Chez Paree questions and asnwers

We are seeking information about the "Chez Paree" owners and their history for this web site and a project we are developing. If you have any photos, books or stories, please let us know about them. Contact Us

10/22/2005 - McInturff, Wanda-Lou - swanmoon@chez.com
Organizaton:
City: , pa
I am asking that you add your prayers to mine for Robin Carter, daughter of Maurice Medlevine. Robin lost her home to Katrina & her job and three weeks later, found out she has Acute Leukemia and is in the Jackson University Hospital, Jackson, Mississippi.

05/22/2004 - cossman, pate - pate@spam saver. airdial.net
hi, i was given a bag of old coins left to me by my grandmother years ago and i found one of the coins shown on your homepage mixed in with them. being of a curious nature i looked for it on the internet and found this page. i was wondering the history of the coin. i am assuming that is a drink chip or maybe a gaming token? if you can give me any information on this i would appreciate it. thank you

05/18/2004 - Krulish, James - OartelKrulish@SEEK.Com
City: Chicago, Illinois - 773-292-1163
Costumer for Chez was Maybelle Shearer - her husband always delivered the costumes to the Chez and one delivery was murdered. Don't remember details - can probably be checked through the police department. The elevator only run one floor was set up to think you were going up or down - it ran very slowly. I saw Mae West there with her "boys" and Sophie Tucker. The Chez Paree Adorables were very pretty and sexy and were good dancers. Be glad to share any other information I can come up with.

ANSWER: Ahhh I think I can. - It means one of Mae West's 'boys' was murdered while in 'drag' and Maybelle was the primary suspect. The Chicago police department file suddenly 'vanished' without a trace. They found the body at the bottom of the elevator pit 4 years later...as the investigation slowed to a halt. Maybelle's husband was having an affair with Sophie Tucker. Sophie was
arrested for singing 'dirty ditties.' The Chez Adorables were on J. Edgar
Hoover's 'enemies list' for having consorted and danced with John Dillinger
and Pretty Boy Floyd at the Little Bohemia Lodge just prior to its G-Man
raid. The details have been fuzzy for more than 70 years.
From a Chez Fan

04/30/2004 - KOWALSKI, Christine - chriskowalski@seek.com - City: Chicago, IL
Was the Chez Paree orginally the Chez Pierre? Or, are they different venues?

03/23/2004 - LAWRENCE, NANCY - protected@seek.com
----- The following addresses had permanent fatal errors -----
Organizaton: Temp[le Emanuel
City: Chandler, AZ
We need to know where to get music by Sophie Tucker..(The Last of the Red Hot Mamas)either sheet music or records. This is urgent and we know she was one of your top entertainers.

Answer #1:
Sophie Tucker [Last of the Red Hot Mamas] was traditionally a Chez favorite...packing 'em in whenever she appeared center stage. Sophie was well known for her songs during the vaudevillian era just after the turn of the century....songs like 'A Little Bit of Bad in Every Good Girl'...circa. 1916. She authored and published an autobiography in 1945...'Some of these Days'...and has been recorded on 78's, 45's and vinyl albums. CD's are currently available taken from her old recordings. You can locate sheet music, photos, her autobiography and an occasional autograph on EBAY. You will certainly be surprised. Stop in occasionally at a used vinyl store...browse around. Nostalgia surrounding Sophie is always a fascinating adventure. In closing...I had the pleasure of meeting the affable and entertaining Sophie at the Chez. Harold Rubin

03/23/2004 - Boetto, Ronald -protected protected@seek.com
Organizaton:
City: Marseilles, ILLINOIS
I have a coin from the Chez Paree.It is marked CHEZ PAREE with a shield & 100 on one side & a figure of an Arabian dancing girl with a bottle in a bucket on one side & a musical note on the other side with a signature I cant make out (starts with a S & ends with a R. It is the size of a silver dollar. What can you tell me about it?

Answer #1:
The coin you are referring to is a $100 GAMBLING CHIP. I have a set of Chez gambling chips in my collection...$25, $50 and $100 denominations. Historically, Chicago has long maintained its gambling tradition...known for its bookies, speakeasies, slot machines and of course...card and dice games. Gambling took its shape in the denizens of the once famous nightclubs and dining establishments with a wink and nod of the local constabulary. District Police Commanders and the CHICAGO OUTFIT invented the legendary term BAGMAN...an entrusted individual who made the rounds collecting the weekly proverbial payoff...allowing gambling operations to continue on a regular basis. Stay tuned for a few revealing stories.

Harold Rubin

04/23/2004 - Tobe, Dorothy - protected@seek.com
Organizaton: Bluehearse Salvage
City: Denver, Colorado
Would like to know anything about this woman, Verri, who supposedly sang there in 1955. Her glossy photo ended up in a rural Ohio milking parlor on our farm; my first published poem is about her, and I've always wondered who she was. Thank You!

04/28/04 - KOWALSKI, Christine - chriskowalski@seek.com
Organizaton:
City: Chicago, IL
Was the Chez Paree originally the Chez Pierre? Or, are they different venues?
05/18/2004 - Have been checking it out. It seems there was a club before prohibition that closed, the name was Chez Pierre. It is not certain if it is the same location or the same club. Sam

Lee, Diana - dianaleeroth@search.com City: Northbrook, Il
What can you tell me about the "Time for Teens" that was held at the Chez Paree Nightclub?

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