The Dancers Ernest and Yvonne
One of the most popular and prestigious ballroom dancing acts in Germany in the Jazz Age of the 1920s and 1930s was that of Ernest and Yvonne who seemingly emerged out of nowhere in about 1925 and danced not just in Germany but also France, Holland, England and other parts of Europe.
Unlike so many of their contemporaries in other European countries and America Ernest and Yvonne never received the uniform press coverage given others. Their origins, surnames and backgrounds were never revealed and their nationalities somewhat obscured.
Before Ernest took Yvonne as his dancing partner he danced in Germany with another lady called Gabriele. The first known credit comes in October 1921 at the Tivoli variety theatre in Hanover. They gave three modern dances but although admired it was thought they would have been better seen in the intimate space of a cabaret rather than the stage.
It is likely that Ernest and Gabriele emerged immediately after the First World War when dancing became the rage and blossomed in Germany. They clearly toured the country for several years and further credits appeared at the Metropol-Palast, Koln (December 1921), Rosenhof Kunstlerspiel, Köln (January 1922), Bunte Buhne, Aachen (February 1922), Trocadero, Aachen (February 1924), Jungmuhle Cabaret, Dortmund (March 1924) and an event in Dortmund (March 1925).
They were described variously as ‘the world’s most renowned dancing couple’, ‘the famous dancing couple’ and ‘Germany’s best modern dance couple.’ One must conclude that both were German.
By the summer of 1925, Gabriele and Ernest had parted company and Ernest took a new partner with Yvonne. Their first credit was in July 1925 when a photograph of them appeared in the Viennese newspaper Die Stunde that described them as ‘the famous German-English dance couple’ and the creators of many new dances. It was reported that they would be dancing in Vienna in late 1925. This report revealed that Ernest was German and that Yvonne was English, and indeed later The Tatler also confirmed that Yvonne was English. However, there are no clues as to the actual, real identity of either.
The couple must have toured since they were listed as appearing in the stage show for the Thalia Theatre (picture palast) in IJmuiden Holland in September 1925. There are no further known credits until April 1926, when they were once again in Holland. Ernest and Yvonne were part of a touring stage show for picture palaces with eccentrique comedians Pilz and Neumann and visited the Jerusalem picture palast and the Asta Picture theatre in the Hague. In mid-May 1926 they appeared at a soiree at the Hotel Des Indes in the Hague and another soiree at the Kurhaus in the Hague in July 1926. Here, Ernest and Yvonne, described as ‘les danseurs a la, mode,’ gave a somewhat acrobatic tango, ‘which did not compromise grace for a moment’ and then a parody of the Charleston that brought the audience into ecstasy. They also performed the Black Bottom that was reported to have supplanted the Charleston and was now thought to be the most-chic of all modern highlife dances. Ernest wore wide Oxford trousers that flowed around his legs like blobs of greasy clay. He imitated rubbing away mud with his legs. Yvonne fell on her back, Ernest dragged her between his muddy legs and lifted her high. She fell down again, into the arms of five ‘white Negro boy’s’ and the dance continued. Also, in July 1926 they were part of an entertainment given by Max van Gelder at the re-opening of the Palais De Danse in Scheveningen.
Ernest and Yvonne had returned to Germany by August 1926 and were part of an entertainment at the dance palast called Rheingoldsaal in Dusseldorf in August 1926. They provided excentrique and acrobatic dances on a bill with an American dance revue given by the Three Hastings. Beside the evening show at 8pm there was a 4pm afternoon tea dance with Ernest and Yvonne.
Then, in late 1926, Ernest and Yvonne appeared in Paris and then the South of France. No foreign acts had been allowed into Germany until late 1924 and no German acts were allowed to visit France, Belgium and Great Britain, although acts were allowed to Austria, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Holland, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Czechoslavakia. However, after late 1924 all restrictions were lifted.
