Cavendish Mews is a smart set of flats in Mayfair where flapper and modern woman, the Honourable Lettice Chetwynd has set up home after coming of age and gaining her allowance. To supplement her already generous allowance, and to break away from dependence upon her family, Lettice has established herself as a society interior designer, so her flat is decorated with a mixture of elegant antique Georgian pieces and modern Art Deco furnishings, using it as a showroom for what she can offer to her well heeled clients.
Tonight, however we have headed east of Cavendish Mews, down through St James’, past Trafalgar Square and down The Strand following Sir John’s imposing chauffer driven black Worsley as he takes his fiancée, Lettice, out to dinner. Old enough to be her father, wealthy Sir John was until recently still a bachelor, and according to London society gossip intended to remain so, so that he might continue to enjoy his dalliances with a string of pretty chorus girls of Lettice’s age and younger. After an abrupt ending to her understanding with Selwyn Spencely, son and heir to the title Duke of Walmsford, Lettice in a moment of both weakness and resolve, agreed to the proposal of marriage proffered to her by Sir John. More like a business arrangement than a marriage proposal, Sir John offered Lettice the opportunity to enjoy the benefits of his large fortune, be chatelain of all his estates and continue to have her interior design business, under the conditions that she agree to provide him with an heir, and that he be allowed to discreetly carry on his affairs in spite of their marriage vows. He even suggested that Lettice might be afforded the opportunity to have her own extra marital liaisons if she were discreet about them. Lettice’s heart sank as the purring Worsley pulled up in the queue of vehicles leading to the newly erected Art Deco portico of one of London’s most luxurious and fashionable hotels, The Savoy*.
“Of all the places to bring me.” she silently thought to herself as she squirmed on the red Moroccan leather seat next to her fiancée.
Once a place Lettice enjoyed going to, the luxurious mahogany, rich red velvet, gilded paintings and extravagant floral displays of the Savoy’s grand dining salon no longer hold the charms for her as they once did, for it was here that Selwyn had organised a romantic dinner for two for he and Lettice in honour of his birthday. However, when Lettice arrived, she was confronted not with the smiling face of her then beau, but the haughty and cruel spectre of his mother, the Duchess of Walmsford, Lady Zinnia. It was in the middle of the dining room that with a cold and calculating smile Lady Zinna announced that she had packed Selwyn off to Durban in South Africa for a year. She made a pact with her son: if he went away for a year, a year during which he agreed neither to see, nor correspond with Lettice, if he came back and still had feelings for Lettice, Lady Zinnia agreed that she would concede and would allow him to marry her. That trip turned out to be fateful, as Lettice later found out from Lady Zinnia when she was summoned to the Duchess’ Park Lane mansion and was shown a cache of photographs and newspaper clippings of Selwyn engaged to the daughter of a wealthy Kenyan diamond mine owner. It was this revelation that caused her to fall into the open and welcoming arms of Sir John.
“Are you alright, Lettice my dear?” Sir John asks with concern as he looks into his fiancée’s face, which in spite of the warm, golden light flooding from the Savoy’s windows, looks wan and drawn. “You look very pale all of a sudden.”
“Well,” Lettice replies with a shiver, pulling her arctic fox fur stole more snugly around her bare shoulders. “You know what memories I have of this place, John. You might have taken me somewhere else.”
The car inches forward to the second place in line as in front of them a lady in a red sequin bespangled evening frock is helped to alight from the passenger cabin of a black and yellow Coupé de Ville** Rolls Royce by one of the liveried footmen of the Savoy.
“Well,” Sir John begins in a rather nonchalant fashion. “Think of the Savoy like a horse, Lettice my dear.”
“A horse?” Lettice queries in return.
“Yes, my dear. When your best thoroughbred throws you during a steeplechase*** what do you do?”
“You lie on the ground winded, that’s what you do!”
Sir John snorts and chuckles derisively at Lettice’s reply before going on, “You get back on her of course, and keep riding.” He smiles kindly at Lettice. “A faint heart never won a race.”
