The Chez Paree

Patti Page at the Chez Paree in Chicago, 1950s. From left, co-owner Jack Schatz, Patti Page, co-owner Dave Halper, co-owner Donjo Medlevine and one more friend of the club.

Patti Page was the best-selling female recording artist of the entire 1950s. Over 100 million records sold. Eighteen gold records. They called her the Singin’ Rage and she earned every word of it. She got her start right here in Chicago singing with Benny Goodman before signing with Mercury Records and becoming one of the most recognized voices in America. Tennessee Waltz spent thirteen weeks at number one and became one of the biggest selling singles of the twentieth century. That Doggie in the Window. Old Cape Cod. All My Love. Hit after hit after hit for over a decade. She was the only artist of her era to host her own television show on all three major networks. A kid from Claremore, Oklahoma who came through Chicago and changed American music.

She started it all right here in this city.

The owners clearly loved having her. You can feel it in this photo.

Do you recognize the person on the far right? 👇

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The Chez Paree in Chicago, 1950s. The show in full swing.

Look at how close those tables are to the stage. The performers are right there, close enough to touch. That was the Chez Paree. It was not a concert hall where you watched from a distance. It was a room where the show came to you, where you could feel the music and see every expression on every face.

The full production cast in elaborate costumes, the feathered headdresses, the orchestra behind them, the mural stretching across the entire back wall, a packed house leaning forward in their seats. This is what three shows a night looked like at one of the greatest cabaret nightclubs in America.

We do not know what show this was. If you recognize the performance please tell us below!

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Jack Schatz, George Liberace and Donjo Medlevine at the Chez Paree in Chicago, early 1950s.

George Liberace was a gifted violinist, bandleader and conductor who built a serious career well before becoming the musical director of his younger brother’s television show. Trained at the Chicago Conservatory and Northwestern, he performed with leading orchestras across the country including the Los Angeles Philharmonic and conducted the symphony orchestras of Kansas City, Dallas, Philadelphia, Denver and St. Louis. He made command performances before the Pope, the Queen of England and the President of the United States. When he did not appear on his brother’s weekly television show, Liberace would tell the audience “I wish my brother George was here.” He was also a dear friend of Donjo Medlevine and a regular at the Chez Paree.

After performing at the club one night, George took the building’s back elevator down to get to his car. A thug was waiting in the alley with one thing in mind, his Stradivarius violin. George was hit over the head and needed 16 stitches. What saved his life was his toupee, which cushioned the blow just enough. Three days later, Chicago Police recovered the violin in a pawn shop.

Only at the Chez Paree.

© Chez Paree Chicago

Jerry Lewis at the Chez Paree in Chicago, early 1950s. Seated at center in the dark suit.

In the early 1950s Jerry Lewis was one of the most famous people on earth. Alongside Dean Martin he had become the most popular comedy team in America, making film after film for Paramount and selling out every room they walked into. Nobody had ever seen a comedian move the way he moved, react the way he reacted, or find the kind of chaos he found in the simplest moments. Jim Carrey said it best. “I am because he was.” The French considered him a genius on the level of Chaplin and Keaton. Americans just knew he was the funniest person alive.

The Chez Paree in Chicago was the kind of room that attracted people like Jerry Lewis because it was simply the best room in the city. The greatest cabaret nightclub in America, it drew the biggest names in entertainment and gave them a place to perform, to unwind and to be among people who understood exactly what they were. That mural, the candlelight, the dark red wine glasses, a long table full of people having the kind of evening you carry with you.

We do not know who the others are. If you recognize anyone in this photo please tell us below.

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Helen Traubel at the Chez Paree bar in Chicago, mid-1950s, with co-owner Jack Schatz to her left.

Helen Traubel was one of the greatest sopranos in the history of American opera. For sixteen years she reigned as the leading Wagnerian soprano at the Metropolitan Opera, a voice so powerful and pure that critics called it a gleaming sword. She was the first entirely American trained singer to perform Isolde and all three Brünnhildes in a single season at the Met. Arturo Toscanini chose her as the first singer he ever recorded with. President Harry Truman personally hired her to coach his daughter Margaret. She was voted Woman of the Year in Music twice by the Associated Press.

And then in 1953 the Met’s general manager Rudolf Bing told her she had to choose between opera and nightclubs. She told him he was a snob, walked out and never looked back. She went on to perform at the Copacabana, the Chez Paree and the finest rooms in America, appeared in Hollywood films, wrote mystery novels and became one of the most beloved cabaret performers in the country.

Notice the sign on the wall behind them. Jack Eigen’s late night radio show, broadcasting live from this very bar between 11:15pm and 1:30am. The Chez Paree was not just a nightclub. It was a broadcast studio, a gathering place and the beating heart of Chicago’s entertainment world all at once.

Do you recognize either of the two women to Helen’s right?

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Chet Roble at the piano in the Key Club at the Chez Paree, mid-1950s.

There were nights in the Key Club when the last show had ended, the celebrities had come and gone, and the room had settled into something quieter and more intimate. Those were Chet’s best nights. He played piano here for years and became as much a part of the Chez Paree as the gold keys on the wall. People who had seats for the main show would find their way into the Key Club afterward just to hear him play a little longer before heading home.

He was not a sideman or a background act. He recorded his own album, Chet Chats, on Argo Records, the same Chicago label that recorded Ramsey Lewis and Ahmad Jamal. In the world of Chicago jazz that meant something. He was the real thing and everyone in that room knew it.

We do not know who the two people behind him are. If you recognize either of them please tell us below.

© Chez Paree Chicago