Cabaret

“ There is the informality of one of our own “smokers” about the whole affair.
Furthermore, no women sing in “Le Grillon”—a cabaret in this respect is different from a café concert, which resembles very much our smaller variety shows. A small upright piano, and in front of it a low platform, scarcely its length, complete the necessary- 117 - stage paraphernalia of the cabaret, and the admission is generally a franc and a half, which includes your drink.
In the anteroom, four of the singers are smoking and chatting at the little tables. ”

“ She made an unconsciously graceful gesture toward the white clouds overhead.
"A cabaret," she went on seriously, "is a republic governed by the patron, audited by the caissière, policed by waiters. Everybody goes there—even you, Monsieur. All languages are spoken there, all questions discussed, all theories aired, all passions ventilated. Every trait of human nature is to be observed there; the germ of every comedy; the motive of every tragedy.... Yet, as you say, it is a saddening school.... Wisdom is too early acquired there. One learns too quickly and too completely in such a school. ”

“ Much credit must be given to those few guests who realized that the gym was supposed to represent a cabaret. We greatly appreciate their penetration. They perhaps didn’t know that fortune-telling and fishing for tin automobiles in the telephone booth were a part of the procedure at a cabaret dance. ”

“ II Open to the street in front, the locality known under the pretentious title of "Cabaret de la Liberte" was a favoured one among the flotsam and jetsam of the population of this corner of old Paris; men and sometimes women, with nothing particular to do, no special means of livelihood save the battening on the countless miseries and sorrows which this Revolution, which was to have been so glorious, was bringing in its train; idlers and loafers, who would crawl desultorily down the few worn and grimy steps which led into the cabaret from the level of the street. ”

“ But—in the Book of Fate it was written otherwise.
CHAPTER VII
Somewhere off the Boulevard St. Michel there is a cabaret. The big dancing hall has red walls painted with yellow shooting stars, and, overhead, electric lights blaze under red and yellow shades. There is a bar at one end, and several little tables for the patrons' use when they tire of dancing. In the evenings a band, in seedy, red uniforms with brass buttons, fills, with a crash of sound, an atmosphere ladened with patchouli and cigarette smoke, and waiters, in still more seedy dress-suits, attend to the tables. ”

“ In a Harlem cabaret
Six long-headed jazzers play.
A dancing girl whose eyes are bold
Lifts high a dress of silken gold.
Oh, singing tree!
Oh, shining rivers of the soul!
Were Eve’s eyes
In the first garden
Just a bit too bold?
Was Cleopatra gorgeous
In a gown of gold?
Oh, shining tree!
Oh, silver rivers of the soul!
In a whirling cabaret
Six long-headed jazzers play.
[26]
NEGRO DANCERS
“Me an’ ma baby’s
Got two mo’ ways,
Two mo’ ways to do de buck!
Da, da,
Da, da, da!
Two mo’ ways to do de buck!”
Soft light on the tables,
Music gay,
Brown-skin steppers
In a cabaret. ”

“ The attendants in the cabaret on the entrance floor, tired as they are by day, will courteously show the cellars, one beneath the other. One must stoop to pass under the heavily vaulted low arches, and the small chambers are overcrowded with a cottage piano and with rough benches and tables ”

“ This becomes a “concert hall” when the proprietor provides more music and additional singers. After a while a café is established, where food can be obtained as well as drinks. The grade of the entertainment improves a bit further and the place is known as a cabaret show, a poor imitation of the legitimate cabaret show given in respectable restaurants. Besides music, dancing, sometimes of an obscene character, is carried on in the rear room. ”

“ A brave young gentleman! Then there's no more to be said. When we are inside the chateau, it will be each of us for himself, though of course we must keep up the comedy of wishing to play chess. Meet me by chance at the cabaret, then, in about an hour. ”

“ He did not tell, say his critics, of our well bred, well behaved church-going majorities, nor of our night schools filled with eager elders, nor of our brilliant college youth being trained in the approved contemporary manner, nor of our quiet, home loving thousands who hardly know what the word cabaret connotes. ”

