Kaberett

Normal, everyday people are responsible for the creation of Kabarett. It developed in France in the late 1800s. It originated from wine cellars and taverns, which served as the inspiration for the name, Cabaret, later evolving into the German “kabarett”. The cabarets began modestly, as sing-alongs with patrons of the cellars and taverns. Once the owners recognized the public’s craving for entertainment, they started hiring other performers to provide entertainment to attract more business. As these new kabaretts gained popularity, they attracted artists and writers who would meet to exchange thoughts, critique each other’s work, discuss current events, and develop ideas together. The first true artistic Kabarett originated in Montmarte at an artists’ cafe named Chat Noir, owned by Rodolphe Salis. Before Chat Noir opened, Montmarte was a place for people who didn’t belong in mainstream society. It was the home of artists and prostitutes, people who weren’t welcome in the rest of society. The artistic atmosphere of Chat Noir flourished. The cafe promoted socially critical artists. One of Salis’s main goals when creating this first Kabarett was to create satire that commented on society. He wanted to break up the uniformity of naturalism that overwhelmed the artistic community at the time. The vast majority of art was created to represent life in as realistic as possible The idea of satire was very important to Kabarett in general. It gave the artists who frequented the Kabaretts the ability to comment on the social, political and economic climates.In these cases, satire took the form of poetry, song, dance, as well as the creation of comics. (Appignanesi)

A few of the most prolific art forms that blossomed from these early kabaretts were the chanson and the Theatre d’Ombres. Chansons were songs that relayed information. At the time, the wealthy class controlled newspapers. The wealthy were the filter through which all information flowed. With the development of chansons, artists could pass news along disguised as a form of entertainment. There is a song called ‘The Expulsion’ that is a great example. The song is about an anarchist during the Third Republic in France who is rebelling against the return of royalty. The Theatre d’Ombres, or shadow theatre, had a similar goal. Henri Riviere created Theatre D’Ombres, which soon became a popular spectacle. In addition to shadow puppets, there was a live orchestral accompaniment, complete with a choir, and sometimes live actors who would enact scenes. .

Ernst von Wollzogen started the first Berlin Kabarett in 1899 in an effort to recreate the Parisian cafe. In this kabarett, Wollzogen intended to “produce high-quality artistic entertainment as a counterweight to the trashy music hall fare that dominated the city's stages at the time” (Connolly). Wollzogen’s Kabarett differed from its Parisian counterparts in that the employees Wollzogen drew forward were “satirical magazine writers, composers and out-of-work actors to his stage to perform their often subversive songs,” which allowed for the development of the Berlin kabarett’s own unique performance style (Connolly). According to Jeravich, “Berlin cabaret was a product of changes in urban life and artistic taste at the beginning of the twentieth century” (Page 10). One of the first Kabaretts featured Rudolf Nelson on piano and Miss Erlholz center stage. Mr. Nelson was a composer and the founder of Nelson Revue, and his wife, Miss Erlholz, was a singer, described as “one of the four people in the Berlin cabaret scene who have talent” (King, Nelson, Opitz). Of Miss Erlholz, one reporter said: “her job in Berlin is to appear elegant and gently but firmly to present - without forcing or exaggerating or making a caricature of herself - the whole brash give-and-take of late-night entertainment with the same cold composure one might show a non-paying john.” (King, Nelson, Opitz). The same kabarett later featured a small black androgynous man with cherry-red lips, “nimble as a dancer and coquettish as a goldfinch, for whom concepts like sin, perversion, and the renunciation of Philistinism simply doesn’t exist” (King, Nelson, Opitz). A more ordinary performer, Miss Waldoff wore a sleek black dress with a white folded collar and performs with arms hanging down and satisfied but a bored expression. She doesn’t make an effort to connect with the crowd, and her jokes are sharp one-liners that “drift off in smoke, wordplay, [and] witticism” (King, Nelson, Opitz).

The word kabarett was first used in 1910, as a way to identify the risqué entertainment houses (Lareau 472). The kabaretts catered to tourists seeking pleasure and decadence. According to Lareau, “Cabarets before the first world war stressed two things: conspicuous consumption and eroticism” (473), meaning that they intended to exploit the audience by encouraging excessive alcohol use and sexual exploration. After 1910, the idea of kabaretts shifted from focusing on exploring the “artistic intentions” to “champagne” and “spicy punch lines” because people sought entertainment “without having to think”(473). Going to a Kabarett was no longer about expanding artistic intellectual horizons and it was more about finding a distraction. The acts that followed this change in entertainment were “magicians, jugglers, dance comics, acrobatic dancers.” By the 1920s, kabarett’s appeal “lost its vanguard impetus”(474) due to being overshadowed by the film industry and the increase in Germany’s “broad middle class.” Kabaretts became a “low” form of art. Between 1924 and 1929, there was a movement for “Americanization and icy objectivity”(474). Herman Niebe observed that “the cultured, sophisticated audience” was missing (474).

Initially, these kabaretts were subjected to censorship by Weimar government. Scripts had to be submitted by the owners of the kabaretts to the police to determine suitability for public presentation, meaning there was no obscenity, blasphemy, or lese-majesty (offending the government). Early in the creation of kabaretts, police were lenient in terminating performances because the kabaretts were intended to be satirical in nature. Beginning in 1904, however, officers were instructed by the government to uphold article 33a of the Commercial Code, nicknamed the “Tingeltangel paragraph,” which required for-profit performances without “higher artistic interest” to request a special permit to have costumed actors and singers, stage sets, and props. In addition, vaudeville halls had to pass fire safety inspections, and end performances by 11:00pm. All of these regulations made it much harder for Kabaretts to succeed, as permits were hard to come by, and most customers were more interested in late shows. Pub-Kabaretts, kabaretts taking place in local pubs, however, did not have to apply for these permits, as they were deemed restaurants.

Appignanesi, Lisa. The Cabaret/ Lisa Appignanesi. Studio Vista, 1975.

Connolly, Kate. A Kabarett Interpretation of the Teletubbies. The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 14 Feb. 2001

Jelavich, Peter. Berlin Cabaret. Harvard Univ. Press, 1993.

Lareau, Alan. The German Cabaret Movement during the Weimar Republic. Theatre Journal, vol. 43, no. 4, 1991, pp. 471–490.

Tucholsky. Berlin! Berlin! Dispatches from the Weimar Republic. Translated by Opitz, Berlinica Pub Llc, 2013.