Paris and New York and Fresedo - Chapter 19: Fresedo in Paris (1928-1929)

by José Manuel Araque

At least five Argentine Tango orchestras were playing in France in 1928, including names like Manuel Pizarro, Tano Genaro Esposito, the Canaros, and the recently separated Bachicha and Eduardo Bianco. That same year, Osvaldo Fresedo's friend Martín de Álzaga Unzué (Macoco) helped secure a contract for Fresedo to play at the re-opening of El Garron in Paris. Judging by the radio listings and the ads on the newspapers of the era, only a handful of Fresedo's recordings were known in Europe at the time, though Odeon-France re-issued some of his Argentine works.

 

On Sunday September 30, 1928, Carlos Gardel debuted in Paris, at a benefit for the victims of a catastrophic hurricane in Guadaloupe that took place at the Théâtre Femina. He was accompanied by his guitars, José Ricardo, Guillermo Desiderio Barbieri and José María Aguilar. The Femina was the site of the original Tango Contest at the dawn of TangoMania in 1911. The gala had been perfectly timed to coincide with the end of the busy Summer season in the Côte Basque, the musicians and the crowds were returning to Paris for the opening of the event-filled Fall season.

 

The gala was organized by Paul Santo, an impresario that ran several venues including the legendary Florida on 20 Rue de Clichy (inside the locale of the Théâtre Apollo). Since 1925 Santo also ran the Palermo, a cabaret/dancing that sat on the first floor of 6 Rue Fontaine, below the old El Garron. In April 1928, Gardel had been to Paris to sign up with Santo, and he became a regular at the Palermo. Manuel Pizarro connected Gardel and Santo and won the right to play with Gardel that year. While this distinction surely honored Pizarro, Gardel and Pizarro didn't quite perform together, as Gardel was known to prefer the accompaniment of his guitars. The poet/lyricist Enrique D. Cadícamo was visiting Barcelona that week, and rushed to París upon hearing of Gardel's upcoming opening at the Florida. Gardel's big night took place on October 2, Paris fell in love with the Zorzal (thrush) that sang at the Florida for the next 6 months. A few days later the Bianco-Bachilia Orchestra, led by Eduardo Bianco and Horacio Pettorossi, began a short engagement at the Apollo too.

 

Fresedo and Gardel had known each other for years, and even collaborated in 1925 on Fresedo's initial recordings for Odeon. Six-hundred recordings and 3 years later Fresedo's was one of the signature orchestras of Buenos Aires (along with Canaro and Firpo), with multiple formations under his direction and a select following. Word of the new success of Gardel reached Fresedo in Buenos Aires, as he worked on his final recordings for Odeon with 20-year old Ernesto Famá. Neither Fresedo nor Famá nor Odeon could have foreseen the changes the next year would bring.

The Garron, run by Elie Volterra, had been one of the most popular tango spots in Paris since 1920. The original venue was on the second floor of 6 Rue de Fontaine in Montmartre, and after 15 years Volterra was moving it to a locale just 2 doors away at 10 Rue Fontaine. And for the opening of the new place Volterra wanted an orchestra from Buenos Aires, probably in consideration that its clientele was full of Argentinean expatriates. The pay was decent, Volterra offered 35 thousand francs weekly. Fresedo wanted to bring 3 violins, Volterra insisted on having 3 bandoneons instead. The troupe consisted of:

Bandoneon: Osvaldo Fresedo - Alberto Rodríguez - Luis Minervini
Violin: Adolfo Muzzi - Jean Koller
Bass: Humberto Costanzo
Piano: José María Rizzuti
Singer: Ernesto Famá

 

 

On October 16 Fresedo left for Europe on the steamship Florida, a two-week crossing. The Florida was a mid-sized ship of mixed use, and had recently been refitted by its owner Société Générale de Transport Maritimes (SGTM). The ship could accommodate just over 100 passengers in first class and 100 in second class. Unladen, it could carry a total of almost one thousand passengers, with a crew of more than 100. First class passengers enjoyed a library, a fumoir and a music lounge.

