This is one of the most evocative articles about the city's night scenes in the 1930s that I found. Ironically the story takes place about the same time that the Japanese were gearing up to invade China, launching what became the eight-year war that ended in 1945. This is perhaps the last glimpse at a more innocent period of nighttime fun in the city before the Japanese started taking it over beginning with the Hongkew district where the story ends.
Read MoreNude Shows Springing up in Shanghai Badlands District (1939)
During my research into Shanghai's nightlife industries in the 1920s-30s, I came across plenty of materials describing nudity in the cabarets. Some of these were likely exaggerated. However, by the wartime era, anything went and certainly there were plenty of what the press and authorities described as "obscene" performances, which tarnished the reputation of the city government.
Read MoreNight Sounds in Shanghai: From Sing-Song Girls to Coolies on the Bund (1921)
I discovered this article while researching the history of Shanghai nightlife at Columbia University in the 1990s. It gives the reader of the age an evocative if somewhat orientalist account of Chinese life in the city in the early 1920s, before the jazz age hit the Chinese population of the city like a firestorm.
Read MoreMusical Awakening: The Rise of Oriental Bands and Chinese Singers in Wartime Shanghai (1943)
This is one of the most interesting articles I found during my research on Shanghai's music scene during the height of the Pacific War. It not only highlights the importance of Filipino bandleaders, profiling Jose Contreras, but also shows how the era was giving rise to popularity of Asian as opposed to Western musicians.
Read MoreFinding Interracial Harmony in Jessfield Park, Shanghai (1929)
I'm taking a short break from nightlife-related posts to post this article I found during my years of research on Old Shanghai. Everyone familiar with the apocryphal "No Dogs and Chinese" sign (that message didn't exist though many Shanghai parks did ban Chinese attendees into the 1920s) will understand the background to this article. Jessfield Park is now known as Zhongshan Park.
A Wild Night in Shanghai, Doing the Nightlife Rounds with the US Marines (1932)
found this account in the scrapbook of a US Marine while researching my doctoral dissertation on Shanghai nightlife back in the 1990s. There is a ton of material in the collection of the US Navy Yard left by Marines in their scrapbooks. They provide a fascinating window into the nightlife of the city in its heyday.
Read More“BLOOD-ALLEY" SHOULD BE MADE INTO RETAIL DISTRICT (1938)
In previous posts I covered the Trenches, an infamous bar and vice district in the northern part of the city, north of Settlement boundaries. Another was Blood Alley, located on the boundary between the French Concession and International Settlement near the Bund. Here is one of many articles describing this bar street and arguing that it ought to be converted into retail stores.
Read MoreShanghai Gamblers Defy Mayor Chen’s “Clean-Up” (1940)
In 1940, soon after taking the post of Shanghai Mayor under the Wang Jingwei government, Chen Gongbo (Kung-po below) declared that one of his goals was to "clean up" the badlands and rid Shanghai of some of the vices that had plagued the city including gambling.
Read MoreShanghai's "Under-Cover" Vices (1930)
In the 1920s and 1930s, Shanghai was notorious worldwide for its vices. While the cabarets and ballroom dance halls that I wrote about in my books were relatively tame, the city abounded with all sorts of establishments catering to the carnal pleasures of men, staffed by women often recruited from the hinterlands.
Read MoreJoe Farren, Shanghai Nightlife Impresario (1939)
This article provides the back story to the rise of Joe Farren in Shanghai's nightlife industry, noting his involvement in the floor shows of some of Shanghai's most famous ballrooms including the Majestic and the Paramount. Yet as Paul French's new book City of Devils suggests, there is a lot more to the story of Joe than revealed in this cheerful article published in the American newspaper Shanghai Evening Post and Mercury...
Read MoreThe Defense of Jack Riley (1941)
After Riley was re-arrested in 1941, he was brought again to court where he and his counsel H. D. Rodger made a plea for leniency. This article recounts that plea along with some interesting (if dodgy) info about his own personal and family background. Will we ever know the whole truth about Jack Riley? I doubt it...
Read MoreThe Capture of Jack Riley (1941)
In honor of the recent publication Paul French's latest book City of Devils, I'm posting a few articles about Jack Riley and Joe Farren, the two main characters in the book, over the next few months as I continue to post original news articles on the nightlife of old Shanghai. This one details his capture after he jumped bail in 1941 and went on the lam, hiding out in the northern part of the city. As the article mentions, he cultivated a mustache in order to hide his identity. The Riley case is a fascinating study of how the legal system operated in Shanghai in the treaty port era.
Read MoreA Rundown of the Best "Colored" Jazz Bands of 1920s-1930s Shanghai
This is a rundown by Max Chaichek, a veteran watcher of Shanghai nightlife in the 1930s, of some of the best jazz bands that played in Shanghai in the 1920s and 1930s. Note that in 1934, Buck Clayton and his Harlem Gentlemen were performing at the Canidrome, and this seems to be the reason for Chaichek's exploration of "colored bands" in Shanghai. The article is a testament to the greatness of Jack Carter and Teddy Weatherford, and the author seems to be wondering if Clayton's band is up to their high-water mark in the history of jazz in Shanghai.
Read MoreThe Nightlife of Old Peking (1937)
This gem of an article covers the nightlife of Peking in the late 1930s, making comparisons with Shanghai's own night scene. The author obviously spent a lot of time researching his subject. Beijingers might make some comparisons between the author's description of the nightspots of the 1930s and those of more recent years. Maggie's comes to mind.
Read MoreEXIT SING-SONG; ENTER CABARET JAZZ!
This is one of my favorite pieces from my research into English-language sources on the transition into the "jazz age" in 1920s Shanghai.
Read MoreCanidrome Ballroom Offers Excellent Entertainments to Shanghai Merrymakers
This piece offers interesting tidbits of information on the band and the other features that made the Canidrome Ballroom popular during its early stages. Note the combination of African American musicians such as Teddy Weatherford, Bob Hill, Jimmy Carson and also the number of Filipino musicians as well.
Read MorePuttin' on Blackface for the Shanghailanders at the Canidrome Ballroom (1930)
While Teddy Weatherford was extremely skilled in the art of modern jazz piano, he was often called upon to put on blackface (metaphorically) and perform pieces that Shanghailanders and other colonial elites associated with African American culture. Here is one instance, where Teddy and other "negro" artists in the Canidrome ballroom band put together a quartet to sing spirituals (notice how many times the word "negro" comes up in this piece). These sorts of performances were also popular when Teddy moved to India in his later years. Note also the presence of Russian artists among the various performances at the Canidrome.
Read More"The Greatest Jazz Aggregation Ever to Appear in the Orient" (1929)
This article is interesting for many reasons. It recounts the formation of the first jazz band to play at the famed Canidrome Ballroom in Shanghai. It mentions that the band played at the coronation of the Japanese Emperor (Hirohito)--something that I need to do further research on, but if that's the case, that is fascinating! It also mentions that the band made some recordings in Japan (also something to follow up on). Above all, it continues telling the story of Teddy Weatherford, Asia's great jazz ambassador, filling in some gaps in his record.
Read MoreThe Fate of Jack Riley, Shanghai's Notorious Slot Machine King
An article from the China Weekly Review in 1941 covering the career of Jack Riley and his eventual arrest and deportation from Shanghai to the USA
Read MoreThe Fate of Bill Hegamin, Jazz Pianist and Bandleader in Shanghai from 1925-1945
Articles from US newspapers relating what happened to jazz pianist and bandleader William “Bill” Hegamin, who performed in Shanghai between 1945 and the WWII era
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