Okay, so I was discussing the influence of the late Cab Calloway's swagger on another thread in the PM&M forum vs Morris Day's stage persona. So I thought I'd start one on the topic here. When Prince decided to create 'The Time' it leaves one to wonder if he had the idea of a present-day Cab Calloway 'look/swagger' for the group in mind.

Some even say Prince portrayed a bit of that image/persona in his film 'Under the Cherry Moon' and during the 90s in some of his stage performances, with how he dressed then and during the 'Musicology' tour. Both Prince and Calloway's looks have been compared, as well as a Morris to a young Calloway.

Young Calloway and Prince

Of course all the band members of the now 'Original7' developed their own stage personas under their former group name 'The Time' over the years, but somehow even as the 'Original7' today, and when they were called 'The Time', their look/swagger always reminded me of the big band days of Cab Calloway, King of Jive.

Some say Morris Day's 'stage persona'/style is 'unique' but I say he basically portrays some, not all, of the stage persona of the late Cab Calloway, and made it his own. Cab could have been the 'Prince' of the 40s for some of our parents/grandparents who were in their younger years during that time, with his famous 'zoot' suits. A swagger bass player 'Larry Graham' carries, and known for his white zoot suit look. The stage persona between Cab and Morris share many similarities: Cab with his vaudeville type humor/tease as a pimp/gigolo singer/band leader/performer vs Morris Day's bandleader/pimp/gigolo humor/tease swagger.

Morris Day's stage persona is the guy talking the pimp/gigolo game, but never actually getting the girl, but thinking by talking the pimp/gigolo game, it would get him over whereas Cab Calloway's stage persona's fun/wild, sleek pimp/gigolo swagger did get the girl. They both sang songs related to the sexiness/teasing of women or songs referencing some type of dance , with catchy phrases (i.e, the Time's 'The Bird' vs Cab's 'The Jumping Jive'), where some songs engaged their audience in a sort of 'call and response'.

One can't deny the animated facial expressions both brought to their stage personas, and the not-to-miss fancy suits and shoes, and attention to the hair--but moreso on Morris' part, making sure every strand was in place, and trying to be cool and smooth, while Cab was more loose with his, shaking his hair around and not worrying if a strand fell out of place, once he started performing because when he felt the vibe of music, there was no time to worry about looking 'too' cool So I'm posting some pics of both of them, which I find similar to their stage personas, as well as how they almost could have been not-to-distant cousins with their looks:

Morris Day and Cab Calloway

The zoot suit, hats, pimp/gigolo, cool cat style of Cab Calloway, seemed to have had some influence on the swagger of the 'Original7ven' aka 'The Time'.

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Okay, let's face it, even Prince and Larry can't resist the slick style of Cab Calloway. The smiles on their faces tells it all.

The late, great Mr. Cab Calloway

Here's a quick look of the late, great Cab Calloway:

[Edited 12/17/11 14:55pm]

Timmy84 said:

Thanks Timmy!

2elijah said:

Timmy84 said:

Thanks Timmy!

No prob.

Never thoght about it before but it does seem like Prince & crew picked up some babd leader tricks from good ole Cab.

purplethunder3121 said:

Never thoght about it before but it does seem like Prince & crew picked up some babd leader tricks from good ole Cab.

I found so many similarities in their styles. Like if you look at Cab's "Zah Zsu Zah" vid at mark 1:28, posted a few posts up, when Cab does the jump kick, reminds me of the jump kick Prince has done over the years, i.e. like iin one of the Queston of U stage perfomances (back in the 90s?late 80s?). Not to mention Cab doing splits as well.

I remember at one of the 3121 shows in Vegas in 2006, where the Twinz danced on opposite sides of the room, behind the 12, big screens where you only saw their silhouettes. Cab did something like that in his Minnie the Moocher presentations. I can also see where the late James Brown may have emulated some of Cab's fancy dance footwork, slides and splits. So yes, Cab Calloway left quite an influence and inspiraton on many artists/performers/musicians that came after him. Cab carried the 'pretty boy' gigolo image of his day.

[Edited 12/16/11 19:55pm]

Purplethunder, as a matter of fact, I just remembered that Prince did have a clip of Cab Calloway and the Nicholas Brothers playing, and also clips of 'Under the Cherry Moon' during the 3121 concerts, before the concerts started. Here's the clip of Cab and the Nicholas Brothers that was playing on the screens at Club 3121.