“I still don’t see what that has to do with the Savoy.” Lettice quips.
“It’s simple my dear. The Savoy has bad connotations for you, and I understand that.”
“Do you?” Lettice snaps disbelievingly.
“Of course I do, Lettice my dear.” Sir John soothes. “I may be many things, but I am not a cruel or unkind man.”
“Then why did you bring me back to the place of my humiliating rendezvous with Lady Zinnia, if not to rub salt into my wounds****?”
“I’m a pragmatist, Lettice, not a sadist.” Sir John replies matter-of-factly as the Worsley is driven up to the steps of the Savoy by Richardson, Sir John’s chauffer. “The best way to dispel those connotations is to make new and happy memories here.”
The door of Sir John’s Worsley is opened and the same Savoy liveried footman who helped the previous vehicle’s occupants from their motorcar now proffers his hand to Lettice, who accepts it with a scowl, not directed towards him, but to her unthinking fiancée who waits for her to exit the cabin before stepping out onto the Savoy’s steps himself.
The doors to the Savoy are swung open welcomingly for Lettice and Sir John by two liveried doormen and the pair stride in with assured steps, their arms interlinked. Lettice applies a painted smile***** to her face as the wealthy and elegantly dressed clientele of the hotel milling around in the foyer observe and scrutinise them as they walk. The pair are ushered into the grand dining room of the Savoy, a space brilliantly illuminated by dozens of glittering electrified chandeliers cascading down like fountains from the high ceiling above. Beneath the sparkling light, men in white waistcoats and women a-glitter with jewels and bugle bead embroidered frocks are guided through the cavernous dining room where they are seated in high backed mahogany and red velvet chairs around tables dressed in crisp white tablecloths and set with sparkling silver and gilt china. The large room is very heavily populated with theatre patrons enjoying a meal before a show and London society out for an evening. The space is full of vociferous conversation, boisterous laughter, the clink of glasses and the scrape of cutlery against crockery as the diners enjoy the magnificent repast served to them from the hotel’s famous kitchens. Above it all, the notes of the latest dance music from the band can be heard as they entertain diners and dancers who fill the parquet dance floor.
A smartly uniformed waiter escorts Lettice and Sir John to a table for two in the midst of the grand dining salon, where they take their seats and peruse the menu. Sir John orders them Caviar de Sterlet****** and saumon fumé******* to start with, followed by Consommé Olga******** and paupiette de sole femina*********. As the waiter sets a silver platter of cheeses and an assortment of water cracker biscuits on the crisp white linen covered table between them as a palate cleanser before their next course of Suprême de Chapon Monselet**********, Sir John clears his throat.
“Feeling a little better about the Savoy now, my dear Lettice?”
“I don’t know if I’ll ever feel the same about the Savoy, no matter how many times we come here, John.” Lettice says as she sips some of the deep red Bordeaux from her crystal wine glass.
She glances around at the bejewel decorated ladies looking like exotic birds in their brightly coloured frocks and feathers and their smartly attired male companions, many craning their necks, stealing surreptitious glances at Sir John, London’s most famous, or infamous, former bachelor, and the pretty Viscount’s daughter and society interior designer who has ensnared him into marriage.
“I promise that time is a great healer of wounds, my dear.” Sir John assures her, ignoring the stares of the diners around him and expertly piercing the stilton before him, breaking off a crumbly piece which he lathers a water cracker biscuit with before taking a healthy bite out of it.
“I’ll have to take your word for that.” Lettice grumbles.
“You’ll find that I’m rather a pragmatist, Lettice my dear.” Sir John goes on. “So in an effort to be somewhat pragmatic, and assuage your discomfort at being here, let’s chat about something pleasurable. You were saying before that you went to visit Charles Hatchett’s wife in Queen Anne’s Gate***********?”
