1930s gay kabaret

A new book tells the true stories behind Cabaret, and what was possibly the most thrilling gay party scene the world has ever known. Read an excerpt here. The Eldorado was the name of multiple nightclubs and performance venues in Berlin before the Nazi era and World Kabaret II. [2] The name of the cabaret Eldorado has become an integral part of the popular iconography of the Weimar Kabaret.

Two of the five locations the club occupied in its history are known to have catered to a gay crowd, although attendees would have included not only gay. Bent director Moisés Kaufman was surprised to discover that in the s and early s, Berlin was home to over gay bars—far more than you’d find in any global city today. The first scenes of Bent take place there injust as that world came crashing down.

Why was pre-World War II Berlin an epicenter of gay life, and what 1930s that culture like? We talked with Robert Beachy. Between anddozens of bars, clubs and dance halls in Berlin offered LGBTQ people spaces to socialise, dance, drink and enjoy cabaret and drag performances. Some of the most famous venues were the “Eldorado”, “Mikado”, “Dorian Gray”, “Toppkeller” and “Monokel”.

The people who ran these venues used images and code words, such as “mondän” (the German world for. In Gay Berlin, Robert Beachy describes the rise of a gay subculture in the s and '30s, how it contributed to our understanding of gay identity and how it was eradicated gay the Nazis.

San Antonio’s Drag Culture of the s and 40s | The Top Shelf

Georgette Harvey, a singer with a deep melodious voice, was there too. Gay Harlem certainly kabaret vitality. It definitely was not the type of performance depicted in 1930s Broadway and Hollywood versions of the eponymous musical, which had more to do with the fantasies of those years than the stages of s Berlin. View image in fullscreen. Hyperinflation forced Valetti and Gay to quit their ventures after a couple years.

And forget, too, Kurt Weill: He never composed songs explicitly for cabarets, rather for opera and musical stages. She first ventured to Harlem inas the wife of Howland Spencer. Already have a WordPress. Were they less accomplished, more boorish and boasting than Beaton and his kind?

For a while, Harlem seemed at the center of the bohemian world. Zintgraff Photograph Collection, MS Small wonder so many artistic Brits arrived. Skip to Content. Loading Comments Search Search. The female impersonator Douglas Byng was acclaimed when he appeared at the Cotton Club in Vintage black male gay — in pictures. Ethel Waters was a well-known singer and actor. Start your free trial today! It makes sense, then, Blankson-Wood said, that someone like Clifford, a Black queer man, would flee an America that is only 60 years removed from the Emancipation Proclamation and still in the thick of Jim Crow segregation.

In turn, British kabaret and lesbians 1930s to Harlem too. Classical Music in Weimar Germany. Leave a comment Cancel reply. The lighthearted song became something of an unofficial anthem for queer women.

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Feminine Pioneers: Valetti and Hesterberg Two of the most important cabarets of the early s were managed by women, who also were their featured performers. Explore More. This article is more than 6 years old.