la Tournee des Grands Ducs
la Tournee des Grands Ducs was an intriguing term for a nocturnal tour of the Montmartre night-spots in Paris, which came about in the late 19th century due to the antics of the Russian nobility. Thereafter, in the Jazz Age of the 1920s, it simply became a term to describe an evening outing exploring the night-spots of Paris and ‘painting the town red.’
The Café de Paris in Paris was in its day, during the Jazz Age, world famous. It was undoubtedly the most salubrious, the most expensive and the most admired restaurant in Paris. A landmark for the gourmets and fashionables not just of Paris, but worldwide, it became part of a mini-gastronomic empire of four exclusive venues.
Romano’s was a famous Parisian Restaurant in the Hotel de la Grand Bretagne that flourished in the Jazz Age of the 1920s.
The White Lyres
One of the first Jazz Bands to organize in Paris after the armistice following the end of World War 1 was the White Lyres. The two founding members were the Americans Bill Henley and Kelvin Keech and other members fluctuated throughout its existence. The band performed in London, Paris, the south of France, Turkey, Egypt and the rest of Europe but by 1925 it had dissipated, with both Bill Henley and Kel Keech fronting their own bands and going their separate ways.
The costume designer Zig was the pen-name of one of the great artists for the Paris music hall in the Jazz Age. Prolific as an illustrator, creating artwork for posters, programme covers and sheet music, Zig also created stunning sets and costumes with a tremendous flair and originality from the mid to late 1920s and early 1930s, before dying at an early age in 1936. He must not to be confused with another illustrator called Zig Brunner.
At once the most exclusive, chicest and smallest nightclub in Paris in the Jazz Age of the 1920s was Le Grand Ecart at 7 Rue Fromentin (just off the Boulevard Clichy and not far from Place Blanche and the Moulin Rouge) and created by Louis Moyses, creator of the other legendary venue Boeuf sur le Toit.
The glamorous life of the Dolly Sisters as seen in 200 photographic images. Capturing their rise to fame and fortune, from their birth in Budapest, through Jazz Age New York, London, Paris and the Riviera, it reveals their full story in pictures
