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 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.
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 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
The Dolly Sisters biography is a dizzying cocktail of delight, extravagance and pathos. Teeming with fantastic and fascinating stories from the Jazz Age of the twenties and thirties, it tells a true story every bit as dramatic and engrossing as the best fiction
A new sampler showing some of the content of the book The Dolly Sisters in Pictures is available now
The commentary about the Dolly Sisters and Mr Selfridge, in advance of the last series of the ITV show, has started already with the latest feature from The Mail on Sunday.
‘Now established Parisian institutions, and, as such, may be be said to rate with the Comedie-Francaise, the Bank of France, and the incomparable Mistinguett!’ The Sketch 13 July 1927.
‘It must be admitted that the chief fascination of the twin Dollies lies not so much in the grace of their dancing, nor in the charm of their personalities, nor in the naiveté of this manner, nor yet the quaintness of their accents – sufficient as are all of these – but rather in the amazing duplicity of Nature’ Margaret Burr in Theatre Magazine May 1916
The rags to riches story of identical twins Jenny and Rosie is set against the glittering backdrop of high society in America and Europe before the onset of the Second World War. They had a colourful life where nature’s duplicity enabled a highly successful career as dancers which made them ‘stars’. And yet, lurking behind their glamorous story of fame, fortune, mistaken identity, millionaires, love and sisterly devotion – that made them legends – is another of rivalry, duplicity and tragedy.
Continue reading The Dolly Sisters biography out now in paperback and e-books
