Tag Archives: Julian Wylie

Julian Wylie’s Revue Better Days

Julian Wylie’s last revue at the London Hippodrome was Better Days in 1925. Comprising 19 scenes, Better Days had a try-out at the Liverpool Empire from 9th March 1925 before its debut at the London Hippodrome on 19th March 1925. Continue reading Julian Wylie’s Revue Better Days

The Female Impersonator Bert Errol

The Female Impersonator Bert Errol

One of the most influential and major stars of the British variety stage in the Jazz Age was Bert Errol. Hugely under-rated and now long forgotten, he was one of the few, seriously, successful female impersonators on the British stage and had the advantage of an incredible vocal range that was the key to his success.

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The Dodge Sisters

The Dodge Sisters

Known in the USA and Europe during the Jazz Age as ‘the two birds of Paradise’, the Dodge Sisters sang, danced and dressed as birds and whistled. They emerged out of American vaudeville in the mid-20s with a singing and dancing act that took Europe by storm.

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Round in 50

Round in 50

Julian Wylie’s 1922 spectacular show for the London Hippodrome was Round in 50. It was not a golf problem but a ‘musical adventure’ designed as a vehicle for the hugely popular comedian George Robey, with the later addition of the American vaudeville star Sophie Tucker.

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Miss Florence

Miss Florence

The stunningly beautiful and dark haired ‘Miss Florence’ startled Parisian audiences as a member of the Gertrude Hoffman troupe in 1924 when she came on stage on an elephant as the Queen of Sheba. She became a popular celebrity in her own right, before teaming with Julio Avarez in a dancing partnership that proved highly successful mainly in New York and Miami cabarets in the 1930s.

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Cocktails

Cocktails

Cocktails became a huge fad in Jazz Age Europe as America languished in prohibition. For many, they were regarded as undoubtedly ‘America’s chief contribution to the pleasures of civilisation.’

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The Artistry of Jean Peron Couture

The Artistry of Jean Peron Couture

Jean Peron Couture was a thriving couture establishment with outlets in Paris and London that flourished in the Jazz Age. During the 1920s Peron received glowing praise for its gowns in publications such as The Queen and The Times and The Era announced in one feature that ‘Peron prides himself on always being a little in front of fashion.’

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The Apache

The Apache

The Apache (pronounced Ah-PAHSH, not A-PATCH-ee, like the pronunciation of the Native American Indians) is a highly dramatic exhibition dance that became hugely popular in the Jazz Age. However, it could be seen as politically incorrect in our times due to the fact that it was rather violent, involving aggressive treatment of the female partner.

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Marcelle de Saint Martin

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.

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