April in Paris Ball

Juliette Gréco (left) and Beatrice Lillie (right) starred in the inaugural ball of 1952

The initial show, held on 9 April 1952,[9] featured a "three-hour spectacular of five tableaux, directed by Stuart Chaney", [depicting] a twelfth century scene of troubadours at the court of Eleanor of Aquitaine, Henry VIII's meeting at the Field of the Cloth of Gold, Louis XIV at Versailles, and a fashion show of forty creations by Dior, Fath, Balmain, Dessès and Givenchy".[8] Most of designer Jean Desses' mid-season collection was shown at the ball before his Paris showings in May.[10] Court jesters, singers, numerous dancers, dwarf wrestlers, jousters, trained animals loaned by John Ringling, and three dozen Scotch pipers were also a feature.[7] French stars Juliette Gréco, Jean Sablon, Beatrice Lillie, John Loder, and many others were flown over for the ball. Maxwell and Lillie, dressed as a beturbaned maharajah from India and a harem girl, arrived with brooms and buckets, following an elephant.[11] The coatroom charge was a surprise to the guests; instead of the usual two bits, it was raised to US$0.35 per item.[12]

The second ball, held on 20 April 1953 was organized to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the death of French Renaissance writer and humanist François Rabelais. A spectacular of six tableaux were put on, consisting of Le Moyen Age, with costumes by Marcel Rochas, Le Cardinal aux Chats, with costumes by Jacques Fath, Dans les Jardins de Marly, with costumes by Jeanne Lanvin, Les Chinois a Versailles, with costumes by Nina Ricci and Arturo López Willshaw, Cendrillon de Paris, a fashion show featuring gowns by Balenciaga, Balmain, Desses, Diro, Fath, Givenchy, Gres, Lanvin, Patou and Schiaparelli and hats by Gilbert Orcel, Legroux Soeurs, Paulette and Caroline Reboux, and finally a François Rabelais play, starring Walter Slezak as Rabelais, Tom Ewell as Panurge, Betsy von Furstenberg as Lady Dantern, Albert Hecht as Friar John, and John Cromwell as Bird.[13] The Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus provided a gymnast, dwarf, a juggler, a gargantua and animals. Roger Dunn, Tyrone Power and Reginald Gardiner were invited to conduct the master of ceremonies, with special mention to French actress Suzy Delair.[14] Furniture, tapestries and banners from 17th and 18th century France were provided by French & Co., Lace and Tulle by the Federation Nationale Francaise de Dentelles Tulles Broderies et Passementeries, and jewels by Cartier.

Robert Joffrey fitted out the ballroom as the court of Versailles for the 1954 ball, with students from the Joffrey Ballet and American Ballet Theatre as performers, and Victor Borge cast as Louis XIV.[15] With Audrey Hepburn too ill to perform as John Paul Jones, Gloria Vanderbilt stepped in at the last minute, which impressed Gilbert Miller.[16] Jacqueline Kennedy was an attendee.[17]

Marilyn Monroe and John F. Kennedy attended the 1957 ball

The 1957 event, attended by Senator John F. Kennedy, his wife, Jackie, and Marilyn Monroe, included 1300 guests, who paid $100 each and donated $130,000 to charities;[1] the Duke and Duchess of Windsor attended as well.[18] The Duchess and Elsa Maxwell had reportedly had a major falling out at another ball four years earlier and sat far apart from each other and didn't speak even when they were in the elevator together.[19] The Duke and Duchess were the guests of honor and were seated at the most visible table in the ballroom.[20] One article in The Times Standard even claimed that Maxwell had invited Monroe to the ball to publicly embarrass the Duchess; when Monroe arrived more than 30 photographer abandoned her to photograph Monroe.[21] After the ball, a wealthy New York broker offered to donate $50,000 to charity if Maxwell and the Duchess would abandon their feud and shake hands in front of press photographers. Maxwell was most willing to end the quarrel in this way, but the Duchess declined the offer.[22] The following year, the ballroom was decorated with 30 feet (9.1 m) high chestnut trees. The event brought in US$170,000 for charities.[23]

