Dance Party Circa 1944

Last night, I went down to Barbés to watch Stephane Wrembel, a French guitarist specializing in hot jazz a la Django Reinhardt. It struck me that the music being played was very much for dancing, and were it not 2011 but the earlier half of the 20th century, everyone in the room probably would’ve been swinging (and definitely puffing cigarettes). It made me nostalgic for a time way before my own, and so I did what any modern man might do: search youtube. I found this video of Django and band playing at the Bal Tabarin in Paris in 1944. Complete with crowd noise and all, it gives a sense of the music in context. You can almost smell the smoke.

2 thoughts on “Dance Party Circa 1944

  1. oh how i wish i was in my late teens/early 20s during this time. even though it was war time, everything still looked grand. as a pre-teen, i was mesmerized watching old musicals. looks like in this video, marlene dietrich was in the crowd. sigh….

  2. If you want, you can wear a gown this Saturday. We're sure it will be very appreciated, especially at this particular party.

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