Risque photos of showgirls at the exclusive nightclub where Christine Keeler worked at the time of the Profumo scandal have emerged.
There are also unpublished photos by Tom Blau of the Welsh model and showgirl Mandy Rice-Davis (actual name Marilyn Foreman), who was Keeler’s associate.
The great and good of the London scene flocked to Murray’s Cabaret Club in Soho during the Swinging Sixties to watch the scantily-clad performers.
The club’s famous clientele included the Kray twins, King Hussein of Jordan, Randolph Churchill, Princess Margaret and actress Jean Harlow.
One member was the society osteopath Stephen Ward, who befriended club hostess Keeler and later introduced her to war minister John Profumo.
Keeler ended up sleeping with both him and handsome Russian spy Evgeny Ivanov – prompting fears of a national security breach as the Cold War raged.
She was jailed for perjury in December 1963 after Profumo had resigned over the extra-marital affair he tried to cover up by lying in the House of Commons.
The scandal ultimately helped bring down the Conservative government at the 1964 election.
Unpublished photos by Tom Blau of the Welsh model and showgirl Mandy Rice-Davis
Mandy Rice-Davies posing in a photo shoot for photographer Tom Blau
The main collection of 24 black and white photos features showgirls in revealing outfits, extravagant fur numbers and even topless poses.
The extraordinary costumes were created by theatre costume designer Michael Bronze who worked for Murray’s Cabaret Club from 1939 until the mid-1960s.
The photo album is part of a collection of Profumo Affair material going under the hammer at auctioneers Sworders, of Stansted Mountfitchet, Essex.
Keeler worked at Murray’s in 1959 and 1960.
She once said of her time working there: ‘Working at Murray’s left you in an unreal world; at night-time you entered this fantasy place where the rich and famous queued for your attention.
‘It was only after I left Murray’s and returned to the real world that I realised the strange underground fantasy life I had been leading.’
She described the club as a place where showgirls walked bare-chested and the hostesses moved among rich, champagne-swilling middle-aged men.
Rice-Davies, a nightclub dancer, met Keeler at the Cabaret Club.
Keeler then introduced her to Ward and to slum landlord Peter Rachman, who would become her lover.
Mandy Rice-Davies’ risque photo shoot for photographer Tom Blau
Rice-Davies met Christine Keeler at the Cabaret Club. The pair became embroiled in the Profumo Affair
Mandy Rice Davies in the risque photo shoot. She became notorious after appearing in the court case involving Stephen Ward
The main collection of 24 black and white photos features showgirls from the Cabaret Club in revealing outfits, extravagant fur numbers and even topless poses
The photo album is part of a collection of Profumo Affair material going under the hammer at auctioneers Sworders, of Stansted Mountfitchet, Essex
Another Cabaret Club showgirl in a racy pose. The club was a favourite haunt of the rich and famous
Ward later went on trial at the Old Bailey after being charged with living off the immoral earnings of both Rice-Davies and Keeler.
In the witness box, Rice-Davies claimed that one of her lovers had been Viscount ‘Bill’ Astor, whose estate in Berkshire was where Profumo met Keeler.
She gained notoriety when she dismissed a denial by the aristocrat that he had slept with her, saying: ‘Well, he would, wouldn’t he?’
Rice-Davies passed away aged 70 in 2014, whilst Keeler died in 2017, aged 75.
A Sworders spokesperson said: ‘Murray’s Cabaret Club, known for its mix of the racy and respectable, attracted a clientele that included royalty, film stars and politicians.
‘The club also played a significant role in the Profumo affair, with Christine Keeler and Stephen Ward, both members, becoming central figures in the scandal.’
A group of Cabaret Club showgirls pose for a group photograph
Another of the Cabaret Club showgirls, posing up for the photo shoot
A Cabaret Club showgirl poses in risque fashion for the photo shoot
A Cabaret Club showgirl stares into a mirror for one of the photographs
A Cabaret Club showgirl poses up a storm in a fur-lined dress
Another Cabaret Club showgirl bangs a drum for her moment in front of the camera
Mark Wilkinson, head of sale at Sworders, added: ‘Anything related to Murray’s Cabaret Club is popular at auction due to the club’s history and extraordinary list of clients who frequented the Soho nightspot.
‘These included Peter Sellers, The Krays, Jane Birkin, Jean Harlow, Kay Kendall, Gertrude Lawrence, Princess Margaret, King Hussein of Jordan and Randolph Churchill.’
Murray’s was originally opened as a jazz and cabaret club in Beak Street, Soho, in 1913 by Jack Mays, an American and Englishman Ernest Cordell.
It was part of the cabaret boom inspired by the tango craze which had been sweeping Europe and the US.
But the growth of more explicit strip clubs and peep shows created unwanted competition and the club which was burdened by huge cost of the costumes and floorshows closed in 1975. The photos are tipped to sell for £300 on August 19.
