Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Preface
- Jewish Identities in German Popular Entertainment, 1890–1933
- Introduction: Past and Present
- I “PONIM ET CIRCENSES”: JEWISH IDENTITIES IN CIRCUS ENTERTAINMENT, 1870–1933
- II COMIC RELIEF: JEWISH IDENTITIES IN JARGON THEATER, 1890 TO THE 1920S
- III THE LONELINESS OF THE LIMELIGHT: JEWISH IDENTITIES IN REVUE THEATER, 1898–1933
- Introduction: Spectacular Berlin
- 9 The Metropol: Between Culture and Kapital
- 10 Leading Characters
- 11 Stardom and Its Discontents
- 12 The Art of Pleasing All
- Conclusion to Part III
- Conclusion
- Appendix
- Bibliography
- Index
9 - The Metropol: Between Culture and Kapital
from III - THE LONELINESS OF THE LIMELIGHT: JEWISH IDENTITIES IN REVUE THEATER, 1898–1933
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 09 January 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Preface
- Jewish Identities in German Popular Entertainment, 1890–1933
- Introduction: Past and Present
- I “PONIM ET CIRCENSES”: JEWISH IDENTITIES IN CIRCUS ENTERTAINMENT, 1870–1933
- II COMIC RELIEF: JEWISH IDENTITIES IN JARGON THEATER, 1890 TO THE 1920S
- III THE LONELINESS OF THE LIMELIGHT: JEWISH IDENTITIES IN REVUE THEATER, 1898–1933
- Introduction: Spectacular Berlin
- 9 The Metropol: Between Culture and Kapital
- 10 Leading Characters
- 11 Stardom and Its Discontents
- 12 The Art of Pleasing All
- Conclusion to Part III
- Conclusion
- Appendix
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
Despite the general stasis of class relations in Imperial society, by the end of the nineteenth century popular entertainment evolved into an important venue for a mixing of social circles. This was true not only for the lower middle classes but also for a whole range of previously separate elites. German elites were not a homogenous group. The tensions between the military and wealthy businessmen, for example, were proverbial and often caricatured by the satirical magazine Simplicissimus. Whereas both factions agreed on their rejection of the poor and the petty, they did not see eye to eye on many other issues concerning the future of German society. Increasing pressures from below, a growing socialist movement, the proletarization of the urban poor, and the demands of industrial production, however, all called for the cooperation of capital and birth. Although the emperor may have preferred to play admiral in the company of a few good men, even the court knew that autocracy had its limitations. While German Jews were largely denied careers in the military and the diplomatic corps even after Jews were legally emancipated, they had long established themselves in banking and the new industries such as the retail, chemical, and electronics industries. These provided German Jews with a welcome new forum for an informal sociability that could bring together social factions that tradition and prejudice had kept apart.
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- Jewish Identities in German Popular Entertainment, 1890–1933 , pp. 205 - 226Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2006