The Gardenia Club and the Cult of the Banjo

1880s

There  were  other  dancing  clubs,  too,  where  things  were  a  deal  more  free  and  easy,  such  as  The  Gardenia,  next  to  the  Alhambra  in  Leicester  Square,  which  was  originally  started  by  the  Bohee  Brothers,  a  couple  of  very  large,  coloured  gentlemen who  played  the  banjo  with  great  skill  and  incredible  energy,  and  who  first  found  their  way  to  this  country  from  America,  when  Haverley's Minstrels  came  over  here  to  Her  Majesty's  Theatre,  and  anon  to  Drury  Lane.

For  a  time  a  portion  of  Society,  with  a  capital  "S"  took  up  the  playing  of  the  banjo  quite  keenly,  and  one  of  the  Bohees  attempted  to  teach  King  Edward  how  to  perform  on  the  instrument,  with  only  moderate  success.   The  Bohees  soon  sold  The  Gardenia  to  Mr.  Dudley  Ward,  father  of  the  Member  for  Southampton, and  during  his  control  of  the  place,  The  Gardenia  was  a  very  merry,  if  somewhat  rowdy  spot.  Mr.  Ward  induced  that  remarkable  light  of  the  old  Moulin  Rouge  in  Paris,  La  Goulue,  to  come  over  with  some  of  her  company,  and  show  us  how  eccentric  quadrilles  should  be  danced.  They  were  eccentric  right  enough ;  though  not  more  so  than  those  measures  performed  some  years  later  at  the  Duke  of  York's  Theatre,  by  the  Nini  Patte-en-1'air  Company.   Things  began  to  tail  off  at  The  Gardenia,  for  people  can't  keep  on  sitting  up  all  night  for  ever  ;  and  Mr.  Dudley  Ward,  with  infinite  wisdom,  sold his  club  as  a  going  concern,  to  a  very  pleasant  Australian,  Mr.  " Shut-eye"  Miles,  who  I  fear  made  no  fortune  out  of  his  deal.  Ultimately  the  place  met  the  fate  of  many  of  its  fellow  institutions and  was  closed  by  the  police.

Frank M. Boyd, A Pelican’s Tale, 1919

The Gardinia, it must be remembered, was a unique and peculiar Bohemian institution, which made no pretence of catering for those fond of prudery or reserve. Thought at the night clubs of those days the company was apt to be mixed, the members of the fair sex -- at least during the earlier portion of the evening -- rather affected the pose of behaving as if they were at a society dance. Later on, however, they were apt to relax. One charming damsel, for instance, having hitherto maintained a very correct and even severe attitude, electrified a supper party which she had joined by suddenly kicking over the table, remarking, “I’m tired of being a lady”. Night clubs then were often ultra-Bohemian places, where pleasant female acquaintances were easily to be made; they were, indeed, relics of the jolly old unreformed England, and not frequented by “young ladies” as are the night clubs of today.

Ralph Neville, Night Life: London and Paris, 1926