Graz Varieté Orpheum (1899–1936)

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Grazer Varieté Orpheum, large variety hall, picture postcard, around 1900

The Grazer Varieté Orpheum was a variety theater operated from 1899 to 1936 , the largest in the city of Graz . (For the cabaret theater that followed in 1950, see: Grazer Orpheum .)

history

Foundation and construction

In 1626 the "landscape garden in front of the Murthore" was rededicated to a cemetery due to lack of space in the Andrä cemetery in the Mur suburb . The St. Georgen cemetery was a poor people 's churchyard that was used , among other things, to bury victims of the plague.

In 1786 the cemetery was abandoned and the cemetery grounds were sold to the bourgeois innkeeper and master brewer Wolfgang Ott, commonly known as Wenzelwirt , who built a restaurant with an attached brewery and the associated Carolinenbad on the property . The company was very well received by the public, especially in the summer because of the beautiful Ott'schen garden, where a band from the garrison regiment sometimes played.

The restaurant business was bought in the 1860s by the founder of the Puntigamer brewery , Franz Hold. In 1867 the Puntigamer beer hall was opened on today's Orpheumsgrund (Orpheumgasse 8, Graz-Lend), the municipal sales office of the Hold'schen brewery. The beer hall, which was very well frequented at the beginning (numerous workers' meetings took place there between 1868 and 1890) became a financial burden for the Erste Grazer Aktienbrauerei from the 1890s onwards , as it did not attract the public. Despite a renovation and embellishment of the interior, the hoped-for success did not materialize.

In order to finally make the unprofitable beer hall profitable, it was decided to convert the property into a variety theater according to the plans of the architect Friedrich Hoffmann, works architect of the Puntigamer brewery and member of the board of directors. At the municipal council meeting on July 25, 1896, the municipal council gave its approval on the condition that during the holiday season of the municipal theaters (July – August) the Orpheum would perform variety performances. 

On July 1, 1899, the Orpheum - Specialty Theater of the First Range was opened. It was in contrast to the opera house, which opened only two months later. The Grazer Varieté Orpheum was a place of the lower theatrical art , without educational mandate, only serving the shallow popular entertainment and due to its physical arts did not belong to the German-national language ideology .

Equipment, expansion

The brightly lit interior made a very pleasant impression thanks to the elegance of its decoration and the comfort of its style. The elegant, decorative design of the vaudeville hall, similar to the Viennese Ronacher , corresponded to the contemporary taste of the urban bourgeoisie, who demanded entertainment as well as the possibility of self-expression. The Orpheum guests could sit comfortably around tables, drink (Puntigamer) beer, wine or sparkling wine while they followed the performances on stage - that was considered sophisticated and particularly chic at the time .

The large variety hall had 936 seats, and the lighting during the performance was provided by glare lanterns . In the background of the hall rose the stage to which the sunken orchestra pit connected. Each box had a small anteroom with a table and chairs. These boxes were used for business meetings, but probably mainly as a secret love nest .

The performances on the stage were accompanied by the Orpheum band, which comprised around 18 musicians, and on Sundays and public holidays there were early concerts with free admission from ten to twelve in the morning. The Orpheum became a popular and well-known place of amusement that always found large audiences.

Even when the Orpheum was being planned, the idea of ​​building a stage in the garden on which vaudeville performances would take place in the warm summer months existed. In 1905 this summer stage was realized, which was later converted into a summer theater - a wooden structure with a protective roof (542 seats). On mild summer evenings, variety programs were not performed there, as originally planned, but operettas , singing games , antics and concerts. The summer theater became an important part of the already sparse summer theater pleasures of the time, because the municipal theaters were not operating during these months.

Directors

  • 1899–1906: Paul Saitmacher
  • 1906–1912: Alfred Tittel
  • 1912–1930: Josef Schulz
  • 1931–1933: Lenard and Pietzsch
  • 1934–1936: Zwillinger and Wieser
The Okabe Family, advertising poster, 1898/99
Miss Tilly Bébé, advertising poster, 1902/03
Kara, advertising poster, 1903

program

A variety program, musically supported by the Orpheum Orchestra, was played for fourteen to sixteen days. The performances took place daily at 8 p.m., on Sundays and public holidays there was also an afternoon performance. The program change usually took place in the middle of the month. Thousands of Variety Artists of all kinds roamed the stage at the Orpheum: artists , jugglers , dance comedian , mime , parodist , humorist , comedian , composer performer, clowns, singers, dancers, singing comedian, lightning transformation actor, magician , escape artist , fakirs , Dress Your , ventriloquist etc .; but also scientific experiments, exotic peoples' shows , living pictures (pose plastique), cinematographic screenings, the presentation of the latest inventions, comedies, antics, revues and operettas were part of the Orpheum's variety program.

