Les Halles, Paris

Les Halles is an area of Paris, France, located in the 1er arrondissement, just south of the fashionable rue Montorgueil. It is named after the large central wholesale marketplace, which was demolished in 1971, to be replaced with an underground modern shopping precinct, the Forum des Halles.Read more on Wikipedia

Lowry refers to the market in his film script for Fitzgerald's novel; "Rosemary: Dick's seeing Nicole home and is going to meet us at Les Halles. He said you'd insist on going to Les Halles anyway." and  "fade in to Les Halles, the market, with its loaded stalls of fruit and flowers, in the early dawn, Rosemary, Clay and Abe eating onion soup and drinking coffee in one of the fruit merchant's bars.There is the thunder of  hooves on the cobble outside." (The Cinema of Malcolm Lowry: a scholarly edition of Lowry's "Tender is the Night" Edited by Miguel Mota and Paul Tiessen Pg. 83); and "Dissolve to Dick still walking in the dawn, through Les Halles, half dead with despair and fatigue, amid the beautiful bustle of life and energy around him." (Pg. 208).

Hotel Roi George, Paris

A fictional hotel in Fitzgerald's Tender Is The Night. Bruccoli suggests that Fitzgerald may have based it on the Hotel George V at 31 Avenue George V - which opened in May 1928. In the novel, the manager conceals evidence in a murder. Therefore Fitzgerald had to invent a hotel name. (Matthew J. Bruccoli with Judith S. Baugham: Reader's Companion F. Scott Fitzgerald Tender Is The Night Pg. 85).

Lowry refers 4 times to the hotel in his film script for Fitzgerald's novel; "the children swinging fades into the Diver's suite at the Hotel Roi George" (The Cinema of Malcolm Lowry: a scholarly edition of Lowry's "Tender is the Night" Edited by Miguel Mota and Paul Tiessen Pg. 85); "(quite apart from the fact that useful Macbeth himself is the patron of the Roi George) (Pg. 119); Dick Diver receives a telegram at the hotel (Pg. 122) and "as for that matter the washroom perhaps had been a mnemonic of the bathroom a the Roi George. (Pg. 152).

Zelli's Club, Paris

Louise Brooks at Zelli's 

Zelli's Club was the most famous of the nightclubs in Paris owned by Joe Zelli (On right in above photograph).


He opened this club in 1922 and it closed 10 years later. It was considered to be less classy than Le Grand Duc and was regularly raided by the police. Nevertheless, it was always crowded and a membership card was needed to enter an underground dance hall. 


This club was located at 16 bis rue Fontaine which had previously been La Feria cafe. This was a large rectangular underground dance hall on two floors in an almost Moorish style. The main floor area had a bandstand, stage, dance floor, ornate pillars and was littered with tables. At one end was an arched alcove with mirrored walls. The entrance made way onto a balcony overlooking the main floor with a modern American-style bar. Here, were what Zelli called ‘royal boxes’, set out along the balcony. Patrons could look down upon the festivities taking place on the floor below as well as talk to other parties on telephones in each box. One day a little Italian caricaturist arrived called Zito and over four years he drew all the famous guests and visitors to Zelli’s and these sketches filled the walls downstairs. Read more on Jazz Age Club

Lowry refers to the night club in his film script for Fitzgerald's novel Tender Is The Night; "Now we are in the Rue Blanche and we pass Zelli's" (The Cinema of Malcolm Lowry: a scholarly edition of Lowry's "Tender is the Night" Edited by Miguel Mota and Paul Tiessen Pg. 78).

Casino de Paris

The Casino de Paris, located at 16, rue de Clichy, in the 9th arrondissement, is one of the well known music halls of Paris, with a history dating back to the 18th century.

The first building at this location where shows could be mounted was erected by the Duc de Richelieu around 1730, while after the Revolution the site was renamed Jardin de Tivoli and was the venue for fireworks displays. In 1880 it became the Palace Theatre, which housed shows of different types, including wrestling.

