Joslin Bingham was known simply as ‘Frisco’ and became one of the most celebrated performers in Paris during the Jazz Age of the 1920s and then replicated his success in London in the 1930s. He was a jack of all trades, a fixer and a man behind the scenes who helped many black artists in Paris and London including Josephine Baker,  Bricktop and Adelaide Hall.

Frisco was born Joslin Augustus Bingham on 5th November 1894 in Kingston, Jamaica and his mother was Ellen Rebecca Bingham. That is the sum total of any detail about his childhood. At some point Frisco and perhaps his mother moved to Panama. Given the importance of shipping in the Canal Zone it is likely that eventually Frisco got jobs in shipping.

Indeed, it is documented that from 1918 to 1919 Joslin Bingham was working as crew in the capacity as cook or messmate on at least 5 voyages. Four were from either Balboa or Cristobal arriving San Francisco but on the fifth trip he arrived in San Francisco 30/10/1919 from Hong Kong. Interestingly, there was also a J. Bingham listed as crew on other boats travelling from Europe to Australia and to Honolulu during the time frame 1913-1918, but sadly these cannot be totally authenticated.

Randy Weston observed that his father and his cousin Joslin Bingham grew up in Panama. ‘Frisco’ was forever the clown, always the actor, the singer, and the dancer and was obviously a budding showman, even as a child.  They used to take the train across the canal all the time and Frisco would perform for the passengers’ amusement in return for ‘donations’. Frisco became an all-around entertainer, like an earlier Sammy Davis Jr. type.

Later, writers like Lynn Haney, said that in his early life he had been ‘longshoreman’ in San Francisco and that he ‘had worked his way around the world cooking on freighters.’  Randy Weston also observed that while in San Francisco, Frisco obtained his nickname and performed there. He also reiterated that Frisco worked on freighters and travelled to many foreign ports and learned to speak 6-7 languages along the way.

At some point Frisco decided to make a life for himself in Europe. But when this happened is not clear. According to his ancestry footprint Frisco was listed as being crew on freighters during the period 1918-1919 and after the First World War ended (November 1918).

This is at odds with other accounts that suggest that Frisco saw active service in World War 1. Again, Lynn Haney claimed that Frisco had been a ‘dough boy’ (a popular nickname for American infantrymen) during the war. Also, Tom Clavin and Phil Keitt asserted that Frisco had enlisted in the French Foreign Legion and spent 3 years in the trenches along with his life time friend Eugene Bullard.

Sadly, there is no confirmed evidence that Frisco did serve in the First World War, or was part of the French Foreign Legion. However, the only possibility is that before the outset of the First World War, Frisco had been ‘crew’ on freighters to Europe and beyond and may have found himself in Europe during the war. His documented trips as crew in 1918-1919 being the later part of his career aboard freighters.

At some point, presumably in the early 1920s Frisco found himself in Paris. Why and when he arrived there is simply not known and the first authenticated listing in the French press comes in early 1926.  However, there is enough circumstantial evidence to suggest that Frisco may well have travelled to Paris as early as 1920.

He was tall, dark and handsome with straight white teeth and a ramrod posture and was a man of considerable talents with a vivid personality, wit and charm. As the years passed Frisco developed a real talent for having his fingers in many different pies. He was a singer, a dancer, a musician and all-round entertainer. But he was also much more by developing a sharp business acumen, organising bands and orchestras and becoming in essence an agent arranging performers for various venues. Eventually, he was appointed a a director for cabaret venues before running his own clubs and all that that entailed.

It is documented that sometime in 1922, and perhaps later, Frisco and his band were performing in Italy first in Milan and then Rome. Frisco was displaying his sensational novelty — a home-made bass-drum pedal. In Rome they became part of the burgeoning new cabaret scene by appearing at the exclusive night club called the Bar Tic-Tac decorated by the great Futurist painter, Giacomo Balla. Opening in 1921, the venue had the music provided by the Black and White Jazz Band, a Roman group led by violinist Ugo Filippini and pianist Amedeo Escobar.

