In 1919, to escape Philadelphia's blue laws,[6] Brecker and Yuengling moved the venue to 1658 Broadway at 51st Street inManhattan,[citation needed] on the second floor of that five-story building, opening on December 31, 1919.[6] It was a "whites only" dance club[citation needed] called the "home of refined dancing",[citation needed] famed for the "society orchestra" groups that played there, starting with Sam Lanin and his Ipana Troubadours.[citation needed]
Postcard promoting the club's "Fall Opening" of October 9, 1945 opening.
The all-white, ballroom-dancing atmosphere of the club gradually changed with the ascendance in popularity of hot jazz, as played by African American bands on the New York nightclub scene. Piron's New Orleans Jazz Orchestra played the ballroom in 1924. The Fletcher Henderson band played at Roseland in the 1920s and 1930s. Louis Armstrong, Count Basie (with his "Roseland Shuffle"), and Chick Webb followed with their orchestras. Other major-name bandleaders who played the venue included Vincent Lopez, Harry James, Tommy Dorsey, and Glenn Miller. Many big-band performances were broadcast live from Roseland by radio networks; recordings survive of several NBC broadcasts of 1940, featuring the young Ella Fitzgerald fronting the Chick Webb band.
Brecker popularized marathon dancing until it was banned, staged female prizefights, yo-yo exhibitions, sneezing contests, and dozens of highly publicized jazz weddings with couples who met at the club.[7]
As the club grew older, Brecker attempted to formalize the dancing more by having hostesses dance for 11¢ a dance or $1.50 a half-hour, with tuxedoed bouncers (politely known as "housemen") keeping order.[citation needed] It was to work its way into stories by Ring Lardner, Sherwood Anderson, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and John O'Hara.[citation needed]