It was at the beginning of the First World War, however, that the modern Casino de Paris began to take shape, when the venue was converted into a cinema and music hall. Read more on Wikipedia

Lowry refers to a revue called Paris en Fleures at the Casino de Paris which featured Maurice Chevalier to emphasis a point he is making in the film script for Tender Is The Night about the creation of atmosphere in the film with the use of signs, words and advertisements of Paris in 1926; "Here the signs are not only historically accurate - your research department being at the moment the memory of one of your writers - and Paris en Fleures at the Casino de Paris" (The Cinema of Malcolm Lowry: a scholarly edition of Lowry's "Tender is the Night" Edited by Miguel Mota and Paul Tiessen Pg. 75). We can assume that Lowry must have recalled a poster of the revue or even seen the revue on his 1926 visit to the city with The Leys School. He alludes to the poster again; "Nearby the Metro is held a moment: Maurice Chevalier's grin" and later; "Cut to our party getting out of the taxi in front of the Casino de Paris. We see the billboards with posters of Chevalier - the show Paris En Fleures. (Pg. 78). Later in the film script the posters are reprised in another scene set in Paris (Pg.129); "Don't you think that the Casino de Paris and Monmartre will be a bit much for you?" (Pg. 77).

Maurice Chevalier

Maurice Auguste Chevalier (September 12, 1888 – January 1, 1972) was a French actor, singer, entertainer and a noted Sprechgesang performer. Read more on Wikipedia

Lowry refers to a revue called  Paris en Fleures which featured Maurice Chevalier at the Casino de Paris to emphasis a point he is making in the film script for Tender Is The Night about the creation of atmosphere in the film with the use of signs, words and advertisements of Paris in 1926; "Here the signs are not only historically accurate - your research department being at the moment the memory of one of your writers - and Paris en Fleures at the Casino de Paris" (The Cinema of Malcolm Lowry: a scholarly edition of Lowry's "Tender is the Night" Edited by Miguel Mota and Paul Tiessen Pg. 75). We can assume that Lowry must have recalled a poster of the revue or even seen the revue on his 1926 visit to the city with The Leys School. He alludes to the poster again; "Nearby the Metro is held a moment: Maurice Chevalier's grin" and later; "Cut to our party getting out of the taxi in front of the Casino de Paris. We see the billboards with posters of Chevalier - the show Paris En Fleures. (Pg. 78). Later in the film script the posters are reprised in another scene set in Paris (Pg.129).


We can only speculate why Lowry refers to the poster of Maurice Chevalier. He may be using the poster in the same way as he did with one of Maria Landrock in Under The Volcano - using later knowledge of a person's politics or role to post-date on an earlier period in the person's life - though the reader or viewer would know about the person's politics. When Lowry was writing the film script, Chevalier had been accused on collaborating with the Nazis during the occupation of France.

Paris En Fleures

Paris En Fleures was a revue performed at the Casino de Paris. Launched in November 1925 starring the Simone Roseray and Jacques Capella, the Dolly Sisters, Maurice Chevalier and Yvonne Vallee. Simone Roseray and Jacques Capella's dances in a Grecian number, India of a thousand and one nights and Versailles in the autumn were greatly admired.

Lowry refers to the revue to emphasis a point he is making in the film script for Tender Is The Night about the creation of atmosphere in the film with the use of signs, words and advertisements of Paris in 1926; "Here the signs are not only historically accurate - your research department being at the moment the memory of one of your writers - and Paris en Fleures at the Casino de Paris" (The Cinema of Malcolm Lowry: a scholarly edition of Lowry's "Tender is the Night" Edited by Miguel Mota and Paul Tiessen Pg. 75). We can assume that Lowry must have recalled a poster of the revue or even seen the revue on his 1926 visit to the city with The Leys School. He alludes to the poster again; "Nearby the Metro is held a moment: Maurice Chevalier's grin" and later; "Cut to our party getting out of the taxi in front of the Casino de Paris. We see the billboards with posters of Chevalier - the show Paris En Fleures. (Pg. 78). Later in the film script the posters are reprised in another scene set in Paris (Pg.129).

We can only speculate why Lowry refers to this poster. He may be using the poster in the same way as he did with one of Maria Landrock in Under The Volcano - using later knowledge of a person's politics or role to post-date on an earlier period in the person's life - though the reader or viewer would know about the person's politics. When Lowry was writing the film script, Chevalier had been accused on collaborating with the Nazis during the occupation of France.