It would appear that when in Rome he was secured by the Italian film director Carmine Gallone to appear in the film Through the Shadows (La Madre Folle) released in 1923 and starring Yvonne Fleuriel,  Mario Fumagalli, Soave Gallone, Arnold Kent, Nella Montagna, Giuseppe Pierozzi and Raimondo Van Riel.

See the Post about Jazz Age Rome here

The fact that Frisco was in Milan and Rome with his own band in 1922 suggests that he had already made a name for himself in Paris before 1922 and therefore we ought to see his origins in Paris as early as 1920. Black American performers and musicians had already made themselves at home in Paris before 1920. One of the earliest and most successful of these was Louis Mitchell who gained a residency at the Casino de Paris for his Mitchell’s Jazz Kings in late 1918 and subsequently doubled at the Perroquet cabaret above the Casino de Paris from Spring 1921 before opening his own club at 36 Rue Pigalle sometime in 1923 or earlier.

Since it is known that Frisco was associated with Eugene Bullard, the well know African-American musician and entertainer, his early life and career in Paris is likely to have followed a similar path to that of Bullard. After his time in the First World War, Bullard settled in Paris. Bullard started his musical training under the tutelage of Louis Mitchell learning to be a drummer. From 1919 Bullard worked for Joe Zelli. Sometimes called the King of Cabaret Keepers, Zelli was undoubtedly one of the best-known and most popular characters in Montmartre during the 1920s and his nightclubs became firm favourites of Paris society. Bullard became part of Zelli’s club band as the drummer, manager of the club musicians and booked attractions.

See the post on Joe Zelli here

Frisco’s path must have also crossed with Louis Mitchell and Zelli amongst others. Bullard’s arrangement with Zelli must have continued for a few years until sometime in 1923 he took over the management of his own club called Le Grand Duc at 52 Rue Pigalle. It became the informal headquarters for African American expatriates in Paris. At first the entertainment was provided by the singer Florence Embry Jones, the wife of the pianist Palmer Jones who also played there. But, when Florence moved to Mitchell’s (renamed Chez Florence at 36 Rue Pigalle) in the spring of 1924, Bullard brought over Ada Smith (Bricktop) who made her debut in May 1924 and later opened her own club.

It was in this vibrant and stimulating environment that Frisco must have made his home and his name. Lynn Haney also mentioned that Frisco played the piano and danced at various Montmartre clubs that included Chez Florence and Le Perroquet – the top Parisian cabaret above the Casino de Paris. He may also have appeared at other Montmartre nightspots like Zelli’s, Abbaye de Theleme and the Rat Mort.

In 1925 the Charleston dance arrived in Europe from America. It was first seen at the Piccadilly Hotel cabaret in London in late 1924 and early 1925 followed by the dancing of Louise Brooks at the Cafe de Paris. It is not clear when the Charleston was first seen in Paris but the American dancers Lewis and Johnson performed it in a show called Twenty Years of Jazz staged by Billy Arnold at the Champs Elysees Music Hall in May 1925. It took a while to become established as the latest dance craze and this was perpetuated by the Revue Negre troupe that included Josephine Baker staged at the Champs Elysees Music Hall in October 1925.

When the Revue Negre was staged in Berlin at the Nelson Theatre from December 1925 to early 1926, Lynn Haney claimed that at the time Frisco was also in Berlin and performing in one of the cabaret houses. There are no confirmed sources or any indication of which venue.

By 1926 the Charleston was becoming hugely popular and many people began teaching the new dance. One of the most publicised was Frisco – using his real name as Professor Joslin Bingham and teaching at Chez Florence that became known as the headquarters of the Charleston. Two of his first pupils were the Russian dancer Nikita and the English dancer Peggy Vere seen in a photograph dated 3rd January 1926. Both Nikita and Vere had been appearing in various revues staged at the Concert Mayol in 1925 and early 1926 and were also both appearing at the salubrious night spot called the Embassy Club (Jardin de Ma Soeur) at the end of 1925.

Frisco described as ‘being famous in Montmartre’ gave lessons charging 200 francs per lesson at Chez Florence each Friday afternoon in the Spring of 1926. It was reported that he was ‘the first to imprint the rhythmic momentum of the Charleston, which takes the audience by the nerves and turns them into dancing machines’ and that ‘he understood that the Charleston was a sport for young people.’