Guest performances (selection)

  • Josef Modl (1860–1915), Viennese vocal humorist; February 1903
  • Viktoria Belling (1872–1942), juggler and club swinger; February 1903
  • Phroso, the Mechanical Doll (also: Phroso, The Automaton ), developed in 1902/03 by Frederick Trevallion (1867–1938); February 1903
  • Saharet (1879–1942), dancer; January 1905
  • Ruth St. Denis (1879–1968), dancer; February 1908
  • The Okabe Family , Japanese court artists; March 1910
  • Ralph Stone (actually: Rudolf Schwab, 1890–1983), universal artist; September 1913
  • Rose Stone (1911–1997), dancer, universal artist; September 1913
  • Kara (actually: Michael Steiner, 1867–1939), gentleman juggler; April 1904
  • Tilly Bébé (1879–1932), tamer; May 1904
  • (Jean Henri) Servais Le Roy (1875-1953), illusionist; January 1908
  • Writers and Artists Association Munich Executioners & Vienna Night Light , comedy and singing; January 1909

Decay and end

During the First World War , the Orpheum's variety program exerted a very special attraction on the local population, and sold out performances were not uncommon. The many hardships and worries that the war brought with it encouraged distraction and entertainment. In order to enable the population of Graz to visit the Orpheum, the entrance fees were reduced by half.

The variety program of that time was above all a mirror of the emotional situation of the population, which was reflected in patriotic rallies within the variety acts. Variety acts, in which enthusiasm for war and national pride were expressed, were very popular on the vaudeville stage during the First World War and strengthened the belief in a military victory.

After the end of the war, the general poor economic situation made it increasingly difficult to run the Orpheum company profitably. At the end of the 1920s, director Josef Schulz also had to contend with an enormous drop in visitors. The audience, previously devoted to the vaudeville, now preferred the cinema. The sound film was a central reason for the general death of variety at that time.

In the summer of 1930, Orpheum director Josef Schulz, who had managed the house for 18 years, resigned. All of Director Schulz's successors (Lenard and Pietzsch, Zwillinger and Wieser) had to file for bankruptcy after three years of management at the latest.

Shortly before its 37th anniversary, the Orpheum Varieté closed its doors forever in May 1936. (The building was bombed during the Second World War ; the Orpheum in Graz was built in 1950. ) 

literature

  • Main source for the article: Rezka Theresia Kanzian: “… from senses”. The Orpheum Variety Theater in Graz . (Exhibition on 100 years of Orpheum Graz, exhibition documentation). Stadtmuseum Graz, Graz 1999, ISBN 3-900764-23-9 .
  • Hans Pirchegger: Houses and streets of the Mur suburb . From: Fritz Popelka : History of the City of Graz . Volume 2. Leuschner & Lubensky, Graz 1935, pp. 703-814, OBV .
  • Amélie Sztatecsny, Friedrich Bouvier (contributions): The art monuments of the city of Graz. The secular buildings of the 4th and 5th district (Lend and Gries) . Austrian Art Topography, Volume 46.Schroll, Vienna 1984, ISBN 3-7031-0591-7 .
  • Gerhard Michael Dienes (Hrsg.), Karl Albrecht Kubinzky (Hrsg.): The Murvorstadt. Between town and country. Brochure for the exhibition of the same name in the Graz City Museum, March 21 to May 5, 1991 . City Museum Graz, Graz 1991, OBV .
  • Rezka Theresia Kanzian: The Graz Varieté Orpheum (1899 - 1936). Folk culture and entertainment . Thesis. University of Graz, Graz 1994, OBV .
  • Gerhard Michael Dienes, Johanna Flitsch (Red.): The Lendplatz. History and everyday life . Verlag Grazer Stadtmuseum, Graz 1995, ISBN 3-9007-6418-2 .
  • Elke Murlasits (Ed.), Gottfried Prasenc (Ed.), Nikolaus Reisinger (Ed.): Gries. Loin . Book series: Stories. Spaces. Identities. 1st edition. Leykam, Graz 2009, ISBN 978-3-7011-7653-3 . - Table of contents online (PDF; 37 kB) .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Historical yearbook of the city of Graz . Volume 26.1996. City of Graz, Graz 1996, ZDB -ID 217827-8 , p. 540.
  2. ↑ a b Graz Orpheum. (...). In:  Grazer Tagblatt. Organ of the German People's Party for the Alpine Countries, First Morning Edition, No. 32/1903 (XIIIth year), February 1, 1903, p. 6, top left. (Online at ANNO ). Template: ANNO / Maintenance / gtb.
  3. ^ Reuben Hoggett: 1903 - "Phroso the Mechanical Doll" - Frederick Trevallion (British / French) . In: cyberneticzoo.com . (English). December 22, 2010, accessed November 10, 2012.
  4. ↑ Graz Orpheum (...) Phroso. In:  Grazer Tagblatt. Organ of the German People's Party for the Alpine Countries, morning edition, No. 35/1903 (XIIIth year), February 5, 1903, p. 13, top right. (Online at ANNO ). Template: ANNO / Maintenance / gtb.

Remarks

  1. ↑ Former name for the districts of Lend and Gries .
  2. ↑ The eight-person Okabe family was one of the most famous troops from the Far East . They were considered to be excellent equilibrists , groundbreakers and jugglers. - Kanzian: "... out of your senses" , p. 29.
  3. ↑ Founder of the Le Roy Talma Bosco Company. - Kanzian: "... out of your senses" , p. 32.
  4. ↑ With the assistance of Marya Delvard and Roda Roda . - Kanzian: “… out of your senses” , pp. 33, 35 f.
  5. ↑ According to Gerhard M. Dienes: Der Lendplatz , p. 67 (there reference to: Amélie Sztatecsny: Die Kunstdenkmäler der Stadt Graz , p. 378 f.) The building, damaged by bombs , housed a cinema from 1948 to 1971, which was " House of Youth " was converted .

Web links

Coordinates: 47 ° 4 ′ 20 "  N , 15 ° 25 ′ 48.3"  E