Lowry may also be drawing on the background of the other performers in the Revue -Simone Roseray and Jacques Capella and their links to the Riveria - the setting of part of Tender Is The Night. In the Spring of 1924 that they came to prominence after making a splash on the Riviera in early 1924, especially in Nice, they became one of the main attractions (along with Rose Amy, Gaby Montbreuse and Rene Thano) in the Concert Mayol show Toute Neu from March 1924. Here they gave ‘a number of acrobatic dances which show off the beauty of physical form of both partners’ in such exotic numbers as Nuit de Sheherazade, La Favourite and L’Amant (the lover), La Boite de Jeux – Le Jeu des Dames (play of the ladies) and La Javaise des Roses – L’Ame des Roses (the heart of the roses). At the same time they doubled at the fashionable Canari nightclub in the Rue Faubourg. Read more on Jazz Age Club

California Straight Ahead 1925

A film directed by Harry A. Pollard starring Reginald Day, Tom Hayden, Gertrude Olmstead and Tom Wilson.

Lowry refers to the film to emphasis a point he is making in the film script for Tender Is The Night about the creation of atmosphere in the film with the use of signs, words and advertisements of Paris in 1926; "Here the signs are not only historically accurate - your research department being at the moment the memory of one of your writers - Ca Qua Ca Gaze, for instance, was the French name given to Reginald Denny's California Straight Ahead, which was playing in Paris in 1926..." (The Cinema of Malcolm Lowry: a scholarly edition of Lowry's "Tender is the Night" Edited by Miguel Mota and Paul Tiessen Pg. 75). We can assume that Lowry must have recalled a poster of the film on his 1926 visit to the city with The Leys School.

Long after the death of Wallace Reid, writer Byron Morgan was still coming up with the type of road and racing stories he created for the late star. Reginald Denny has the lead in this especially hilarious comedy-thriller. Because he stays too long at his bachelor party, Tom Hayden (Denny) shows up late to his wedding to Betty Browne (Gertrude Olmstead). As a result, the ceremony is called off and Hayden's family disowns him. So he and his valet Sambo (Tom Wilson) decide to take the double-decker wedding car on a cross-country trip, paying their way by supplying tourists with chicken dinners and radio music. In the desert, Hayden runs into Betty and her angry parents (Fred Esmelton and Lucille Ward). When animals break loose from a nearby circus, Hayden saves the Brownes and when he arrives in Los Angeles, he drives Mr. Browne's car in a big race. He wins -- and wins Betty. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi

Bal Tabarin, Paris

The Bal Tabarin was a cabaret in Paris at 36 Rue Victor Masse in the ninth arrondissement at the foot of Montmartre. Located near the Moulin Rouge in Pigalle. Founded in 1904 by composer and conductor Auguste Bosc, it was built on the site of shacks near the cabaret singers The Trestles Tabarin. Read more on Wikipedia

Lowry probably knew the cabaret from his 1933-34 stay in the city; "Another party gets out of a taxi before the brilliant sign of the Bal Taborin (Lowry's spelling)." ( The Cinema of Malcolm Lowry: a scholarly edition of Lowry's "Tender is the Night" Edited by Miguel Mota and Paul Tiessen Pg. 79).

Au Lapin Agile, Paris

Lapin Agile is a famous Montmartre cabaret, at 22 Rue des Saules, 18th arrondissement of Paris, France.It was originally called "Cabaret des Assassins". Tradition relates that the cabaret received this name because a band of assassins broke in and killed the owner's son. The cabaret was more than twenty years old when, in 1875, the artist Andre Gill painted the sign that was to suggest its permanent name. It was a picture of a rabbit jumping out of a saucepan, and residents began calling their neighborhood night-club "Le Lapin à Gill", meaning "Gill's rabbit". Read more on Wikipedia

Lowry probably knew the cabaret from his 1933-34 stay in the city; "and we see that our party have left the Boulevard and struck off into the section behind it, heading for some place like Le lapin Agile." ( The Cinema of Malcolm Lowry: a scholarly edition of Lowry's "Tender is the Night" Edited by Miguel Mota and Paul Tiessen Pg. 79).

L'Eglise St Germain des Prés, Paris

The Benedictine Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés, just beyond the outskirts of early medieval Paris, was the burial place of Merovingian kings of Neustria. At that time, the Left Bank of Paris was prone to flooding from the Seine, so much of the land could not be built upon and the Abbey stood in the middle of fields, or prés in French, thereby explaining its appellation. The abbey church remains as the Église de Saint-Germain-des-Prés, Paris.