 

 

Through October Gardel found time to record almost 20 tracks for Odeon in Paris. On October 28 Gardel and his "brooms" (guitars) played in a new gala at the Thêatre des Champs-Elysées to benefit the victims of the fire that destroyed the Teatro Novedades in Madrid the previous month. The soiree was organized by the eminent Spanish dancer Vicente Escudero, and it was sponsored by the newspaper Paris-Midi. Also attending that night were Pizarro, Tina Meller (Raquel's sister), and brazilian singer Rosita Barrios. One month after arriving in Paris the press once again acclaimed Gardel.

On November 3 at 7PM Fresedo and his men reached Barcelona for a short stop. At the time all of Spain was busy preparing for the International Expos that would take place next Spring, and in the throes of a Tango fever, with several Argentine orchestras playing in Iberian peninsula and more on the way. On November 4 Fresedo's troupe landed in Marseille, and then took a train to Paris. The Excelsior announced their arrival, Elie Volterra went to the train station to greet them. Volterra told Fresedo, in his broken Italian, that Cielito mío was now a popular tune in Paris. Fresedo recorded his Tango version of the Mexican song Cielito lindo in 1927.

On Thursday November 15, 1928, Osvaldo Fresedo and his Orchestra debuted at (Nouvel) El Garron where they played for the next 4 months. A preview show was run the night before. Fresedo shared the spotlight with Don Parker, an American sax player and former member of the Original Dixieland Jazz Band, the New Orleans troupe famous at the dawn of the Jazz Age in 1917. By now it was de rigueur to get two orchestras for major events in Paris, one for Jazz and one for Tango. What must have taken some time to adjust was the new requirement to don gaucho outfits.

A reviewer from London remarked that the (Nouvel) El Garron was "far more spacious and airy than in the old days". During Summer the ceiling could be opened to the sky "by means of a revolving steel cupola cleverly masked by trellis-work hung with foliage and flowers, lit by hundreds of tiny multicolored light; a silver-blue illumination is visible through the trellis, giving the impression of cool moonlight". Notably neither champagne nor a dress code were obligatory. Volterra spent plenty on the refurbishings, alas few attended the opening. Ominously, the journal Variety wrote: "they were warned that Montmartre is dead, but refused to take heed".

On November 28 Fresedo played at a private reception hosted by M. Carlos de Olazábal in honor of the Fragata Escuela Presidente Sarmiento, visiting France since November 15. The wife of the Argentine Ambassador in Paris (Federico Álvarez de Toledo), and other society notables were in attendance. M. de Olazábal was a diplomat and the Editor of the column “L’Amérique Latine” for the newspaper Le Galois. Fresedo told his biographer Oscar Zucchi that the Baron de Rothschild asked him to play in a reception behind curtains, something that upset Fresedo who demanded visibility (and got it). Though we couldn't find hard evidence about this event, we think this happened during Fall and that the event took place at the salons of the Fondation Salomon de Rothschild (11 Rue Berryer). Around this time too the feast of the Catherinettes took place in Paris, a very interesting video of Tango musicians was shot there that can help illustrate what these social events were like. We don't know who the musicians in the video are, but probably most events did not "hide" their Tango musicians.

On December 7, 1928, Fresedo and Parker started playing in the Thé-Cocktail Dansant at the Lido. Here they played for the next 6 months. The Lido was a very popular venue on Champs Elysées that featured an indoor pool where performances took place. The early-evening gig ran from 4PM to 7:30PM. 

It was a very busy season for Tango orchestras in Paris. Julio Fernández Falcón, formerly a member of José Bohr's Gauchos and Juan Carlos Cobián's Orchestra in New York, traveled from Buenos Aires to reinforce Pizarro's bandoneon section. Pizarro and his brothers had several orchestras, one played with Gardel at the Apollo, and another with Alina de Silva and Tina Meller at the Palace. The local tango orchestras were busy too: the Orchestre Brodman-Alfaro played at Le Mac-Mahon, an upscale locale not far from the Arc de Triomphe, and the Orchestre Pesenti played at the Théâtre Coliseum. Finally, on Christmas Eve Tano Genaro decided to take residence at La Coupole, a new cabaret that opened on the left bank of the Seine, offering an alternative to Montmartre and surroundings.

 

 

At the Nouvel El Garron, Ernesto Famá was dropped from the ads when the program changed after New Year's Eve 1929. Parker stayed, and Volterra brought some Spanish performers to spice up the offerings, including the Trío Gómez. The Gómez siblings specialized in the jota, and had been to New York at least twice since 1916. In 1928 the Gómez played for months at the Casino de París.

