Southbury Club Scene
The 1920's changed Southbury by transforming its nightlife. By the end of the decade, over 50 licensed night clubs were operating around Southbury, many patronised by upper class socialites, but also members of the criminal fraternity; The Firm. Some just provided a dance floor and others offered cabaret. Famous clubs included Brooks , The Blue Bay and Jendles .
Brooks - Brooks was situated in a central position right in the heart of Southbury, in a basement. From the front it looked like a hotel; the entrance led into a large lobby with showcases and a cloakroom and then through to a lounge. Two flights of stairs down was the ballroom.It boasted a spectacular, large, ballroom There was a wide balcony all the way around and opposite the stairs was a recessed space for the orchestra. The club attracted celebrated and legendary cabaret acts, but was also infamous for serving alcohol after hours to non members. At the height of its popularity the club was owned by a shady millionaire called Ross Jackson
The Blue Bay - The Blue Bay opened in 1929 to host ballroom dancing, and various kinds of dance bands and cabaret acts, including jazz bands, tap dancers and of course Burlesque. It could never match the true elegance of Brooks but was know for having a great party atmosphere, finding notoriety on the Society pages of The Gazette. The club was owned by Maxwell Gray, also known as Smooth to most acquaintances; a real ladies man but also a part-time crook with friends in The Firm.
Jendles Jazz Club was in the basement of 5 King Square and was an infamous music hangout of the 1930's. Well known local musicians busked on its rostrum. The air was never clear in Jendles as the clientèle chain smoked the night away.The acts played on through the smog, barely visible but always appreciated for their music. A place for true jazz connoisseurs.
Brooks - Brooks was situated in a central position right in the heart of Southbury, in a basement. From the front it looked like a hotel; the entrance led into a large lobby with showcases and a cloakroom and then through to a lounge. Two flights of stairs down was the ballroom.It boasted a spectacular, large, ballroom There was a wide balcony all the way around and opposite the stairs was a recessed space for the orchestra. The club attracted celebrated and legendary cabaret acts, but was also infamous for serving alcohol after hours to non members. At the height of its popularity the club was owned by a shady millionaire called Ross Jackson
The Blue Bay - The Blue Bay opened in 1929 to host ballroom dancing, and various kinds of dance bands and cabaret acts, including jazz bands, tap dancers and of course Burlesque. It could never match the true elegance of Brooks but was know for having a great party atmosphere, finding notoriety on the Society pages of The Gazette. The club was owned by Maxwell Gray, also known as Smooth to most acquaintances; a real ladies man but also a part-time crook with friends in The Firm.
Jendles Jazz Club was in the basement of 5 King Square and was an infamous music hangout of the 1930's. Well known local musicians busked on its rostrum. The air was never clear in Jendles as the clientèle chain smoked the night away.The acts played on through the smog, barely visible but always appreciated for their music. A place for true jazz connoisseurs.
Fashion
Men New suit styles are the hallmark of fashion shifts in menswear of the 1930s. Formal wear was influenced by the colonial enterprise. Summery white-jacketed evening suits, with a cummerbund, replacing the waistcoat gained popularity. The sensation of the day was the 'London drape' or 'drape cut' suit. Its designer, Frederick Scholte, was the tailor to the Prince of Wales.
The London drape suit was more loosely cut, especially around the armhole and shoulder, with subtle padding. The style was tailored at the waist, and cut to flatter the male form.
Trousers had become wider in the twenties. Now they became rather more tapering toward the ankle once again, but the cut remained generous.
Double-breasted suits, the jackets with broad lapels and no vents, also proved very popular in the thirties. Variants, that also took their cues from London tailoring and aristocratic wear, included the Windsor double-breasted and Kent double-breasted.
Stripes were also very much in vogue, and the well-dressed gentleman would almost certainly have had a striped suit in his wardrobe, as well as a fedora or Panama hat. For summer, the lightweight Palm Beach suit caught consumer imagination.
Women
Generally fashions of the 1930s are thought of as glamorous and sensuous. This is the era of the big bands, dancing and night life.The dresses are long and elegant, evening gowns were often backless and importantly there develops a very distinct difference between daywear and evening wear.Hollywood and the movies also begin to be very influential to the fashion industry as people wanted to wear the styles they had seen on the screen.The biggest change in fashions in the 1930s was to be at the shoulder, with butterfly and banjo sleeves along with overstated shoulder pads becoming widely worn. Focus remained on the shoulders until late in the decade when it became fashionable to show off elegant backs in halter-neck and backless evening gowns with sleeves.
The launch of the two-piece with matching dress or skirt and jacket was worn widely with calf length skirts until the end of the decade when Parisian designers began creating skirts that were fuller and shorter. The no-buttoned clutch coat and the handkerchief skirt were later introduced, the latter characterised by plenty of folds, sections and gathers.
By the 1930s long skirts and high waist lines were back.Gentle, feminine dresses with butterfly or puff sleeves and graceful calf-length skirts grew in popularity. Madeline Vionnet can be credited for the development of the bias-cut to accentuate women’s body lines and curves in softly draped fabrics.
Gloves were an essential accessory in this period and ranged from long, elbow length to short opera-length in fabric or leather. Production was put in for combinations of matching sets of gloves, hat, shoes, bag and scarf in daring colours such as apple blossom pink, carnation blush, Pernod green or mimosa yellow.
