When The Dancing Stopped

Send all the pumps you’ve got – the whole bloody world’s on fire!
Station Officer Henry William “Jerry” Knight, 7 September 1940
Pageant’s Wharf Fire Station, London Fire Brigade
Died 8 September 1940, Swedish Yard, Surrey Commercial Docks
King’s Commendation for Brave Conduct (Posthumous)

Twice in the past while, I have taken my seat within a large recliner of the cinema, eager with anticipation, McQueen’s Blitz is about to feature. Having studied many aspects of the Blitz I am hopeful to learn new stories this night, and am pleased to not leave without –  to learn of one new personality missed in my page turnings and one new investigation – why the reoccurring imagery of daisies?

There are few here with me to witness 2024’s eye on 1940/41. The film focusses on three days of the monster thrashing London. A Godzilla unleashed to wreak havoc, the deliberate attack of civilians from 7 September 1940 to 11 May 1941. London, Liverpool, Birmingham, Plymouth, Coventry and more, large and small pummeled, young and old lost – what will we find with this film?

I have an advantage with this viewing  – the understanding of the British home front network and the role of emergency services, those on the ground – witnesses to counter the stomping giants of Junkers, Dornier and Messerschmitt. Who were these witnesses, the sons and daughters of Father Thames, and other waterways throughout the United Kingdom – the Auxiliary Fire Service, and town fire brigades.  As well as their near cousins Air Raid Precautions, Shelter Marshalls, Voluntary Services, Red Cross, St. John, Transport, the military and police forces…the people themselves.

One scene of McQueen’s Blitz film informs us of a date, Saturday 8 March 1941, a depiction of the Café de Paris. Orchestra Leader – conductor, dancer Ken “Snakehips” Johnson, his swing band – the West Indian Dance Orchestra – lively, dynamic, festive, with flowing beverages and attendants. The stage filled with perpetual motion and enlivenment by band leader Johnson as Oh Johnny, Oh Johnny, Oh! fills the lounge with the high rising jazz of the day. The dreary constant of war forgotten…amidst the jazz a chance to escape. But the dancing stopped.

At about 9:45 PM a single 50 kg. Luftwaffe high explosive bomb, Sprengbombe Cylindrisch, ended its earth-bound path on the Café de Paris dance floor. Located at #3 Coventry Street, London, between Leicester Square and Piccadilly Circus, thirty-four civilians were killed and some eighty others injured. Military fatalities are also known. Among the civilian and military revelers – Canadians.

I have many times, on visits to London, wandered past the Café de Paris, once hopeful to visit but this did not come to pass. And now gone from the streetscape the Café’s moments are slipping away to past memory until this McQueen film brings for all a “Snakehips” Johnson, music-filled night, wardens and youth, mothers and grandfathers.

There is much here in this McQueen film…optician and shelter marshal Micky Davies short of stature and great of heart, challenges to the myths of the blitz, the home-front national service turning of munitions, simple attention to details – black and white enamelware mugs and the path of bombers guided by moonlit reflections on the Thames. So too McQueen’s ode to Emak-Bakia (Basque: Leave Me Alone) with daisies careening from surrealist abstraction to reality…this is the blitz 1940/1941…this is the film Blitz 2024.

Café de Paris: 8 March 1941

Civilian Fatalities:
Martinus “Martin” Poulson, age 50, Owner, Café de Paris (Golders Green, London)

Ken R.H. “Snakehips” Johnson, age 26, Orchestra Leader (St. James’s, London)

David Ronald “Baba” Williams, age 25, Saxophonist (St. Marylebone, London)

Kathleen Euphemia Humphreys (nee Dunsmuir), age 48 (Daughter of former BC Premier)

Robert Campbell Clarke, age 37 (Northamptonshire)

George Elefteriadas Ellison, age 33 (Kensington, London)

Joannis Stylianos Livanos, age 22 (St. Marylebone, London)

Charles Wiederrecht, age 46 (Hertfordshire)

Francisco Scipioni, age 33 (Islington, London)

Rosina Ann Allen, age 21 (St. Marylebone, London)

Marjorie Catherine Townsend (nee Boyman), age 26 (Hendon, Middlesex)

Charles Pezga, age 47 (Morden, Surrey)

Spros Joannis Frangos, age 37, Captain Merchant Navy (St. Marylebone, London)

Angelo Rezzani, age 48 (St. Marylebone, London)

Charles Henry Austin, age 27 (Willesden, Middlesex)

Alec George Impey, age 42 (Paddington, London)

Celia May Kerstein, age 21 (Hillingdon, Middlesex)

James Leslie Bennett, age 30 (Barnes, Surrey)

Christakis Takis Haji-Costi, age 30 (St. Pancras, London)

Matilda Florence May Hallett, age 19 (Kilburn, Middlesex)

Ulf Erik Larsen, age 20, Home Guard (Wisborough Green, Sussex)

Joan Emma Bessie Wilson, age 24, Auxiliary Fire Service (Reading, Berkshire)

Ben Gurvitch, age 27 (Hillingdon, Middlesex). Parents lived Montreal, Canada.

Edith Maud Elizabeth Wybrow, age 37, Air Raid Precautions (Willesden, Middlesex)

Hanna Duszynska, age 28 (Hampstead)

Rose Woodland, age 18 (St. Pancras, London)

Epaminondas Cominos, age 34 (St. Marylebone, London)

Christina Mary Watson, age 23 (Curry Rivel, Somerset)

Judah Alfred Jerry Brafman, age 20 (Petersham, Surrey)

Norma Gullick, age 30, Air Raid Precautions (Mayfair, London)

Eric William Bignell, age 34 (Northampton)

Marjorie Cicely Darwen, age 20 (Unknown)

Sir Vyvyan Donald Cory, age 34, 3rd Baronet, Special Constable (London)

Meg M.A.S. Hargrove, age 33, Auxiliary Fire Service & Women’s Voluntary Service (Buckinghamshire)

Canadian Military Fatalities:

Captain Philip Frowde Segram, 48th Highlanders of Canada

Corporal Gordon Wapren Quinn, age 40, Royal Canadian Army Service Corps

Lieutenant John David Wright, age 28, Royal Canadian Engineers

Warrant Officer II Richard Albert Bradshaw, age 24, Royal Canadian Army Service Corps

Other Military Fatalities:

Currently not able to trace.