Rodolphe Salis

Rodolphe Salis
Born	May 29, 1851(1851-05-29) Châtellerault, Vienne, France
Died	March 20, 1897(1897-03-20) (aged 45) Naintré, Vienne, France
Nationality	French
Known for	Le Chat Noir

Louis Rodolphe Salis ^[1] (29 May 1851 – 20 March 1897) was the creator, host and owner of the Le Chat Noir ("The Black Cat") cabaret (known briefly in 1881 at its beginning as "Cabaret Artistique.") With this establishment Salis is remembered as the creator of the modern cabaret: a nightclub where the patrons could sit at tables with alcoholic drinks and enjoy variety acts on a stage, introduced by a master of ceremonies who interacted with the audience.

Biography

Son of a distiller in Châtellerault, Salis came to Paris in 1872, after leaving the regiment in which he had undertaken military service. He moved into the Hotel de Rome, rue de Seine in the Latin Quarter.

He founded "L'école vibrante" (The Vibrant School), soon renamed the "L'école iriso-subversive de Chicago" (The Chicago Iriso-Subversive School)^[2] in order to draw attention to his artistic group. In fact he was earning a living by making stations of the cross and other religious objects, that he and his friends painted.

"In fact, it had the overall intended but not admitted immediate aim of making a series of Stations of the Cross to sell at eight and fourteen francs each in a shop selling religious articles in the Saint Sulpice. The work, oh so tedious, was divided between the four "students" according to their different natures. Rene Gilbert painted heads, Wagner hands, Antonio de La Gandara draperies, Salis, finally, backgrounds and landscapes ..."^[3]

To combine art and alcoholic beverage, Salis had the idea of creating a café in "the purest style of Louis XII ... with a chandelier of wrought iron from the Byzantine period, and where the gentry, the burghers and peasants are now invited to drink absinthe after the usual manner of Victor Hugo and Garibaldi ^[4] and hypocras in golden bowls". In reality, the first tavern The Black Cat (Le Chat Noir), which opened in November 1881, began by serving bad wine and with a rather inferior decor. But already at the door, guests were greeted by a Swiss guard, splendidly bedecked covered with gold from head to foot, supposedly responsible for bringing in the painters and poets who arrived, while barring the "infamous priests and the military". Salis' tongue-in-cheek admirational piece was on a high marble fireplace: The skull of Louis XIII as a child^[5]

Some time before on the far Rive Gauche) (left bank) Salis had met Emile Goudeau, whom he convinced to transfer his Hydropathes to his establishment. On June 10, 1885, with great fanfare, Salis moved to new premises located at 12 Rue Victor Massé. Very quickly, poets and singers who performed at the Black Cat drew the best practice for their craft in Paris. The greetings from Salis rang out often at the expense of customers. He would arrest one with a "Well, you're finally out of prison?" or to another "What have you done with your chick from yesterday?" to a new client visibly accompanied by his wife. One evening, the future King Edward VII was addressed by Salis: "Well, look here: it looks like the Prince of Wales all pissed!"

Theophile-Alexandre Steinlen Now iconic Steinlen poster advertising the approaching tour of The Black Cat show, 1896.

Every Friday, luncheon was an opportunity to prepare for performances and the editing of a humorous magazine. With legendary stinginess,^[6] Salis found every excuse for not paying his staff, suppliers and artists. In success, he even asked to be paid by those whom he hosted at The Black Cat. But his patter to the guests and his organizational skills and personality attracted exceptional artists of all kinds, and a large crowd. The combination of a bar with entertainment (now the standard cabaret theme), was novel. In addition, Salis had the idea of playing music in his tavern by installing a piano, at that time an innovation, which was soon banned for newer establishments, and which thereafter allowed him to gain an advantage over the competition.

"Male, square-shouldered, red hair dyed vermilion," Salis was described by Lawrence Tailhade, "ageless, though stout, his face channelled by many wrinkles, his chest in a romantic doublet whose floral satin contrasted with the sobriety of a dark coat. Intact, his tawny hair was consistent with his coppery beard and gave him the air of a Flemish trooper ... [He had] a bronze baritone, emphatic, biting and sarcastic, whose thunders cynically put down the Philistines ... [He had] a prodigiously charlatan nature." ^[7]

In the 1890s, Salis took his entertainment company The Black Cat touring all over France, hiring theatres and venues, a practice that was not current at that time. He often refused, under various pretexts, to pay the venue hire charge.^{[citation needed]}

He died in Naintré in 1897.

Tributes

• In the department of Vienne to: Châtellerault Naintré Marigny-Brizay a street bears his name.
• 18 Boulevard de Clichy in Paris stands a plaque: "Here was the tomb of the Black Cat founded by Rodolphe Salis ..."^[8]

References

1. ^ Named Constant Maximin Rodolphe Salis on his birth certificate dated 30 May 1851.
2. ^ Theater People Châtellerault: "Around the Black Cat"
3. ^ The Song in Montmartre, Michael Herbert, ed. The Round Table
4. ^ Absinthe. A Franco-Swiss fairy: fairy Franco-Swiss, Noel Benedict, ed. Cabédita, 2001
5. ^ Paris, crossroads of arts and letters, 1880-1918, Jacqueline Baldran, ed. L'Harmattan, 2002
6. ^ Journal The Châtelleraudais December 20O7
7. ^ Lawrence Tailhade disliked because of Salis; Salis mockery made Public, Lawrence Tailhade or provocation considered a lifestyle, Gilles Picq, Jean - Pierre Rioux, ed. Maisonneuve & Larose, 2001
8. ^ On the walls of Paris: Guide plaques Dautriat Alain, ed. Inventory, 1999

Sources

• Mariel Oberthür, Musée d'Orsay,The Black Cat, 1881-1897: exhibition at the Musée d'Orsay from February 25 to May 31, 1992, Meeting of National Museums, 1992
• Lawrence Tailhade, Little Memoirs of the Life, ed. BiblioBazaar, 2008
• Anne de Bercy, Armand Ziwès, Montmartre ... In the evening, ed. Grasset, 1951
• Edmond Deschaumes, Le Cabaret du Chat Noir, Journal encyclopedic 1897

External links

• Biography of Rodolphe Salis