Lowry probably knew the church from his 1933-34 stay in the city; "We are in the car with the girls as they pass ...the spire of Saint-Germain-des-Prés" ( The Cinema of Malcolm Lowry: a scholarly edition of Lowry's "Tender is the Night" Edited by Miguel Mota and Paul Tiessen Pg. 70).

Statue de Diderot, Place St-Germain-des-Prés, Paris

Statue de Diderot sculpted by Jean Gautherin and unveiled in 1886. Located in the Place St-Germain-des-Prés near to where he lived then Taranne street .


Lowry probably saw the statue on his 1933-34 stay in the city; ""We are in the car with the girls as they pass ... the statue of Diderot.." ( The Cinema of Malcolm Lowry: a scholarly edition of Lowry's "Tender is the Night" Edited by Miguel Mota and Paul Tiessen Pg. 70).

Quai Malaquais, Paris

A dock located along the Seine in Paris, in the 6th arrondissement, between the banks Conti and Voltaire.


Lowry probably knew the dock from his 1933-34 stay in the city; "then they are going along the Quai Malaquais." ( The Cinema of Malcolm Lowry: a scholarly edition of Lowry's "Tender is the Night" Edited by Miguel Mota and Paul Tiessen Pg. 70).

Musée du Louvre, Paris

The Musée du Louvre or simply the Louvre. A central landmark of Paris, France, it is located on the Right Bank of the Seine in the 1st arrondissement (district). Read more on Wikipedia

Lowry probably first saw or visited the museum on his visit to Paris in 1926 with his school The Leys for a hockey tournament though he would have possibly seen it many times during his 1933-34 stay in the city; "and we see the Louvre across the river, dappled light beneath the plane trees, a barge going downstream."  (The Cinema of Malcolm Lowry: a scholarly edition of Lowry's "Tender is the Night" Edited by Miguel Mota and Paul Tiessen Pg. 71).

Citroën Advert, Eiffel Tower 1925-1934

From 1925 to 1934, André Citroën rented the Eiffel Tower and had the Citroën brand name emblazoned with  250,000 incandescent lights. 600 kilometres of electric flex were required for the letters, which were 30 metres high.


Lowry probably saw the sign on his visit to Paris in 1926 with his school The Leys for a hockey tournament though he would have also seen it on his 1933-34 stay in the city; "the vertical sign which marks the seemingly ubiquitous Eiffel Tower: Citroën". ( The Cinema of Malcolm Lowry: a scholarly edition of Lowry's "Tender is the Night" Edited by Miguel Mota and Paul Tiessen Pg. 78).

Moulin Rouge, Paris

Moulin Rouge is a cabaret in Paris, France. It was built in 1889 by Joseph Oller, who also owned the Paris Olympia. Close to Montmartre in the Paris district of Pigalle on Boulevard de Clichy in the 18th arrondissement, it is marked by the red windmill on its roof.

There is no documentation that Lowry visited the cabaret. Lowry references the cabaret in the filmscript to Fitzgerald's Tender Is The Night; "we see signs for Moulin Rouge." and ""the red mecacano windmill of the Moulin Rouge revolves." (The Cinema of Malcolm Lowry: a scholarly edition of Lowry's "Tender is the Night" Edited by Miguel Mota and Paul Tiessen Pg. 75 and 79).

Les 10 Fratellinis

The Fratellini Family was a famous circus family in the late 1900s and 1920s. An engagement at the Circus Medrano in Paris, France, after World War I was so successful that it sparked a strong resurgence of interest in the circus. By 1923, the Fratellini brothers had become the darlings of the Parisian intellectuals. They were lauded in print and worshiped by adoring fans who would show up at the circus just in time for the Fratellini entree, which sometimes ran as long as forty-five minutes:

Paul Fratellini (1877–1940)
François Fratellini (1879–1951)
Albert Fratellini (1886–1961), 

Read more on Wikipedia

Lowry first saw the famous clowns most probably at the Cirque D' Hiver in Paris during his 1926 visit to the city with his school The Leys for a hockey tournament; "....only the signs above and around her said: Dubonnet, Amer Picon, Les 10 Frattelinis (Malc's spelling).... (Under The Volcano) and "...and to push the matter further we can even half remember that Dick (les Fratellinis, ...) had "helped" a circus clown......" ( The Cinema of Malcolm Lowry: a scholarly edition of Lowry's "Tender is the Night" Edited by Miguel Mota and Paul Tiessen Pg. 76) There is a further mention of the clowns seen as advertisements on pages 78 and 129.

