Last Updated on June 5, 2026
It was during some routine research on the history of Montmartre’s jazz scene that I came across a figure I’d been woefully ignorant of: Ada “Bricktop” Smith. While she’s far less of a household name than someone like Josephine Baker, Smith deserves greater attention.
She was an extraordinary American dancer, performer and club owner who took 1920s Paris by storm with her jazz club— and enduringly changed the city’s musical & social culture. Here’s a short tribute, with suggestions for further exploration.
Like eight other American women who moved to Paris, then made history (full feature at Paris Unlocked), Ada “Bricktop” Smith— her nickname referred to her mane of reddish hair— was a keystone in the capital’s artistic heyday. Her club, Chez Brick Top’s, hosted luminaries from Cole Porter and Louis Armstrong to the aforementioned Baker and Duke Ellington.
And through her important friendships with countless writers and artists of the so-called “Lost Generation”, she drew together a large network of American and French artists and thinkers. In short, she was a powerhouse.
Here are just a few key “glimmering points” from a life too large and luminous to cover in a short post like this one. I’ll have to consider drafting a longer and worthier portrait down the line— stay tuned.
Born to a formerly enslaved mother, she began her career as a vaudeville performer, touring the US and Canada.
Born in Alderson, Virginia in 1894, Ada Beatrice Smith (use real name) was the youngest child of a Black and Irish-American mother and a Black father. Her mother, who was born enslaved just two years before the Emancipation Proclamation ended slavery in the US, was likely the child of her enslaver.
Following the end of the Civil War, Ada’s family died, and her mother moved north with her children to Chicago, where she would subsequently grow up.
She caught the performance bug at an early age, showing an affection for what she called “saloon” culture in her teens. By 16, she was already a member of a traveling Vaudeville troupe called TOBA, which staged performances around the US and Canada.
Before Paris, there was Harlem…
At around 20, Ada had secured a place in the burgeoning Black cultural scene, or “Renaissance”, in New York City’s Harlem. Already renowned in certain circles for her mad dancing skulls , signature reddish hair and freckles, she was widely known by now as “Bricktop”.
In Harlem, she performed at various clubs— and was already feeling her oats as a future club owner, scoring a gig for a band that included a certain Duke Ellington at Barron’s Exclusive Club. It was also in Harlem that she struck up a friendship with Cole Porter, then only in his 20s.
Her eponymous Montmartre jazz club helped the genre blossom—& hosted countless legends.
By the early 1920s, Ada felt frustrated with what seemed like limited professional prospects, especially amid the rampant racism of Jim Crow America. Having caught wind of the idea that Paris was the place to be for artistic innovation, not to mention a degree of liberation as a Black American, she sailed to Europe in late 1923 or early 1924.
Once landed, she immediately connected with existing friends including Cole Porter, who hired her as a performer at his parties; she was especially reputed for her excellent renditions of the Charleston and The Black Bottom. Word of her talents spread, and she was soon invited to sing at legendary jazz club Le Grand Duc in Montmartre, owned by fellow Black American Eugène Bullard (himself famous for fighting as an aircraft combatant pilot for France in World War I).
{Related at Paris Unlocked: 5 Places in Paris Not Usually Associated With African-American History}
Her performances at Le Grand Duc were pivotal— even fateful. Not only did she meet her friend, the struggling poet Langston Hughes, at the club, but her business acumen and capacity to attract or spot major new talent soon became apparent. It wasn’t long before Bullard had asked her to run Le Grand Duc.
After a few years of learning the ropes, Ada was ready to open her own club across the street in South Pigalle (see our full guide), an intimate venue with space for just 14 tables. It was located in a building that included another club called the “Monico”— and unfortunately the building was razed in the early 2000s. You can still go see the site where it once stood, though, at 64 or 66 Rue Pigalle.
It didn’t take long for the club to become a center of Parisian artistic and musical life, especially for the “Lost Generation”. F. Scott Fitzgerald, Gertrude Stein and Ernest Hemingway were among the patrons, and after befriending Bricktop they helped bring in steady crowds. So, too, did Cole Porter; Ada is quoted by Smithsonian Mag as saying (in her autobiography) that the club was really Porter’s: “My small place was filled every night with Cole Porter and his friends, or Cole Porter’s friends, or friends of Cole Porter’s friends.”
Chez Brick Top’s (often cited as “Chez Bricktops”, but pictures from the era tell otherwise), saw a steady stream of luminaries come through its doors— both performers and guests.
Performers included Sidney Bechet (a seminal jazz soloist), Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Josephine Baker, Django Rheinhart, then-legendary cabaret performer Mabel Mercer, Fats Waller and, of course, Cole Porter.
