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Hot Chocolates 

Also known as Cottontail
Soundie 
1941 
Al Minns
Frankie Manning
Mildred Pollard
Billy Ricker
Willa Mae Ricker
Russell Williams 
MOVIES 
 After Seben
The Big Apple
Call Of The Jitterbug
Can't Top the Lindy H
Cootie Williams
Cottontail
Day At The Races 
Chicago &
All That Jazz 
Frankie Manning
 Instructional Videos 
Hellzapoppin'
Hot Chocolates 
Jammin'the Blues 
Jittering Jitterbugs
Killer Diller 
Malcolm X 
Manhattan 
Merry-Go-Round
Outline Jitterbug Hist
Radio City Revels 
The Spirit Moves 
Stompin' at the Savoy 
Swing Kids 
Swingin'at the Savoy 
Symphony in Black
    The Whitey's Lindy Hoppers group that appears in this soundie was also known as the The Harlem Congaroos.They were the undisputed stars of all the groups of Whitey's dancers. After completing the filming of Hellzapoppin', the group had a contract to do a second film for Universal Studios. However, Whitey received an offer for them to perform in Rio de Janiero, Brazil, and decided he did not want his dancers to wait around for a script that was offbeat enough to incorporate the Black dancers.Such scripts had proven to be few and far between in the past. In order to break the contract, Whitey agreed to make this soundie, which was an enormous hit throughout the United States. The bombing of Pearl Harbor took place while the Harlem Congeroos were in Rio, and they were unable to get back home to the United States after their 6-week engagement was over.    Cast: 
   Duke Ellington Orchestra 
   Whitey's Lindy Hoppers :
They spent 6 months working to make enough money to secure their safe passage back to the USA and finally managed to fly back to Florida, where they arrived with no money in their pockets to make the trip back to New York. In Miami they discovered that the soundie of Hot Chocolates was a big hit and was on every jukebox! They found employment with a nightclub owner who capitalized on the popularity of this soundie by advertising that he had the " Hot Chocolates in Person ". 

SOUNDIES were short musical filmclips that were played in jukeboxes in the thirties and forties.The device that played them used a mirror. The films were made in reverse and then their mirror images were projected to the viewers.

[The soundie "Hot Chocolates" is available from the Savoy Style Swing Dance Shop in 3 different compilations of vintage videos: Duke Ellington and His Orchestra, Harlem Harmonies 2 and Lullaby of Harlem location.]


Written and researched by Judy Pritchett with Frankie Manning (C)1995,1996,1997.May be reproduced only with explicit written permission. Last updated:29 July 1999. Send your suggestions, corrections or comments to judyp@mcn.org This Archive is also part of the World Lindy Hop Federation Archives maintained by Keith Hughes.