The café-concert

THE café, that most famous and universally exported of French institutions, was at its zenith of popularity during Lautrec's lifetime.
 

At the turn of the century, Paris had perhaps 27,000 of them, as compared to only around 11,000 in 1960. They have been called a democratic version of the eighteenth-century salon. From the 1860s until World War II, cafés and cabarets were the center of social and community life for the working classes of crowded Paris. The age of electronically transmitted entertainment has encouraged people to stay at home now, but social life in the late nineteenth century meant going out.

At first, simple little shows were added to the menu at ordinary corner cafés where idlers of all classes took their relaxation. The songs and jokes of the performers focused on ordinary events of life, love and politics, and became so popular that the cafés gradually turned into music halls as well. Gaiety, music, dancing, and other entertainments were then available on an ongoing, regular basis at the casual café-concerts. By the end of the century, there were an estimated 150 café-concerts in Paris.

The difference between these and the theatre was a complete lack of formality. Audiences came and went at whatever point in the night's entertainment they pleased. Almost any attire was acceptable. Food and drink might be served during the performances, at which the audience commented freely and sometimes participated. The performers had to be aggressive to compete with the smoke, noise, waiters, flower sellers, and buskers.

Today, the existence of the café-concerts is documented by surviving photographs, drawings, posters, and published songbooks.

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