{Related at The French Culture Podcast: Josephine Baker — Performer, Spy, Activist, Enigma}
Regulars and special guests at the club included Langston Hughes, the actress Tallulah Bankhead, Edward VIII of England ( Ada reportedly taught him to dance the Charleston), and the Duke and Duchess of Windsor.
The golden years continued into the late 1920s, but by 1929, the dream was fraying. The stock market crash— and subsequent Great Depression— greatly dampened the party, and at friends’ urging, Ada left Paris in 1939, just a few months before World War II broke out and Paris fell under Nazi Occupation.
She would open several other Chez Bricktops around the world in the decades that followed, including in Mexico City, Rome, and again in Paris.
The Rome location saw some success in the 1950s, frequented by people including Salvador Dalí, Elizabeth Taylor and even Martin Luther King. It also, intriguingly gave the stage to one Maya Angelou, who was a singer and performer before she became a writer.
But Ada’s attempt to revive the beloved club in post-war Paris fell flat. The city had been scarred by years of war, and was no longer, it seemed, the literary and artistic center of the world.
Cole Porter’s “Miss Otis Regrets” & numerous other songs were written for her
In high school, Ella Fitzgerald’s rendition of Cole Porter’s “Miss Otis Regrets” often filled my adolescent room, and the tragic story it told appealed to my dramatic teen sensibilities. So I was interested to learn that Porter wrote the song for Ada Bricktop. Not about her, as some have senselessly reported (I don’t think she ever “shot her lover down”, as the song goes)— but specifically for her to perform.
Ada performed it repeatedly over the years, both at her own clubs and at others. She also recorded it on a few occasions. I’m hoping to be able to find it somewhere..
Porter wasn’t the only artist to pen works inspired by, or dedicated to the legendary club owner and performer. Django Reinhardt’s discography includes a song called “Bricktop”, and T.S. Eliot is reported to have written a poem for or about her— though I couldn’t find it.
She had a brief affair with Josephine Baker (according to some sources)
Smith has become something of a queer icon in recent years, and amid efforts to unearth histories that have long been overlooked or suppressed. According to many sources, she was bisexual, and had several affairs with women. One alleged affair was with Josephine Baker, whose career she greatly nurtured at Chez Brick Top’s in Paris.
Following Baker’s death in 1975, according to some sources, Bricktop told Baker’s son Jean-Claude that the two women had had a short affair. After Josephine Baker had died, Bricktop told Josephine Baker’s son, Jean-Claude Baker, that the two had had a brief affair.
At 81, she sat for an illuminating interview with the famous journalist & historian Studs Terkel
This was probably the highlight of doing research on Bricktop: finding, and listening to, a remarkable 1975 interview she sat for with Studs Terkel. It’s an amazing experience to hear her voice full of intelligence, wit and humor, and her myriad stories about her life, work and relationships.
Listen to the interview here— and there’s also a full transcript so you can read along.
Sources/For further reading, viewing & listening:
- A Portrait of Smith From the Smithsonian Magazine
- “Ada “Bricktop” Smith discusses her career, her colleagues, and the jazz scene” (Studs Terkel Radio Archive: a fascinating 1975 interview with audio & full transcript)
- To Bricktop, on Her Belated Birthday (Patrick Monahan at The Paris Review)
- “When Montmartre was Harlem-on-the-Seine” (Messy Nessy Chic)
- “How This Black Socialite Ruled Paris” (Forgotten Lives on YouTube)
- “Bricktop the Fabulous” (Making Queer History website)
- Bullard, Bricktop, Baker: People & Places in 1920s Jazz Age Paris (from Montmartre Footsteps; includes a map with key sites to visit)
- Josephine Baker (Great French Icons of the 20th Century, Part 4)– at The French Culture Podcast
Related Features at Paris Unlocked:
The French Culture Podcast: Season 1, Episode 5 – Josephine Baker
Seeking Josephine Baker in Paris: A Bit of History & Places to Visit
8 American Women Who Moved to Paris– & Made History
These Places in Paris Aren’t Usually Associated With Black American History. They Should Be.
Courtney Traub is the Founder and Editor of Paris Unlocked. She’s a longtime Paris resident who now divides her time (as well as she can manage) between the French capital and Norwich, UK. Co-author of the 2012 Michelin Green Guide to Northern France & the Paris Region, she has been interviewed as an expert on Paris and France by the BBC, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Le Figaro, Matador Network and other publications. Courtney has also written and reported stories for media outlets including Radio France Internationale, The Christian Science Monitor, Women’s Wear Daily and The Associated Press. In addition to going down various rabbit holes of curiosity when it comes to French culture, history, food and art, Courtney is a scholar of literature and cultural history whose essays and reviews have appeared in various forums.