Volterra also brought in Conchita Vila, who was having a fantastic run at the Casino de Paris since July. Conchita was based in New York, she was the daughter of Juan Carlos Cobián's girlfriend Concepción Ayala. She was an expert Tango dancer and also mastered the Iberian dances. The changes at El Garron highlight the connection between Elie and Leon Volterra, who since 1917 ruled over the Casino.

Fresedo told Zucchi that they went to Monte Carlo and the Riviera around this time, presumably for a short engagement. From December through April the wealthy went to hibernate in the South of France. The Orquesta Argentina Bachicha-Ferrazzano played at the Restaurant des Ambassadeurs of the Casino Municipal in Cannes; the Orchestre Argentin Orlando played in Nice; and Eduardo Bianco, back from a tour that took him to Milan and Istambul among others, was now back in France and played at the Casino in Juan-les-Pins. And Monaco's Fête National took place on the week of January 16, nonetheless we didn't find any info on Fresedo in the Côte d'Azur.

 

Fresedo then returned to Paris and on February 5 he appeared with Gardel at the Bal de Petits Lits Blancs, a prestigious benefit gala that had been held annually since 1924 at the Ópera Garnier. It was organized by M. Léon Bailby, editor of the newspaper L'Intransigent, and the president of France Gaston Doumergue was present. Elie Volterra and Paul Santo also attended. There was an innumerable succession of events that followed from 11 p.m., after dinner. Harry Pilcer, the American dancer and well-known Tango promoter, was scheduled to perform but was ill and could not attend.

A few days later, from February 8 through the 19, Gardel too was in Cannes at the Restaurant des Ambassadeurs.

 

 

Pizarro went to Marseille's Colisée, while Bachicha-Ferrazzano played with Gardel. About ten years earlier Gardel had toured the interior of Argentina with Roberto Firpo's orchestra, of which both Bachicha and Ferrazzano were members.

 

Gardel then returned to Paris and appeared at the Empire and at the Florida. Since October Gardel recorded some 50 tracks for Odeon-France and sold thousands of records. In March he premiered Cadícamo and Barbieri's tango Cruz de palo. As was his custom Gardel was accompanied by his guitars in these recordings.

That same month Odeon-France also announced fresh new releases from the new orchestras of Bianco and Bachicha. These recordings highlight the stylistic differences between Bianco and Bachicha themselves, their previously large orchestra was truly two-orchestras-in-one.

 

 
Odeon-France also announced the availability of a re-issue of Francisco Canaro's recording of the tango Señor Comisario, originally recorded one year before in Buenos Aires. Meanwhile, in Europe, the other Canaro brothers, and their new singer Carlos Dante, spent the entire season at the new Ambassadeurs in Berlin. There they recorded a version of the same tango for the German label Homokord. 

 

Pizarro had joined Gardel at the Empire and also at the Florida, his brother Salvador left for Seville. Pizarro's record production was somewhat stalled at the moment, after 5 years with Columbia/HMV he had less than 100 recordings to show. At the beginning of the year Columbia bought France's pre-eminent label Pathé, and in April Pizarro started recording for them. Pathé’s strength was in the local market, Pizarro's recordings would be printed, and getting playtime on French radio one month after the takes were made. While Pathé afforded Pizarro the security of a recording contract, its reach was limited, Pathé never had the distribution networks of Victor or Odeon. Pizarro's Chiqué is a magnificent performance that shows his orchestra was attuned to what was happening in Buenos Aires. The critic for the journal Comœdia wrote: "when he plays, he imposes on his orchestra an irresistible rhythm, an unsuspected power, a dizzying force that drives couples to rush to the dancing floor".

 

Significantly Odeon-France did not offer Fresedo a recording contract, and his Odeon-France releases did not get promoted as those by the other Argentine Tango orchestras. The great Fresedo Orchestra barely got mentions on the press, and their recordings got relatively little playtime on Radio. Really, by some measures, Fresedo's trip to France had been a failure. Not that Fresedo went unnoticed either, he did gain the favor of some dancers. The journal Comoedia once called the famous playwright Henri Bernstein "a fervent tango lover" who went from club to club to indulge in his favorite dance, and enjoy the Argentine orchestras. He knew them all: "he likes Pizarro for his rhythm; Fressero for his melody; Bianco for his bandoneons". Maybe Fresedo also suffered from a case of mispelled identity.