Short hair continued to be worn in the early years but became gradually longer and was styled in curls at the ends and flatter at the crown to make room for a hat which would be worn to most occasions, decorated and at a jaunty angle.
The London drape suit was more loosely cut, especially around the armhole and shoulder, with subtle padding. The style was tailored at the waist, and cut to flatter the male form.
Trousers had become wider in the twenties. Now they became rather more tapering toward the ankle once again, but the cut remained generous.
Double-breasted suits, the jackets with broad lapels and no vents, also proved very popular in the thirties. Variants, that also took their cues from London tailoring and aristocratic wear, included the Windsor double-breasted and Kent double-breasted.
Stripes were also very much in vogue, and the well-dressed gentleman would almost certainly have had a striped suit in his wardrobe, as well as a fedora or Panama hat. For summer, the lightweight Palm Beach suit caught consumer imagination.
Women
Generally fashions of the 1930s are thought of as glamorous and sensuous. This is the era of the big bands, dancing and night life.The dresses are long and elegant, evening gowns were often backless and importantly there develops a very distinct difference between daywear and evening wear.Hollywood and the movies also begin to be very influential to the fashion industry as people wanted to wear the styles they had seen on the screen.The biggest change in fashions in the 1930s was to be at the shoulder, with butterfly and banjo sleeves along with overstated shoulder pads becoming widely worn. Focus remained on the shoulders until late in the decade when it became fashionable to show off elegant backs in halter-neck and backless evening gowns with sleeves.
The launch of the two-piece with matching dress or skirt and jacket was worn widely with calf length skirts until the end of the decade when Parisian designers began creating skirts that were fuller and shorter. The no-buttoned clutch coat and the handkerchief skirt were later introduced, the latter characterised by plenty of folds, sections and gathers.
By the 1930s long skirts and high waist lines were back.Gentle, feminine dresses with butterfly or puff sleeves and graceful calf-length skirts grew in popularity. Madeline Vionnet can be credited for the development of the bias-cut to accentuate women’s body lines and curves in softly draped fabrics.
Gloves were an essential accessory in this period and ranged from long, elbow length to short opera-length in fabric or leather. Production was put in for combinations of matching sets of gloves, hat, shoes, bag and scarf in daring colours such as apple blossom pink, carnation blush, Pernod green or mimosa yellow.
Short hair continued to be worn in the early years but became gradually longer and was styled in curls at the ends and flatter at the crown to make room for a hat which would be worn to most occasions, decorated and at a jaunty angle.
Private Investigators
The P.I. combined the
investigating qualities of an fine policeman without the restraints of wearing
the uniform: In 1930s Southbury, a
private Investigator could do things that a regular policeman could not, go
where policeman were forbidden to go, and otherwise behave in ways that would
often be unbecoming for an officer of the law.
The people of Southbury regarded the P.I. as a shadowy figure, an outsider working on the edges of conventional society who takes risks in fighting the system and still comes out on top,
Many believed that Private Investigators spent their time lurking in dark, rain-soaked alleys wearing a trench coat and a beat-up fedora.
In many cases they were not far from the truth.
The people of Southbury regarded the P.I. as a shadowy figure, an outsider working on the edges of conventional society who takes risks in fighting the system and still comes out on top,
Many believed that Private Investigators spent their time lurking in dark, rain-soaked alleys wearing a trench coat and a beat-up fedora.
In many cases they were not far from the truth.
The Firm
Southbury gangsters – The Southbury
Firm is a
tough, well-respected gang of hardened criminals. Often
shadowy figures from the criminal underworld, who think they own and run the
town. The Firm make money from every crooked opportunity, especially when it
comes to prostitution and gambling. Protection rackets and armed robberies also provide a backbone to the gang’s
income. Some keep a very public face
around the social scene, enjoying life in the clubs and dance halls
The Southbury Gangster is a hard man in a sharp suit who likes a pretty woman on his arm. For many the rich rewards of life in The Firm comes very quickly as they become made men with a power to terrorise, scaring other people into giving handing over money. He can be charismatic and generous when you're on his good side and a terrifying psychopath when you are not
The Southbury Gangster is a hard man in a sharp suit who likes a pretty woman on his arm. For many the rich rewards of life in The Firm comes very quickly as they become made men with a power to terrorise, scaring other people into giving handing over money. He can be charismatic and generous when you're on his good side and a terrifying psychopath when you are not
Burlesque
In the late 1920s, the old Southbury burlesque circuits closed down and signalled the end of tame musical entertainment, albiet featuring beautiful girls. This left individual club owners to get by as best they could on their own. The strip tease was introduced as a desperate bid to offer something more daring and inviting, combining the daring costumes of Paris ( Folies Bergère and the Moulin Rouge) with the titillation of Vaudeville.
As stripping drew in hoards of ogling men, it also gave burlesque a sleazy reputation. As moralists expressed outrage, male audiences kept burlesque profitable .
Strippers had to walk a fine line between titillation and propriety – going too far (let alone "all the way") could land them in jail for corrupting public morals.
The strippers soon dominated burlesque, and their routines became increasingly graphic, just avoiding total nudity.
As stripping drew in hoards of ogling men, it also gave burlesque a sleazy reputation. As moralists expressed outrage, male audiences kept burlesque profitable .
Strippers had to walk a fine line between titillation and propriety – going too far (let alone "all the way") could land them in jail for corrupting public morals.
The strippers soon dominated burlesque, and their routines became increasingly graphic, just avoiding total nudity.