“ The cabaret chansonniers of Paris are unique in their way. They are a connecting-link between literature and the stage—hermaphrodites of the entertaining world. They write, compose, and sing their own songs, which, often, not only have a distinctive note that makes for art, but are sung inimitably well. Ex-poets, [267] students with a turn for satiric diversion, journalists of Bohemia, all go to swell the ranks of these inheritors of the traditions of Beranger. ”

“ Bibliography. Everybody's Magazine (September, 1909) ; Cosmopolitan Magazine (January, 1910) .
THE CABARET SINGER [31]
[From The East Side (September, 1912) ]
For a few moments the orchestra, with dulcet wail of cello and violin, held the attention of those at the tables, then the Cabaret singer stepped out upon the soft, red carpet.
Against the mirrored wall at a small table set a young chap with his wife. The eyes of his wife followed his quick, admiring glances at the singer. ”

“ We drove back for some distance, and entered a small cabaret, where some women were diligently engaged in spinning, and some men were superintending with intense interest the preparation of some soupe maigre. ”

“ There is not a vacant table, the cabarets, the circus shows, the theatres have poured forth the scum of their habitues here. Everywhere are bright-colored dresses and black frock coats, ladies adorned with plumes like horses in a parade, weary, sick looking and sallow ”

“ There were now to be found the most abandoned and desperate of the whole Parisian world; the assassin, the murderer, the housebreaker, the coiner, found a refuge in this confused wilderness of gloomy alleys and dark dismal passages. When night falls, no lantern throws a friendly gleam along the streets; all is left in perfect darkness, save when the red light of some cabaret lamp streams across the pavement. ”

“ When the artiste stands upon the stage, the saloon before him is his heaven, and there his judges sit, to bestow eternal happiness or eternal condemnation; to crown him with immortal fame, or cover him with shame and confusion. Now, sir, that I have explained to you that the stage saloon is our heaven, and the spectators are our judges, you will understand that these bravos are to us as the music of the spheres."
"Yes, I comprehend," said the king, smiling; "but you must be indulgent; in this theatre etiquette forbids applause. ”

“ From the theatre there could already be heard, in the dressing-room, the sounds of the tuning of the instruments in the orchestra.
The crowds of people had all arrived. The living stream could be heard pouring into the theatre and flowing into the boxes stalls and galleries with the noise and the same kind of peculiar rumble as of a far-off sea.
“It’s a long time since the place has been so full,” remarked the barber in servile ecstasy; “there’s n-not an empty seat!” ”

“ Shakespeare said, "All the world's a stage." If this is true, do we not owe the stage the same courtesy, respect and honor that we owe the world of fellow-men? Be as well-mannered and courteous at the theater and opera as you would in the most fastidious drawing-room. ”

“ She was called frantically and finally when she appeared on the run, the manager caught her by the shoulders, rushed her across the stage and fairly pitched her on the imaginary stage—to the great amusement of the audience.
The tallest and prettiest girl in the ballet had been picked out to do this bit of work, and she had been rehearsed and rehearsed as if she were preparing for the balcony scene of "Romeo and Juliet"; and day after day the stage-manager would groan: "Can't you run? Did you never run? Imagine the house a-fire and that you are running for your life!" ”

“ And rehearsing all day and being scolded by the stage manager wasn't any worse than hanging out clothes in the sun, and being scolded by my stepmother! When I had on my Oriental costume, and got on the stage, with a big green-and-gilt god on one side, and a lot of pink paper cherry blossoms and some girls with funny stringed instruments on the other; with all those queer lights, and the thumpy, Eastern music—well, it was like heaven, that's all! Sometimes I'd hardly wake up till the performance was over. ”

“ Where a large number of the audience do so, as at the opera, the case is different. The walking up and down the foyer and the corridors, the consuming of ices and lemonade, are often a part of the regular programme. One should be careful to return to one’s seat when the warning-bell rings.
It is now thoroughly understood that all ladies should remove their hats at the theater, opera, and concert-hall. Occasionally they are kind enough to do so at a lecture. A man who is with a party of ladies may excuse himself for a short absence, if he sees some one to whom he wishes especially to speak. ”

