Roaring 20s in Poland: Zula Pogorzelska's risqué hit from 1926

Описание: Beka-Orkiestra (Ork. Golda i Petersburskiego?) - Ja się boję sama spać [I’m Afraid To Sleep Alone] Shimmy/Fokstrot (J. Petersburski) z teatru Perskie Oko (from the revue theatre Perskie Oko) Beka 1926 (Polish)

NOTE: This song belongs to the collection of the Polish risqué songs of the Roaring Twenties. As the 1st WW ended and the first years of the more-less “postwar stabilisation” calmed down a little the war-torn emotions and temperaments of the first post-war generation in Europe, the new phenomenon appeared in the popular culture: the hot-red rhythms in dance music (the new crazy dances: shimmy, foxtrot, charleston, turkey trot, black bottom etc.) as well as the risqué - also called “the naughty” - cabaret songs. As we grumble about how rap music is “destroying civilization”, let us sometimes see how the lyrics of the 1920s cabaret or revue hits in Europe (but also in America, e.g. some of the black blues) could be every bit as sexually explicit and sometimes just downright insane as the worst kind of rap has to offer. Among such hits must be mentioned some of the 1920s Polish hits presented on stages of the small revue theatres “Qui pro Quo” and “Perskie Oko” (later known as Morskie Oko – the largest and most famous Polish big revue theatre in the turn of the 1920s/30s.). It was not uncommon for the chorus girls to perform on stage without bra, with bare breasts or completely naked dancers who were wrapped only in almost transparent veils and their bodies skilfully highlighted. Such were in the early 1920s the debuts of later first row Polish theatre or revue stars, like Hanka Ordonówna or Loda Halama. The songs – written in most fashionable rhythms of the foxtrots, shimmies of charlestons – were composed by the jazz pioneers in Poland, such as Artur Gold, Szymon Kataszek, Jerzy Petersburski or Zygmunt Karasiński, and presented by the most prominent actresses, having also beautiful legs, hot temperament and sexappeal, such as Zula Pogorzelska, Stefcia Górska, Stanisława Karlińska or many others. The queen of such performances was undoubtedly Zula Pogorzelska, called also the Polish Jazz Baby or the Most Beautiful Pair Of Legs In Warsaw. See a hit devoted to Zula in 1926 and delightfully performed today by the youngest generation of stage artists in Poland: “To Zula, to Zula, dziś na dancingu hula” [It’s Zula, It’s Zula, Who Goes Mad Tonight In a Dance Bar]    • Zula - Warsztaty w Miętnem  

My clip is a small tribute to Zula’s artistic legacy, unfortunately she was so busy in her social life and numerous parties, that only a handful of her recordings is today available in the phopnographic museums or the private collections. After all, she was not a great singer, her voice was small and somewhat hoarse    • Foxtrot from Warsaw: Zula Pogorzelska -To ...   , but she had great legs and a dance talent. She was the one who promoted charleston in Poland, and her songs are still present in popular Polish sayings taken from the titles of her songs: "I'm afraid to sleep alone" https://www.youtube.com/edit?o=U&vide... , "I don’t have anything to put on" [Ja Nie Mam Co Na Siebie Włożyć]    • Видео   "This little gal is tipsy" https://www.youtube.com/edit?o=U&vide... , "Do you live alone, Madame?" https://www.youtube.com/edit?o=U&vide... or "Do not encourage my dear, for I will give in to you" https://www.youtube.com/edit?o=U&vide...