Cabaret

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Marlene Dietrich in The Blue Angel Despite the growing attendance of mainstream members of society, the performers and creators of cabarets continued to be drawn from peripheral groups whose viewpoint remained ironic. The proliferation of cabarets allowed minority concerns to infiltrate popular entertainment. Throughout central and eastern Europe, many performers, composers, authors, and impresarios were Jews; and although there were only a few exclusively Jewish cabarets, comedy and political commentary were permeated with Yiddish rhythms, attitudes and words. Outside views on national concerns were provided by Hungarians working in Austria, Germans working in Czechoslovakia, and émigré Russians working in Germany and France. In general, the inter-war cabaret was less venturesome and formally experimental than its precursors, but its slicker techniques enabled its messages to be more easily absorbed by the public. As the pressures of Nazi involvement forced cabaret out of its usual venues, the irrepressible urge to fight against the government and its rule thrived among émigrés, fugitives, resistance workers, and even in concentration camps. Weimar Berlin quickly gained the reputation of having the most conspicuous gay subculture in Europe. Despite a law against homosexual activity between males, by the late 1920’s, a saunter through the gay clubs was a standard item on the sightseer’s agenda. Many of these clubs hosted their own cabarets. Lesbian clubs were slightly more exclusive. The singer Claire Waldoff described the Pyramide in Berlin’s West End in her memoirs: “One had to go through three house-doors before arriving at the clandestine Eldorado of Women, admission 30 pfennings. Four brass musicians were playing the proscribed Club anthem. A room decorated with garlands, peopled with famous painters and models. Famous male painters from the Seine were to be seen; beautiful, elegant women, who wanted to learn just a little about Berlin’s seamy side, infamous Berlin; and amorous little secretaries; and there were petty jealousies and tears nonstop, and the loving couples always had to disappear to settle their conjugal differences outside. Every so often in the course of the evening, they would strike up the famous ‘Cognac Polonaise,’ which was celebrated by kneeling on the dance floor with a full glass of cognac in front of one. My pen quails before the unparliamentary verses of this Polonaise.” Bertolt Brecht and Karl Valentin (with tuba) and friends at the Munich Oktoberfest 6
Poster for “The Lavender Lay” The “proscribed anthem” to which Waldoff refers was the so-called “Lila-Lied,” or “Lilac Song.” Lilac refers to the English lavender for the gay color, because of its muted, in-between nature; “Lilac Nights” alluded to the round of pleasure to be had in Berlin. Marcellus Schiffer (1892-1932) composed it for Wilhelp Bendow to sing at the Untamed Stage, and promised the performer that his tuxedo, the band around his straw hat, and even the bar would be lilac to go with it. Marcellus Shiffer The Lavender Lay (Das Lila- Lied) by Marcellus Shiffer 1928 How civilized That we’re despised And treated as something taboo, Though wise and good, ‘cause our selfhood Is special through and through. We’re classified Fit to be tried, For the law forbids us too. Since we’re of different stripe, They malign and fine our type. REFRAIN: After all, we’re different from the others Who only love in lockstep with morality, Who wander blinkered through a world of wonders, And find their fun in nothing but banality. We don’t know what it is to feel that way, In our own world we’re sisters and we’re brothers: We love the night, so lavender, so gay, For, after all, we’re different from the others! Why, the quarrels Others’ morals Foist on us, torment bringing? We, near and far, Are what we are. They’d love to see us swinging. But still we think Were we to swing, You’d soon hear them complain, For, sad their plight, In just one night, Our sun would shine again. For equal rights we fought our bitter war! We will be tolerated, and never suffer more!! REFRAIN (repeat) 7
Page 1 and 2: CABARET “We want pure art, beauty
Page 3 and 4: Welcome to Berlin It is Germany, 19
Page 5: After Germany’s loss in WWI, the
Page 9 and 10: Popular Cabarets Apart from the vas
Page 11 and 12: The Emcee: The Conferencier Paul Mo
Page 13 and 14: Germany: The First Thirty Years 191
Page 15 and 16: The Weimar Republic The Weimar Repu
Page 17 and 18: How to make a Prairie Oyster! 1 who
Page 19 and 20: Sex and Prostitution Many factors a
Page 21 and 22: Bertolt Brecht Bertolt Brecht, one
Page 23 and 24: Cabaret: Production History 1966 -
Page 25 and 26: “Art…more effectively than alco
Page 27 and 28: Art…has existed in every known ci
Page 29: Bibliography/Webliography 29

Cabaret

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