The Majestic Cabaret at 100 Willis St was Wellington's biggest and most popular nightspot during the Second World War. This photo shows US sailors and their partners at a dance in December 1944. (Every one of these navy personnel was killed the following month in an explosion in the Solomon Islands.) The navy's Marine Band often performed at the Majestic, and was recorded live during an 'American Jamboree Concert' in 1942. In the accompanying sound clip the band plays 'Tiger rag', a ragtime standard first recorded in 1917.
Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi
Alexander Turnbull Library, Laurence George Malvern Paddy Collection
Reference: PAColl-0089-1-16
by William Hall Raine
Sound file from Ngā Taonga Sound and Vision – Radio New Zealand collection. Any re-use of this audio is a breach of copyright. Reference: 26108
Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.