Normandie Roof
Inaugurated on June 17, 1937 atop the Mount Royal Hotel at 1455 Peel Street, the Normandie Roof — also known as the Terrasse Normandie — became one of the great hotel cabarets of fashionable Montréal. Inspired by the prestigious supper clubs and roof gardens of North America, it offered a complete entertainment experience combining dining, dancing, orchestras and live performances in an elegant setting inspired by the landscapes and traditions of Normandy, France. For more than twenty years, singers, dancers, variety entertainers and dance orchestras appeared there, with performances also broadcast on CKAC. Pianist Liberace performed at the Normandie Roof before achieving international fame, while French singer Jean Sablon enjoyed considerable success there in 1946. Active until 1958, the Normandie Roof remains a remarkable witness to the golden age of Montréal’s grand hotel supper clubs.
1. Overview
The Normandie Roof occupies a distinctive place in the history of Montreal nightlife. Opened in 1937 inside the Mount Royal Hotel on Peel Street, it belonged to a different tradition from that of the cabarets on Saint-Laurent Boulevard: the tradition of the grand hotel supper club, aimed at a clientele seeking dining, dancing and entertainment in an elegant setting.
Also known as the Terrasse Normandie, the establishment welcomed dance orchestras, singers, dancers and variety performers for more than two decades. Guests could dine in front of the stage, dance to the orchestra and watch live entertainment during the same evening.
The Normandie Roof thus became one of the showcases of fashionable Montreal society during the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s, at a time when the city’s grand hotels played a major role in its social and musical life.
2. The Mount Royal Hotel
The Normandie Roof was located inside one of Montreal’s most imposing hotel properties. Opened in the early 1920s, the Mount Royal Hotel at 1455 Peel Street contained more than a thousand rooms and formed a major part of downtown Montreal’s architectural landscape.
Its architecture and location, at the foot of Mount Royal and close to the commercial district of Sainte-Catherine Street, made it a prestigious hotel frequented by both Montrealers and travellers.
The opening of a large dance and entertainment room at the top of the hotel allowed the establishment to offer a complete experience: accommodation, dining, music, dancing and entertainment under one roof.
The Hotel Cabaret
The Normandie Roof belonged to a tradition distinct from that of the clubs on the Main. The hotel cabaret combined dining, orchestral music and entertainment in a more formal environment. It formed part of an international culture of grand dance rooms and roof gardens associated with prestigious hotels.
3. The 1937 Opening
The Normandie Roof officially opened on June 17, 1937. Articles and advertisements published at the time presented a spectacular new dance venue created high above the Mount Royal Hotel.
Its name referred to Normandy, France, a theme that shaped much of the establishment’s decoration and visual identity.
From the outset, the venue offered a combination of dining, music, dancing and entertainment, seeking to provide guests with an experience comparable to those offered by major establishments in New York and other North American cities.
4. Décor and Layout
The décor was one of the defining characteristics of the Normandie Roof. The room was designed around a visual world inspired by the landscapes, traditional costumes and rural scenes of Normandy.
Contemporary sources describe a series of eighteen large paintings depicting the French region. This imagery gave the cabaret an immediately recognizable identity and contributed to the European atmosphere sought by its management.
Tables were arranged in a semicircle facing the stage, allowing guests to dine while watching the performers. The dance floor and stage became the two focal points around which the evening was organized.
The overall effect emphasized the elegance of a supper club integrated into a grand hotel rather than the exuberance of a cabaret on the Main.
5. Dining, Dancing and High Society
An evening at the Normandie Roof involved more than simply attending a show. Guests came for a complete social experience: dining, conversation, music, dancing and entertainment followed one another throughout the evening.
Patrons could dine in front of the stage before moving onto the dance floor when the orchestra resumed its program. Waltzes, fox-trots and other popular dances shaped the rhythm of the evening.
On certain occasions, experienced dancers also offered demonstrations or lessons in Latin dances, reflecting the constantly changing dance fashions of the period.
This combination of dining and live entertainment placed the Normandie Roof closer to the model of the supper club than to that of a conventional concert venue.
6. Orchestras and Radio
Dance orchestras formed the core of the Normandie Roof’s regular programming. Among the bandleaders associated with the venue was Lloyd Huntley, whose orchestra accompanied the evenings, the dancing and a number of guest performers.
The music of the Normandie Roof also reached audiences beyond the walls of the hotel. Orchestra performances were regularly broadcast over Montreal radio station CKAC.
Radio played a major role in the circulation of dance orchestra music during this period. An evening performed in a hotel ballroom could therefore reach thousands of listeners who never attended the cabaret in person.
CKAC Rather Than CFCF
Historical sources devoted to the Normandie Roof regularly mention broadcasts of its orchestras on CKAC. A specific connection between Liberace and CFCF has sometimes been reported, but that claim requires separate documentation. For the general history of the cabaret, CKAC is currently the better-supported statement.
7. Revues and Performers
The Normandie Roof’s programming combined variety performers, singers, dancers and orchestras. Management sought in particular to bring in talent from New York and the American entertainment circuit.
Unlike a club primarily devoted to jazz or a traditional theatre, the Normandie Roof offered programming adapted to the supper-club model: acts had to fit naturally into an evening built around dining and dancing.
Over the years, its stage therefore welcomed international singers, pianists, dancers, comedians and music-hall performers.
8. Liberace
Among the performers associated with the Normandie Roof, none later became as famous as American pianist Liberace. His appearances in Montreal predated by several years the enormous popularity he would later achieve through television and Las Vegas.
An advertisement published in The Gazette on April 12, 1945 clearly documents his presence at the Normandie Roof. Later accounts place the beginning of his Montreal engagement as early as 1944.
