Greenburgh Town Clerk Judith Beville and I met with Cab Calloway’s daughter yesterday. Cecelia Calloway is seeking assistance with a project to preserve the Cab Calloway house at 1040 Knollwood Road as a historical landmark. Greenburgh played an important role in music, jazz and the arts during the last century. It is our hope that we can prevent the house from being demolished. If you’re interested in working with us in our efforts to save the Calloway House and to preserve the property as a historic landmark please e mail me at pfeiner@greenburghny.com and Judith Beville at jbeville@greenburghny.com. The following is a letter received from Cecilia Lael Calloway today.
PAUL FEINER
Hi-De-Ho Paul Feiner,
I am Cecelia Lael Calloway, the daughter of Cab Calloway and I’m seeking your assistance with a project that I strongly believe will benefit the Town of Greenburgh in several ways. My father, Cab Calloway, called Greenburgh home for many years. He truly loved living in this town and he often said he would like to have his legacy kept alive here. I want to acquire the house on Knollwood Road and use it as base to celebrate his life, music, and legacy. I envision this location being used to preserve an important piece of Greenburgh’s history, provide many educational opportunities to learn about the cultural and musical history, and provide a location to feature jazz performances, dance, sculpture, display memorabilia from Dad’s life, photographs, story telling and a functioning recording studio.
Your support would be such a great honor to me, my family and dad. I believe it is imperative to save, preserve and operate the old Calloway home where I met so many great celebrities visiting Dad. My associates and I are embarking on preserving the energies and spirits of celebrities and friends of yesterday who visited dad in celebration at our old home.
Here are just a few of these legendary performers who spent time at the house:
Duke Ellington, Lena Horne, Nat King Cole, Sammy Davis Jr., E. Simms Campbell. dinners with Dizzy Gillespie, Loentyne Price, Pearl Bailey, Slappy White, Gordon Parks, Eddie Haywood, Nipsie Russell, Michael Jackson, Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis, big parties with the Harlem Globe Trotters, Lionel Hampton, Panama Francis, Dave Brubeck, Billy Eckstine, Roy Campanalla and Cab’s band members; Milt Hinton, Fletcher Henderson, Chuck Berry, Cozy Cole, and the great producer of Hello Dolly, David Merrick.
The house is currently for sale and I understand developers have shown interest in acquiring the property for possible subdivision, meaning the demolition of this historically valuable location. We need to move quickly to make this dream happen. I believe the best vehicle for maintaining this location on a longterm basis would be to form a local charitable organization or foundation that would:
1. Operate exclusively for charitable, educational, and civic purposes as referred to in Sections 501(c) (3) and 170 (c) (2) of the Internal Revenue Code, generally referred to as “exempt purposes”.
2. To promote and fund the preservation of Cab Calloway name, likeness, music history and legacy locally and worldwide.
3. To produce fund raising events, activities and concerts for the Calloway house revival and preservation.
4. To purchase, renovate and expand the old Calloway home (1040 Knollwood Rd., White Plains, N.Y.) with showcase rooms, sound recording and music facility for continuous Calloway operations and projects
5. To sponsor multi-media, music and arts programs and projects for underprivileged youth, youth at risk, the school system, the local historical and arts organizations, and places of Higher learning such as colleges and universities.
Of course, these are preliminary ideas, but I think with your help, and the help of any interested groups and citizens, we can preserve this important piece of Greenburgh’s history. If this dream is to become reality, time is of the essence, the clock is ticking and the wrecker’s ball is looming nearby.
I hope you will join me in getting the word out to those who might be interested in making this happen.
Sincerely,
Cecelia Lael Calloway
-----Original Message-----
From: Paul Feiner
Sent: Friday, June 13, 2008 3:27 PM
To: Paul Feiner
Subject: agenda
Town of Greenburgh
Work Session Agenda of the Greenburgh Town Board
Tuesday – June 17, 2008
(All Work Sessions are Televised Live on Cablevision Channel 76, Verizon 32 and are streamed live. Work Sessions and Town Board Meetings will be aired each Friday, Saturday and Sunday starting at 7:02am and 4:45pm. Each segment will run for approximately 6 to 7 hours, depending upon the length of the two meetings.)
2:00p.m. Special Meeting of the Town Board
2:15p.m. Nancy Gold – Historic Hudson River Towns
Frank Jazzo ---
CAB CALLOWAY HOUSE PRESERVATION EFFORTS
2:45p.m. Leslie Scheiblberg – Contracts for Sculptures Displayed at DeSanti Plaza
3:00p.m. Bob Reninger – Broadview Civic Association and Questions Related to
Library Construction, Traffic, etc. (Tim Lewis, Al Regula, Genie Contrata,
Chief Kapica)
3:45p.m. Greenburgh Housing Authority – Councilwoman Brown
4:15p.m. FAST Swim Team and TDYCC – Councilwoman Brown
4:45p.m. Executive Session
5:30p.m. Adjourn
East Hartsdale Farmers Market Jazz Series – Performances to Date
June 28th – Pete Benway and Members of Royalty
July 19th and September 6th – Westchester Harp Ensemble
August 2nd – Julie Corbalis
October 11th – Ceasar Cantori
We are looking for more jazz artists! Please contact Judith Beville, Town Clerk at: 9931500
June 24, 2008 Work Session – Tentative
Paper Streets: Follow-up
RFP for Vending Machines