Cirque D' Hiver, Paris

The Cirque d'hiver ("Winter Circus"), located at 110 rue Amelot (at the juncture of the rue des Filles Calvaires and rue Amelot, Paris 11ème), has been a prominent venue for circuses, exhibitions of dressage, musical concerts, and other events, including exhibitions of Turkish wrestling and even fashion shows. The theatre was designed by the architect Jacques Ignace Hittorff and was opened by Emperor Napoleon III on 11 December 1852 as the Cirque Napoléon. The orchestral concerts of Jules Etienne Pasdeloup were inaugurated at the Cirque Napoléon on 27 October 1861 and continued for more than twenty years. The theatre was renamed Cirque d'hiver in 1870. Read more on Wikipedia

Lowry probably saw the Fratellinis at the Cirque D' Hiver in Paris during his 1926 visit to the city with his school The Leys for a hockey tournament

Comédie des Champs-Élysées Theatre , Paris

The Théâtre des Champs-Élysées is a theatre at 15 avenue Montaigne. Despite its name, the theatre is not on the Champs-Élysées but nearby in another part of the 8th arrondissement of Paris. Opened in 1913, it was designed by French architect Auguste Perret and founded by journalist and impresario Gabriel Astruc to provide a venue suitable for contemporary music, dance and opera, in contrast to traditional, more conservative, institutions like the Paris Opera. The building houses two smaller stages, the Comédie des Champs-Élysées theatre on the 3rd floor, and the Studio des Champs-Élysées on the 5th floor.
Read more on Wikipedia

Jean Cocteau gave Lowry tickets to see his latest play La Machine Infernale which opened 10 April 1934 at the Comedie des Champs-Elysees (Louis Jouvet theatre) in Paris.

Jean Cocteau

Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau  5 July 1889 – 11 October 1963) was a French poet, novelist, dramatist, designer, playwright, artist and filmmaker. Cocteau is best known for his novel Les Enfants terribles (1929), and the films Blood of a Poet (1930), Les Parents terribles (1948), Beauty and the Beast (1946), and Orpheus (1949). Read more on Wikipedia

Maurice Sachs introduced Lowry to Jean Cocteau who gave Lowry tickets to see his latest play La Machine Infernale which opened  10  April  1934 at the Comedie des Champs-Elysees (Louis Jouvet theater) in Paris. The play had a big affect on Lowry because the idea of the universe in the play as an infernal machine and of time as a "folded eternity" "chimed with Lowry's own obsessions - Nordahl Grieg's Moloch of fate and the time theories of J.W. Dunne and Ouspensky." (Gordon Bowker Pursued By Furies Pg. 178).

Lowry used a phrase of Cocteau's twice in letters - one to Conrad Aiken 9th April 1940 and to Albert Erskine 5th July 1946 - "Our books detest us". Sherrill Grace has pointed out that Lowry probably got the quote from Julian Green's book Personal Record 1928-1939 rather than Cocteau; Green writes: "This has reminded me of a curious remark which was made by Cocteau in my presence some time ago: "Our books detest us". (Pg. 297).

Rue De Lappes, Paris

A cobbled street in the 11th arrondissement of Paris, in the Bastille neighbourhood and best known for its nightlife. In the 20th Century rue de Lappe started picking up a reputation as a centre of Paris nightlife. By the 1930s 17 dance halls were installed in the street one of which the Balajo (9 rue de Lappe, 75011 Paris) still exists. The Balajo played host to many legendary entertainers of the day such as Edith Piaf and Django Reinhardt.

Jan Gabrial visited the street with Julian Trevelyan, Louise Scherpenberg and David Reeves to celbrate finding an apartment for her and Lowry to live in while in Paris; "After dinner we stopped by the Dôme for drinks and wound up on the rue de Lappe: one thing about Apaches - those real or ersatz Parisian gangster-types - who frequent the cafes there, they certainly could dance." (Jan Gabrial Inside The Volcano Pg. 39). There is no record that Lowry visited the street though with his love of jazz it is possible that he did visit the clubs there while in Paris in 1934.