Soviet aviators at the Palais Café (1925)
Soviet aviators, led by Isay Schmidt, are being feted at the Palais Café, on Avenue Edward VII, before returning to the USSR.
An inquiry from a descendant of one of photographed persons - a Comintern executive and Soviet Vice-Consul S. L. Vilde - brought to light the details of this event and its location.
In August 1925, four crews of Soviet pilots, led by Isay Pavlovich Schmidt, embarked on an experimental flight from Moscow to Peking, overcoming some 7,000 km in sixty hours. Having successfully completed the unprecedented mission, one half of the expedition took two of their planes to Shanghai, landing at the Kiangwan aerodrome on August 20. After a week in the city, just before their departure, the Soviet aviators were treated to an official tiffin at the Shanghai Bureau of the Foreign Affairs, and then to an unofficial banquet at the Palais Café, where representatives of “unions of merchants, students and laborers” presented Schmidt with lavish trophies.
Below are two photos of the entrance to the Palais and its interior.
1949. Entrance to the Palais Café on Avenue Edward VII.
1929. The curved canopy above the stage, seen in the top photo, is here on the right.