Chief Blue Cloud, a real Sioux Indian who played good trombone, was the leader of the band. [….]

The Chief and his wife were the only real Indians in the band, and the rest of us had to wear wigs with long, black, plaited hair.

We wore feathers in our hair, had on beaded costumes, with tomahawks in the belt, and moccasins for shoes. When the curtain went up we’d be sitting on front of a tepee, with one guy playing a tom-tom. Everybody would give an Indian call: “Woo-woo-woo-woo,” and then we would jump up with a big war whoop and bust into some hot jazz.