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The guests of the hotel were also Asta Nielsen, the famous star of the silent movies and the stage and screen actress Gitta Alpar, who was so popular in Zagreb that her fans besieged the railway station and the Esplanade hotel for hours. Similarly, crowds waited for the arrival of the black Venus, queen of the Parisian cabarets, singer and dancer, Josephine Baker. Upon her arrival she had to fight her way through the masses at the main entrance of the hotel. The fans Croatianized her name and shouted “we love Pepica Bekerica”. Some puritan ladies of Zagreb demanded that her performance be cancelled, but in spite of that, the citizens of Zagreb could enjoy her half naked and sensual dance.
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