Frankie and the Moulin Rouge

In October of 2005 Chicago and I were both fortunate enough to play host to Mr. Frankie Manning. One morning we sat across from each other at a local café, and listened to a local Chicago Gypsy Jazz trio play. Frankie looks at me and says,” I remember the first time I met Django”

“It was in the mid 1930’s, and the Cotton Club (dancers/review) led by Teddy Hill had been invited to play at the Moulin Rouge”. Frankie went on to tell me about the boat trip over there, the little place in the corner that served as a hotel for the dancers, and how one night Teddy Hill and some of the other folks had been invited over the Caveau du la Huchette to attend a performance by Django Reinhardt. As the story went, the boys sat in with the band, the dancers danced, and it was the first of many opportunities for the 2 cultures to mix. It was such a cool story.

Just a few months later I went back to Paris, I took the obligatory trip to show my dancer partner Paris’ Red Light District. We found our way to the Moulin Rouge, and were just casually strolling the arcade in front of the entrance. I noticed that there was a time line of momentous occasions in the scope of the past 150 years or so of the night club.

We walked from one end to the next. There were no more that 25 occasions marked, some being
architecturally important, some relating to french history, and world wars. There, just about half-way through was a small faded photograph of some of the Cotton Club dancers in all their glory. I couldn’t believe it – all of a sudden I remembered that conversation with Frankie on that Sunday morning, and realized that for the 20 or 25 momentous occasions that had ever happened at the Moulin Rouge, I had sat and talked about one of them with someone who was actually there, some 70 years before.

I just stood there and felt a chill come over me. I couldn’t believe it. It was one degree of
separation between me and history. Then I slowly turned around and saw the little hotel that
Frankie had told me about, just a few months before, with the exact details as he had described. It blew me away. Just blew me away .

Nicolle Wood
Chicago, IL