Tag Archives: Cafe de Paris

Venues

Chez Victor

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Chez Victor

One of the most exclusive members-only night-club in London in the mid to late 1920s was Chez Victor, owned and run by the Italian Victor Perosino. It had a glittering, but short, 4 year career becoming‘a popular haunt with the gilded youth and flapperdom’ before it was targeted by the police and closed down in early 1928. Victor moved across the Channel and with noticeable panache re-opened various other Chez Victor’s in Paris and elsewhere. But Victor’s story, and his deportation, hide a scandal that eventually became public in 1932

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Fads

Favours and Carnival Novelties

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Favours and Carnival Novelties

At special events throughout history there has always been the desire to augment festivities with novelties of all kinds, especially at special occasions like New Year and weddings. Toward the end of the 19th century as dances, balls, galas and the new concept of the smart restaurant proliferated on both sides of the Atlantic, special nights were introduced where a wide range of gifts or carnival novelties were given away as souvenirs to make the night special and stand out. Later, these ‘favours’ became indicative of the madcap nocturnal fun and frolics of the Jazz Age and the 1920s.

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Venues

Cafe de Paris, London

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Cafe de Paris, London

The Cafe de Paris was one of the most fashionable dining haunts in London in 1920s. Intimate and elegant it was described by Vogue magazine as ‘delightfully comfortable’ and by Dancing Times as ‘the smartest dance restaurant in London…’

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Venues

The Kit Cat Club

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The Kit Cat Club

The fashionable Kit Cat Club in the Haymarket, which to many people today still epitomises the gay carefree days of the 1920s, was opened in the summer of 1925 and immediately became one of the most famous nocturnal haunts in London. Decked out with the last word in restaurant and dance floor equipment it was regarded as the most sumptuous resort in Europe and was the only club in London that had been built expressly for the purpose of a club.

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Dancing Duos

Fowler and Tamara

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Fowler and Tamara

Addison Fowler and Florenz Tamara were undoubtedly one of America’s leading exponents of ballroom dancing in the mid 1920s through the early 1930s. Although they had an extensive repertoire it was Spanish themed dances that made their name and the fact that they looked good and had a great knack of wearing deliciously evocative costumes.

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Dancing

The Apache

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The Apache

The Apache (pronounced Ah-PAHSH, not A-PATCH-ee, like the pronunciation of the Native American Indians) is a highly dramatic exhibition dance that became hugely popular in the Jazz Age. However, it could be seen as politically incorrect in our times due to the fact that it was rather violent, involving aggressive treatment of the female partner.

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Venues

The Parisian Institution of Maxims Restaurant

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The Parisian Institution of Maxim’s Restaurant

One of the most important additions to the Parisian landscape in the late Nineteenth Century was the legendary Maxim’s restaurant. It has continued to shine as a beacon of excellence for over a century and has become a symbol of Parisian elegance and chic.

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Venues

Murrays River Club: A Rendezvous of Ragtime and Romance

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Murray’s River Club: A Rendezvous of Ragtime and Romance

The American Jack May was instrumental in developing the nightclub scene in London shortly before the First World War and famously opened the legendary Murray’s Club in Beak Street in 1913. At about the same time, or shortly afterward. he opened a summer resort – Murray’s River Club – at Maidenhead that became the playground for the rich and famous.

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