Cabaret

The Emcee: The Conferencier
Paul Morgan
The Kadeko
As a result, the conférencier dwindled into a mere master of ceremonies. What was lost was the
amateur or bohemian atmosphere of the cabaret, which grew ever more professional in its
slickness and appeal to a more broad-based audience.
Fritz Grunbaum
The character of the Emcee in Cabaret is based on the role of the
conférencier in Weimar cabarets. These conférenciers served the role of
introducing cabaret acts, but they were also known for their political and
social commentary. Once the Third Reich came to power, the role of the
conférencier became controversial, many were banned from clubs across
the city. The term emcee in place of “Master of Ceremonies” began to be
used in place of conférencier in 1938.)
Paul Morgan was one of the biggest stars of the Weimar era. Born Georg
Paul Morgenstern in Vienna in1886, he came to Berlin in 1917 to perform at
The Lessing Theatre. By the 1920’s he was a well-known conférencier
(emcee) on the Cabaret circuit and in 1924, together with German director
Kurt Robitschek, he founded the 900 seat Kabarett der Komiker
(nicknamed the Kadeko), Berlin’s famous Cabaret of Comedians.
The Kadeko hosted some of the sharpest and wittiest conférenciers of the
day, most regularly, popular satirist, Paul Nikolaus. By 1929, the necessity
to fill the gargantuan theatre caused Robitschek to adopt a more cautious
approach. The conferencier still told political jokes, but the rest of the
show remained a mélange of songs, vaudeville acts and comic one-act
plays.
The inexorable rise of the Nazi’s, and the now ever-present threat of
street violence had a dramatic effect on the Kadeko, as patrons
became afraid to venture out, especially into the neighborhood it was
in.
Other Popular Weimar Conférencier
Karl Jöken (2nd from the left), Max Hansen (front), Paul
Morgan (far right) and the Weintraub Syncopators in “Das
Kabinett des Dr. Larifari” (1930)
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