Jerome Zerbe, El Morocco Family Album
Perona, John. “El Morocco” Family Album. Privately Printed. 1937. Book is a hardcover in blue boards and embossed titles, with zebra-patterned endpapers. It is in very good minus condition—covers show a small tear to the seam, two small tears, and a minor scrape. Photographs by Jerome Zerbe.
As elusive today as a table at El Morocco was in its heyday, this privately printed book offers a front-row seat to one of New York’s great social theaters. Jerome Zerbe’s photographs capture the club’s distinctive mix of Park Avenue society, Hollywood glamour, European nobility, and professional celebrities, all posed against the famous zebra-striped banquettes that became its signature. Few books evoke the spectacle of mid-century nightlife so vividly—or the era’s conviction that being seen was an art form in itself.
“Those first years of El Morocco were stupendous. There wasn’t a celebrity or a socialite who didn’t clamor to get in. Evening dress was mandatory, and so large were the crowds that there was often a waiting line a block long to get in.”
--Jerome Zerbe