It was noted that prior to December 1926 Ernest and Yvonne had been performing at the famous Cafe de Paris in Paris before their arrival on the Riviera but there are sadly no references to the duration of their stay in Paris or details of their performance. But clearly after their visit to Holland they had travelled to Paris perhaps in September 1926. By Christmas 1926 they were dancing at the famous Ambassadeurs restaurant in Monte Carlo and were described as ‘celebrated dancers.’ The restaurant was made festive with appropriate decorations in green white and gold with a tall Christmas tree and Santa and his attendants. Ernest and Yvonne also danced at the daily The Dansants supported by Nic Fusly’s famous orchestra.
Ernest and Yvonne were also in attendance at the Bristol Hotel in Beaulieu for the grand gala dinner on New Year’s Eve giving exhibition dances with the Merry Makers dance orchestra. Described as ‘international dancers’ they continued dancing at the Ambassadeurs Restaurant through January 1927. At the special Montmartre gala held on the 13th January, they gave their final performance that included their version of the Apache dance before departing for London. Given that Yvonne was British a trip to London made perfect sense.
Making their debut at Ciro’s nightclub in Orange Street, London, Ernest and Yvonne were described as being ‘two clever young dancers’ and ‘brilliantly clever ballroom dancers’ and made a big success and were extremely popular. After a few weeks dancing at Ciro’s in late January and most of February 1927 they transferred to the Cafe De Paris in Coventry Street for a short season in March 1927.
By the end of March 1927, Ernest and Yvonne were back on the Riviera performing at the Ambassadeurs Restaurant again through early April 1927. At the gala Fete Mexican on 26th March 1927 with Mexican cowboys guarding over the guests, they appeared in a special Mexican tango and other dances along with the Spanish Jazz of Nick Fusly’s Spanish musicians and Angelo dee Prado’s impersonation and castanet playing. They were described as ‘celebrated dancers’ and ‘charming.’ Ernest and Yvonne were also noted for their dancing at the colourful Roulette gala on 4th April 1927 with the restaurant festooned with roses and carnations on each table.
It is not clear what they were doing from April to August 1927. It is likely that they were in Paris, perhaps dancing again at the Cafe de Paris and other Parisian cabarets, but sadly there are no confirmed credits. However, in one press story it said they were ‘of Parisian fame’ and in the Era it stated that they were from the Ambassadeurs in Paris. Perhaps this is erroneous and refers to their earlier performance at the Ambassadeurs in Monte Carlo. If they did appear at the Ambassadeurs in Paris, it would have been in the Edmund Sayag show that was launched on 1st June 1927 with an extensive cast that sadly did not mention them. However, throughout the run of the show the cast changed and acts were added regularly, so perhaps they did appear in the summer of 1927.
See the post on the Ambassadeur’s 1927 show here
By early September 1927, Ernest and Yvonne were back in London with an appearance in a variety show at the Palladium Theatre alongside the American comic musician Joe Termini, Albert Whelan, Harry Tate, Jack Lane and Fred Barnes. They also doubled at the Cafe de Paris in Coventry Street commencing 5th September 1927.
At the Palladium they began with Valse Excentrique followed by an elaborate Danse Argentine, a fascinating exposition of the Charleston and an illuminating forecast of the 1928 dancing. They were described as ‘delightful, ‘graceful’ and ‘exquisite.’ They may have toured the UK in variety for a short period after the Palladium.
One reporter observed ‘some months ago I thought this couple was the best ballroom turn I had ever seen in my life and I still think so. They have grace and agility, assets which few trans-Atlantic couples seen to possess.’ It is interesting that their origins were being mistaken as being ‘trans-Atlantic’ as they were German-British.
Ernest and Yvonne were back in Germany by late 1927. They were in the line-up of the best domestic and foreign talent for the opening of the newest dance palace in Berlin called The Florida on Kurfürstendamm 237 that opened in early December 1927. Elegantly appointed the Florida Tanz Palast had a large dance and restaurant hall, a large bar and a comfortable winter garden. The well-known cabaret artist Ernst Petermann directed the performance that included, beside Ernest and Yvonne, the singer lse Kochann, the dancer Olga Smirnova from the Petersburg State Opera, Glory and Laron, Andre and Denise, Erik Garden and many others.
