Bricktop’s Monico cir 1931. Photo by Carl Van Veckten
Ada ‘Bricktop’ Smith played barkeep to the ‘Lost Generation’ of international
ex-pats living in Paris in the 1930s. The red-haired, cigar-smoking American singer made the jump from Harlem to Montmartre—and her nightclubs became all the rage. A Who’s Who of musicians clamored to play there. The glitterati of the 30s knew hers was the place for ultra-chic, café society.
Bricktop, Los Angeles, 1917. Photo from the autobiography, Bricktop
Born Ada Beatrice Queen Victoria Louise Virginia Smith in 1894, to her black father and mulatto mother, the baby’s flaming red hair earned her another name—Bricktop. She was a teenager when she got her first job in show business on Chicago’s South Side and wound up a headliner in Harlem’s top Jazz Age cabarets.
Bricktop, Vancouver 1920. Photo from the autobiography, Bricktop
“I’m 100 percent American Negro with a trigger Irish temper.” Bricktop on her genealogy
But Paris was Bricktop’s magic charm. Her bistro was a beacon for Parisian nightlife. The international set gathered there to bask in her hospitality and enjoy each other’s company. Ernest Hemingway and T.S. Eliot wrote about her. Cole Porter gave her gowns and furs, and even composed a song for her. And F. Scott Fitzgerald once quipped, “My greatest claim to fame is that I met Bricktop before Cole Porter.”
Montmartre cir. 1925. Photo from hemingwaysparis.blogspot.com
This week on Riverwalk Jazz, actors Topsy Chapman and Vernel Bagneris offer narratives drawn from the memoirs of Bricktop and Langston Hughes. And, The Jim Cullum Jazz Band and the Hot Club of San Francisco give us a musical tour of Paris in the 30s.
Inside Bricktop’s Monico. Photo from the autobiography, Bricktop
Langston Hughes, Paris 1938 Photo courtesy Library Congress
Harlem in Montmartre
Bricktop ran several clubs in Monmartre. Her spot on Place Pigalle was a combination nightclub, mail drop, bank and neighborhood bar for the most elegant people in Paris. Bricktop would leave the stage and walk around the tables, stopping to rub a bald head, kiss a cheek, or tell a joke.
Bricktop (2nd from left) and friends at Bricktop’s. Photo from the autobiography Bricktop
“I always said I’m not a singer, but I have my own style and I make it tough on singers who have to follow me. John Stienbeck told me, ‘Brick, when you sing ‘Embraceable You’ you take 20 years off a man’s life.’ And I swear, every time I shimmy, a skinny woman loses her man” Bricktop on her performing style.
Sidney Bechet, Paris 1925. Photo from Paris Jazz by Luke Miner
In 1931, Brick moved into the grand, old nightsclub—The Monico and hired singer Mabel Mercer. She booked only the best musicians. Sidney Bechet and Django Reinhart played for Brick. When Louis Armstrong was in town, he came by to play, as did Fats Waller and Duke Ellington.
Fats with musicians and Bricktop at Bricktop’s. Photo from autobiography Bricktop
Bricktop’s great musical guardian angel was the supreme master of popular song—Cole Porter. She taught his friends the latest New York dance craze at his ‘Charleston cocktail parties’ and he introduced her to the set that would become her loyal clientele.
Duke Ellington and the Peter Sisters at Bricktop’s. Photo from the autobiography Bricktop
Cole and Linda Porter. Photo newyorksocialdiary.com
Cole was the only person who had a special table reserved for him—at all times—at Bricktop’s. No one else was ever allowed to sit there, even when the club was packed, and the Porters were in New York. Not even the Prince of Wales got such royal treatment. Through the years, Cole Porter found ways to show Bricktop that her affection was returned. He composed his tune “Miss Otis Regrets” for her to perform and it became her signature.
“Miss Otis Regrets” sheet music
“‘Miss Otis’ is a song about a rich woman whose lover deserts her. She tracks him down, pulls a gun out of her velvet gown, and shoots him. In the end, she’s hanged for it. Very few people do it correctly. In my performance, I bow at the end, raising my hand in a motion across my neck to suggest a lynching.”
Bricktop on “Miss Otis Regrets”
Live to America from Bricktop’s in Paris with Edward R. Murrow
Reinhardt & Grapelli. Photo last.fm.com
Gypsy guitarist Django Reinhardt built his brilliant career on being unreliable, short tempered—and a musical genius. Bricktop had been warned against hiring him to play at her club but she followed her own instincts, and never regretted it. Together they made jazz history—winning fans on both side of the Atlantic with a live shortwave radio broadcast on June 12, 1937, hosted by radio legend Edward R Murrow. Our broadcast this week includes an audio clip of this historic broadcast, during which Django’s famous temper flared, when Murrow mistakenly credited Stephane Grapelli as the composer of one of Django’s tunes.
Bricktop at Le Grand Duc, 1928. Photo from the autobiography, Bricktop
Queen of Paris Nightclubs
From the Grand Duke in the early 20s to the end of the 1930s, Bricktop built her reputation as the Queen of Paris Nightclubs. When Hitler invaded Poland, everyone in the city of lights realized that war would darken the city soon. Bricktop sailed for the States in October of 1939—on one of the last boats out.
At Bricktop’s, Paris. 1950 Photo from the autobiography Bricktop
It was the end of an era, but it wasn’t the end of Bricktop’s. She would go on to open clubs in Mexico City, Rome and New York before returning to Paris in the 1950s. In 1973—at the age of 78—Bricktop came out of retirement to launch the final venue of her career in New York City. She told reporters:
At her nightclub in Rome, 1951. Photo from the autobiography Bricktop
“Anywhere I entertain becomes Bricktop’s. Running a saloon is the only thing I know and I know it backwards and forwards. As for me, it’s nice to be mingling around again. Not working nights began to wear on me.”
Ciao, babies!
Photo credit for Home Page and Recent Radio Broadcast Page: Bricktop’s Monico cir 1931. Photo by Carl Van Veckten
Text based on Riverwalk Jazz script by Margaret Moos Pick
©2012
