Fascinating stories of cabaret life before and during the Harlem Renaissance and Leonard Harper was at the forefront. He even had a dance studio in Times Sq. where the likes of Fred Astaire learned to "fast dance" and get down and "dirty" with the real Uptown talent. Alicia Taylor
Felipe Luciano WBAI 99.5 (Free Speech Radio) 99.5 FM "This book Rhythm For Sale is fascinating and chock full of history and culture and gives you a sense of the evolution of Black music from the south to New York City and throughout the United States."
Even with winning all those book awards, accolades, and securing a Harlem street named after his Grandfather Leonard Harper, his grandson, the author of Rhythm For Sale, didn't sit on his laurels. Grant decided to overhaul the entire text for maximum reading pleasure. He also filled this tighten-up edition with vintage photographs galore.
Reid has documented Harper's tale with decades of research and the careful chronological arrangement of the facts. From Leonard Harper early as a young pickaninny we follow Harper as he becomes the in-house producer at Harlem's fabled Connie's Inn nightclub. Harper opens up his downtown Times Square Dance Studio and teaches the Marx Brothers, Ruby Keller, Adele Astaire, and Busby Berkeley's chorus line in the fine art of (Colored) dancing. He forms his famous chorus-line, the Harperettes, who jiggle and joggle in skimpy outfits while setting dance floors on fire. Leonard Harper produces in at least eight nightclubs and theaters just in New York City alone. The Cotton Club, the Hollywood Inn, Al Capone's Grand Terrace Cafe, the Lafayette Theater, and the Apollo Theater all owe their particular place in entertainment history to Harper and his fast variety revues. He rules the nightclub and Black Musical Comedy world on "The Great White Way" and uptown in Harlem. "Black And Blue" and "Ain't Misbehavin" all came from Harper's "Hot Chocolates."Ethel Waters, Cab Calloway, Fats Waller, Chick Webb, Louis Armstrong, Billie Holiday, Count Basie, Lena Horne, Dutch Schultz, and Lucky Luciano are all integral players in Harper's show business world. These real-life characters come to life. The book ends with Harper's downfall. Deemed as out of date, Harper and his Musica Comedy Revues faced ruin just as his time on earth expires. His sad descent is inevitable as the master Director/Producer is trapped and held captive to his past success. The racial pigeonhole that forced him into working for only small-time Harlem nightspots caused his death.
A Harlem Street was named "Leonard Harper Way."
"Leonard Harper was just about the most important contributor to the entertainment mystique that enveloped Harlem in the 1920s and 1930s. He invented the nightclub floorshow, Harlem style that everyone, uptown and down, then emulated. Without him, I doubt we would have Broadway musicals as we know them today."
"Harper's extraordinary accomplishments as an artist and innovator spanned the worlds of vaudeville, cabaret, burlesque, and Broadway musical comedy. We will remember Harper as a pioneer who integrated the all-white Shubert touring circuit and directed Hot Chocolates' the first-ever Broadway production with an all-black creative team and co-director of the first black sound film, "The Exile."