public service Age feature never takes place in lean-to bars, grills, or clubs and refuses to cater to hangers-on and folk of that ilk. Bartenders are not assaulted at New York Age Manhattan Robins; brawls never start on Age Robin sites, and service is courteous and rapid. All of which is a plea not to confuse N.Y. AGE-sparked Robins with other such events.

In the 1950 census, Sally was still living in Brooklyn with her mother, Belle Gooding. According to the census, she was 34, never married, "unable to work", had been a "Singer - Show Business". She'd done no work last year (1949) and earned nothing. Relative(s) contributed $2300 to her. Now, her mother, Belle Gooding, was listed as a widow.

On January 29, 1952, only 36, Sally Gooding died in Brooklyn. I don't know what she died from, but, as we saw in the 1950 census, there was definitely something wrong with her. Was it some sort of accident? Was it a disease? We'll probably never know.

There was no obituary at the time, but three months later, this appeared in the April 4, 1952 Down Beat, the April 12 Miami Times, the April 12 Indianapolis Recorder and the April 19 Oklahoma City Black Dispatch:

NEW YORK - (ANP) - The death was reported here recently of Sally Gooding, a well known singer in the 1930s, who was featured with Cab Calloway's band and on record with the Three Peppers. She died in a Brooklyn hospital.

That wasn't much to sum up a dozen years of Sally's career (and it took them long enough to find out that she'd died). Maybe I'm being unnecessarily harsh. She'd disappeared for seven years, time enough to be forgotten in the ever-changing entertainment industry.

Sally Gooding seemed to have a good career. While I can't say I like most of her recordings, audiences liked her and I didn't come across a single negative review.


VARIETY (Sally Gooding & 3 Peppers)
554 Smile Up At The Sun / Yours All Yours - 5/37

VOCALION (Sally Gooding & 3 Peppers - it had been recorded for Variety)
4169 It Must Be Love (with Sally Gooding) / [Liza (All The Clouds'll Roll Away) - Clarence Williams Trio] - 6/38

BRUNSWICK (Teddy Wilson & His Orchestra)
      My First Impression Of You - unissued
      With A Smile And A Song - unissued


MOVIES:

Mills Blue Rhythm Band - released late 1933
      There Goes My Headache
      Love Is The Thing

Hits Of Today - released 8/34
      Give All Your Love To Me

The Notorious Elinor Lee - filmed spring 1939; released 1/40
      In the cast list as "singer", but I didn't see any singing sequence in the film. She probably sang "I Cried For You", but not on-screen.