This is collected, a podcast from the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History with support from PRX.

I'm Dr. Crystal Klingenberg, curator of music.

Episode 2. To Scat Like Ella.

Harlem, New York, November 21st, 1934.

It's the waning years of the Harlem Renaissance,

a period that has made Harlem the epicenter of an earthquake in the world of black politics, art, literature, and music.

A time that has brought to prominence people like Langston Hughes and Duke Ellington.

Even with the decline of jobs since the stock crash in 1929 and the Great Depression to follow,

young black artists and writers are still making their way.

And one place where many a way has been made is the Apollo Theater.

The glowing marquee out front announces that tonight is amateur night, a show dedicated to anyone and everyone with a talent to share and the courage to do it in a theater that seats 1,500 people.

It's almost like a secular church where everybody goes to hear sermons, meaning they're going to listen to the best stars and applaud and to

enjoy themselves. That's Judith Tick, a music historian and emerita professor at Northeastern

University. The crowd doesn't sit quietly. They make their feeling known through yells of affirmation

or disgust. No, this theater is not ordinary, and the roles don't change just because the performers aren't pros.

You could be booed, you could be jeered, but the platform could also give you your big break.

The power of the audience, hollow audiences knew they could boo people off the stage or they could clap them into stardom.

And that's exactly what happened for Ella.

This is the same Ella, who at 17 years old, is about to make her debut on the amateur night stage.

So Ella got up after a long show, after the regular show, and she was supposed to dance.

And as she tells it, she thought her singing was just an adjunct.

Originally, Ella planned to dance, but the dancers who hit the stage before her were stiff competition, so she decided to sing.

...