See the post on the Florida Tanz Palast here
They were then part of an extensive variety programme at the famous Trocadero dance palace in Hamburg during January 1928, along with Christiane and Duroy, Carr and Parr, the Derby Sisters and others.
From Berlin, Ernest and Yvonne returned to Holland and in early April 1928 they appeared once more at the Hotel des Ingles in the Hague in what was described as a semi-annual revue. They must have only been in the Hague for about a month since they were back in Berlin and appearing at the Libelle Tanz palast from the end of April 1928. This venue was situated at Jagerstrasse 63a in Mitte and had had a lengthy history as a premier entertainment venue since before World War 1, being called variously Rattenschloss, Moulin Rouge and Wien-Berlin before becoming Libelle. At the same time Ernest and Yvonne were engaged on a tour of picture palaces in a stage show. One such confirmed credit is for the Titania picture palace on 25th May 1928. The picture palace tour must have continued through 1928 as they danced at the Titania, Berlin again in October 1928 and at the Primus in Berlin in November 1928.
At the same time they were headlining at the famous Wintergarten in Berlin in October 1928. Here they gave a rendition of the Boston slow waltz, Tango Argentino and the Baltimore Stomp and as an encore a modern dance predicted for 1929. They once continued their engagement at the Libelle dancing palace.
At the end of 1928 they were back in the UK for several months but it is not clear exactly where they appeared with the exception of one credit. Described as ‘two exceptionally able dancers, from the Continent’ they were dancing at the Adelphi Theatre in Liverpool during Christmas week, so it is likely they we doing a variety tour.
They were back in Berlin by March 1929 and were one of several acts appearing at the Barberina and the Ambassadeurs, both under the same management.
Please see the post about the Barberina, Berlin
They may well have stayed in Germany for sometime because the next credit comes in January 1930 when they part of the extensive cast at the Berlin Wintergarten in January 1930 along with the 16 Original Lawrence Tiller Girls. In the summer of 1930 they danced on the French riviera first at the Palm Beach resort in Cannes and then Juan Les Pins Casino (July 1930) and by August 1930 they were in Stockholm appearing in an Ernest Rolf revue.
Yvonne related an alarming experience prior to 1930 when both she and Ernest were arrested in on the Greek border. They did a show in the Balkans but they missed the train to Athens and they hoped to be able to reach the train by car across the border. They set off, without changing or removing make-up. Ernest was in a tailcoat and patent leather shoes and Yvonne was in a tutu and dancing shoes with the chauffeur’s leather coat. It was bitterly cold. At the border they were stopped and because their ID papers were in the luggage on the train the border guards were suspicious looking at them as if they were wild, strange animals. As a consequence, Ernest was arrested on the suspicion of trafficking in girls with Yvonne placed in protective custody. Thankfully the German consul of Greece came to the rescue and they were released.
For the rest of the 1930s and early 1940s their activity is not well documented. In 1931 they were dancing in Dusseldorf and Bonn. By 1934 they had re-arranged their act into a trio with the addition of Vilma and appeared in the Berlin Wintergarten, Stuttgart, Baden Baden, Bonn and Budapest. Thereafter, they danced in Vienna (1935), Cologne (1936), Leipzig (1936), Berlin Wintergarten (1937) and Hamburg (1937). In the Spring of 1937, they made a tour of South America, Havana and Mexico. Their last confirmed credits were with a new dancer called Marion in Hamburg in 1941 and in Koln in 1942.
What happened to Ernest and Yvonne during the Second World War and thereafter is not known.
All images (unless specified in the caption) and text©copyright Gary Chapman / Jazz Age Club and must not be re-used without prior consent
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