“Yes,” Lettice concurs with a sigh as she takes up her own cheese knife and cuts a sliver of Swiss cheese which she places on a cracker of her own choosing from the options laid out on the platter. “I redecorated some of the rooms in Mrs. Hatchett’s house in Sussex back in 1921 when I was just starting out my interior design business. Now that her husband is finally an MP, they have taken a long lease on a rather run-down old town house in Queen Anne’s Gate that had belonged to an admiral. I’m taking on a commission to redecorate some of her principal rooms used for entertaining.”
“Do you think that is wise, Lettice my dear?” Sir John asks cautiously with a cocked eyebrow as he cuts himself a slice of gouda cheese from its red waxy rind.
“Because it is so run down? Oh, there is no need to worry, John darling. The Hatchetts are currently having maintenance done to make the house habitable again.”
“No.” John counters. “I meant, do you think it wise to take on a commission from the wife of a Labour MP?”
“Oh yes!” Lettice enthuses. “Mrs. Hatchett has given me carte blanche to decorate this time, and I have great plans for what I want to create for her. None that include chintz!” She shudders at the thought of the floral patterned sofas she finally agreed to in her interiors for ‘The Gables’.
“I meant, don’t you think this commission will upset your parents somewhat?” Sir John takes a bite out of the gouda graced cracker before continuing. “We already know that both your parents, not to mention many other people, are against our marriage.”
“Oh, I don’t think Pater and Mater are against it, John darling.” Lettice assures him.
“Well, perhaps not, but you must confess that they were both a little reserved in their enthusiasm for our engagement.”
“I can’t deny that.” Lettice finishes her cracker with Swiss cheese. “But what has that to do with taking a commission from Dolly Hatchett.”
“Well, I’m all for your independence, my dear Lettice, but don’t you think you are dropping the tiniest of social briquettes taking on the commission of a Labor MP’s wife, even if you have completed a commission for her previously? Mightn’t this be seen by your parents as another act of rebellion, like engaging yourself to me?”
“No, I don’t think so, John.”
“Well, I think that this commission might put them a little more off side, my dear. Might I suggest a little caution and prudence, just for the moment?”
“Have you been talking to Gerald?”
“Gerald?”
“My friend, Gerald Bruton.” Lettice elucidates.
“Oh!” Sir John chuckles. “That Gerald. No.” He swallows the last of his gouda and crackers. “Why?”
“Oh it’s nothing.” Lettice flaps her hand between she and Sir John dismissively. “It’s just that when he visited me not long ago, he made a similar remark.”
“Then it isn’t an unfounded concern, Lettice my dear.”
Lettice sighs. “I know Mater and Pater being somewhat lukewarm about our engagement at best isn’t quite what we’d hoped for, and Lally being so beastly about the wedding, and Aunt Egg being totally against the idea has made it even worse, but I can’t let my parents rule who I take the commissions of. I have a moderately successful business now.”
“More than moderate I’d say my dear, especially once Sylvia gets that positive review for you in The Lady************.”
“Then fie caution and prudence, and fie Mater and fie Pater if they don’t like my choice of clients!” Lettice retorts a little hotly, to the surprise of Sir John. “This is my interior design business. Surely, I should be allowed to decide whom I take on the commissions of. You’ll back me in this won’t you, John darling?”
“Of course I will, Lettice my dear!” Sir John assures her. “I thoroughly support your independence. It’s just that…” His voice trails off.
“Just what, John?”
“It’s just that, at this moment when things are delicate, as people grow used to our engagement, we could probably do without any more ructions.”
“And you see Dolly Hatchett’s commission as a ruction?”
Sir John nods shallowly as he takes another sliver of stilton from the larger wedge on the ornate silver tray.
“But she’s a successful MP’s wife now, not just the chorus girl from Chu-Chin-Chow************* who made a suitable match above her station. She’s changed so much from when I first met her.”
“She may be an MP’s wife, but her husband is on the wrong side of the chamber, my dear.” Sir John sniffs in distaste. “I just hope this doesn’t make relations with your family any more strained than they already are. I’d prefer to keep your parents on as good a terms as possible, at least before the wedding. Think of which,” He pauses. “Have you spoken to your mother about Clemmie helping you with your trousseau************** up here in London, yet?”