“ Where the theater party is given by a lady, the gentleman sitting nearest the door of the conveyance performs this service, unless there is a footman in attendance.
Evening dress is the proper costume for men at all performances at the opera, theater, and concert-hall that take place in the evening. This is de rigueur for a theater party, and at the grand opera under all circumstances. For English opera and informal excursions to the theater, the dinner-jacket is often worn. Indeed, our countrymen are very independent in these matters and claim the right to dress as they please. ”

“ Another time I recollect was at a very small provincial theater. There was only one dressing-room in the whole place, and that the ladies had of course. We men had to dress on the stage itself. You can imagine the rest—the yell, the confusion; the wild stampede; the stage looking like the south bank of the Serpentine after 8 P. M.; the rapid descent of the curtain; the enthusiastic delight of the audience. ”

“ From dinner, where they drink quick, they adjourn in clusters to the play, where they crowd up the stage, dressed up in very fine clothes, very ill-made by a Scotch or Irish tailor. From the play to the tavern again, where they get very drunk, and where they either quarrel among themselves, or sally forth, commit some riot in the streets, and are taken up by the watch. Those who do not speak French before they go, are sure to learn none there. ”

“ It might naturally be supposed that all is now quiet at the back and sides of the stage, but this is not always the case; the wings and the stage back of the last drop are filled with those who are to go on next, and one may encounter Sicilian bandits, peasants, Northern gods, or the première danseuse nervously practicing her steps with the master of the ballet. The favored visitor is allowed to walk around in this new world without being molested, and the opera as seen from the floor of the stage or from the “flies” is a sight never to be forgotten. ”

“ In the concert saloon, the variety den, the boys' theatre, and the numerous other dives in which vice parades boldly and nakedly, will be found ample field for trenchant and graphic writing. These pits of infamy flourish everywhere, and are as freely patronized as the charms of their female attractions are freely displayed ”

“ While the audience filed out to supper in the hall, the stage was a scene of dire confusion as gods and goddesses, farmers and barons, maids and carpenters, congratulated one another on the success of their labours. Assuming various costumes, actors and actresses soon joined their guests, to sip bounteous draughts of praise with their coffee, and cool their modest blushes with ice-cream. ”

“ Inside this everybody's club is a café, with hurrying waiters and a solid brass band, and opening from its smoke and absinthe laden interior blazes a small theatre, with stage footlights and scenery, where the several world-renowned artists redeem at a very considerable discount the promissory notes of the bill-boards outside. ”

“ The dress for the opera is more formal than for the theater, generally speaking. The man, for example, usually keeps his white gloves on. The woman, for her part, wears a gown that is sleeveless and decolleté, and displays jewels according to her means or taste. An aigrette takes the [118] place of the hat that may be worn to the theater. Nevertheless, it is quite permissible for a woman occupying a stall in the orchestra at the opera to wear a costume of the sort commonly seen at the theater. ”

“ Let a couple stand, in the presence of a company, with their arms about each other, and their persons in contact as for the "German," let them stand, thus intertwined, and what should we think? The dance is made the excuse for what, without it, would be a gross indelicacy. It is as with much of the opera, in which the fine music is made the apology for words that could not be spoken without it.
THE THEATRE. Girls, I advise you not to go to the theatre. ”

“ On entering the vast salle at such a moment the effect is scarcely imaginable, the gorgeousness of the immense theater, the glitter of the lights, the brilliancy and variety of the costumes, the enlivening strains of music, the mirth of the browd, and, above all, the the untiring velocity with which the dancers whirl themselves through the mazes of the waltz, polka and mazourka, present an appearance of bewindering gayety not to be described. ”

“ The passers-by almost put their faces into the room, and the women and children of the poorer order look wistfully in upon the luxurious guests, the colored glasses, the red wines, and the golden fruits. The Opera troupe is here, both the singers and the ballet ”