Dietrich at the April in Paris Ball in 1959

The 1959 ball, the final one to be held at the Waldorf on 10 April 1959, centred around the theme of the Parisian circus of the 18th century. 1000 people attended, paying $150 per ticket.[24] Genuine circus costumes from the period were flown over from France, and the ball featured Marlene Dietrich as a ringmaster in trousers, a waistcoat, top hat and white gloves.[25] Dietrich sang two Maurice Chevalier songs, "Louise" and "Mimi". Cecil Beaton designed a big top of ruby velvet with a "hedge of colored fountains" and thousands of purple flowers.[24]

Due to conflict between Philippe and the Waldorf-Astoria staff, he was exiled from the Waldorf in 1960, and the ball was moved to the Hotel Astor that year, where the likes of Dietrich, Maurice Chevalier, Joan Crawford and organizer Elsa Maxwell helped transform it into the Paris Opera House.[26] A photomural of the Paris Opera House was "mounted on plywood and superimposed in front of Astor Hotel creating the illusion of [the] actual opera house", and photomurals of the interior completed the transformation.[6] Held on 9 April 1960 under the title of Un Bal Masque a l'Opéra de Paris, the show featured a series of tableaux entitled L'Elegance de Paris, with costumes by Revillon, La Couture, with designs by Pierre Cardin, Jean Desses, Christian Dior, Gres, Jacques Heim, Hermès, Guy LaRoche, Nina Ricci and Jean Patou, La Couleur Opera, featuring "La Cabaret de l'Aurore" and the Lester Lanin orchestra and the US premiere of the 1735 Jean-Philippe Rameau French opera-ballet "Les Indes Galantes", starring Mony Dalmes, Jean-Pierre Aumont and Jean Jacques Strauss, Les Fleurs, with Parisian and European opera and ballet stars such as Claude Besny, Pierre LaCotte, George Zoritch, Judith Raskin, and Madeleine Rizzo, and finally Les Savages & La Chaconne, featuring Cathryn Damon, Dorothy Straiger, Constance Carpenter, Gretchen Wyler, Charlton Heston and Myles Easton.[27]

Several ball committee members felt that the name of the ball should be changed, since it was no longer held in April, but in the fall. In 1968, the ball's name was changed to Bal de l'Amitie. The new name lasted only one year and it once more became known as the April in Paris ball in 1969.[28] Moune de Rivel fr was invited to the 1970 event,[29] while in 1973, Josephine Baker was its star.[30] Russell Edwards of The New York Times stated that even in 1974 the Paris Ball "remains the most prestigious, with its national and international guest list, but not necessarily the most social".[31]

• Anawalt, Sasha (19 January 1998). The Joffrey Ballet: Robert Joffrey and the Making of an American Dance Company. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-01755-6.
• Avery, Jeanne (21 April 2010). The Rising Sign. Crown Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-307-49020-9.
• Baker, Jean-Claude; Chase, Chris (30 July 2001). Josephine Baker: The Hungry Heart. Cooper Square Press. p. 460. ISBN 978-1-4616-6109-2.
• Johnson Publishing Company (26 November 1970). "Jet". Jet. Johnson Publishing Company. ISSN 0021-5996.
• King, Greg (1 May 2011). The Duchess Of Windsor. Kensington Publishing Corporation. ISBN 978-0-8065-3521-0.
• Lamparski, Richard (1 September 1973). Whatever became of ...? Fourth series. Crown Publishers. ISBN 978-0-517-50425-3.
• Morehouse III, Ward (1991). The Waldorf Astoria: America's Gilded Dream. Xlibris, Corp. ISBN 978-1413465044.
• Saturday Review Associates (1969). Saturday Review: (New York, N.Y. : 1952). Saturday Review Associates.
• Staggs, Sam (16 October 2012). Inventing Elsa Maxwell: How an Irrepressible Nobody Conquered High Society, Hollywood, the Press, and the World. St. Martin's Press. ISBN 978-0-312-69944-4.
• Stasz, Clarice (1999). The Vanderbilt Women: Dynasty of Wealth, Glamour and Tragedy. iUniverse. ISBN 978-1-58348-727-3.
• Time Inc (6 May 1957). LIFE. Time Inc. ISSN 0024-3019.
• Time Inc (8 December 1958). LIFE. Time Inc. ISSN 0024-3019.
• Time Inc (23 May 1960). LIFE. Time Inc. p. 90. ISSN 0024-3019.