''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 performances, sketch comedy, magic, acrobatics, juggling, and ventriloquism. It is normally introduced by a comp� ...

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 ; ), 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 waiting staff, welcom ...

" 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 45 minutes, the episodes attracted many famous singers and dancers of the day:

Josephine Baker Freda Josephine Baker (; June 3, 1906 – April 12, 1975), naturalized as Joséphine Baker, was an American and French dancer, singer, and actress. Her career was centered primarily in Europe, mostly in France. She was the first Black woman to s ...

appeared in an edition broadcast on 26 June 1948 and the

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vocal group

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' first names: En ...

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 Service (TV network) original programming Lost BBC episodes Black-and-white British television shows British variety television shows British English-language television shows {{BBC-tv-prog-stub