Chez Paree

Chez Paree
Name	Chez Paree
City	Chicago
Country	United States
Opened	1932
Closed	1960s
Capacity	1,200
Genre	Cabaret, vaudeville, Popular music

Chez Paree was a prominent nightclub and supper club in Chicago that operated primarily during the mid-20th century. It became renowned for lavish revues, headline entertainers from Broadway and Hollywood, and as a social focal point for visitors from New York City, Las Vegas, and international capitals. The club influenced entertainment circuits that included venues like the Copacabana (nightclub), the Rainbow Room, and later casino showrooms on the Las Vegas Strip.

History

Founded in 1932 during the Great Depression, the venue rose alongside other prominent nightlife establishments such as the Cotton Club and the Stork Club. Early management drew on talent exchanges with New York City impresarios who routed acts from the Ziegfeld Follies and Radio City Music Hall to Chicago bookings. Through the 1940s and 1950s the club hosted rotating revues and touring packages often promoted by agencies like the William Morris Agency and the General Artists Corporation; this placed the venue on the same circuit as the Tivoli Gardens (Copenhagen), London Palladium, and Hollywood Bowl. The club's fortunes mirrored national trends including wartime rationing during World War II and the postwar entertainment boom that saw increased airline travel between Chicago O'Hare International Airport's predecessors and cities such as Los Angeles and Miami Beach.

Ownership changes involved investors linked to Minsky's, Moe Dalitz, and other nightclub entrepreneurs who also had stakes in venues in Cleveland and the emerging Las Vegas scene. Competition from television personalities broadcasting from studios like NBC and CBS contributed to the decline of supper clubs nationally. By the 1960s, shifts in popular taste toward rock acts associated with producers in Liverpool and Seattle further redirected audiences away, and the venue ceased regular operation later that decade.

Architecture and Interior

The exterior façade faced a bustling Chicago Loop corridor and echoed the Art Deco motifs popularized by structures such as the Chrysler Building and the Palace of the Legion of Honor's contemporaries. Interior design integrated lavish elements reminiscent of the Ritz Paris and the interiors of Versailles-inspired ballrooms used by houses like the Savoy Hotel. Seating included a main orchestra floor, mezzanine boxes, and private dining salons echoing layouts seen at the Rainbow Room and the Cafe de Paris (London). Lighting rigs and stagecraft employed equipment similar to that used at the Metropolitan Opera and on Broadway theatrical stages, enabling elaborate set changes and costume reveals that paralleled productions at the Moulin Rouge and the Lido.

Acoustics were tuned to support big bands and vocalists akin to those recorded at Capitol Records and Decca Records studios, while back-of-house technical rooms accommodated touring stagehands from companies like IATSE. Decorative elements incorporated murals and bas-reliefs by artisans with training from institutions such as the Art Institute of Chicago and workshops influenced by the Bauhaus movement.

Performers and Entertainment

The roster featured an array of headliners who also appeared at venues like the Palace Theatre (New York City), Carnegie Hall, and the Hippodrome (London). Classic performers included stars trained in Vaudeville circuits and film actors crossing into live revue, comparable to figures who performed at the Copacabana and the Stork Club. Big band leaders, crooners, and comic acts were common, sharing billing conventions with names that worked at the Copa Room, Sands Hotel, and The Palladium (London).

The theater-style revue format combined choreographed ensembles with specialty acts—acrobatics, comedy sketches, and novelty musicians—echoing staging methods from the Folies Bergère, Ziegfeld Follies, and touring companies affiliated with the Strand Theatre (New York). Celebrity bookings sometimes coincided with promotional appearances on radio programs such as The Jack Benny Program and television broadcasts on The Ed Sullivan Show.

Cultural Impact and Legacy

The club influenced the mid-century entertainment ecology connecting Chicago to national and international circuits that included New York City, Las Vegas, and London. It helped establish touring patterns later institutionalized by agencies like Creative Artists Agency and the William Morris Endeavor lineage. Alumni performers who toured through the venue later appeared in films produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and 20th Century Fox, or headlined television specials for the NBC and CBS networks.

Architecturally and culturally, the venue contributed to the image of Chicago as a destination city alongside institutions like the Chicago Theatre and the Palmer House Hilton. Its model informed showroom designs for mid-century resorts and later casinos on the Las Vegas Strip, including venues at the Sands Hotel and Caesars Palace. Scholars examining popular entertainment reference the club in studies alongside the Harlem Renaissance, Tin Pan Alley, and postwar cultural shifts documented by historians at the Newberry Library and the University of Chicago.

Notable Events and Incidents

Noteworthy moments included headline engagements that rivaled simultaneous runs at the Copacabana (nightclub) and surprise appearances by film stars from studios such as Paramount Pictures, RKO Pictures, and Warner Bros.. The club also experienced logistical incidents typical of large venues—labor disputes involving unions like IATSE and publicity stunts coordinated with publicists formerly attached to William Morris Agency clients.

Other incidents entered popular lore when touring acts canceled due to commitments with productions at the London Palladium or film shoots at Pinewood Studios and Universal Studios. Several benefit performances for causes associated with institutions like the Red Cross and wartime bond drives paralleled fundraising efforts staged at the Hollywood Bowl and the Carnegie Hall.

Category:Nightclubs in Chicago Category:Defunct nightclubs in the United States