Cabaret Concert Theatre

Cabaret Concert Theatre was a small cellar café, cabaret, and performance venue in the Silver Lake district of Los Angeles, California. It operated during the 1950s and closed under that name in 1961. The venue was created by dancer Miriam Schiller with assistance from a group of young actors and dancers who wanted an intimate place to present their work. Although modest in scale, its location and programming gave it an important role in the development of postwar Los Angeles entertainment culture. The theatre accommodated approximately 100 people and combined food and drink service with a program of sophisticated revues, plays, and concerts. Its audience included television and film producers, talent scouts, agents, and celebrities. This made the venue more than a neighborhood café: it functioned as an informal showcase where performers could be observed by people capable of offering professional work elsewhere. The atmosphere was especially suited to emerging artists because the small room allowed performers to display comic timing, musical ability, character work, and stage presence at close range. One of the venue's most notable productions was the Billy Barnes Revue, which ran at Cabaret Concert Theatre for two years before moving to the larger Las Palmas Theatre and later reaching Broadway. The revue's progression illustrated the theatre's role as an incubator rather than a final destination. A production could begin in a low-capacity club, develop an audience and reputation, and then transfer to larger commercial stages. Several performers associated with the venue subsequently established careers in television, film, and theatre. They included Ann B. Davis, later known for her role as Schultzie in the Robert Cummings series Love That Bob; Jackie Joseph, who played Audrey in the 1960 film The Little Shop of Horrors; Ann Morgan Guilbert, who became widely recognized as Millie Helper on The Dick Van Dyke Show; Joyce Jameson, associated with The Steve Allen Show; Bert Convy, who appeared in Broadway productions of Fiddler on the Roof and Cabaret; and Ken Berry, later associated with F Troop. The theatre did not necessarily launch each career by itself, but it provided a venue in which these performers could work and be seen. The operating model was highly informal and resource-constrained. Performers received little or no pay for their appearances and often supported the operation by waiting tables, taking tickets, and performing other essential duties. This arrangement reflected the economics of small cabaret production at the time while also creating a close relationship between artists, staff, and audience. The building at 4212 Sunset Boulevard, near Myra Street, had a history predating the theatre. Constructed around 1900, it had reportedly been used for many years as a studio by filmmaker D. W. Griffith, and The Birth of a Nation was screened there in 1915. In 1961, after Cabaret Concert Theatre ceased operating, the building was transformed into an authentic replica of a sixteenth-century Spanish tavern and renamed El Cid. El Cid continued the site's entertainment function with flamenco dancers, Spanish guitarists, rockabilly singers, burlesque performers, comedians, and other acts. Cabaret Concert Theatre therefore survives primarily as a historic performance venue and stepping-stone in Los Angeles theatrical history rather than as an active brand.

