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The Roaring 20’s
Along with what seems like 90% of America and apparently the UK we knew that our 2020 party was going to be a 1920s party. The real question was what kind of 1920s party and how could we make sure it didn’t look like every other 20’s party on the internet. The first thing we decided was to stay at least somewhat grounded in reality. We don’t have a giant ballroom or a Baz Luhrmann budget, so a “Great Gatsby” style party was out. Art Deco and gold balloons were out. We decided we wanted to have a slightly seedier feel, a little more mobster and speakeasy a little less flowing champagne towers.
Even knowing we were going with the speakeasy feel we still wanted something that would set this party apart from the possibly dozens of other Roaring Twenties parties that people might be invited to (It turned out there was even one on the same night as our party). We set about doing some research. We did some “real” research like reading Last Call by Daniel Okrent and watching the Ken Burns documentaries like the Making of the Mob and Prohibition. We scoured the internet for authentic pictures, menus, and news stories from the time. And we watched what seemed like ALL of Hollywood’s vision of the 1920s including The Untouchables, Mobsters, The Road to Perdition, Brideshead Revisted, Boardwalk Empire and Peaky Blinders to name a few.
For all of the tommy guns, roadsters, and flappers doing the Charleston it was one quick little line in both the Last Call and the Prohibition documentary that really got us excited. Speakeasies popped up in the most unlikely places… even funeral homes. We did a Google search to make sure this idea wasn’t already over Pinterest and we had missed it. It didn’t appear to be, so we were off.
In essence, close friends and family would be invited to attend a funeral for beloved civic leader Kryzysztof Cesarz in Cesarzville (much like Marvel and DC our parties all take place in a fictional universe- stay tuned for the movies and tv deals that will be hitting your large and small screens soon). The funeral would be held at Majewski and Sons Mortuary. Of course, unbeknownst to local law enforcement the Mockingbird Lounge had popped up behind the main viewing room and office.
A couple of notes here: 1) I don’t understand the Polish love for the letter Z, but that is the correct spelling. 2) We just googled Polish last names to come up with Majewski; it doesn’t have any particular meaning. 3) Mockingbird Lounge was named for Mockingbird lane at SMU. We decided that “Xander’s bar” had been overused at past parties.
To create the look and feel of a funeral home in the front and party in the back we essentially divided our house into 3 main parts. Our dining room and front hall were the funeral home, the main living area, kitchen and breakfast room were the speakeasy, and in an effort to maximize space and get people upstairs we added an illegal gambling room in the family room.
There is a lot to unpack with this party, so I am going to divide it up into a few different posts to make it easier to follow and find what you might be more interested in.
Decorations- Funeral Home/Speakeasy