“No, not yet, John darling. There hasn’t really been the ideal moment to broach the subject yet,” Lettice admits apologetically. “But I will.”
“Well just see that you do, and soon. Maybe discuss that with Sadie, before you tell her about Dolly Hatchett’s commission.”
“Yes, John darling. I will.” Lettice agrees with a smile. She then goes on, “Of course Mrs. Hatchett’s commission is the perfect opportunity for me to really make my mark as an interior designer, John darling.”
“How so?”
“Well, you heard me say that Mrs. Hatchett has given me carte blanche to redecorate.”
“Yes,” Sir John sips his glass of Bordeaux as he picks a sliver of cracker from between his teeth with his tongue. “What of it?”
“Well you haven’t heard what I’ve got planned.” Lettice says with a hopeful smile.
“Go on then. I’m listening.”
“Well, there is an exhibition in Paris. It’s called ‘Exposition internationale des arts décoratifs et industriels modernes’***************. It is highlighting and showcasing the new modern style of architecture and interior design: a style I am an exponent of. I’d love to go and gather new ideas on interior design there and incorporate them into my own. Since Mrs. Hatchett’s house won’t be finished for a few months, and I’m currently in the process of creating the design for Sylvia’s new feature wall, I thought I could go once Sylvia’s interior is finished, and I could use Mrs. Hatchett’s home to showcase my new interior designs ideas inspired by the exhibition.”
“Oh, that does sound rather exciting.” Sir John agrees.
“Then don’t stymie me in my business affairs, John darling! Support me!” Lettice pleads. “In fact,” She pauses for a moment, a smile dancing on her lips as she thinks before continuing, “Why don’t you come with me?”
“To Paris?” Sir John queries.
“Yes!”
“With you?”
“Yes! We could go to the exposition together! It would be awfully jolly to have you along, and Paris is the city of romance.” Lettice enthuses. “We could take the midday London-to-Paris flight from Cricklewood Aerodrome****************. I’ve done that before when I went to Paris for a wedding a few years ago. Wouldn’t that be thrilling?”
Sir John sighs. “You certainly do know how to throw caution to the wind, don’t you Lettice my dear?”
“Well, why shouldn’t we go together? We’re here, dining in public together tonight. Our engagement is official. What’s to stop us travelling on the same aeroplane. There is nothing improper about it.”
“I’m not so sure about that, Lettice my dear. What would people think?”
“Oh don’t be so old fashioned! This is the 1920s, not the 1820s. Women are more independent and the world is more progressive.”
“Nevertheless, there are still things such as society’s expectations and social mores.”
“But we’re engaged, John darling! There is nothing inappropriate about us flying to Paris together.”
“I suppose…” Sir John muses cautiously. “So long as we stayed in separate suites in Paris.”
“Of course!”
“Hhhmmm…” Sir John purrs as he smiles enigmatically. “I’m warming to the idea, Lettice my dear.”
“You are?”
“Yes.” he agrees. “Although I will say that an entire trip devoted to this exposition of yours might bore me a little. You’re the interior designer. I’m not.”
“Well, you don’t have to come to see the exposition exclusively, John darling. You could come and explore a little bit of it with me, and then go sightseeing on your own.”
“Yes, I was just thinking that.” Sir John’s oily smile broadens and his eyes start to glitter mischievously.
“Yes, there is the Champs-Élysées, and…”
“I have been to Paris before Lettice.” Sir John interrupts her abruptly. “Don’t forget that Clemmie lived there with Harrison for many years before the war.”
“Oh of course!” Lettice laughs self-consciously. “How very foolish of me.”
“The Champs-Élysées wasn’t the kind of sightseeing I was thinking of.”
Lettice feels a knot grow in the pit of her stomach as he speaks.
“No?” she ventures timidly.
