The Kabarett der Komiker (the Cabaret of Comedians, often shortened to “Kadeko”) was a Berlin variety venue which throve especially during the Weimar Era.
It was founded on December 1, 1924, by a trio of performer/entrepreneurs. Kurt Robitschek was an Austrian Jew with a track record singing and M.C.ing in Vienna and Berlin clubs. Paul Morgan (Paul Morgenstern), also a Viennese Jew, had serious training in the legit theatre, acted in scores of films, and had been an m.c. at Rudolph Nelson’s cabaret. Max Hansen was the son of famous Danish actress Eva Haller and a Hungarian Jewish artist, though the identity of his father was not known during his lifetime. Hansen too was also an all-around cabaret artist, singer (with opera chops), songwriter, etc. as well as a film and radio actor. Their combined experience and reputations gave birth to this new enterprise, where satirical comedy was the glue that held together shows that featured songs, sketches, monologues, and variety acts of the sort associated with circus and vaudeville (clowns, acrobats, musicians, dancers, magicians, etc). This great artifact promotes an appearance by British magician Cardini:
Starting on a modest scale, the venue eventually moved up to a 950 seat theatre on the
Kurfürstendamm. Most of the top Berlin stars of the day played the Kadeko, and while much ephemera (posters, programs, ads, photos etc) still exist, as well as theatre reviews and column clips from periodicals, the texts of what was actually performed seem to have been scattered and lost. From 1925 through 1933, the Kadeko also published its own in-house humor magazine Die Frechheit, edited by Robitschek and Morgan.
In 1933 the Nazis came to power, meaning big changes for the Kadeko, which had naturally showcased anti-Nazi material for nearly a decade. Founded a year after the failed Beer Hall Putsch at a time when the Nazis seemed down and out, the club now found the tables turned. Robitschek moved to Prague then Vienna then Paris then London and finally New York where he married Kadeko star Ilse Boise and booked stage shows under the name “Ken Robey”. Hansen was able to work in Vienna for a time before finding success in Denmark and Sweden. Morgan was not as lucky. He worked for a time in Vienna and Prague before making the mistake of returning to Vienna. Shortly after Austria’s annexation in 1938 he was arrested and sent to Dachau, and finally to Buchenwald, where he died a few months later.
Yet by adapting to the altered conditions, a very different version of the Cabaret of Comedians was able to survive without its founders. From 1933 through 1938 it was managed by singer Hans Schindler (no relation to Oskar). Most of the Jewish, queer, and leftist entertainers had fled, and so the shows now consisted of strictly ethnically German talent, and no political content. In 1938 Schindler died and the reigns were handed over to cabaret artist and film actor Willi Schaeffers, under the strict supervision of Josef Goebbels’ Ministry of Propaganda. Schaeffers ran the place until the Nazis shut down all the theatres in 1944. After the war was over, he reopened, but an impoverished, demoralized, and isolated West Berlin was no longer in the mood for his brand of light entertainment (nor his past collaborationism) and The Kabarett der Komiker closed for good in 1950.
Looming events raise an obvious question as I write this. To what extent will American entertainment be monitored, censored, and banned under its imminent neo-Fascist government? We’ve already witnessed weak-kneed capitulation by certain TV presenters. Watch carefully. The change in content will likely be gradual and unannounced. To the extent that you can, please don’t reward the people who cave. Seek out the dissenters. You’ll need them just as much as they need you.
For more on the history of variety entertainment, please check out No Applause, Just Throw Money: The Book That Made Vaudeville Famous.