At the time Frisco was also performing at Chez Florence and Bruce Reynolds in his book Paris with the Lid Lifted described the venue and Frisco’s performance. ‘Florence’s in Rue Blanche is the real, ripping, hotsy totsy place of Paris this one. Entirely of colored folks. And how they do strut and shout and fling themselves about. And the band and the quartette and the solo singers and “Frisco” and Florence, herself; and the chicken Maryland and the corned beef hash, between dances. And the crowd and the spirit. You will have one of your best nights in Paris, at Florence’s. This big black man “Frisco” has no equal on earth as a shouter, a stepper and a master of ceremonies. Princes, Lords and Dukes come here and love it. “Frisco” pulls them right out of their chairs, no matter how blazing their coat of arms; and he drags them out into the middle of the floor and they Charleston and Black bottom and do everything he tells them to do; and in return they plaster 100 franc notes all over his perspiring face; and then everybody in the place, rocks the walls with a joy-thunder that rumbles like a dynamite explosion in a subway. And Florence, whose place it is, croons and makes you cry while her husband, Palmer Jones, tickles the ivories; and that big dusky boy who sings Tenor; Honey Lamb – it comes to you like a sweet evening breeze blowing over a candy factory. Florence has made a fortune. No color-line in Paris. If you go into Florence’s with any silly snobbery, it’s a cut glass piano scarf to a rusty tin dipper, that Florence and Frisco will win you over. This place is one of those 18 karat diamond studded Sure Things.’

On the 5th June 1926 there was a significant charity event called Fete des 300 staged at the premises of the famous couturier Lucien Lelong. Organised by Princes Paley for various charities it was regarded as the one event that would stand out for its elegance being more studied, more artistic and more original than all the others. It was seen as the most acute manifestation of contemporary social life. It was an exclusive event with only 300 guests and focused on the roof garden. However, an entertainment was staged downstairs in the elegant salons featured the prestigious two-piano jazz artists: Jean Wiener and Doucet, Warvara Yacovleff, the famous singer and Florence Palmer and Frisco along with the International Five jazz band.

While Josephine Baker was enjoying a huge success at the Folies Bergere in La Folie du Jour, one of the most important social events of the Paris season was the reopening of the newly renovated Cafe des Ambassadeurs night-club and restaurant by Edmond Sayag. The inauguration of the new space was with the new Lew Leslie’s Blackbirds show direct from New York at a private midnight VIP party on 27th May 1926. Blackbirds of 1926 starred Florence Mills and her troupe including the sensational dancer Johnny Hudgins, the Three Eddies and the Plantation Jazz Orchestra conducted by Shrimp Jones with Johnny Dunn. It was the biggest and most important black show to be staged in Paris since the Revue Negre in late 1925 with Josephine Baker. It cemented the continued fascination with black culture, music and performance.

Blackbirds was an instant hit and Florence Mills was adored like Josephine Baker. The midnight launch was packed with all of smart Paris society along with American and French stage celebrities that included Josephine Baker, Dora Duby, Marion Forde, Sacha Guitry, Yvonne Printemps, Maurice Chevalier, Yvonne Valle, Jane Marnac, the Rowe Sisters, Argentina, Nikitina, Irene Wells, Antonia Adison and the Dolly Sisters. I am sure that the prominent members of the Harlem in Montmartre colony also attended such as Florence Palmer, Bricktop, Louis Mitchell, Gene Bullard and Frisco.

Read the post about Sayag’s Blackbirds show here

Shortly after the opening of Blackbirds at the Ambassadeurs in early June, there was a rather extraordinary altercation with protests from white Americans at a negro dancing with a white woman. Robert Desnos a writer from the surrealist group was entertaining a group of friends that included Frisco at the Ambassadeurs. The disturbance started during the intermission of the Blackbirds show when Frisco, made his way to the dance floor and danced with a white woman who was Desno’s wife. Complaints were immediately made. Edmond Sayag the director of the Ambassadeurs ‘appeared like a devil from a box’ and ordered Frisco to stop dancing. His refusal was countered by an order to the tango orchestra to cease playing. When this happened the Negro Jazz band with the show started to play and Frisco resumed upon the suggestion of the white woman’s husband. The white Americans again protested causing a further disturbance. In the meantime the police had been called and Edmond Sayag had the entire Desno group expelled. Desno and his company subsequently filed a complaint. One newspaper report said that on this occasion, Sayag ‘lacked the most elementary diplomacy’ while Variety observed that ‘on the continent the coloured race is not discriminated against as a rule.’

