Snakehips Johnson
By Vinny Del Giudice
London Fire Journal
On March 18, 1941, German bombs crashed through a ventilation shaft in a "blue flash" onto the dance floor of London's Cafe de Paris, killing an estimated 34 people - including popular orchestra leader Ken "Snakehips" Johnson - and injuring about 80 others.
The swanky venue, located at 3 Coventry Street in the West End, was a haunt of the rich and famous and could seat hundreds. Edward VIII was a regular during the 1920s.
The nightclub was also considered attack-proof as it was situated below street level.
The tragedy is depicted in the 2024 movie "Blitz," written, produced and directed by Steve McQueen. "The symbolic nature of the Café de Paris in the movie," McQueen said, "is to show the divide between the rich and poor." There were presumably no East Enders among the guests. They were in the shelters and tube stations.
The story goes the musicians were playing and the singer singing "O Johnny. Oh Johnny, Oh!" when the bombs landed.
Oh, Johnny, oh, Johnny, how you can love?
Oh, Johnny, oh, Johnny, Heaven's above
Oh, Johnny, oh, Johnny, how you can love?
Oh, Johnny, oh, Johnny, Heaven's above
"The floor was heaving with couples. Suddenly, there was an immense blue flash," according to a Daily Mail story commemorating the 70th anniversary of the Blitz. "Two bombs had hit the building, hurtled down a ventilation shaft from the roof and exploded right in front of the band."
The German bombs were estimated to have been of the 50-kilogram variety.
The German bombs were estimated to have been of the 50-kilogram variety.
"The dead and dying were heaped everywhere," the Daily Mail said. "Champagne was cracked open to clean wounds."
Partying Canadian nurses were among those club guests credited with providing first aid for the dying and wounded.
One account said rescuers found Johnson found mangled in the ruins. Another said the orchestra leader was hardly scathed and still had a flower in his lapel. Many of the dead suffered burst lungs and succumbed instantly - still seated at their tables. Rescuers, meantime, collected body parts from others.
The band's guitarist, Joe Deniz, said of that night: "As we started playing there was an awful thud, and all the lights went out. The ceiling fell in and the plaster came pouring down. People were yelling. ... The next thing I remember was being in a small van which had been converted into an ambulance. Then someone came to me and said: `Joe, Ken's dead.'"
In the mayhem, looters absconded with the jewelry of the deceased, in some cases by slicing off the cadavers fingers for rings. The wounded were robbed, too. Unbroken bottles of champagne and liquor were up for grabs.
One of the first on the scene was a Metropolitan Police wartime special constable, Ballard Berkeley, an actor by trade who went on the play "The Major" in the Fawlty Towers television series.
Recalling the scene years later, Berkeley said, according to the Daily Mail: "It blew legs off people, heads off people, and it exploded their lungs so that when I went into this place I saw people sitting at tables quite naturally. Dead. Dressed beautifully without a mark on them. It was like looking at waxworks."
The looting "to me, was the most awful thing of all," he said. (The crime, however, was common during the Blitz, with the London Daily Mirror demanding in 1940: "Hang A Looter.")
The National Archives notes: "As with many bombing incidents, newspaper reports about the Café de Paris bomb were limited ... In an attempt to prevent the German authorities from learning about the impact of the bombing campaign in detail, the building was not named, being referred to simply as a restaurant."
Cafe de Paris re-opened after the war, in 1948, and continued into the 21st Century.
"In 1939, the Café was allowed to stay open even though theatres and cinemas were closed by order," according to the club's website. "People gossiped their way through the blackout and the Café was advertised as a safe haven by Martin Poulson, the maitre d', who argued that the four solid storeys of masonry above were ample protection."
Poulson died in the bombing.
Among other fatalities was Meg Hargrove, a member of the Auxiliary Fire Service. Her name appears on the U.K. Firefighters National Memorial.
Cafe de Paris closed in 2020 after 96 years.
London Daily Mail
"In 1939, the Café was allowed to stay open even though theatres and cinemas were closed by order," according to the club's website. "People gossiped their way through the blackout and the Café was advertised as a safe haven by Martin Poulson, the maitre d', who argued that the four solid storeys of masonry above were ample protection."
Poulson died in the bombing.
Among other fatalities was Meg Hargrove, a member of the Auxiliary Fire Service. Her name appears on the U.K. Firefighters National Memorial.
Cafe de Paris closed in 2020 after 96 years.
London Daily Mail
