Zielony Balonik (literally, ''the Green Balloon'') was a popular

literary Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to includ ...

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 dinin ...

founded in

Kraków Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 159 ...

by the local poets, writers and artists during the final years of the

Partitions Partition may refer to: Computing Hardware * Disk partitioning, the division of a hard disk drive * Memory partition, a subdivision of a computer's memory, usually for use by a single job Software * Partition (database), the division of a ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, , is a country in Central Europe. Poland is divided into Voivodeships of Poland, sixteen voivodeships and is the fifth most populous member state of the European Union (EU), with over 38 mill ...

. The venue was a gourmet restaurant of Apolinary J. Michalik called the ''Michalik's Den'' (

Jama Michalika Jama Michalika is a popular café with history spanning over a hundred years. It is located at Floriańska Street in Kraków, the capital of the Lesser Poland region. Jama Michalika (lit. Michalik's Den in Polish) is one of the oldest Kraków cafe ...

). The cabaret was founded in 1905 and ran regularly until 1912 (staged occasionally until 1915).Zielony Balonik.
''

PWN Leet (or "1337"), also known as eleet or leetspeak, is a system of modified spellings used primarily on the Internet. It often uses character replacements in ways that play on the similarity of their glyphs via reflection or other resemblance ...

Encyclopedia.'' Retrieved October 19, 2011. Zielony Balonik.
''Encyklopedia WIEM''. Onet.pl

History

The grand opening of the ''Green Balloon'' cabaret took place on October 7, 1905 in a located in the heart of

Kraków Old Town Kraków Old Town is the historic central district of Kraków, Poland.Ingrid GustafsonLet's Go: Eastern EuropePublished by Macmillan, page 444. Let's Go Publications, 2008. It is one of the most famous old districts in Poland today and was the ...

, not far from the

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

St. Florian's Gate St. Florian's Gate or Florian Gate ( pl, Brama Floriańska) in Kraków, Poland, is one of the best-known Polish Gothic towers, and a focal point of Kraków's Old Town. It was built about the 14th century as a rectangular Gothic tower of "wild stone ...

. It was an ''art cabaret'', meant only for the cultural elite. The organizers made sure that the guests show enthusiasm; those who didn't, were no longer invited. As a result the audience consisted of a closed group of regulars, whose composition didn't change. Soon, rumors began to spread among the local bourgeoisie that the ''Green Balloon'' stage was a place of ''orgies, nude dancing and all manner of dissipation''.

Harold B. Segel Harold Bernard Segel (September 13, 1930 – March 16, 2016) was professor emeritus of Slavic literatures and of comparative literature at Columbia University. Segel was born in Boston, Massachusetts, and attended Boston Latin School. He majored in ...

''Turn-of-the-century cabaret: Paris, Barcelona, Berlin, Munich, Vienna, Cracow, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Zurich.''
Page 233. ''

Columbia University Press Columbia University Press is a university press based in New York City, and affiliated with Columbia University. It is currently directed by Jennifer Crewe (2014–present) and publishes titles in the humanities and sciences, including the fi ...

'', 1987. . ''Google Books preview.'' Retrieved October 20, 2011. The full title of poem by Boy-Żeleński, written in response to rumors, read: "Co mówili w Kościele u Kapucynów. Pieśń dziadkowa." However, the translation of title is not unequivocal, because in Polish, the words: "dziad" and "dziadek" have different meanings. The former referres to a poor beggar, but the latter, more to an old grandpa. Boy-Żeleński responded on behalf of ''Zielony Balonik'' by writing a bawdy, humorous poem "Pieśń dziadkowa" (Grandpas Song)Full text o
"Pieśń dziadkowa"
by

Tadeusz Boy-Żeleński Tadeusz Kamil Marcjan Żeleński (better known by his pen name, Tadeusz Boy-Żeleński or simply as Boy; 21 December 1874 – 4 July 1941) was a Polish stage writer, poet, critic and, above all, the translator of over 100 French literary classics ...

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken *Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...

. Source
''Ojczyzna Polszczyzna''
1995 nr 4 s. 20-22. Retrieved October 24, 2011. confirming that indeed, it is a

Sodom and Gomorrah Sodom and Gomorrah () were two legendary biblical cities destroyed by God for their wickedness. Their story parallels the Genesis flood narrative in its theme of God's anger provoked by man's sin (see Genesis 19:1–28). They are mentioned frequ ...