At the time, Liberace was still developing his stage persona: a mixture of pianistic virtuosity, classical and popular repertoire, humour and theatricality that would soon become his trademark.
A frequently repeated account also claims that his engagement at the Mount Royal Hotel played a role in the transformation of his stage name, with Walter Liberace becoming simply Liberace. The anecdote appears in retrospective accounts and should therefore be presented as such rather than as a certainty established by a contemporary source.
1943, 1944 or 1945?
An earlier version of this article dated Liberace’s Montreal debut to 1943. Documentation currently available to MCPA, however, provides direct evidence of his presence at the Normandie Roof on April 12, 1945, while a later account places his engagement there as early as 1944. In the absence of a primary source from 1943, that year is no longer used here.
9. Jean Sablon
In 1946, French singer Jean Sablon appeared at the Normandie Roof. Already famous on both sides of the Atlantic, Sablon belonged to a generation of French singers who embraced the microphone and a more intimate style of vocal performance.
The Montreal press described his engagement as a major public success, with an enthusiastic audience and repeated ovations.
His appearance illustrates the Normandie Roof’s ability to attract international performers and to serve as a link between North American and European entertainment circuits.
10. Other Documented Performers
Newspaper archives make it possible to gradually reconstruct the Normandie Roof’s programming beyond its two best-known figures. Several performers are currently documented in the MCPA archives.
This list is necessarily incomplete. As with many Montreal cabarets, newspaper research continues to reveal additional engagements and allows the venue’s programming to be reconstructed gradually over time.
11. Decline and Closure
During the 1950s, Montreal’s entertainment environment changed considerably. Television, changing nightlife habits, developments in popular music and changes within the hotel industry gradually affected the traditional model of the grand cabaret.
The Normandie Roof nevertheless remained active into the latter part of the decade. Sources used by MCPA place the end of its operation as a cabaret in 1958.
Rather than attributing its disappearance to a single cause, it is more accurate to place it within the broader transformation of Montreal’s cabaret and supper-club culture.
Television: One Factor Among Several
Television is often cited as one of the causes of the decline of cabarets during the 1950s. It certainly helped change entertainment habits, but it cannot by itself explain the disappearance of the Normandie Roof. Musical, economic and social changes of the postwar period must also be taken into account.
12. From the Mount Royal Hotel to Les Cours Mont-Royal
The history of the building continued long after the disappearance of the Normandie Roof. The Mount Royal Hotel remained in operation in various forms and was associated for several years with the Sheraton chain.
After Sheraton left in 1982, the former hotel became the subject of a major restoration and redevelopment project.
In 1988, the complex reopened under the name Les Cours Mont-Royal, an upscale shopping centre incorporated into the former hotel building.
The building therefore remains part of downtown Montreal’s streetscape, even though the spaces that once housed the hotel’s nightlife have since been given new functions.
13. Historical Significance
The Normandie Roof represents an essential facet of Montreal’s golden age of cabarets: that of the grand hotel cabaret. Its history complements that of establishments more directly associated with the Main, the Red Light district or popular entertainment areas.
Here, entertainment formed part of the world of the grand hotel: table service, a dance orchestra, elegant dress, a stage, a dance floor and guest performers combined to create a single experience.
The venue also participated in international entertainment networks. Performers appearing in Montreal circulated between New York, major Canadian cities and, in some cases, Europe.
Liberace’s presence before his rise to international fame, Jean Sablon’s engagement and the many appearances documented in the press make the Normandie Roof an important witness to this circulation of performers.
Another History of Montreal Cabarets
The Frolics tells the story of the Main. Rockhead’s Paradise tells, among other things, the story of Montreal’s Black community and the nightlife of the Saint-Antoine district. The Normandie Roof tells a third story: that of grand hotels, dinner dancing and fashionable Montreal society. Together, these establishments reveal the exceptional diversity of Montreal nightlife in the mid-twentieth century.
14. Timeline
15. Notes and Sources
- L’Illustration Nouvelle, June 15, 1937. Announcement and presentation of the new Normandie Roof prior to its opening.
- L’Illustration Nouvelle, June 17, 1937. Contemporary documentation concerning the opening, décor and layout of the Normandie Roof.
- The Montreal Star, June 23, 1939. Documentation concerning the Normandie Roof and the Mount Royal Hotel.
- Encyclopédie du MEM, Ville de Montréal, « Aller au restaurant à Montréal (1940–1960) ». Description of the Normandie Roof, its semicircular table arrangement, orchestras, waltzes, fox-trots, Latin dancing and broadcasts on CKAC.
- The Gazette, April 12, 1945. Advertisement documenting Liberace at the Normandie Roof.
- Le Canada, August 28, 1946. Review of Jean Sablon’s engagement.
- The Montreal Daily Star, May 2, 1947. Engagement of Luis Gomez and Beatrice.
- The Gazette, December 29, 1947. New Year’s Eve celebration at the Normandie Roof.
- The Gazette, March 27, 1948. Engagement of Benny Fields.
- The Gazette, July 30, 1948. Engagement of Carl Brisson.
- The Montreal Star, August 11, 1949. Engagement of Frank Gallagher.
- Radiomonde, May 17, 1958. Documentation used to place the end of the Normandie Roof’s period of activity.
- The Gazette, February 4, 1987. Retrospective discussing Liberace and the history of the Normandie Roof.
- La Presse, February 9, 1988. Documentation concerning the transformation of the former Mount Royal Hotel.
- Le Devoir, February 12, 1988. Documentation concerning the opening of Les Cours Mont-Royal.