 

Fresedo's engagement at El Garrón came to an end in the Spring, though he continued to play at the Lido with Don Parker during the new season. It is very likely that by this time he had completely separated from Ernesto Famá. Big decisions layed ahead: on the one hand the challenge, to sail to new horizons; and on the other hand the insecurity, how was he going to survive and pay his musicians? He surely needed a new contract. For the rest of the year El Garrón closed, and Gardel soon left for Barcelona.

 

On April 20 Fresedo sent a telegram to his brother Emilio in Buenos Aires requesting that members of his Casino Pigal orchestra come to join him in Paris for a 4-months-long contract (through Summer) at the Cafe des Ambassadeurs, a storied venue on Champs Elysées. Curiously Fresedo's return address was on Rue Fromentel, next to the Collège de France on the left bank.

Rizzuti, Rodríguez, Minervini and Muzzi split, maybe they had grown homesick, maybe they had no interest in joining the new Jazz-packed show. Indirect evidence points to Costanzo returning too, he formed a Sextet with Rizzuti that year. The timeline of the events suggests that they did one final show with Fresedo at the Paramount Theater on April 22, at a showing of Ivan Petrovich’s film Le Tsarevitch. This German film, based on the Franz Lehar operetta of the same name, was silent, and Fresedo provided the orchestral accompaniment. A Fox Movietone talkie preceded the main show, punctuating the passing of the Silent Film Era. After the show the men sailed from Marseille on the Alsina, and arrived in Buenos Aires on May 11.

 

The pianist Nicolás Vaccaro, the violinist José Lorito, and bandoneon Juan Salvatore, answering Fresedo's call, traveled to Paris on the Lutetia which arrived on May 18 in Bordeaux. Fresedo told Zucchi that Carlos Esposito, the brother of Genaro Esposito and a bando player, joined the Orchestra too, but it's unclear when and for how long. And Fresedo had also picked up one additional violin, Henri Figarol.

 

The Cafe des Ambassadeurs was as old as the idea of the concert-hall itself. Over the decades it underwent several transformations. Following Josephine Baker's arrival in France, and since 1926, impresario Edmond Sayag ("the Florenz Ziegfeld of Paris") staged a series of revues at the Ambassadeurs that propelled the American Jazz craze in France.

On Thursday May 23, 1929, Fresedo joined a large cast at the opening of the Fourth Ambassadeurs Show. Sayag said he wanted “a very American night”, and the season of Americans visiting Paris was just getting started, however there was a touch of the Latin and of the East in his revue too. Sayag's offering was surely generous, there were 4 orchestras playing and dozens of perfomers that Sayag recruited that winter in Broadway. Sayag brought back a cast of fantastic artists that were probably struggling to make a transition at the end of the Vaudeville Era in the United States. These included George Dewey Washington, a baritone; Bobbe Arnst, who sang and danced; 

 

Lester Allen and Nelly Breen, who's comedy and dancing were very popular in London since 1926 (Allen was with Roberto Medrano in George White's revue Scandals of 1922); 

 

 

the great Mexican actress and dancer Celia Montalván, and her sister Issa Marcué, also a dancer; Geraldine and Joe, who did a much applauded Apache number; 

 

 

the "16 Children of China", a troupe of Chinese dancers that sang in English; 

 

 

 

and the Ambassadeur Orchestra directed by Noble Sissle, a well known American Jazz musician.

Also among the performers were dancers Roberto Medrano and Donna Landwehr (Medrano and Donna). Fresedo knew Medrano since his first trip to New York in 1920. One critic was enthralled with their dancing: "Medrano and Donna are Argentinian dancers... Tango is not new; you just have to want to renew it. Medrano and Donna do it with admirable voluptuousness and virtuosity. Donna's flexible grace, her abandon, her coquetry, her way of giving in to violence with gentleness are purely delicious and would almost inspire in us an unacknowledged jealousy if Medrano's vigor, her natural domination, and her mastery justified in all eyes this noble tribute. From a less psychological angle, if you like, the curve of their dance, its harmonious sequence, in turn its soft inflections and suddenly its nervousness create a spectacle of flawless distinction and rarity."

