Variety (February 1912)

VARIBTY "CABARETS" MEAN BIG MONEY; SOME COS TING $1 ,000 WEEKLY One Restaurant Reported to Have Increased Receipts $7,000 From Its Near-Vaudeville. "Maurice," New York's Star Cabaret Performer, Said to Earn $1,500 Weekly. Has the cabaret come to stay? That It has Is the consensus of opinion de- livered by various of the restaurant proprietors who are giving the near- vaudeville shows with meals along Broadway. As long as the spenders want entertainment with the dinner and after-theatre supper, the Broad- way boniface will also cater to their whim and wish. So great a hold has the restaurant form of entertainment gotten on Broad way ites that three of the big- gest of the eating places giving caba- rets are presenting programs, the cost of which range between $600 and $1,- 000 weekly. In addition to these palaces of gastronomic art and mirth, there are a host of smaller restaurants and cafes scattered along the White Way that also furnish entertainment with their eatables and liquids. Some also expend over the five hundred dol- lar mark for talent, while in others the programs range from a singers (who also acts in the capacity of waiters) to sing in quartets, with a "single" to do "coon stuff" on the side. At the most there are but two caba- ret shows in New York, that is, rest- aurant performances that are cabarets in the full realization of the Parisian sense. The one is the performance given nightly in Louis Martin's and the other at Shanley's. But then, there are cabarets and cabarets. The cabaret that has reached Broad- way within the last few months ar- rived through a process of evolution. New York has had cabaret shows for more than a score of years, for the present day title as applied to the restaurant entertainment covers the same sort of amusement that was doled out long ago in McOurk's, better known as "Suicide Hall" on the Bow- ery, and in the last few years has had its greatest vogue in a number of rathskellers on and in the side streets leading from Broadway around the "Tenderloin" section. The first step was accomplished with the advent of the popular type of "rag" number which sprang into exist- ence a little over a year ago. This was soon followed by the stepping into vaudeville of a number of three-acts, previously earning means of suste- nance in the rathskellers in the big centers where the "lid was off." They were followed by a number of "coon shouters" of the female ilk, and then, as a final step, this form of entertain- ment crept into the big Broadway cafes, really securing the Impetus from the defunct Folies Bergere, on West 46th street. Naturally with the advent of enter- tainers in the better class of Broadway cafes it became necessary to bestow upon It a title befitting its most re- cent station in the social scale. There- fore the easiest way was to borrow "cabaret," as the Parisian term the Folies Bergere had adopted for its $1.60 midnight variety performance. At Martin's the show costs the man- agement about $1,000 weekly. The star is one Mons. Maurice, an Ameri- can, who has lived the greater portion of his life in Paris. Maurice, with a girl partner, is receiving $100 nightly for his terpsichorean endeavors in en- tertaining Martin's guests. In addition there are also Susanne Roccamora, formerly of musical comedy and later vaudeville, Templer Saxe, a former musical comedy favorite, Margie Lane, Caroline Dollman, and a team of Span- ish dancers. The shows begins at 11.30 in the evening and lasts until 2.30 A. M. Leo Edwards, who has charge of the artists for Mr. Martin, volunteered the information that "singles" were re- ceiving as high as $76 weekly for their cabaret labors. In addition, they are the first called upon for private din- ners and club affairs, booked at Mar- tin's. Combining the remuneration re- ceived for their regular with the oc- casional club engagement, along with other things, the artists average very high, some weeks. The length of an engagement in a cabaret show depends upon the suc- cess achieved with the patrons of the dining rooms. Miss Roccamora has been at Martin's for nine weeks. Mr. 13axe has been there five weeks. Miss Lane was first engaged when the idea was conceived. At Shanley't> the program costs about $660. There are four female singers, one male and a team of "bear" dancers. Tom Shanley attends to the booking himself, with the assistance of a music publisher. The show given there also begins after the theatres have disgorged their crowds and lasts into the early A. M. Some one conversant with the in- ternal affairs of the Shanley establish- ments stated that the receipts for that restaurant with the cabaret installed showed an increase of $7,000 over the amount spent during the same corre- sponding period of the preceding year. At the Folies Bergere (restaurant, named after the theatre) a show is given that runs throughout the entire evening. It would be hardly fair to classify it as a cabaret. At this res- taurant there is a stage proper and the artists are not permitted to mingle with the guests. Bob Kelser has charge of the stage and entertainers. The performance Is a continuous one, from 6.46 In the evening until 1.30 A. M. There is an orchestra of ten pieces. The entire force works through the dinner rush until about nine. One- half lay off until eleven o'clock and return to play while the after-theatre suppers are served. The stage portion of the program Is also arranged in ac- cordance with the crowds. During the dinner proper but two of the singers appear, both rendering classical or semi-classical numbers, the coon sing- ers being reserved until after dinner, when they are served up with the cor- dials. This arrangement serves to hold some of those that might drop out after dinner to spend