After a busy first half of 1926 teaching the Charleston in Paris it would appear that Frisco may have toured some European cities in the second half of 1926. For example, in September 1926, and called ‘the king of Charleston’, he was performing at the Royal Oprheum in Budapest.

During the Spring 1927 season Frisco was appearing with Florence Jones, Palmer Jones, Opal Cooper and Sammy Richardson at the newly opened Mitchell’s Club at 35 Rue Pigalle next door to the previous 1926 incarnation of Chez Florence at number 36. Presumably this is where they all carried on performing through 1927.

Sometime in late 1928, for the autumn and winter season, Frisco became involved with one or several of the cabaret establishments run by Paul Santo in Paris. By March 1929 Santo ran at least 8 venues – L’Embassy, Florida, Palermo, La Plantation, Le Rat Mort, Floresco, Le Narguileh and le Capitole. It would appear that in mid 1928 Volterra either sold the Captole to Santos or Santos took over the lease. To make this venue work at 58 Rue Notre Dame de Lorette, the Capitol was retained but a new club was created in the same building called La Plantation. It is of relevance that under Volterra’s aegis a black Jazz band had played at the Capitole.

Opening in early October 1928 it was announced that ‘the elegant Frisco will welcome you and introduce you to the special atmosphere of New York’s Black neighbourhoods.’ It would appear that the original show at the Plantation featured the American dancer June Day, Eddie South and his Alabamian boys, Wilkins and Riley, Louise Waner and Zaidie Jackson. But, Frisco’s involvement was short lived as after a few weeks he withdrew as a director of the Plantation. Interestingly, a year later, Louis Mitchell had taken over the running of the Plantation.

Frisco’s departure from the Plantation is likely to be the result of something else attracting his attention rather than some form of spat with Santos. In fact, in mid-October 1928, it was announced that Louis Mitchell had taken over the management of Tony Moen’s Pile ou Face at 59 Rue Pigaille and that Frisco was also an acting director in the enterprise. The first ‘event’ was a dinner and entertainment given by the famous society hostess Elsa Maxwell for Lady Mendl on 18th October 1928. The music was provided by the Tano Genaro Tango Orchestra, alternating with a negro jazz band along with Nelson Kincaid and his Close Harmony Boys. Another entertainment was described in mid-December 1928 that featuring the famous song composer Max Darewski who played some of his musical compositions accompanied by the Close Harmony Boys.

The American Nelson Kincaid, who led the Close Harmony Boys, was a musician and sometime band leader who had played with Handy’s Memphis Blues Band, Joe Jordan’s Jazz band and the New York Syncopated Orchestra before serving in the First World War with the AEF (American Expeditionary Forces). Subsequently Kincaid must have criss-crossed the Atlantic and was with Noble Sissle and his Sizzling Syncopators before before emerging in Paris in the 1920s and joining the Plantation Orchestra for the Blackbirds of 1926 show at the Ambadassdors.

However, Frisco’s association with Pile ou Face was as short as his involvement with the Plantation because by mid-December 1928 he was in Berlin. He had in fact been secured ‘at a fat figure’ to appear in Erik Charell’s unique adaptation of Lustige Witwe (the Merry Widow). Apparently, at about the same, time Frisco had refused an offer to return to America for a large sum. He also allegedly turned down an offer from Mistinguett to dance with her.

Charell had adapted Lustige Witwe into a modern jazzy operetta that was staged at the Metropol theater in the Under den Linden on 25th December 1928. The show featured Fritzi Massary, Hans Sternberg, Max Hansen, Erich Harden, Fritz Neumann, Walter Jankuhn and Fritz Berger along with the Marquita sisters and a Mexican band.

