question: Who was the original master of ceremonies of the theater located at 253 West 125th Street in Manhattan, New York City?
answer: Ralph Cooper
context: Title: Apollo Theater
  Passage: The Apollo Theater at 253 West 125th Street between Adam Clayton Powell Jr.  Boulevard (formerly Seventh Avenue) and Frederick Douglass Boulevard (formerly Eighth Avenue) in the Harlem neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City is a music hall which is a noted venue for African-American performers.  It was the home of "Showtime at the Apollo", a nationally syndicated television variety show which showcased new talent, from 1987 to 2008, encompassing 1,093 episodes.
  Title: Ralph Cooper
  Passage: Ralph Cooper (January 16, 1908 – August 4, 1992), was an American actor, screenwriter, dancer and choreographer.  Cooper is best known as the original master of ceremonies and founder of amateur night at the Apollo Theater in Harlem, New York City in 1935.  He wrote, produced, directed and acted in ten motion pictures.  Titles include, "Duke Is Tops," "Dark Manhattan," "Gangsters on the Loose" and "Gang War."
  Title: Harlem Opera House
  Passage: Harlem Opera House was a US opera house located at 211 West 125th Street, in the Harlem neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City.  Designed by architect John B. McElfatrick, it was built in 1889 by Oscar Hammerstein; it was his first theater in the city.
  Title: Studio Museum in Harlem
  Passage: The Studio Museum in Harlem, located at 144 West 125th Street between Adam Clayton Powell, Jr.  Boulevard and Lenox Avenue in the Harlem neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City is an American contemporary art museum which is devoted to the work of African-Americans artists of the 19th and 20th centuries.  The museum's mission is to collect, preserve and interpret the art of African Americans and the African diaspora.  Founded in 1968, it was the first such museum in the United States.  Its scope includes exhibitions, artists-in-residence programs, educational and public programming, a permanent collection, as well as archival and research facilities.
  Title: Small Talk at 125th and Lenox
  Passage: A New Black Poet - Small Talk at 125th and Lenox, also known simply as Small Talk at 125th and Lenox, is the debut album of recording artist Gil Scott-Heron, released in 1970 on Flying Dutchman Records.  Recording sessions for the album were originally said to have taken place live at a New York nightclub located on the corner of 125th Street and Lenox Avenue, but liner notes included in the 2012 box set "The Revolution Begins: The Flying Dutchman Masters", Scott-Heron himself insists that a small audience was brought to 'the studio' and seated on 'folding chairs'.  By the time of the recordings, Scott-Heron had published a volume of poetry and his first novel, "The Vulture".  Well received by music critics who found Scott-Heron's material imaginative, "Small Talk at 125th and Lenox" has been described as "a volcanic upheaval of intellectualism and social critique" by Allmusic editor John Bush.
  Title: Adam Clayton Powell Jr. State Office Building
  Passage: The Adam Clayton Powell Jr.  State Office Building, originally the Harlem State Office Building, is a nineteen-story, high-rise office building located at 163 West 125th Street at the corner of Adam Clayton Powell Jr.  Boulevard in the Harlem neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City.  It is named after Adam Clayton Powell Jr, the first African-American elected to Congress from New York.  It was designed by the African-American architecture firm of Ifill Johnson Hanchard in the shape of an African mask in the Brutalist Architecture style.  It is the tallest building in Harlem, overtaking the nearby Hotel Theresa.
  Title: Victoria Theater (New York City)
  Passage: Victoria Theater is a theater located on 125th Street in the Harlem neighborhood of the borough of Manhattan in New York City.  It was designed in 1917 by Thomas W. Lamb, a notable and prolific theater architect of the era, for the Loew’s Corporation.
  Title: CUNY School of Public Health
  Passage: The CUNY Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy (commonly known as the CUNY School of Public Health, or CUNY SPH) is a public American research and professional college within the CUNY system based in New York City.  The school is situated in its new building at 55 West 125th Street in Manhattan.  The CUNY School of Public Health offers 4 doctoral programs, 7 master's programs, an advanced certificate and faculty memberships in at least 7 of CUNY's research centers and institutes.  A core faculty of over 45 full-time faculty is supplemented by additional faculty members drawn from throughout CUNY.
  Title: 125th Street (IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line)
  Passage: 125th Street (formerly Manhattan Street), is a local station on the IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line of the New York City Subway.  Located at the intersection of 125th Street and Broadway, where Morningside Heights meets Harlem in an area known as Manhattanville, it is served by the 1 train at all times.  The station is the southernmost elevated station on the line, the southernmost one in Manhattan, and the only one south of Dyckman Street.
  Title: 125th Street (IRT Lexington Avenue Line)
  Passage: 125th Street is an express station that has four tracks and two island platforms.  It is the northernmost Manhattan station on the IRT Lexington Avenue Line of the New York City Subway.  Located at Lexington Avenue and East 125th Street (also known as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  Boulevard) in East Harlem, it is served by the 4 and 6 trains at all times, the 5 train at all times except late nights on weekdays, and the <6> during weekdays in peak direction.
citations: Apollo Theater Ralph Cooper