Gentlemen's Clubs: Knight Clubs 1936 Chevrolet Motor Company

more at http://quickfound.net/

THE DEVELOPMENT OF MEN'S CLUBS IS TRACED FROM KING ARTHUR TO THE PRESENT TIME. HISTORICAL FACTS MIXED WITH HUMOROUS BITS IN AN INSPIRING & ENLIGHTENING PICTURE.

Originally a public domain film from the Library of Congress Prelinger Archives, slightly cropped to remove uneven edges, with the aspect ratio corrected, and one-pass brightness-contrast-color correction & mild video noise reduction applied.

The soundtrack was also processed with volume normalization, noise reduction, clipping reduction, and/or equalization (the resulting sound, though not perfect, is far less noisy than the original).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gentlemen's_club

Wikipedia license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

A gentlemen's club, or traditional gentlemen's club, is a private social club originally set up by and for British upper-class men in the 18th century, and popularised by English upper middle-class men and women in the late 19th century and early 20th century.

Many countries outside the United Kingdom have prominent gentlemen's clubs, mostly those associated with the British Empire. In particular, India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh have enthusiastically taken up the practice, and have a thriving club scene. There are also many extant clubs in major American cities. A gentleman's club typically contains a formal dining room, a bar, a library, a billiards room and one or more parlours for reading, gaming or socializing. Many clubs also contain guest rooms and fitness amenities...

The original clubs were established in the West End of London. Today, the area of St James's is still sometimes called "clubland". Clubs took over some parts of the role occupied by coffee houses in 18th-century London, and reached the height of their influence in the late 19th century. The first clubs, such as White's, Brooks's and Boodle's, were aristocratic in flavour, and provided an environment for gambling, which was illegal outside of members-only establishments.

The 19th century brought an explosion in the popularity of clubs, particularly around the 1880s. At their height, London had over 400 such establishments. This expansion can be explained in part by the large extensions of the franchise in the Reform Acts of 1832, 1867, and 1885. Each time, hundreds of thousands more men were qualified to vote, and it was common for them to feel that they had been elevated to the status of a gentleman, thus they sought a club. The existing clubs, with strict limits on membership numbers and long waiting lists, were generally wary of such newly enfranchised potential members, and so these people began forming their own clubs. Each of the three great Reform Acts corresponded with a further expansion of clubs, as did a further extension of the franchise in 1918. Many of these new, more "inclusive" clubs proved just as reluctant as their forebears to admit new members when the franchise was further extended.

Club Life in London, an 1866 book, begins: "The Club in the general acceptation of the term, may be regarded as one of the earliest offshoots of man's habitual gregariousness and social inclination."

An increasing number of clubs were characterised by their members' interest in politics, literature, sport, art, automobiles, travel, particular countries, or some other pursuit. In other cases, the connection between the members was membership of the same branch of the armed forces, or the same school or university. Thus the growth of clubs provides an indicator as to what was considered a respectable part of the "Establishment" at the time.

By the late 19th century, any man with a credible claim to the status of "gentleman" was eventually able to find a club willing to admit him, unless his character was objectionable in some way or he was "unclubbable" (a word first used by Samuel Johnson). This came to include professionals who had to earn their income, such as doctors and lawyers.

Most gentlemen had only one club, which closely corresponded with the trade or social / political identity he felt most defined him, but a few people belonged to several. Members of the aristocracy and politicians were likely to have several clubs. The record number of memberships is believed to have been with Earl Mountbatten, who had nineteen in the 1960s.