The show that had ‘pace, verve and grace’ was very much along the lines of the 1925 Erich von Stroheim movie that featured Mae Murray as an American vaudeville artist travelling to Europe with a jazz band. In Charell’s version the story revolved around a wealthy widow, Hanna Glavari (Massary), and the efforts of the Pontevedrian Ambassador, Baron Zeta, to ensure her fortune remained in the country by having her marry a Pontevedrian man, his handsome attaché, Danilo. The character Hanna was a vaudeville dancer from Honduras, South America. In one scene she appeared in a nightclub, with a jazz band, black musicians, and chorus of gaucho boys.

Frisco was listed as Der scharze bariton Frisco (Black Baritone Frisco) and was well received and widely applauded and the show itself was regarded as the biggest stage success that the Merry Widow had experienced in Germany.

During his stay in Berlin Frisco was filmed and recorded for a new film talking process. One of the early attempts to introduce talking pictures was British Phototone formed in late 1928 using a phonograph or disc to record or play back sound in sync with a motion picture. The processing the company was short lived. The company quickly evolved with a presence in London, Paris and Berlin amalgamating and doing deals with French and German companies. There was a varied output that included short musical features of ‘entertainers’ with an international appeal and some were filmed in a Berlin studio using locally available talent.

Frisco appeared in two shorts In the first (Phototone Reel no12) he sang a negro spiritual called ‘Nobody Knows the Troubles I’ve Seen.’ It was reported that Frisco had an excellent reproducing voice, but was rather self conscious before the camera. Other acts on the reel included the dancers Pat and Terry Kendal (who were appearing in the Haller Revue Schön und Schick in Berlin at the time). Canaro and his band and Casada and Orloff de Vinaran. In the second (Phototone Rell no13) Frisco sang ‘Got a Rose’ in a piano duet with Geoffrey Gaunt, Arthur Young and Lud Gluskin’s Berlin Ambassadeurs Orchestra.

It is an interesting point that at the time of Frisco’s appearance in Berlin, Josephine Baker was appearing at the Theatre des Westen and in cabaret at the  Pavilion Mascotte and the black dancer Benga was also performing in a stage show at picture houses. Since Frisco was performing in the Metropol Theater at the same time that Josephine Baker was in the Theatre des Westen it would have been easy for Frisco to visit Josephine after their shows in Josephine’s cabaret in the Pavilion Mascotte that was located in the Metropol complex.

Frisco continued appearing in Lustige Witwe for several months. By early April 1929 Massary had been replaced by Trude Hesterberg and Frisco continued in the new line up but then faded from the credits so presumably returned to Paris.

Presumably Frisco returned to his role as a nightclub manager and performer in some of the Montmartre cabarets. For example, in November 1929 it was revealed that Frisco was to return to Chez Florence with Nelson Kincaid along with Harvey White star of the French edition of Showboat. Florence Jones had in fact returned to New York after the death of husband Palmer Jones in September 1928, but her nightclub Chez Florence continued under different successive managements.

However, he was clearly busy planning for the future because in early 1930 as ‘Frisco Domingo’ he opened his own night-club at 11 Rue Fromentin opposite le Grand Ecart just off the Boulevard Clichy and not far from Place Blanche and the Moulin Rouge.  It comprised four small rooms and was decorated in a classic and modern style that was both tasteful and clinical with Rococo wallpaper, office style chairs, steel bars and a ceiling made of bottle bottoms. The subtle lighting was in pink, mauve and ochre.

See the post on the Grand Ecart here

There was a jazz band and Frisco himself glided across the icy floor with supple, swaying steps and his repertoire ranged from the songs of Yvonne George to negro spirituals. The audience was of course exclusively the Franco-American elements of fashionable and bohemian high society. Frisco was also involved in a benefit performance for flood victims at the new Theatre Pigalle in April 1930 with his orchestra and a range of other performers.

As was usual for Paris nightclubs, Frisco’s closed down in the summer and he and his club relocated to Biarritz taking up residence at Reserve de Biarritz (Chambre d’amour) an establishment located in Anglet in a splendid setting just outside Biarritz.  Called Le Roi du Rire (King of Laughter) he was accompanied by Kincaid and the Close Harmony Boys and stayed for two months. Allegedly, during this time, he gave a triumphant performance in front of the royal family of Spain.

