THE VERY EARLY DAYS OF CABARET

THE FRENCH ARE CRAZY OR WHAT? THE "CABARET OF HELL" AND THE "CABARET OF HEAVEN" ARE SIDE BY SIDE.

Now look at this!!

Look carefully at these two French Cabarets side by side in Montmartre, Paris. The one on the very left is called "CABARET LE CIEL", meaning "THE CABARET OF HEAVEN”. That's fine, so far. Bumper to bumper and sharing the same wall on the right side, there is another cabaret called "CABARET L’ENFER", meaning  "THE CABARET OF HELL". Just try to figure it out! One is hell, the other is heaven! Are the French crazy or what? They are crazy, alright! The truth is, they are crazy like a fox. Those  two cabarets were created by two Frenchmen who hated each other. The one who owned the "CABARET OF HELL" was an ex-clergyman. The other guy who called his Cabaret "CABARET OF HEAVEN" was an ex-convict and known in the neighborhood as "The morally bankrupt."  The drinks at the "CABARET OF HELL" were more expensive than the cheap drinks served at "CABARET OF HEAVEN", but the food was bloody awful. The owner explained: "Mes chers amis, my drinks are expensive because all those who are going to hell dead or alive come here. They come here, because it is more fun than the other place. There are no rules here, like in hell. In heaven, MON DIEU! there is nothing but rules! So where you would rather prefer to go? To Hell or to Heaven?"

Le Moulin Rouge

A TYPICAL PARISIAN CABARET

Gorgeous Women, More Gorgeous Women, Music, Nudity, Art, High Fashion, Style, Class, Champagne, Cognac, Scandals, Betrayed Lovers, Gossips, Beautiful Legs and Intellectual Derrieres, Dancers, Singers, Acrobats, Deal on the Wheel, Mistresses in Abundance, Lots of Decoltes, Intoxicating Perfumes, Sex, Divorcees, Impotents, Gigolos, Bleeding Hearts, Microphones which don’t work, Arrogant Waiters, Five Star Menu, Homosexuals, Lesbians, de Givenchy and Christian Dior’s Mannequins and Lots of B.S. You Got It. Shrewd entrepreneurs and proprietors Charles Zidler and Joseph Oller opened their  « Le Moulin Rouge » Cabaret on October, Sunday 8th of 1889. And everybody expected a « Lieu de Plaisirs » meaning a place for pleasures ! They were not wrong! They got the best location in town. They knew what they were doing. The location was perfect: La Butte, Montmartre, Paris, where “Les Mauvais Garcons” handsome bad boys try to pick up girls, beautiful half-innocent women from the province loose their virginity, and intellectual drifters schmooze, booz and cruise at the nearby joint “Moulin de la Galette”. A perfect setting and an exemplary rendez-vous spot for everybody who wants to become somebody or pretend to be one! La’Chaim and Vive La France!  

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