, synonymous with impenitent sin. However, the elitist treatment carried with it a major drawback. Gradually the ground breaking stage performances became depleted of fresh new topics and captivating lyrics for the songs, and the intervention of preventive censorship in the cabaret's scripted dialogues by Austrian authorities resulted in further avoidance of any pressing political issues stemming from the foreign occupation of the country. Over time even the regulars began to miss Balonik's earlier ''green humor''. One additional reason for its slow but relentless disintegration was that the living conditions of contributing artists began to deteriorate under the repressive Austrian rule. The patrons turned reluctant to dig further into the mine field of

political satire Political satire is satire that specializes in gaining entertainment from politics; it has also been used with subversive intent where political speech and dissent are forbidden by a regime, as a method of advancing political arguments where su ...

concerned with the suppression of freedoms. It was one of the main distinguishing features of ''Zielony Balonik'' from the French and German cabarets of the time.The Little Green Balloon (Zielony Balonik).
''Akademia Pełni Życia,'' Kraków. Zielony Balonik.
2011 ''Instytut Książki'', Poland. The main contributors included two Masters of Ceremonies:

Jan August Kisielewski Jan August Kisielewski (8 February 1876 in Rzeszów – 29 January 1918 in Warsaw), was a Polish writer, essayist and playwright associated with the Young Poland literary movement at the turn of the century. He was the co-founder of a legendary lit ...

, and Stanisław Sierosławski; the slew of writers such as: Witold Noskowski, Tadeusz Zakrzewski,

(from 1906), Adolf Nowaczyński, Edward Leszczyński,

Leon Schiller Leon Schiller or Leon Schiller de Schildenfeld (14 March 1887 – 25 March 1954) was a Polish theatre and film director, as well as critic and theatre theoretician. He also wrote theatre and radio screenplays and composed music. He was born in Kra ...

, and Juliusz Osterwa; as well as a group of visual artists in charge of set-design and exhibits, including:

Witold Wojtkiewicz Witold Wojtkiewicz (29 December 1879, Warsaw – 14 June 1909, Warsaw) was a Polish painter, illustrator and printmaker. Although generally considered an Expressionist, some of his works are precursors of Surrealism. Biography He came from a ...

, Kazimierz Sichulski, Karol Frycz, Henryk Szczygliński,

Alfons Karpiński Alfons Karpiński (February 20, 1875 – June 6, 1961) was a Polish painter specializing in portraits of women, still-lives and landscapes. His work is associated with the traditionalist and decorative trends in Polish 20th-century painting. Li ...

, Stanisław Kamocki, Stanisław Kuczborski,

Stefan Filipkiewicz Stefan Filipkiewicz (28 July 1879, Tarnów, Austria-Hungary–23 August 1944, Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp, Nazi Germany) was a Polish painter and designer, notable for his landscapes inspired by the Young Poland movement. He was a leadin ...

, Henryk Uziembło,

Fryderyk Pautsch Fryderyk Pautsch (22 September 1877, Deliatyn - 1 July 1950, Kraków) was an Austrian-Polish painter; associated with the Young Poland movement. Life and work In 1898, he began his studies in jurisprudence at the University of Lemberg (now th ...

, married couple

Tadeusz Rychter Tadeusz Rychter (c. 1873 in Lviv – 1943 in Warsaw) was a Polish early twentieth-century artist best remembered for his watercolors of the Holy Land.

and his wife

Bronisława Janowska Bronisława Janowska or Bronisława Anna Waleria Rychter-Janowska (13 July 1868 – 29 September 1953) was a Polish realist painter and publisher associated with the Kraków-based Young Poland movement. An exceptionally prolific artist, her work i ...

who designed political

puppet A puppet is an object, often resembling a human, animal or Legendary creature, mythical figure, that is animated or manipulated by a person called a puppeteer. The puppeteer uses movements of their hands, arms, or control devices such as rods ...

s (1868–1953), Ludwik Puget, Ignacy Blaschke and

Adam Grzymała-Siedlecki Adam Franciszek Józef Siedlecki or Adam Grzymała-Siedlecki (AGS) (1876–1967) was a Polish literary and theater critic, playwright, translator, prose writer and director. Biography Congress Poland period Adam Grzymała-Siedlecki was born i ...

who even wrote memoirs about the beginnings of the institution, "''Ludzie Zielonego Balonika''", (''People of the Zielony Balonik'') in the periodical ''Teatr'' (issue N.9, 1951).

Notes and references

* Aviel Roshwald, Richard Stites
''European culture in the Great War: the arts, entertainment, and propaganda.''
Page 72. ''

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press is the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by Henry VIII of England, King Henry VIII in 1534, it is the oldest university press in the world. It is also the King's Printer. Cambr ...

'', 2002. * Mark Salter, Jonathan Bousfield
''Rough guide to Poland.''
Page 458. Publisher: ''Rough Guides'', 2002. *

, ''Legenda Zielonego Balonika z perspektywy ćwierćwiecza'' (in) Tadeusz Boy-Żeleński ''Znaszli ten kraj?'' Introduction: T. Weiss. BN I, 246.

Wrocław Wrocław (; , . german: Breslau, , also known by other names) is a city in southwestern Poland and the largest city in the historical region of Silesia. It lies on the banks of the Oder in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Europe, roughly ...

2004, pp. 244–245. * Tomasz Stępień, "Kabaret literacki" (in) ''Słownik literatury polskiej XX wieku.''

. 1992. {{coord, 50.0641, N, 19.9409, E, source:wikidata, display=title Decadent literature Polish culture 1915 disestablishments in Poland Cabaret in Europe 20th century in Kraków Polish cabarets 1905 establishments in Austria-Hungary

History

See also

Notes and references