There was a local Jazz orchestra and a Tango Orchestra too. For the past three years Sayag had worked with the Canaros. Fortunately for Fresedo, this year the Canaros had chosen to open at the Ambassadeurs in Berlin, and then had commitments in Sevilla.

Bandoneon: Osvaldo Fresedo - Juan Salvatore - Carlos Esposito 

Violin: José Lorito - Jean Koller - Henri Figarol

Bass: Edwardo Poyares

Piano: Nicolás Vaccaro

Drums: ?

The Fourth Ambassadeurs Show was very popular with the American community in Paris, "very little French was spoken there". In attendance on opening night was the former dancing couple of Leon Leitrim and his wife Florence Walton, Walton was now dedicated to hat-making. Baron and Baronne Édouard de Rothschild were there too, as well as the Maharajah and Crown Prince Paramjit of Kapurthala. Prince Paramjit in particular had become a Tango enthusiast, and traveled around with his aide de camp Capt. Shiv Charu Dass, who was said to be one of the best Tango dancers in Paris.
 

Ramón and Rosita boarded the Île de France in New York on May 10, they brought their Stearns-Knight convertible to drive around France and elsewhere. Their plans were not cast in stone, they even considered going to Vienna. Lester Allen and Nelly Breen were on the same ship, it reached Le Havre on May 17. We think they were at the Ambassadeurs on the opening week, though not as dancers but as part of the audience. We also think this is where they met the Crown Prince of Kapurthala. Paramjit's itinerary that Summer seems to coincide with that of Ramón and Rosita, so much so that when the trail of the dancers is lost one can extrapolate their location by finding the location of the Prince.
 

On May 30 Ernesto Famá was spotted in Paris sans Fresedo, singing at Chez Les Borgia on rue Laferrière (walking distance from El Garron). The famous French singer Lucienne Boyer sang in this cabaret since April. She had visited Buenos Aires the previous October, and was said to be close friends with Gardel. Little else is known about Famá's whereabouts that Summer, he resurfaced in October singing for the Orquesta Típica Victor in Buenos Aires.

 

On June 1 the Vaudeville News reported that Ramón and Rosita were in Barcelona on the week of the opening of the Exposición Internacional. They were summoned to dance for King Alfonso XIII who effusively complimented their "L'Amour Tragique" act. An Argentine Orchestra played, most likely the one formed the previous year by Lucio Demare, and which was playing at Barcelona's Principal Palace Theater that month. The Maharaja of Kapurthala, and presumably the Crown Prince, were there too.

A week after their visit to the Barcelona Expo the Maharaja and the Crown Prince were back in Paris where June was a very busy month socially. In early July Ramón and Rosita were dancing at the Café de Paris in London where they reprised some of their success two years before. King Alfonso of Spain came to London too, and again summoned the couple to dance for him, and gave Rosita a beautiful shawl as a token of his admiration for her. The Maharaja and Prince Paramjit also came to London for an audience with the Prince of Wales. Ramón and Rosita were then asked to extend their run at the Café de Paris and the Hotel Savoy for a few weeks.
 

We think Fresedo met Ramón and Rosita at the Ambassadeurs, they had an obvious common friend in Juan Carlos Cobián. The show's reviews were good, yet other than Medrano and Donna the Children of China probably got more press than anyone else. A critic leveled a stinging complain about how pricey the dinner-plus-show event was, "they were charging post-prohibition prices for otherwise legal vintages". By mid-July many of the American performers in the original cast had either returned to the United States or left Paris, and they were replaced by a new group of performers that included Miss Florence, an American vedette that was very popular in Paris for years; Howell, Harger and Naldi, a trio of acrobatic dancers; the Three Eddies, a comic dancing and singing act like few; and the fantastic act of Borrah Minevitch and his Vagabonds.

 

 

Medrano and Donna stayed at the show, a sign that their act was strong, but Fresedo's exact whereabouts in the Summer of 1929 are a mystery. Fresedo told Zucchi that he went to the Kursaal d'Ostend, yet another venue that had seen the Canaros play before.

