Origins of Cabaret in the City

On the evening of November 30, 1919, the premises of the Napier Hotel near Poona Cantonment were thick with anticipation.

- Chinmay Damle

Men and women dressed in their best attire arrived in horse-drawn carriages and took their seats in the huge dining hall, which was decorated with fancy lamps and flowers. They had booked their seats a month in advance.

At 7 pm sharp, Maurice Bandman, the Anglo-American actor and theatre manager, appeared on the stage and the audience rose to their feet. It was his troupe's first performance in Poona.

Most European hotels in India denied entry to Indians in the nineteenth century. They organised ballroom dances for their patrons. Eating out for pleasure was still a novelty, and the hotels, considered places for business networking and establishing social hierarchy among the Europeans, were probably not confident enough that patrons would visit their establishment for the pleasure of food and made sure there were other attractions like the billiards table and ballroom dancing.

When, in the mid-nineteenth century, hotels converted their private dining rooms into restaurants, "variety shows" became fashionable. These performances comprised magic shows, solo singing, comedy, parody, and acrobatics.