The New York herald., 1922-06-04
and Champagne Lure
For Tourists Dollars IN Berlin

L VI Il ~
Special correspondence to THE NEW York
HERALD.
New York Herald Bureau.l
Beriia, May ss.S
The casual visitor to Berlin leaves
with confused impression OF cab
arets-big cabarets more like variety
shows and little cabarets in vivid
colors, bandboxes where people are so
closely packed together that they can
register no other impression than Of
standing on one another's toes. The
tourist who rides along Berlin's
Broadway. the MISUNDERSTANDING,
across Berlin, and then along Inter
den Linden and the Friedrichstrasse
sees lines of new and brightly
painted facades. Those which are not
banks are cabarets.
Cabarets in Berlin are nearly as old
an institution as in Paris. but they
are essentially different. The French
c6baret, despite much obvious clap
trap to attract the Indifferent crowd.
is still the sparkling, cynical chroni-
Gle of political and social events.
Whoever the public figure Of the mo-
ment may be-, whether a Millerand. a
Nine. Sorel or a Landru. he or she
is paraded before friendly Partisan
cynics who laugh as heartily over
their own foibles as they do over
those Of others.
Artists Too Earnest to Laugh.
The German cabaret has a different
purpose. The essentially artistic cabaret
on the Munich SimpIicisssnsus model does
not reflect current events. The artists
are in too dead earnest to laugh over
serious things. Theirs is the stage OF
the romantic love affair or of the tragic
murder. They give the morbidly en-.
crossing wedekind murder or the
| Strindberg flight into subconscious
spheres with uncomfortable realism
High tension is broken by the German
sentimental ballad. This for simplicity.
tears and mush has the old English love
song crowded or the map. The song Is
that of the poor little Friedrichstrasse
girl. deserted by nearly everybody. who
voice. to sing about her loneliness.
This traditional type OF German cab
aret Is now considerably modified by the
dollar ideal. The newer German cab
arets have become systematized money
getting machines. Every move from the
doorman to the coat check clerk leads
toward the pocketbook. These establish
ments offer their guests splendid op-
portunity to spend much money osten-
tatiously. Champagne is king. The plush
chairs are deep and comfortable. The
cabaret program does not interfere with
a,business conversation. Guests talk dol
lar and exchange at their tables, while
the singers on the stage give back the
echo In little skits about lodging the
butter and chocolate.
Million Foreigners In Berlin.
The influence which has radically
modified the Berlin cabaret came with
the foreign invasion. There are over q
million foreigners In Berlin---a fourth OF
the population. The Russians. for ex-
ample, have over a hundred cafes, caba-
rets and restaurants here. Every Wen
nese artist seeks a stage In Berlin. the
crown. The Scandinavian and Eastern
peoples all have their particular amuse.
ment places. There is now. for example
Swedish ballet. Recently the firs,
English, play was given for Americans
at the Deutsches Theater. one Of the
Reinhardt buildings. Jazz and near
jazz is a pretension OF nearly every
cabaret.
Plots in the original simplicissiwps
cabaret were usually forceful and to the
point. The following are typical ones
A man finds his wife in the arms OF a
friend. The jealous husband then shoots
them both and finishes off the inciden,
by shooting himself. But thinking Of an
errand he had failed to do. he comes
back to life and discovers that he had
made a mistake and that he really was
not the unhappy woman's husband but
some one elses. She also revives In
order to reproach him for his careless
ness. The plot then thickens until the
only way out for all the characters Is to
commit hara-kiri. or. as In "Dr. Cali
gari." to transport their entire tragedy
within the walls Of an insane asylum.