an hour or so at a regular theatre. When the Folies Bergere was first opened the bill for the initial week's entertain- ment was in the neighborhood of $1,- 400, Including Gennaro's Band. This was cut down by degrees until the cost of the present show ranges from $700 to $800 weekly. In the opening show there were dancers, Spanish, Russian and "bear," but this restaurant has eliminated these features until the present difficulty with the authorities in regard to cabaret Is definitely set- tled. The acts at the Folies Include Lillian Bradley, Margaret Mudge, Vir- ginia X 6 *** 1 ' M,s * Feist, Long Acre Quartet, Mile. Bergere and Dave Mc- Fadden. Then there are continuous cabarets given in the Garden, Faust's, Berry's, the Lincoln, and a host of smaller places. In the former two the weekly cost of entertainers reaches almost the thousand dollar standard. At the Oar- den there are six male singers. Helen Vincent, in addition to working In the evening, has charge of enter- tainers and an orchestra of five pieces. The orchestra was formerly In vaude- ville as a musical act. At Faust's there are ten singers, consisting of man and women teams and singles, both male and female. Also a banjo orchestra, as well as a regular body of musicians. In the Lincoln and the Pekln the performers are permitted to work in among the tables and mingle with the guests. This is about the real cabaret idea as practised in Paris. Late at night or early in the morning, this is also permitted In the larger restau- rants. So inoculated have New Yorkers be- come with this latest form of diver- sion that the Ritz-Carleton and the Plaza management are considering in- augurating a cabaret room in their hostelrles. At the former a music publisher, who has also appeared in vaudeville, received an offer from the management of $260 weekly to ap- pear once nightly, and take charge of the booking of entertainers. Several of the Broadway hotels have the adoption of the Innovation in mind. It was reported during the week that Mr. Shanley, having seen Bessie Wynn work at one of the vau- deville theatres, offered her an en- gagement at his restaurant for an in- definite period at a salary of $500 weekly. The offer was refused. Mons. Maurice, of the Martin's forces, is supposedly garnering the greatest amount of money of all of cabaret performers. In addition to the salary received at Martin's, he also has a suite of rooms and his board, then report has it that he Is receiving $400 weekly with his partner in the Eddie Foy show at the Globe ("Over the River"). In addition to this the wociety craze to learn the "Turkey Trot" is bringing him no end of pupils. His charge for the terpsichorean in- struction is $26 for half-hour period. Maurice is said to earn as high as $1,600 weekly. At one of the new York "all-night" cabarets, not noted particularly for the number of people in evening dress drawn to the place, the star of the cabaret performance not so long ago was a young girl, who came to the "rathskellar" fresh from a convent In Detroit. She was a singer. Knowing no "rags," the convent-bred young woman, who really had a voice, sang for the delectation ot "the bunch" present Gounod's "Ava Maria" and other sober arias contained only In her repertoire while she was among the other songsters. No matter how late the hour or how noisy the crowd, the little slip would always quiet down the roysters, and very often left the female frequenters in tears. The convent girl left, after remaining there for some weeks, as suddenly as she had arrived. The cabaret, as New York now knows it, antedated the Folies Ber- gere theatre show in the early months of the Cafe Beaux Arts on 6th avenue, where Thursday night of each week was devoted to professional perform- ances attended only by those who re- ceived invitations from the manage- ment of the restaurant, with .the en- tertainment contributed by talent from the guests. In many instances the art- ists requested to appear by the master of ceremonies were the highest salar- ied and most popular actors on the local boards for the week. Monologlsts and story tellers were always on hand. While these Thursday evenings passed with much decorum on the part of the guests, the entertainers were not lim- ited in their efforts to create amuse- ment. If a bit here and there were a trifle risque the cosmopolitan assem- blage listening merely accepted what- ever happened or was said as an ad- ditional relish to the meal. Later on the Kalserhof took on a similar policy for Sunday nights. These restaurant entertainments of this kind were suggested by a series of Sunday night concerts that had pre- viously been inaugurated by Edward E. Pidgeon, the popular newspaper man and publicity promoter, at the Circle theatre, New York, when he was in charge of the press department Going back beyond all these things, however, for the origination of the Parisian near - vaudeville - wlth-food scheme in this country, one must give credit to the Paris of America, San Francisco, where this sort of thing has been In vogue longer, and long before the number of restaurants in New York almost equaled the saloons. As a matter of fact most of the entertain- ers considered the real rathskeller acts appearing around New York are from the Coast. In San Francisco the whirlwind style of dancing for cabaret shows passed through its time and was succeeded out there by Spanish dancers. Danc- ers of this type with names were paid large salaries and held for long runs. New York is now having Its fill of the whirlwind dancing. To accommodate these, a raised platform has been built in some restaurants, while In others there is what is called the "floor caba- ret," i. e., a apace cleared away on the Poor of tho restaurant, wh»TO the sing- ers and dangers appear