Home

Welcome to the Jazz Age Club

I have had a passion about the Jazz Age of the 1920s and 1930s for a long time, especially anything relating to film, stage, cabaret, fashion and art. But, I have found that although there is a wealth of information about this period online, there is no general portal that encompasses all aspects of the period. I also want to introduce new topics and views not explored elsewhere to bring the period alive in a more diverse way instead of just focusing on the usual suspects such as Al Capone, Fitzgerald, the Bright Young Things and fancy dress parties.

Although my main focus is about art, culture and entertainment, this website is designed to become a central resource and open forum for all news, views, reviews and stories about anything relating to the period of the 20s and 30s but in reality will span 1900-1940 which can loosely be described as the Jazz Age. It will also be international in flavour covering both American and European subjects.

All posts are arranged thematically by subject and can be seen under the categories tab on the left.

If you would like to contribute a piece for these pages please contact me. Equally, please feel free to leave your comments.

All images and text © copyright Gary Chapman / Jazz Age Club and must not be re-used without prior consent

Gary Chapman

The Jazz Age Club
Contact Gary Chapman by email here
Gary Chapman’s Website
Edditt Publishing

The Jazz Age Club is now represented at Mary Evans Picture Library (www.maryevans.com), the UK’s leading source for historical imagery.

 

20 thoughts on “Home”

  1. Hi Gary,
    Very good and well done website. It reflects very well your passion for this Jazz Age period.

    Wish you a great success.
    Félicitations !

    Lo 🙂

  2. What a lovely website! So much information and lovely things to see and I’m only halfway thro’
    Congratulations.
    M x

  3. Through “The White Shadow” polemical news and reading at “Silent London” I have found this great blog that I add to mine. Great blog and beautiful designed!

  4. I just have to write to tell you that your website is a godsend! I’ve been trying to do a lot of in-depth research into the 1920s in New York, London, and Paris, for a series of novels I’m co-authoring, and this entire site is an absolute treasure. Thank you so much for your dedication to this fascinating period of history!

  5. Hello all,

    I am looking for help relating to my great aunt.

    Dorothy (Dolly) Alice Bourn was a London born singer/dancer/actress.

    I am looking for any information relating to the tme she performed with the Trix Sisters – probably during the 1920’s. My uncle reported to me one song he remembers with the lyrics ‘we never worry about the morning’.

    Any help appreciated.

    Thank you

  6. I would suggest that you visit the online archive of the Stage newspaper (https://archive.thestage.co.uk) which is an incredible resource on theatrical history. You have to pay a small subscription to view and search – but £5 for a 24 hour pass is really good value – and then do a search on all your key words and sift through the results to find something that matches your great aunt.

  7. If anyone is interested a fantastic collection of drawings has come to light of an art deco artist and is being exhibited at the moment. This artist was known as Dodo Burgner (for images just look her name up on google). There is currently an exhibtion in Berlin regarding her work and this exhibition is coming to the Ben Uri Gallery in London on the 22nd of June 2012 until 23rd Sept 2012.

    Dodo’s work is high deco fashion and she also produced very stylish if slightly cruel drawings of the upper class set for the German magazine ULK whose back copies can be seen in the university of Heidelberg’s archive.

    link:
    http://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/diglit/ulk?sid=fe0ce9a216bf735cd95b41cf501a4739&ui_lang=eng

    Trawl through the copies from 1927 through to 1929 to see her drawings.

    The collection came to light from an attic in London a few years ago and parts of it have been consistently sold from 2008 onward, fetching vast sums for some of the drawings.

    It’s well worth checking out as she was from the social class of the people represented in her work, which for the time was quite unusual for an artist. She emigrated to London prior to the war as being Jewish she could not possibly stay in her native Germany. She did live a turbulent & bohemian life and was involved in a complicated persona life which resulted in Psychotherapy sessions with the world renowed Jung Institute. These sessions resulted in some very intense paintings detailing her subconcious mind.

    She lived in London until her death in 1998 but she left a very potent archive which is a true snapshot of the zeitgeist of the time.

  8. I have to say that for the past couple of hours i have been hooked by the amazing articles on this website. Keep up the great work.

  9. Dear Mr Chapman,

    My name is Delbert Unruh and I am a Professor of Theatre and a Theatrical Design Historian. I am now working on a book on Broadway Musical and Revue Costume Design from !900-1930

    Willoughby was one of the costume designers who worked during this time, amassing 14 Broadway credits. I wish to include a brief biographical sketch about him in the book–there are 29 other designers so featured.

    I am asking for you permission to quote from your essay on Willoughby that is a part of your Jazz Age website. I will of course give appropriate credit in the text.

    I look forward to hearing from you,

    Sincerely,

    Del Unruh

  10. Dear Gary Chapman,

    Below is a proposed section in my forthcoming book; Forgotten Designers…..” where I want to include a brief mention of Dolly Tree and the illustration by Dolly Tree I wrote to you about some time ago. I hope this would be satisfactory (edit as you see fit) and you would allow mw to include the image in the book. This would be the only mention in the book of Dolly Tree.

    Thanks,

    Del Unruh

    Dolly Tree for LE CIGARE PART OF A NUMBER ABOUT SMOKING FOR THE PARIS MUSIC HALL.jpg

  11. Thrilled to stumble on this website. I am researching a play about New York’s bar The Golden Swan, also called “The Hell Hole” one night in 1918 that depicts Eugene O’Neill and Dorothy Day witness a suicide by heroin. I learned that bar was called a ‘black and tan club’. Wondering if there are any resources to find our more about NYC ‘s black and tan clubs?
    Very elegant and well done site.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Information about the 1920s and the Jazz Age

RSS
Twitter
Pinterest
Pinterest
fb-share-icon