''Café Continental'' is a British

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variety show Variety show, also known as variety arts or variety entertainment, is entertainment made up of a variety of acts including musical theatre, musical performances, sketch comedy, magic (illusion), magic, acrobatics, juggling, and ventriloquism. It is ...

on the

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from 1947 to 1953. Broadcast

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from the

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's studios at

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, the programme opened with a "

Maître d'hôtel The ''maître d'hôtel'' (; ), head waiter, host, waiter captain, or ''maître d ( , ) manages the public part, or "front of the house", of a formal restaurant. The responsibilities of a ''maître d'hôtel'' generally include supervising the wa ...

" known as Pere Auguste, who welcomed the television audience to the "cafe" set and told them that "your table has been reserved, as always."

Overview

Devised and produced by Henry Caldwell, ''Café Continental'' was broadcast on Saturday evenings at 8pm. Lasting for forty-five minutes, the episodes attracted many famous singers and dancers of the day:

Josephine Baker Josephine Baker (born Freda Josephine McDonald; naturalised French Joséphine Baker; 3 June 1906 – 12 April 1975) was an American-born French dancer, singer and actress. Her career was centered primarily in Europe, mostly in her adopted Fran ...

appeared in an edition broadcast on 26 June 1948 and the

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vocal group

Quartetto Cetra Quartetto Cetra (; ) was an Italian jazz vocal quartet established during the early 1940s and active until 1988. Career The band was based on the Mills Brothers and started performing under the name Quartetto Egie from the initials of the singers ...

appeared the same year.

Episode status

Three scattered episodes from 1950 are known to exist. Introduced by Helene Cordet.

References

Bibliography

*Vahimagi, Tise. ''British Television: An Illustrated Guide''.

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. 1994. . 1947 British television series debuts 1953 British television series endings 1940s British television series 1950s British television series BBC Television shows Lost BBC episodes Black-and-white British television shows British variety television shows English-language television shows {{BBC-tv-prog-stub