Murray’s Cabaret Club: Discovering Soho’s Secret

Step below the pavemants of Soho’s Beak Street, and discover the untold tale of the exotic - and scandalous - Murray’s Cabaret Club. Today, 16-18 Beak Street is a burger bar. But don’t let the muddy grey of the whitewashed oak walls deceive you
they once shimmered as they reflected the sparkle of costumed showgirls dancing. For this was Murray’s Cabaret Club, a West End club that, night after night, forged fantasies for deadened aristocrats, served a dish of dreams to Arab businessmen, and provided refuge for the hounded celebrity. In that intimate nightspot, sexy was never sordid, and nude never naked. That is, until the Profumo Affair
a sex-and-spying scandal that involved a love triangle between Murray’s showgirl Christine Keeler, the UK’s Minister of War and a Soviet spy, all at the height of the Cold War. Soho’s Secret tells of Murray’s visitors (Jean Harlow, Princess Margaret, Winston Churchill, Stephen Ward…), its dancers (Kay Kendall, Gertrude Lawrence, Ruth Ellis…), and
for the very first time
reveals the recently-discovered costumes and designs worn in London’s most glamorous floorshow. Close your eyes and imagine… AUTHOR: Benjamin Levy is a former curatorial assistant in the V&A’s Theatre & Performance Department. In that capacity, he helped mount a variety of exhibitions, including You Say You Want a Revolution? and Pink Floyd: Their Mortal Remains, which sold in the hundreds of thousands and has toured the world. He independently created his own exhibitions, one of which was on Murray’s Cabaret Club, which sold out and for which he has appeared in the media and on the lecture circuit.
140 colour and 60 b/w images