“No, but I thought, if I accompany you for the morning to this exposition of yours, I might pay a call on an old friend of mine in the afternoon.” Sir John strokes his cleanly shaven chin thoughtfully. “Yes, that might be frightfully jolly.”
“A friend?” Lettice asks cautiously.
“Yes, from long before the war.” Sir John murmurs as he takes another sip of Bordeaux from his glass.
“And old friend?” Lettice fishes. “Perhaps, I could meet him too.”
“Her, you mean.” Sir John replies dourly, elucidating. “Madeline Flanton.”
“Indeed, yes.” Lettice says, her face flushing with embarrassment at her mistaken assumption. “This Madame Flanton...”
“Mademoiselle Flanton,” Sir John says, adding emphasis to her unmarried title as he lowers his voice. “Was an actress from the Follies Bergère****************, that I was introduced to at the Palais de Glace***************** along the Champs-Élysées before you were even born,” He looks meaningfully at his red faced fiancée sitting across from him at the table. “Which is why your talk of the Champs-Élysées reminded me of her.”
“Yes, yes of course!” Lettice says hurriedly in an effort to cover up her sudden awkwardness as she realises what Sir John has implied with statement. “Perhaps I could meet Mademoiselle Flanton when we go to Paris.” She takes a large gulp of her Bordeaux, which suddenly tastes bitter in her mouth.
“Are you sure you’d want to my dear, knowing what you know of me, and my, friendships?”
Determined not to back down, or appear weak, Lettice blurts out. “Indeed yes. I’m sure if she is an old friend,” She hopes that the flame of appeal of Madeline Flanton has been extinguished by four years of war and the passing of time. “I should like to meet her.”
Sir John sits in quiet contemplation for a moment, his delicate fingers steepled in front of him as he thinks. “You know, you may be on to something, Lettice my dear. Any whiff of scandal will be discarded if we both visit Madeline. Genius, my dear! Genius!” He claps his hands and beams in delight. “No-one from the newspapers who might tail us in Paris would question my visiting an actress, if you were to be seen visiting her too. After a quick cocktail, Madeline is famous for her hospitality and her cocktails.”
“I’m sure she is.” Lettice interjects rather flatly, lowering her head.
“Now, now, don’t be like that, Lettice my dear.” Sir John leans across the table and puts his right index finger under Lettice’s lowered chin, lifting her head up, forcing her to engage his intense stare. “We had this discussion at Clemance’s. Perhaps love will come to us in time, but you cannot, and must not, expect it from me, for I cannot promise it you, Lettice, any more than I can promise you fidelity. I was thinking that after a polite social cocktail or two, Madeline could discreetly slip you out the back way of her apartment and arrange for you to be whisked back to the hotel.”
“Leaving you to…” Lettice’s sentence remains awkwardly unfinished as she realises that far from extinguished, the passing of time has in fact fanned the flames of Sir John’s infatuation with this Madeliene Flanton.
“Catch up on old times.” Sir John finishes Lettice’s sentence. He sighs heavily. “You asked me not to stymie you in your affairs.” He gives her a knowing look. “Then don’t stymie me in mine.”
“I said business affairs.” Lettice clarifies. “And yours and my affairs, business or otherwise, are quite different, John.” she adds, unable to keep the bitterness out of her voice.
“But ours is an arrangement.” he reminds her gently. “And an arrangement requires give, as well as take, on the side of both parties involved.”
Lettice cannot help herself as she remarks, “Isn’t your Mademoiselle Flanton a little old to still be an actress at the Folies Bergère, if you met her before I was born.”
“Now, now.” Sir John cautions Lettice warningly with a withering look and a wagging finger as he reaches out and delves his knife into the stilton again. “Cattiness doesn’t suit you, Lettice my dear. I thought you were a little more grown up than that.”
“Sorry.” Lettice mumbles in apology.
“Cattiness and spite are reserved for actresses. Ladies, on the other hand, carry themselves with grace and decorum, no matter what the circumstances.” He sighs heavily again. “I’ve known actresses who have become ladies, like Lily Elsie******************, but I’m not in the habit of engaging myself to anyone other than someone who is a lady from birth.”
