The ''Cabaret du Ciel'' (Cabaret of Heaven) was a well-known

cabaret Cabaret is a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music, song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, a casino, a hotel, a restaurant, or a nightclub with a stage for performances. The audience, often dining or d ...

in the

Montmartre Montmartre ( , ) is a large hill in Paris's northern 18th arrondissement. It is high and gives its name to the surrounding district, part of the Right Bank. The historic district established by the City of Paris in 1995 is bordered by Rue Ca ...

district of Paris. The ''Cabaret du Ciel'' was an early version of modern

theme restaurant A theme restaurant is a type of restaurant that uses theming to attract diners by creating a memorable experience. Theme restaurants have a unifying or dominant subject or concept, and utilize architecture, decor, special effects, and other techn ...

s, with a theme centered around celestial concepts connected to the afterlife in

Paradise In religion, paradise is a place of exceptional happiness and delight. Paradisiacal notions are often laden with pastoral imagery, and may be cosmogonical or eschatological or both, often compared to the miseries of human civilization: in paradis ...

. The cabaret was located next to the ''

Cabaret de L'Enfer ''Cabaret de l'Enfer'' (The Cabaret of Hell) was a famous cabaret in Montmartre, founded in November 1892 by Antonin Alexander and demolished in 1950 to allow for the expansion of a Monoprix supermarket. The ''Cabaret de L'Enfer'' was the counte ...

'' (Cabaret of Hell) at the same address at 53 Boulevard de Clichy. The ''Cabaret du Ciel'', along with the ''

'' (Cabaret of Hell), and the ''

Cabaret du Néant ''Cabaret du Néant'' (, "Cabaret of Nothingness"/"Cabaret of the Void") was a cabaret in Montmartre, Paris, founded in 1892. The ''Cabaret du Néant'' was an early pioneer of the modern theme restaurant and dealt with various aspects of mortali ...

'' (Cabaret of Nothingness), was part of a trio of themed restaurants established at around the same time in

in the 1890s. The ''Cabaret du Ciel'' and the ''Cabaret de L'Enfer'' took advantage of their proximity and enhanced it further by taking radically different approaches on their exterior design, which led prospective patrons to want to visit both during an outing.

Theme

Because the ''Cabaret du Ciel'' and the ''Cabaret de L'Enfer'' were next door to each other, customers could visit both and get an idea of these two very different concepts of entertainment. The two operations took advantage of their proximity and enhanced it further by taking radically different approaches on their exterior design. The storefront of the Ciel was painted in white and blue, and was decorated by angels, while Hell's façade was painted in red and black and its entrance featured giant satanic jaws. The cabaret followed the trend of similar establishments of the era which focused their entertainment on death and the afterlife. The atmosphere inside the cabaret was provided by

harp The harp is a stringed musical instrument that has a number of individual strings running at an angle to its soundboard; the strings are plucked with the fingers. Harps can be made and played in various ways, standing or sitting, and in orche ...

music, a master of ceremonies playing the role of a priest, and a selection of plays centered around themes involving the depiction of the joys of the heavenly afterlife. Inside the restaurant, beer was served, and the customers were greeted by acts such as angels playing music,

St. Peter ) (Simeon, Simon) , birth_date = , birth_place = Bethsaida, Gaulanitis, Syria, Roman Empire , death_date = Between AD 64–68 , death_place = probably Vatican Hill, Rome, Italia, Roman Empire , parents = John (or Jonah; Jona) , occupation ...

sprinkling

holy water Holy water is water that has been blessed by a member of the clergy or a religious figure, or derived from a well or spring considered holy. The use for cleansing prior to a baptism and spiritual cleansing is common in several religions, from ...

from the heavens, as well as reenactments of scenes related to Dante's Inferno. In one part of the hall, there was a giant golden pig, surrounded by candles. The patrons formed a line, as they approached the statue of the animal, bowing and making the sign of the cross before it. Trevor Greenwood, a British serviceman stationed in Paris in 1945, provides a detailed description of a visit he made to the ''Cabaret du Ciel'' in its final years. "And when I got through that tiny door… well… I just couldn’t believe my own eyes. We found ourselves in a room about the size of our front room and dining room combined… but what a room! Down the centre, lengthwise, was a long table covered with a white cloth… and lots of ash-trays: around the long table were seats, some already occupied by bewildered looking Yanks: I suppose there would be about thirty seats all told. At the far end of the room was a small screen about eight feet square… presumably hiding a stage of some sort… And the room itself!! It might have been a temple for the sinister performances of black magic or something. The walls were covered with cheap imitations of religious knick-knacks. At one side, there was a ‘bulge’ which seemed to represent a pulpit: at one side of the screen was a full sized model of a pig sitting on its haunches and poking its snout at us. At the opposite end was a large bell suspended from an imitation beam… and it was a wooden bell! Close to the bell was a banner-pole, with a silver coloured effigy of a bull mounted on top… The whole place reeked of something sinister… and the general effect was the very essence of tawdriness."

Illustrations by W. C. Morrow

The following are illustrations by

W. C. Morrow William Chambers Morrow (July 7, 1854 – April 3, 1923) was an American writer, now noted mainly for his short stories of horror and suspense. He is probably best known for the much-anthologised story "His Unconquerable Enemy" (1889), about the ...

in his 1899 book ''Bohemian Paris of To-day''. File:Cabaret du Ciel entrance.png, ''Cabaret du Ciel'' entrance File:Cabaret du Ciel golden pig.png, ''Cabaret du Ciel'' golden pig File:Cabaret du Ciel hall.png, ''Cabaret du Ciel'' hall File:Cabaret du Ciel waiter.png, ''Cabaret du Ciel'' waiter

Theme

Illustrations by W. C. Morrow

References

Further reading