Cabaré "Chat Noir", Paris, França
Paris - França
Fotografia
Imagine it is
November 18, 1881, and you are standing at 84, boulevard de Rochechouart,
just below Montmartre, in the cold of night. You hear a commotion in
the distance and the sound of drunken singing. Flames light the sky. A
torch-lit procession is heading your way! At its head is a burly Swiss Guard in full regalia, wearing
a rather splendid plumed hat and holding a halberd; in tow are a band of young men celebrating with
wine and song. You are witnessing the birth of the most famous cabaret in
Paris. In Chapter 18 of Paris by Plaque, we explore the history
of Le Chat Noir cabaret.
The
translation of the Histoire de Paris plaque, which was installed at
84, boulevard de Rochechouart 112 years later, notes a group of
radical young writers and artists called Les Hydropathes (“those who are
afraid of water”), led by the journalist Emile Goudeau. Like many young men, they
were indeed averse to water, preferring wine and beer in volume. Goudeau’s
club, which met in his house on the Left Bank, had become so popular and
so energetic that it outgrew its meeting place and the group began a search of
new premises. Artist Rodolphe Salis had just acquired a
new cabaret, which was in need of livening up, so he invited Goudeau’s friends
to join him. The torch-lit procession heralded the crossing of the Seine and
the real beginning of Le Chat Noir—The Black Cat Cabaret.
In its early
days Le Chat Noir was simply the most exciting place to be for an
emerging artist. The entertainment was totally spontaneous and chaotic.
Poets, writers, musicians and singers would just jump to their feet and
perform for their peers, receiving instant and sometimes sarcastic feedback on
their work. It was what we would today call an “open stage.” Although their
critics could be harsh, performers and artists learned much from their peers,
and were encouraged and nurtured respectfully too. Some great talents emerged.
Rodolphe Salis
was an eccentric showman. His fondness for processions continued. He once
greeted his patrons at the door with the announcement of his own death, and
went on to lead his funeral procession through the streets of Montmartre to
drum up publicity. The Swiss Guard became a permanent fixture, and the interior
was flamboyantly decorated with a mish-mash of heavy antique furniture, lamps
and paintings, to give a Louis XIII ambience. Performers were never
paid, except in free beer and absinthe, and Salis was accused of making money
from the work of others as the club became more and more successful. Some
regulars became disgruntled about the emphasis on commerce over art.
The club
became so popular that two more moves followed, first to rue Laval (now rue
Victor Massey) and finally to 68, boulevard de Clichy, where it remained.
Salis produced a magazine, with patrons contributing the satirical content,
cartoons and artwork.
One of the
cleverest moves Salis made was to commission the Art Nouveau artist Théophile Steinlen to design a sign and posters for the
cabaret. Finding a stray black cat during the renovation of the site, Salis hit
upon the name and the scraggy feline became the perfect emblem for wild and
edgy cabaret nightlife.
Steinlen’s
famous poster, La tournée du Chat Noir avec Rodolphe Salis, remains one of
the most evocative images to come out of nineteenth-century Paris. It
advertises a tour of the Chat Noir’s Théâtre d’ombres, or Shadow Theatre, which gained huge
popularity. Steinlen and artists like caricaturist Adolphe Willette, cartoonist Caran d’Ache, Henri Rivière and illustrator George Auriol created
an exquisite art form, using sheets of zinc to cut out shapes and characters
that created shadows on a white screen, backlit with electric lamps. The
writers in the club wrote the plays, Salis the showman narrated them, and the
whole of Paris was entranced. The Théâtre d’ombres ran for eleven
years, with a repertoire of 40 plays. You can still see some of the surviving
zinc cut-outs at the Musée de Montmartre.
Soon the bourgeoisie began to drop in
to find out what all the gossip was about, although they were not spared the
acid tongue of the two conférenciers (emcees)
Salis and cabaret singer Aristide Bruand,
who were notoriously rude to their guests, insulting them if they left early
and banishing them to a corner if they arrived late.
Over
time Le Chat Noir became
host to groundbreaking writers, poets, artists and musicians. Poet Paul Verlaine wrote poetry with an
inkbottle on his table and composer Erik Satie was the house pianist for a
while. The list of brilliant creative minds who gathered there is astonishing:
caricaturist André Gill, composer Claude Debussy, famous Can-Can dancer Jane Avril immortalized
in Toulouse-Lautrec paintings,
humor writer Alphonse Allais, Paul Signac, who developed the Pointillism style
of painting with Georges Seurat, cabaret
singer and actress Yvette Guilbert and
playwright August Strindberg,
to name just a few.
It is not
surprising that Le Chat Noir symbolizes the very essence of
artistic Paris for so many people around the world. The cabaret closed in 1897,
and Salis died in the same year. It was the end of an extraordinary era.
Today a Le
Chat Noir neon sign can be seen at a hotel located at 68, boulevard
de Clichy, the cabaret’s final address, but that’s not where you’ll find the
plaque.
Next time you
walk past the Histoire de Paris plaque and the anonymous doorway at
84, boulevard de Rochechouart, remember where it all began…