“I do apologise, John.” Lettice replies meekly after her fiancée’s sharp rebuke. “That was unfair of me.”
“I won’t have jealously from you Lettice.” Sir John withdraws his knife and drops a crumbling piece of stilton onto another biscuit. Wagging the knife between he and Lettice he goes on, “There is no place for jealously in our arrangement, my dear, otherwise our marriage won’t work.”
“I won’t let it happen again.” Lettice manages to say as she cradles her glass in her hands.
“I should hope you won’t, my dear.” Sir John replies. After taking a bite from his cracker he goes on, “Madeline was a great beauty when I met her, and her looks have served her well throughout the ensuing years since then. She is now a film actress, working for Cinégraphic******************** in Paris. Madeline is a consummate hostess, and has always been very hospitable to any guest I have had accompany me to her smart Parisian apartment.”
“I’m quite sure, John.”
“And I would expect civility from my companion in equal measure to Madeline’s generosity of spirit and hospitality.” He looks at Lettice seriously.
“Of course, John.” Lettice replies.
“Good!” Sir John beams. “Let me consider your suggestion of this little sojourn to Paris a little longer. The more I think about it, the more appealing it is to me. Now, have you had enough cheese to cleanse your palate?”
Lettice nods shallowly, the thought of eating more cheese curdling her stomach.
“Excellent! Then I’ll have the maître d' take this away,” Sir John waves his hand dismissively at what remains of the cheese and water cracker biscuits. “And have him bring our Suprême de Chapon Monselet.”
Lettice puts her glass aside and wonders how her suggestion that she and Sir John fly to Paris together, which just minutes ago had been full of promise, was suddenly and completely awry.
*The Savoy Hotel is a luxury hotel located in the Strand in the City of Westminster in central London. Built by the impresario Richard D'Oyly Carte with profits from his Gilbert and Sullivan opera productions, it opened on 6 August 1889. It was the first in the Savoy group of hotels and restaurants owned by Carte's family for over a century. The Savoy was the first hotel in Britain to introduce electric lights throughout the building, electric lifts, bathrooms in most of the lavishly furnished rooms, constant hot and cold running water and many other innovations. Carte hired César Ritz as manager and Auguste Escoffier as chef de cuisine; they established an unprecedented standard of quality in hotel service, entertainment and elegant dining, attracting royalty and other rich and powerful guests and diners. The hotel became Carte's most successful venture. Its bands, Savoy Orpheans and the Savoy Havana Band, became famous. Winston Churchill often took his cabinet to lunch at the hotel. The hotel is now managed by Fairmont Hotels and Resorts. It has been called "London's most famous hotel". It has two hundred and sixty seven guest rooms and panoramic views of the River Thames across Savoy Place and the Thames Embankment. The hotel is a Grade II listed building.
**A Coupé de ville is a car body style produced from 1908 to 1939. It has an external or open-topped driver's position, as well as an enclosed compartment for passengers. Although the different terms may have once had specific meanings for certain car manufacturers or countries, the terms are often used interchangeably. Some coupés de ville have the passengers separated from the driver in a fully enclosed compartment while others have a canopy for the passengers and no partition between the driver and the passengers (passengers enter the compartment via driver's area).
***A steeplechase is a distance horse race in which competitors are required to jump diverse fence and ditch obstacles. Steeplechasing is primarily conducted in Ireland (where it originated), Great Britain, Canada, United States, Australia, and France. The name is derived from early races in which orientation of the course was by reference to a church steeple, jumping fences and ditches and generally traversing the many intervening obstacles in the countryside.
