The phrase ‘Cinq a Sept’ (5 to 7 and pronounced ‘sank-ah-set’) has an interesting double meaning of its own significance to the French and other nationalities. Although a prevalent concept in the Jazz Age of the 1920s it still resonates today.
Tag Archives: 1920s
Lester Ltd, Chicago
From beauty marks and rhinestones, glamour, glitz and the spotlights to black light and television, Lester Ltd was the biggest and most influential theatrical costume house in Jazz Age Chicago that endured way into the late 1950s.
Carnival Time, the Cabaret at the Criterion Restaurant, London
After four successful years (1920-1924) of being one of London’s premier rendezvous for dining and dancing, the décor for the Criterion’s famous Italian Roof Garden was swept away and the room was re-decorated and became a cabaret with a show that was called Carnival Time.
Continue reading Carnival Time, the Cabaret at the Criterion Restaurant, London
The Criterion Restaurant, London
The Criterion in Piccadilly Circus, was a large collection of restaurants all housed in one building. It became an iconic rendezvous in London’s nightlife and a favoured haunt of London’s high society in the Jazz Age especially the splendid Italian roof garden that dazzled audiences from 1920-1924.
Chez Henri, London
Chez Henri was an intimate and popular dance club that flowered in London in the mid 1920s and became one of the favoured haunts of London’s high society in the Jazz Age.
Les Acacias, Night-Club, Paris
The Acacias night-club was a hall at the rear of the Hotel Acacias sited at 47 Rue des Acacias near the Bois de Bologne with a garden utilized for the summer. It was one of the many night-resorts in Paris in the Jazz Age that became a favoured rendezvous of high society throughout the 1920s. The roster of performers who appeared at Les Acacias was astonishing, providing a veritable Who’s Who of glittering international stars of stage and cabaret.
The London Couture House of Zorene Ltd
A prominant London couture atelier in the Jazz Age was that of Zorene Ltd based in and around Hanover Square, W1. Zorene Ltd was founded in 1919 and thrived through the 1920s and into the 1930s and was described as Court Dressmakers. It was owned and run by Zoe Florence A. Benn and another lady called Irene, hence the name Zorene.
Club Alabam in New York
From the 1910s, into the 1920s and 30s, Black culture in all forms proliferated in Harlem and became known as the Harlem Renaissance. In particular there was a flowering of jazz music, performance and night-clubs in the early part of the 1920s. This trend extended into Manhattan, first with Lew Leslie’s cabaret venue called the Plantation in 1922 and then with the Club Alabam in 1924. At the same time Black artists invaded Montmartre in Paris and established a comparable ‘Harlem in Montmartre.’
Fernando (Sonny) Jones
Fernando (Sonny) Jones was an intriguing, if somewhat elusive, black performer who made his life and career in Europe and especially in Paris in the 1920s. He was an accomplished dancer and made it big headlining in the Palace Theatre show Paris Voyeur in Paris in the 1925-1926 season. Throughout his career he was closely linked to Louis Douglas, another high profile black artist.
The London couture house of Yvonne
A prominant London couture atelier in the Jazz Age was that of Madame Yvonne based at 8 Motcombe Street, Belgrave Square, SW1 but with another salon in Bond Street.
