Cabell "Cab" Calloway

 In 1931, Cabell "Cab" Calloway III recorded his most famous song, "Minnie the Moocher." It is the first single song by an African American to sell a million records "The Old Man of the Mountain," "St. James Infirmary Blues," and "Minnie the Moocher" were performed in the cartoons "The Old Man of the Mountain" (1933), "Snow White" (1933), and "Minnie the Moocher" (1932), respectively. Through rotoscoping, Calloway performed voiceover for these cartoons, but his dance steps were the basis of the characters' movements. He scheduled concerts in some communities to coincide with the release of the films to take advantage of the publicity.

As a result of the success of "Minnie the Moocher," Calloway became identified with its chorus, gaining the nickname "The Hi De Ho Man." He performed in the 1930s in a series of short films for Paramount. (Calloway's and Ellington's groups were featured on film more than any other jazz orchestras of the era.) In these films, Calloway can be seen performing a gliding backstep dance move, which some observers have described as the precursor to Michael Jackson's moonwalk. Calloway said 50 years later, "it was called The Buzz back then." The 1933 film "International House" featured Calloway performing his classic song, "Reefer Man," a tune about a man who favors marijuana cigarettes.

Calloway made his "first proper Hollywood movie appearance" opposite Al Jolson in "The Singing Kid" in 1936. He sang several duets with Jolson, and the film included Calloway's band and cast of 22 Cotton Club dancers from New York. According to film critic Arthur Knight, the creators of the film intended to "erase and celebrate boundaries and differences, including most emphatically the color line...when Calloway begins singing in his characteristic style – in which the words are tools for exploring rhythm and stretching melody – it becomes clear that American culture is changing around Jolson and with (and through) Calloway."

Renewed interest in Calloway occurred in 1980 when he appeared in the film "The Blues Brothers" performing "Minnie the Moocher." Calloway was the oldest featured actor to appear in the film.