****The origin of “rub salt in the wound”, a phrase utilised to express the exacerbation of an already painful or challenging scenario, highlighting the added difficulty or stress, lies in a literal physical practice with roots tracing back to ancient times. Historically, salt was rubbed into wounds as an antiseptic to prevent infection. While it was a method to cleanse and treat the injury, the process was extremely painful due to the interaction between salt and open flesh. Over time, the practice evolved into a metaphor. The application of salt, although for healing, caused additional suffering. Similarly, the idiom began to symbolise a situation where an action or statement intensifies the pain or difficulty in an already problematic situation.
*****A painted smile typically refers to a smile that is not sincere or genuine, often masking underlying emotions like sadness, pain, or fear. It's a façade, a false expression intended to deceive or hide true feelings.
******Sterlet caviar is a type of caviar that comes from the Sterlet sturgeon, a small fish species that's found in the Caspian Sea. Its small silver-grey caviar with a nutty flavour, and is famed for its velvety smooth finish.
*******“Saumon fumé” is the French phrase used for smoked salmon. It refers to salmon that has been cured and then smoked, typically using a cold or hot smoking method.
********Consommé Olga is a classic beef consommé with a distinctive flavour, often served with scallops and julienned vegetables. It's a clear, flavourful soup, typically made with beef or veal broth, and features a unique method for clarifying the broth using egg whites and a meat-vegetable mixture. The dish is then garnished with julienned carrots, celeriac, and cucumber, and sometimes includes scallops. It was made famous by being served to first-class passengers aboard the ill-fated maiden voyage of the RMS Titanic in 1912.
*********A paupiette is a piece of meat, beaten thin, and rolled with a stuffing of vegetables, fruits, or sweetmeats. It is often featured in recipes from Normandy.
**********Suprême de Chapon Monselet is chicken breasts with artichokes, potatoes and aromatics, named for Charles Monselet (30 April 1825, Nantes - 19 May 1888, Paris) the French journalist, novelist, poet and playwright, nicknamed "the king of the gastronomes".
***********Queen Anne’s Gate is a street in Westminster, London. Many of the buildings are Grade I listed, known for their Queen Anne architecture. Simon Bradley and Nikolaus Pevsner described the Gate’s early Eighteenth Century houses as “the best of their kind in London.” The street’s proximity to the Palace of Westminster made it a popular residential area for politicians.
************The Lady is one of Britain's longest-running women's magazines. It has been in continuous publication since 1885 and is based in London. It is particularly notable for its classified advertisements for domestic service and child care; it also has extensive listings of holiday properties.
*************‘Chu Chin Chow’ is a musical comedy written, produced and directed by Oscar Asche, with music by Frederic Norton, based on the story of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves. It was the most popular show in London’s West End during the Great War. It premiered at His Majesty’s Theatre in London on the 3rd of August 1916 and ran for 2,238 performances, a record number that stood for nearly forty years!
**************A trousseau refers to the wardrobe and belongings of a bride, including her wedding dress or similar clothing such as day and evening dresses.
***************The International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts was a specialized exhibition held in Paris, from April the 29th (the day after it was inaugurated in a private ceremony by the President of France) to October the 25the, 1925. It was designed by the French government to highlight the new modern style of architecture, interior decoration, furniture, glass, jewelry and other decorative arts in Europe and throughout the world. Many ideas of the international avant-garde in the fields of architecture and applied arts were presented for the first time at the exposition. The event took place between the esplanade of Les Invalides and the entrances of the Grand Palais and Petit Palais, and on both banks of the Seine. There were fifteen thousand exhibitors from twenty different countries, and it was visited by sixteen million people during its seven-month run. The modern style presented at the exposition later became known as “Art Deco”, after the exposition's name.
****************A London-to -Paris air service from Cricklewood Aerodrome, Hampstead, was inaugurated by Handley Page Transport in 1920. Fares were £18 18s return: a small fortune at the time. Each passenger was allowed 30 pounds of luggage for free and were charged accordingly for air freight for any amount over that. Cricklewood Aerodrome closed in 1929 due to suburban development and the Golders Green Estate was built on the site. Some of the streets where the aerodrome was bear the names of Handley Page.
