James Brown Lies in State At Harlem's Apollo Theater

Thousands of James Brown fans from around the world-and around the block-formed lines four to five people deep around the Apollo Theater in Harlem on Dec. 28 to view the body of the Godfather of Soul during an open-casket memorial ceremony that lasted all day and into the night.

After passing through the streets of Harlem in a horse-drawn carriage, Brown's casket was placed on the stage of the Apollo for the public to wander past slowly and tearfully-all to the tune of his lively hits and signature grunts.

"I haven't seen anything like this, ever since James Brown's days," said Billy Mitchell, tour director and group sales manager at the Apollo. As a teenager during the 1960s, Mitchell ran errands like picking up dry-cleaning and bringing shoes to be shined for tips from the stars who played at the theater.

Some waited upward of five hours on the lines, singing, laughing, and remembering Brown.

"Slide. Splits. Maceo. Capes," rattled off Juanita Howard, a fan from Minnesota who came to Harlem because she was on the East Coast for the holidays. "A lot of fond memories."

Brown died on Christmas Day at age 73 from congestive heart failure due to a sudden case of pneumonia.