Frisco was back in Paris with Kincaid’s Close Harmony Boys at the beginning of October 1930. In late December 1930 Frisco staged ‘Honolulu a Montmartre’ with Lulu Gold, Les Saaroni Sisters and Almedietta. Frisco continued running his cabaret through the early 1930s and no doubt his summer sojourns in Biarritz. In 1932 Frisco’s cabaret was described as  ‘one of the gayest spots on the butte’  with ‘an army of dancers giving the rumba and beguine to the strains of African music.’ Frisco himself was described as ‘jovial’ and ‘a natural born entertainer’ who simply exuded ‘happiness and the joy of living.’

Then in October 1934 he was given an offer to appear in London at a venue called the Cafe de La Paix at 99-101 Regent Street which he accepted. He said he hated to leave Paris but the offer was just too good to turn down. He was billed as the well-known negro entertainer. This new swanky restaurant had originally been an Indian restaurant called Veeraswamy that had opened in late 1933 and was noted as becoming a haunt of the foreign aristocracy.

It looks like Frisco closed his Paris cabaret and decided to stay in London and open a new nightclub called ‘Chez Frisco’ in Soho at 17 Frith Street. His decision was explained in one newspaper as being based on well-founded economic reasons. Seemingly the devaluation of the pound in 1931 had made London a relatively cheap city and seventy-one percent cheaper than Paris.  Tourism also peaked in London for the same reason. As a result, many owners of bars and clubs moved their businesses from the Siene to the Thames.

Particularly it was observed that a ‘Negro Vogue’ in London was brightening up in its night life it was observed that with the emergence of a Harlem in Soho ‘colour does not count.’ However, during the coronation in 1937 Frisco was advised to stay away from a particular ‘society’ hotel where he often entertained in case it upset the white visitors from America.

Frisco’s became the latest craze of the people who hate going to bed until dawn. It was small, decoration was minimal and when it was full you could not hear yourself speak. And yet ‘people find themselves impelled to stay long after their bedtime and the secret is that under Frisco’s guidance the place just oozes rhythm.’ Frisco sang, danced and played instruments.

It was reported that ‘the undisputed king of London’s nightlife is, of course, also a black man. His name is Joslin Bingham, he owns his own fantastically decorated bar called “Frisco,” and is just as famous and popular in the sophisticated world of London as he is in Paris, Berlin, or Rome.’

Once again, as in Paris, Frisco closed its doors in the summer and it was noted that he was then usually in Cannes.

Frisco claimed that his place was run on bottle party lines and was ‘strictly within the law’ and yet in 1937 and 1938 his club was raided and he was fined for providing bottle parties without the appropriate London County Council music and dancing license and for selling intoxicating drinks without a licence. And yet, his business flourished and during the war he opened a member’s only club at 40 Sackville Street, Piccadilly. Adelaide Hall later revealed that ‘Frisco’ showed ‘Mayfair how clubs should be run.’

It is not clear what Frisco did during the war. One report suggests that he was in Paris during the Nazi occupation and was constantly under surveillance and had been interred.

It looks like after the Second World War, Frisco was dividing his time between London and Paris. At some point he married a French woman (perhaps in the 1930s) and had a son also called Joslin Bingham who like his father managed nightclubs in Paris. No doubt many of his old friends like Eugene Bullard returned to Paris and they were re-united to recall the old days in Jazz Age Paris before the war.

One story from early 1950 related that ‘Frisco’ was named in divorce proceedings brought by Sir Ronald Vennon Gunter against his wife Ladv Dorothy Gunter for misconduct with Frisco that attained high profile media interest. The Gunters were married in 1932. Frisco was described as running ‘the swanky Frisco Club in exclusive Mayfair.’ His residence at the time was listed as Holbein Mansions in Langham Street.

According to a relative he was still alive and larger than life in Paris in 1968. Presumably he died in Paris at some point thereafter.

All images (unless specified in the caption) and text © copyright Gary Chapman / Jazz Age Club and must not be re-used without prior consent

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