*****************The Folies Bergère is a cabaret music hall in Paris, France. Located at 32 Rue Richer in the 9th Arrondissement, the Folies Bergère was built as an opera house by the architect Plumeret. It opened in May 1869 as the Folies Trévise, with light entertainment including operettas, comic opera, popular songs, and gymnastics. It became the Folies Bergère in September 1872, named after nearby Rue Bergère. The house was at the height of its fame and popularity from the 1890s Belle Époque through the 1920s. Revues featured extravagant costumes, sets and effects, and often nude women. In 1926, Josephine Baker, an African-American expatriate singer, dancer and entertainer, caused a sensation at the Folies Bergère by dancing in a costume consisting of a skirt made of a string of artificial bananas and little else. The institution is still in business, and is still a strong symbol of French and Parisian life.
******************The Palais de Glace was a prominent ice-skating rink located on the Champs-Élysées in Paris during the Belle Époque era. Designed by architect Gabriel Davioud, it was known as the “Rotonde du Panorama National” before being converted into the “Palais de Glace” in 1893. The building later became "”he Palace of Nero” during the Universal Exhibition of 1900.
*******************Lily Elsie, was an English actress and singer during the Edwardian era. She was best known for her starring role in the London premiere of Franz Lehár's operetta The Merry Widow. Beginning as a child star in the 1890s, Elsie built her reputation in several successful Edwardian musical comedies before her great success in “The Merry Widow”, opening in 1907. Afterwards, she starred in several more successful operettas and musicals, including “The Dollar Princess” (1909), “A Waltz Dream” (1911) and “The Count of Luxembourg” (1911). Admired for her beauty and charm on stage, Elsie became one of the most photographed women of Edwardian times. Elsie left the cast of “The Count of Luxembourg” to marry Major Sir John Ian Bullough, the son of a wealthy textile manufacturer, in 1911, thus becoming Lady Bullough. Sadly, the marriage was an unhappy one, and this was clear by 1915. However due to the social stigma associated with divorce, the couple remained together unhappily until the early 1930s when they finally divorced.
********************Cinégraphic was a French film production company founded by director Marcel L'Herbier in the 1920s. It was established following a disagreement between L'Herbier and the Gaumont Company, a major film distributor, over the film "Don Juan et Faust". Cinégraphic was involved in the production of several films, including "Don Juan et Faust" itself. Cinégraphic focused on more experimental and artistic films.
This splendid array of cheeses on the table would doubtless be enough to please anyone, but I suspect that even if you ate each wedge of cheese and every biscuit on this silver tray, you would still come away hungry. This is because they, like everything in this scene, are in reality 1:12 size miniatures from my miniatures collection, including pieces from my childhood.
Fun things to look for in this tableau:
The silver tray of biscuits have been made in England by hand from clay by former chef turned miniature artisan, Frances Knight. Her work is incredibly detailed and realistic, and she says that she draws her inspiration from her years as a chef and her imagination. The cheeses come from Beautifully handmade Miniatures in Kettering, as do the two slightly scalloped white gilt plates and the wonderful golden yellow roses in the glass vase on the table. The cutlery I acquired through Kathleen Knight’s Dolls House Shop in the United Kingdom. The bottle of Bordeaux is hand made from glass and is an artisan miniature made by Little Things Dollhouse Miniatures in Lancashire. The bottle features the label from a real winery in Bordeaux. The silver tray on which the wine bottle on the table is made by Warwick Miniatures in Ireland, who are well known for the quality and detail applied to their pieces. The two glasses of red wine are made of real glass and were acquired from an online miniatures stockist in the United Kingdom.
The two red velvet upholstered high back chairs I have had since I was six years old. They were a birthday present given to me by my grandparents.
The painting in the background in its gilded frame is a 1:12 artisan piece made by Amber’s Miniatures in the United States.
The red wallpaper is beautiful artisan paper given to me by a friend, who has encouraged me to use a selection of papers she has given me throughout the whole “Cavendish Mews – Lettice Chetwynd” series.
