Joe Zelli (Rome 1889 – Copake, New York 1971) ran celebrated

nightclubs A nightclub (music club, discothèque, disco club, or simply club) is an entertainment venue during nighttime comprising a dance floor, lightshow, and a stage for live music or a disc jockey (DJ) who plays recorded music. Nightclubs gener ...

in Paris and New York City from the 1910s to the 1930s. Zelli's Club, 16bis rue Fontaine, Paris opened in 1922 and closed in 1932. It had a balcony with an American bar and "royal boxes". Zelli owned other clubs as well. A caricaturist named Zito drew guests to the nightclub over a period of four years, making a

celebrity wall A celebrity wall, caricature wall, or wall of fame is a gallery of photographs or caricatures of celebrities, typically found on the wall of restaurants and bars. They suggest that celebrities are liable to be encountered there, and also function a ...

downstairs. This is said to be the inspiration for the caricatures at

Sardi's Sardi's is a Continental food, continental restaurant located at 234 West 44th Street, between Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway and Eighth Avenue (Manhattan), Eighth Avenue, in the Theater District, Manhattan, Theater District of Manhattan, New Yo ...

in New York.Wendy Wick Reaves, ''Celebrity Caricatures in America'', 1998, , p. 184

Notes

Nightclubs in France Nightclubs in New York City 1889 births 1971 deaths Italian people {{Restaurateur-bio-stub