The Newport Jazz Age Festival Asks, “Can I Have This Dance?”

By: Megan Garvey
Posted In: Entertainment

“When they begin the Beguine

Oh yes, let them begin the Beguine, make them play

Till the stars that were there before return above you

Till you whisper to me once more,

“Darling, I love you!”

And we suddenly know what heaven we’re in

When they begin the Beguine.”

Cole Porter said it perfectly. Let’s let the beguine begin for one

exceptional night with that one special person.

The “Begin the Beguine” Valentine’s Day dance is coming to town as

part of the Newport in the Jazz Age Festival. The dance will be at the

Rosecliff Mansion on Bellevue Avenue in Newport beginning at 9 p.m. on

Saturday February 14 with an admission of $50.

“Everyone is invited to the dance,” said Beverly Ware, Special Event

Department of the Preservation Society of Newport. “We send invitations to our members and put up brochures around town.”

The dance is just one of a long series of jazz events that will be

going on during the month of February at the festival. This is the first

annual Valentine’s Day dance at Rosecliff Mansion with the new theme of a jazz festival.

“This dance is part of a three month long festival which is different

from the Newport Winter Festival which is only a week and a half,” said Ware.

The festival has many different types of events including lectures,

tours, exhibits, films, concerts, dances, food and wine events, et cetera.

During the month long celebration, one is able to tour the Breakers, the Elms and Rosecliff mansions with a focus on the people who lived, worked and partied in them during the Jazz Age.

The festival also includes concerts and films, for example, a showing

of “The Great Gatsby” which has scenes that were shot on location in Rosecliff Mansion. Lectures during the festival feature topics that include, Newport during the wars, the Newport society, and Jazz and fashion presentations.

Around town, local restaurants will have entertainment, art exhibits

will be on display at the Newport Art Museum, the Born Family Skating Center will be open, the Winter Festival, and special activities for children are also a part of the Jazz Festival.

The Rosecliff Mansion was completed in 1902 after being purchased by

the Nevada silver heiress Theresa Fair Oelrich for $2.5 million from George Bancroft, an amateur horticulturist.

Mr. and Mrs. J. Edgar Monroe of New Orleans now preserve the mansion.

The family gave the house, its furnishings, and an endowment to the

Preservation Society in 1971.

The Preservation Society of Newport was founded in 1945 as a private,

non-profit educational organization. It is now Rhode Island’s largest

cultural organizations that preserves and protects the best of the

architectural heritage in the Newport area.

For more information or to purchase tickets, call 401-847-1000 or go

to www.newportmansions.org.

Remember to buy the roses, dress in your Sunday best and put on your

dancing shoes on your way to the Rosecliff Mansion for a romantic night with that special someone.