Ostend was a very popular beach resort on the Belgian coast, a 5-hour train ride from Paris. Half a million people visited the beaches every year and the season was filled with dances, competitions, concerts and social events. Edmond Sayag was part of the Management of the Kursaal. Alas, we found no conclusive evidence of Fresedo's dates in Ostend.

 

 

In August the action moved to the French beach resorts. The Maharaja (and the Children of China) went to Deauville while Prince Paramjit (and Capt. Dass) went to Biarritz on the Côte Basque. Ramón and Rosita returned from London to appear at the Casino du Mail in New Rochelle, and then moved to the Hôtel du Palais in Biarritz. They also appeared at Casino Bellevue with the Canaro Orchestra. The Orquesta Típica Bachicha played in St Jean de Luz for Medrano and Donna; Tano Genaro played with the Spanish singer Nena Sainz at Boiard's; and Juan Raggi played with his orchestra at the cabaret Mar y Luna in Biarritz. Ferrazzano was once again trying to make it alone, he split from Bachicha and played with his wife Teresa Asprella in Bordeaux and Toulousse. Punctuating the end of the Vaudeville Era, Emilia Delirio and her partner Moreno left the United States for good and tried Bordeaux and Toulouse too, it's the last time they made the headlines.

 

 

Medrano and Donna returned early to the USA on September 1. That Summer Fresedo also lost his pianist Nicolás Vaccaro. The Fourth Ambassadeurs Show played through the slow season in Paris. Remo Bolognini, a friend of Fresedo and Cobián, stopped by on his way to Belgium where he would perfect his violin tecnique with the great master Eugène Ysaÿe. To add to the mystery of Fresedo's location that Summer, some sources noted that Demare's Típica played at the Ambassadeurs too, and we know that Demare traveled to Cuba in September from Saint-Nazaire. 

 

Things were moving fast for sure, and on the road back to Paris Ramón and Rosita totalled their car in a collision that resulted in a fatality, only their heavy liability insurance was able to save them from complications with the Gendarmerie. On September 18 Osvaldo Fresedo sailed to New York from Le Havre on the Île de France with Prince Paramjit, Ramón and Rosita and his latest Orchestra.

 

 

Notes

1. Fresedo told Zucchi: "This is from 1928, when the boys left me in Paris; I stayed and went to Paramount. Here is Nicolas Vaccaro, the pianist I made travel from the orchestra I had at the Casino Pigall. This is Juan Salvatore, bandoneon, this Carlos Esposito, also bandoneon, who was the brother of Tano Genaro Esposito, then Jose Lorito, violin, and Jean Koller, also violin, who had stayed in Paris with me. The others are French musicians. This cast played in the fabulous Ambassadeurs, where they spent four months, from which they went to Belgium in order to make the Summer season in the sophisticated beaches of Ostend, performing in the exclusive dances of the Casino Kursaal in the illuminated Belgian city”. It's almost certain he was talking about the same picture.

2. This is the Brodman-Alfaro orchestra that recorded for Pathé/Columbia in Paris in 1929. They were locals but dressed like gauchos. In May they too went to the Barcelona Expo, where a copy of the Ambassadeurs had been built. Fowler and Tamara danced.

 

3. Alina de Silva appeared solo at the Empire in January 1929 as Pizarro's commitments to Gardel grew. The critic at Le Petit Parisien wrote: "I have spoken here of Alina de Silva's talent, while she sang to the strains of the Pizarro orchestra. Today, Alina de Silva performs alone on the immense stage of the Empire. She has left behind her Argentine costume and has done her hair like a socialite, perhaps too much like a socialite... She always offers to the spotlight her beautiful, smooth, almost motionless face, but to which the slightest inflection gives an astonishing accent. The words, on her lips, take on a particular flavour. They are Spanish words - Alina de Silva sings only once in French which few spectators understand - but where "amore" often comes up, which is enough to inform us. The singer's sure diction sets them, these words, she specifies them and reels them off with something raspy, something seductive too, and with a powerful effect. Some feared for the artist the absence of Pizarro, whose orchestra offers poignant support. The Argentine singer gave her measure and she won the game". Soon after Alina went to London to sing at the Alhambra. When she came ack to Paris she also recorded for Pathé, but not with Pizarro.

 

4. Thanks to all that have contributed to analyzing the pictures and to name the musicians. Corrections are still accepted.