Cabaret Concert Theatre emerged in 1950 in Los Angeles's Silver Lake district, a period when small clubs, cafés, and cabarets provided important alternatives to the established theatre and studio systems. Dancer Miriam Schiller established the venue with help from young actors and dancers who wanted a place to present their talents. Rather than functioning as a conventional large theatre, it occupied a cellar space with room for about 100 patrons. Its compact format supported close audience-performer interaction and allowed developing artists to experiment with revues, plays, songs, comedy, and other forms of live entertainment. The venue was located at 4212 Sunset Boulevard at the intersection with Myra Street. The building itself dated from approximately 1900 and had an entertainment and film-related history before the cabaret opened. It had reportedly served for years as a studio used by D. W. Griffith, and a screening of The Birth of a Nation took place there in 1915. By the 1950s, the site had become a setting for a very different type of performance: informal, late-night, mixed-format entertainment aimed at audiences interested in discovering new talent. Cabaret Concert Theatre attracted an influential audience of producers, agents, talent scouts, and performers from the Los Angeles film and television community. Its value lay partly in this proximity to the entertainment industry. A performer could appear in a small revue before people who might later recommend, cast, or represent them. The theatre became associated with a number of artists who went on to substantial careers, including Ann B. Davis, Jackie Joseph, Ann Morgan Guilbert, Joyce Jameson, Bert Convy, and Ken Berry. Their later work spanned television sitcoms and variety programs, feature films, Broadway productions, and other forms of popular entertainment. The Billy Barnes Revue was the venue's most clearly documented long-running production. It remained at Cabaret Concert Theatre for two years, then transferred to the larger Las Palmas Theatre before eventually moving to Broadway. This trajectory demonstrated how a production developed in an intimate club could gain enough recognition to reach more formal and commercially significant stages. The revue also reinforced the theatre's reputation as a place where performers and writers could develop material in front of a live audience. The business was sustained through a collaborative and often precarious labor arrangement. Performers reportedly received little or no compensation for their work. To keep the operation functioning, they supplemented their income by waiting tables, taking tickets, and handling other practical duties. The arrangement blurred the boundaries between cast, staff, and hosts, which was characteristic of small cabaret enterprises but also showed the limited financial resources available to experimental and emerging performers. Cabaret Concert Theatre operated for roughly eleven years. In 1961, the building was converted into a themed replica of a sixteenth-century Spanish tavern and renamed El Cid. The change ended the Cabaret Concert Theatre identity but did not end live entertainment at the address. El Cid continued to present performers, including flamenco dancers, Spanish guitarists, rockabilly singers, burlesque artists, and comedians. The building's successive uses connect early cinema, mid-century Los Angeles cabaret, and later live music and variety entertainment. The historical importance of Cabaret Concert Theatre rests less on corporate scale or commercial longevity than on its function as an intimate talent showcase. It offered artists practical stage experience and gave industry observers access to performers outside the major studio and Broadway circuits. Its legacy is therefore tied to the careers of the people who appeared there, the transfer of the Billy Barnes Revue, and the continuing entertainment use of its Sunset Boulevard building.

• 1961

  The venue closes under the Cabaret Concert Theatre name

  [1]Cabaret Concert Theatreen.wikipedia.org

  The building is converted into a replica sixteenth-century Spanish tavern and renamed El Cid.

• 1950

  Cabaret Concert Theatre opens in Los Angeles

  [1]Cabaret Concert Theatreen.wikipedia.org

  Dancer Miriam Schiller, working with young actors and dancers, establishes the approximately 100-seat cellar café and cabaret in the Silver Lake district.

• 1950

  The venue begins presenting revues, plays, and concerts

  [1]Cabaret Concert Theatreen.wikipedia.org

  The theatre develops a mixed program of sophisticated revues, plays, and concerts accompanied by food and drink service.

• Billy Barnes Revue runs at the venue

  [1]Cabaret Concert Theatreen.wikipedia.org

  The Billy Barnes Revue has a two-year run at Cabaret Concert Theatre before transferring to the larger Las Palmas Theatre and subsequently moving to Broadway.

An intimate, artist-centered Los Angeles cabaret that combined dining and nightlife with live theatrical entertainment and served as a showcase for emerging performers.

• Live entertainment · 1950

  Cabaret revues

  The venue's core offering was the live cabaret revue: a compact, mixed-format performance that could combine songs, comedy, sketches, dance, and theatrical material. These productions were designed for a small room and benefited from direct interaction with the audience. The format also provided emerging performers with a practical showcase in front of entertainment-industry observers.

• Theatrical revue

  Billy Barnes Revue

  The Billy Barnes Revue was the best-known long-running production associated with Cabaret Concert Theatre. It played at the venue for two years before transferring to the larger Las Palmas Theatre and later reaching Broadway. Its development illustrates how the intimate cabaret served as a testing and launching environment for material that could later move into larger theatrical settings.

• Live entertainment · 1950

  Plays and concerts

  In addition to revues, Cabaret Concert Theatre presented small-scale plays and concerts. The programming reflected the flexible nature of the cellar venue, which operated as a café and nightlife space as much as a conventional theatre. Performances were supported by food and beverage service and by the hands-on participation of artists in front-of-house tasks.

• 1961

  Conversion of the building into El CidStrategy

  Background

  After Cabaret Concert Theatre had operated as a cellar café and cabaret for approximately eleven years, the historic Sunset Boulevard building was repurposed.

  Action taken

  The site was converted into an authentic replica of a sixteenth-century Spanish tavern and renamed El Cid.

  Aftermath

  The Cabaret Concert Theatre brand became defunct, while the address continued to operate as an entertainment venue presenting Spanish-themed acts and later a broad range of performers.

  Source

1. 1Cabaret Concert Theatreen.wikipedia.org