1935 Normandie’s Dining Room | You Are Too Beautiful | Coltrane & Hartman

Music: 1932 You Are Too Beautiful | John Coltrane & Johnny Hartman 1963
Video: 1935 Normandie | Appartement Grande Luxe Trouville | Salle à Manger 1re Classe
Johnny Hartman - vocals
John Coltrane - tenor saxophone
McCoy Tyner - piano
Jimmy Garrison - double bass
Elvin Jones - drums
* * *
"The theatrical quality of the Dining Room of the Normandie was mainly due to the experimental use of glass resulting in a lighting effect that had never before been seen on a vessel. Glass was not only a modern material but it was also flame retardant, a valued attribute as fire was a major concern for the ship’s owners who discouraged designers to use flammable materials such as wood. The Dining Room’s glass walls by Labouret were constructed with a layer of mirrored glass that was covered with another layer made of glass lonzenges interspersed with vertical corduroy strips of hammered glass. This outer layer prevented the walls from having a reflective quality like the Hall of Mirrors; instead, the glass provided a shimmering effect further enhanced by illuminating the walls from within. Although fluorescent lighting was available at the time, Labouret chose to use lumiline bulbs creating an ambience of glowing warmth.
The ubiquity of glass continued with the light fixtures provided by Lalique including two large chandeliers hanging above and twelve firepots placed between a series of tables. The chandeliers above were a traditional feature, but the firepots were novel appearing as if they were frozen water fountains. Although the firepots were a visual delight, they caused problems for the stewards and waiters who complained that they were unable to maneuver easily around the tables despite the fact that the Dining Room was the ship’s largest room at 305 feet long, 46 feet wide, and 28 feet high. This problem of logistics highlights how the designers (and most likely the patrons) of the Dining Room were more concerned with the aesthetic impact of this luminous interior than they were with its functionality.
The Dining Room interior not only alluded to the Hall of Mirrors, but it also evoked an ancient Greek temple, particularly the Parthenon. Along with the room’s monumental scale, the most obvious reference to an ancient temple is the gilt bronze statue of La Paix sculpted by Louis Dejean. Represented in a Grecian tunic and raising an olive branch, the female statue, the personification of peace, presided over the shimmering interior and from a distance Lalique’s chandelier appears almost as a pagan headdress .
The harmonious ambience of the room itself provided a sense of security during a time of social unease. The sense of escapism in the space is further enhanced by the fact that there were no windows in the Dining Room. In addition, the lack of natural lighting allowed the designers to have total control over the spectacle as the lighting was unaltered by the passing of day into night."
(ahlstromappraisals.com/art-hi...)
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Normandie interior decoration (overall): Pierre Patout, Henri Pacon, Richard Bouwens van der Boijen and Roger-Henri Expert
Appartement Grand Luxe Trouville:
'Normandie' glass clock: René Lalique & Leon Hatot (ATO)
Design (overall): Jules LeLeu
Settee: Jule LeLeu
Lighting: Jean Perzel
Beech decorative panel: Jean-Maurice Rothschild
Salle à Manger 1re Classe (in addition to the above):
Entrance doors medallions: Raymond Subes & Adalbert Szabo
Bas-reliefs:
Les Arts et Les Monuments de la Normandie: Raymond Delamarre
La Normandie terrienne: Albert Pommier
Sports and Games of Normandy: Léon Drivier
Maritime Normandy: Pierre-Marie Poisson
Four panels: Jean Bouchaud
Mahogany, rosewood and gilt bronze chairs and tables: Pierre Patout, Maurice Pré, Neveu & Cornille Frères
Tablecloths: Alexandre Turpault
Porcelain service: Jean Luce & Haviland
Glassware: Daum
Cutlery and silver service: Luc Lanel & Christofle
(fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normand...)
* * *
"You Are Too Beautiful" was composed in 1932 by Richard Rodgers & Lorenz Hart.
"John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman was recorded in 1963 in a lone studio meeting between one of the most ennobled icons in jazz at that time and a lesser-known vocalist who, on the basis of this collaboration alone, left an indelible mark. Throughout the album, the baritone Hartman, tenor saxophonist Coltrane and his peerless rhythm trio - pianist McCoy Tyner, bassist Jimmy Garrison and drummer Elvin Jones - make music that seems to be so in-the-moment, so up-close-and-personal, that it conjures, upon first hearing, a sense of shared intimacy. Hartman's voice embodies masculine maturity, and here it is cushioned by filigreed piano accompaniment, rhythms brushed lightly with implication, basslines so soft they go unnoticed, beguiling saxophone solos and murmured obbligati."
(therake.com/stories/icons/six...)

[@johnerdmann2700]

I THOUGHT I'D DONE AND SEEN EVERYTHING ON THIS.THIS SHIP HAS BEEN PART OF ME FOREVER -CONGRATULATIONS A P-E-R-F-E-C-T EDIIT SIR!!!_JEAN P

[@WatBradford]

So very kind of you to say - I hope you enjoy the other three of SS Normandie as well, all in the Wat Bradford 1935 playlist - the smoking room, the grand salon and the maiden voyage