All posts by Jazz Age Club

Personalities

The Curious Tale of Peggy Marsh

9 Comments

The Curious Tale of Peggy Marsh

Peggy Marsh was an unremarkable chorus girl and later cabaret artist in the mid-1920s, who became famous for having a baby with the son of a multi-millionaire, and then being unceremoniously disregarded.

Continue reading The Curious Tale of Peggy Marsh →

Dancing Duos

The Outrageous Rocky Twins

7 Comments

The Outrageous Rocky Twins

The Rocky Twins were deliciously handsome, outrageous and lived life to the full but never maximized their obvious talent and so never really attained star status. They were a pair of Norwegian brothers who made a name for themselves in the Jazz Age as dancers in the Paris music hall in the late 1920s at the tender age of eighteen. Their act took Paris by storm because in one of their numbers, they dressed up in drag and imitated the famous Dolly Sisters who had just retired. Their unique performance enabled them to star in stage shows all over Europe and America and at the same time their good looks became highly sought after by connoiseurs of the body beautiful of either sex.

Continue reading The Outrageous Rocky Twins →

Venues

The Magnificent Murrays Roman Gardens

1 Comment

The Magnificent Murray’s Roman Gardens, New York

The eight-storey edifice that was Murray’s Roman Gardens in New York created by John L. Murray, could be described as the first themed restaurant and certainly it became one of the city’s most famous eateries.

Continue reading The Magnificent Murrays Roman Gardens →

Film

Woman to Woman (1923)

3 Comments

Woman to Woman (1923)

Graham Cutts’ Woman to Woman (1923) has been regarded as the most ground breaking British film to be released in the 1920s and although the film is lost and cannot be viewed, from the available commentary, reviews and remaining stills it was obviously a lavish and sophisticated production. It was a commercial success both at home and in the USA and launched the careers of three men who would play major roles in the development of British Cinema – Michael Balcon, Victor Savile and Alfred Hitchcock.

Continue reading Woman to Woman (1923) →

Personalities

Marcelle de Saint Martin

2 Comments

Marcelle de Saint Martin

French born Marcelle de Saint Martin was creative, talented and a striking beauty who found great success designing costumes for the stage in London at the end of the First World War and later became chief designer and head of one of the first British film wardrobe departments. And yet her career was sadly all too brief and short-lived.

Continue reading Marcelle de Saint Martin →

Venues

The Classy Ciro’s Restaurant Chain

12 Comments

The Classy Ciro’s Restaurant Chain

Among European high society Ciro’s became an institution and perhaps the first classy restaurant chain in Europe with main branches in Monte Carlo, Paris, London and Biarritz. Each venue was regarded as far more than a restaurant but the very centre of fashionable life.

Continue reading The Classy Ciro’s Restaurant Chain →

Art & Decor

The Art of Betty Craig

18 Comments

The Art of Betty Craig (Elizabeth Edmonstone Craig)

The multi-named Elizabeth Edmonstone Craig painted under the name of Betty Craig and performed in opera as Signora Maria Nelvi and seemingly made a name for herself during the Jazz Age in the 1920s and early 1930s.

Continue reading The Art of Betty Craig →