1918 - "O boi no telhado"

 

In Rio de Janeiro, a tango by José Monteiro set fire to the "anything goes" ambiance of the Carnival. The name of the song was "O boi no telhado"- in English The Ox on the Roof. Set to an irresistible rhythm, the song gently mocked ageing beaus who were less than vigorous toward their young mistresses. That same year, composer Darius Milhaud was serving as secretary to Paul Claudel, the French ambassador to Brazil.

 

1919-1921 - The Samedistes

 

Darius Milhaud returned to Paris and fell back in with a few artists who, under the tutelage of Jean Cocteau, met on Saturday nights for a musical cocktail hour. These wild parties most often took place at the home of Milhaud, where the"samedistes" 
("Saturday club") channelled their poems and compositions through the piano, a Dadaesque episode in complex story. They might perform--cocktail in hand--"Adieu New York" by Georges Auric or "Les Cocardes" de Poulenc, or occasionally pass their time at the Médrano Circus watching the Fratellini clowns. Later describing the Cannes beach where he met with Le Monde, Maurice Sachs would recall the chic, trendy and cultivated artistic spirit of theseDadaists who would form the core clientele of Le Gaya and then of Le Bœuf sur le Toit: celebrities before their time, they were "oxen on the roof".

 

1919-1920 - Opus n°58 (1919) and Ballet-Pantomime (1920)

 

His head still full of the beats he soaked up in Brazil, Darius Milhaud composed his Opus no. 58 in 1919 as an homage to Charlie Chaplin called Cinéma-Symphonie. Charmed by this piece inspired by South American music, Cocteau the muse suggested that Milhaud name it after the tune heard at the Rio Carnival and the opus becameLe Bœuf sur le Toit. Jean Cocteau then created a ballet-pantomine set to the music composed by Darius Milhaud. Performed for the first time in 1920 at the Comédie des Champs Elysées with a set designed by Raoul Dufy, the show caused a scandal. The ballet, which combined Cocteau's farce with Darius Milhaud's opus, was calledLe Bœuf sur le Toit.

 

1921 - Le Gaya, father of the Bœuf

 

On 22 February 1921, a young man from Ardennes, Louis Moysès, opened Le Gaya at 17 Rue Duphot. Within its cramped confines decorated with Azulejostiles, the club served a port of the same name while pianist Jean Wiener played jazz and the classics. Thanks to Milhaud, who was proud to "introduce a bar" to Cocteau, the establishment became the meeting place for the Samedistes and Dadaists who could barely fit in the place at the time. The club was so successful that Moysès was forced to abandon the location, both for lack of space and for causing a racket. When he opened a new bar at 28 Rue Boissy d'Anglas, he had the great idea to borrow the name from Milhaud and Cocteau, who consented to christening the new restaurantLe Bœuf sur le Toit.

 

1922-1941 - The whims of the boeuf

 

Motivated by success, a lawsuit and good business sense, the Bœuf cchanged roofs six times through 1941, its wanderlust tempered moderately by its loyalty to the 8th arrondissement. After the crash in 1929, it hosted and housed free of charge theMidi Moins le Quart group. In 1934, Christian Dior gained fame for the number of guests he had. During the Paris Exhibition of 1937, the restaurant was on the front row, just a few steps from the Trocadéro. When it took flight for the last time in 1941 to set up shop on Rue du Colisée, Paris was under occupation and the future looked grim. TheBœuf became a musical Mecca and meeting place for the networks of the French resistance.

 

 

Crédits photos : droits réservés

Texts: Georges Viaud, chargé du patrimoine de la Brasserie Boeuf sur le Toit et Florence Coupry.