5. According to Cadícamo and Pizarro, Gardel was originally (April 1928?) staying at the Hotel Reynita on 71 Rue de Douai, one block from the Place de Clichy and walking distance from El Garron/Palermo and the Boulevard des Batignolles. The Hotel was in that address at least from 1913 to 1931. Other sources point to 23 Boulevard de Batignolles as the correct address but offer little details on that location.

 

6. Enrique D. Cadícamo was friends with Juan Carlos Cobián and presumably with Osvaldo Fresedo too. A few decades later Cadícamo wrote La Historia del Tango en París, filled with anecdotes and some facts. Cadícamo himself was in Barcelona and in Paris from Summer 1928, and he says he returned to Buenos Aires on the Conte Verde. According to evidence at the Centro de Estudios Migratorios Latinoamericanos (CEMLA) the exact date of Cadícamo's return is January 19, 1929. This very likely means that Cadícamo left París before the end of 1928, and he barely spent time with Fresedo there. Maybe this explains the mangled timeline in Cadícamo's book when describing Fresedo's trip. Or maybe Fresedo was at the Ambassadeurs in January?

7. Fresedo also told Zucchi that Minervini stayed behind in France, still the evidence shows that Minervini came back to Buenos Aires with Rizzuti. Then he went back to Europe and was back in Buenos Aires in 1932, he got married and played in Spain, as Fresedo also mentioned. This is a cautionary tale on the dangers of using the stories told many years later, by the actors in these events, as hard evidence. It's even murkier when one takes into consideration the stories told by third-parties.

 

8. The site of El Garron in May 2024
 

9. Disclosures: we don't know what Fresedo played at El Garron; that's not Ramón and Rosita's real car, it's a similar model; and the videos of Don Parker and others are not from 1929, but close enough to illustrate what these artists did for a living.

Acknowledgements

1. Pablo Darío Taboada for contributing the picture of the telegram, and the picture of the Orchestra at the Ambassadeurs. Pablo is the main force behind Investigación Tango.

2. Camilo Gatica and Mark-John as usual

3. Don Naides of Discos Históricos de Tango, for the Gardel tracks, a great channel
    https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2c1s9wjyfIEAAJRiml62-g/videos

4. Odille Fillon: merci!

5. Augusto Tomas

 

6. Gallica.fr for the pic of the Bal de Petits Lits Blanc

7. The website Montmartre Secret has a full page on Rue (Pierre) Fontaine
    https://www.montmartre-secret.com/2017/05/rue-fontaine.entre-pigalle-et-blanche.html

Bibliography

1. Anita Turón has an excellent blog that tells in great detail what the nights of Gardel in Paris were like  

     http://ana-turon.blogspot.com
     She did a deep-dive into the Bal de Petit Lit Blancs that is mandatory reading
     http://ana-turon.blogspot.com/2019/06/gardel-en-el-bal-des-petits-lits-blancs.html
     She also wrote an excellent piece on Gardel's nights at the Emprire
     http://ana-turon.blogspot.com/2021/01/gardel-en-el-teatro-empire-de-paris-1929.html
     She even covered Gardel in the Cote d'Azur
     http://ana-turon.blogspot.com/2021/03/carlos-gardel-en-la-costa-azul.html

2. Jazz Age Club is an incredible source for material about the famous Jazz Clubs of the roaring 20s

    Its series on the Ambassadeurs and Sayag was very useful.
    http://www.jazzageclub.com

3. A wonderful semblance of Noble Sissle, of the Ambassadeurs Orchestra
    https://syncopatedtimes.com/noble-sissle-a-messenger-of-musical-uplift
   
4. Claude Esposito's website dedicated to his father Tano Genaro
    https://genaroesposito.weebly.com/genaro-in-france.html

5. Enrique D. Cadícamo's La Historia del Tango en París
     Corregidor, 1975

6. Milonga Ophelia's brilliant post "Gardel à Paris" (in French)
    https://milongaophelia.wordpress.com/2023/11/19/carlos-gardel-a-paris

7. Edmundo Eichelbaum's L'âge d'or du Tango

    Denoël, 1984

8. Historia Artística de Carlos Gardel (5ta Edición) by Miguel Ángel Morena
    Corregidor, 2008



Dedicatory

To my brother Jean