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Jews, Mobility, and Sex: Popular Entertainment between Budapest, Vienna, and New York around 1900

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 April 2020

Susanne Korbel*
Affiliation:
Center for Jewish Studies, University of Graz; Graz, Austria

Abstract

This article investigates the coinciding of the mass migration from Europe to the Americas and the emergence of mass culture, two developments that shaped everyday life, popular entertainment, and Jewish and non-Jewish relations at the turn of the twentieth century. Jewish actors and actresses were among the most prominent performers who staged in Orpheums, Varietés, and vaudevilles on both sides of the Atlantic. In their performances they drew on the notion of a new quality of mobility that society was experiencing, utilizing it to negotiate issues such as of the cultural construction of identities and Jewishness, or to critically reexamine antisemitic and nationalistic attitudes. On the one hand, mobility enabled negotiations of controversial issues. On the other hand, mobility led to accusations against popular entertainment, both legitimate and erroneous—for example, that vaudevilles functioned as covers for clandestine prostitution. Therefore, the article examines the question of how mobility influenced popular culture. What were the controversial issues that mobility raised, and what accusations did these evoke? In what ways did actors and actresses in popular culture address gender and Jewishness? To answer these questions, the article analyzes the spaces of popular entertainment in Budapest, Vienna, and New York through close examinations of newspapers, manuscripts, playbills, and records of censorship.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press

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References

1 The author would like to thank Klaus Hödl, the participants of the panel session “Global Trends in the Popular Culture and Nighttime Entertainment of European Cities, 1880s–1930s” organized by Alexander Vari and Antje Dietze at the 2018 conference of the European Association for Urban Studies, and the anonymous referees for their helpful feedback on earlier drafts of this paper. Research for this article was funded by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF), project number: P31036. All translations are the author's.

2 “Auf d.e. Tour,” Internationale Artisten Revue, 8 Jan. 1894, 1–2.

3 Ibid.

4 The weekly newspaper Internationale Artisten Revue was published from 1891 until the eve of World War I in Budapest by Ferdinand Steiner. It was comparable to the German newspaper Der Artist with regard to readers, contributions, and international correspondences. See note 33.

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6 These are only three of many cities in which a myth and a sense of mourning for former times arose. For example, the journal Old New York: A Journal Relating to the History and Antiquities of New York was first published in 1890. See Pasko, W. W., ed., Old New York: A Journal Relating to the History and Antiquities of New York (New York, 1890)Google Scholar. Numerous literary journals that appeared at the turn of the twentieth century discussed the “old,” supposedly better, version of cities. See also A Hét: Társadalmi, Irodalmi és Müvészeti Közlöny [The week: Social, literary, and art bulletin] 4, no. 25 (18 June 1893). Kos, Wolfgang and Rapp, Christian, eds., Alt-Wien, Die Stadt, die niemals war (Vienna, 2004)Google Scholar.

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14 Hödl, Klaus, Als Bettler in die Leopoldstadt: Galizische Juden auf dem Weg nach Wien (Vienna, Cologne, Weimar, 1994), 12Google Scholar. Jews constituted approximately 9 percent of all migrants from Europe to arrive in the United States at the turn of the twentieth century. Steidl, Fischer-Nebmaier, and Oberly, From a Multiethnic Empire to a Nation of Nations, 139.

15 Between 1890 and 1930, the population of all three cities at least doubled, and in New York it quintupled. Vienna's population in 1890 was around 1.1 million, and in 1930 around two million, including eighty thousand and two hundred thousand Jews, respectively. Budapest's population rose from around five hundred thousand to one million and New York's from 1.5 to five million, including eighty thousand and 1.8 million Jews, respectively.

16 The concept of pluriculturalism builds on the assumptions of multiculturalism, though, in an attempt to overcome the problematic singularity of the concept of multiculturalism, scholars began to focus on how cultures resonate, interact, and merge through mutual mediation rather than merely tolerating or coexisting. Bhatti, Anil, “Plurikulturalität,” in Habsburg neu denken: Vielfalt und Ambivalenz in Zentraleuropa – 30 kulturwissenschaftliche Stichworte, eds. Feichtinger, Johannes and Uhl, Heidemarie (Vienna, 2016), 171–80CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

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21 Concerning the difficulties in tracing seasonal migrations see Steidl, Stockhammer, and Zeitlhofer, “Relations among Internal, Continental, and Transatlantic Migration,” 68.

22 Susanne Korbel, “Zwischen Budapest, Wien und New York: Jüd innen und (‚populär’-) kulturelle Transformationen um 1900” (Ph.D. diss., University of Graz, 2017), 156–57.

23 Stauter-Halsted, Keely, The Devil's Chain: Prostitution and Social Control in Partitioned Poland (Ithaca, 2015)CrossRefGoogle Scholar. Wingfield, Nancy M., The World of Prostitution in Late Imperial Austria (Oxford, 2017)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

24 Stauter-Halsted, The Devil's Chain, 138.

25 Ibid., 140–68.

26 The term mass culture has been broadly discussed and criticized in research. In this article, I do not wish to intervene in this discussion. I here simply refer to mass culture as the phenomenon that leisure time and time for amusement had become available to the majority of people—both in terms of the availability of leisure time as well as the accessibility of various forms of popular entertainment. Maase, Kaspar, Grenzenloses Vergnügen: Der Aufstieg der Massenkultur 1850–1970 (Frankfurt, 2007), 1925Google Scholar. For a critical examination of the term, see the Adorno, Frankfurt School. Theodore W. and Horkheimer, Max, Dialektik der Aufklärung: Philosophische Fragmente (Frankfurt, 2016), 128–76Google Scholar.

27 Several of these spaces were accused of being places for clandestine prostitution, for example the Prater public gardens and the two main streets connecting this entertainment ground with the inner city, the “two streets which directly led into entertainment,” as Joseph Roth wrote: the Praterstraße and the Taborstraße. See Wingfield, The World of Prostitution, 137–70.

28 Nahma Sandrow depicted the history of the Yiddish Theater as one of “vagabond stars.” Nahma, Sandrow, Vagabond Stars: A World History of Yiddish Theater (Syracuse, 1996)Google Scholar.

29 Popular culture is currently in great demand in Jewish studies. There is a discernible shift away from historiographic studies that are mainly interested in the “Jewish bourgeoisie” and that consequently made the “contribution” of Jews to “high culture” a subject of discussion. Hence, traditional narratives of the history of the Jews in Germany and Austria have been critically reexamined. Gluck, Mary, The Invisible Jewish Budapest: Metropolitan Culture at the Fin de Siècle (Wisconsin, 2016)Google Scholar. Hödl, Klaus, Zwischen Wienerlied und Der kleine Kohn: Juden in der Wiener populären Kultur um 1900 (Göttingen, 2017)CrossRefGoogle Scholar. Nahson, Edna, ed., New York's Yiddish Theater: From Bowery to Broadway (New York, 2016)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

30 Gluck, The Invisible Jewish Budapest, 10–16; Hödl, Zwischen Wienerlied und Der kleine Kohn, 22 and 28–38. I am not arguing that there exists a dichotomous or static separation of “highbrow” and “lowbrow” culture. Lawrence Levine already emphasized in 1988 that no such dichotomy exists; instead, the terms are signifiers for the perception and criticism of culture in a given society. Levine, Lawrence W., Highbrow Lowbrow: The Emergence of Cultural Hierarchy in America (Cambridge, 1988)Google Scholar. For a cultural studies approach, see Storey, John, Cultural Theory and Popular Culture: An Introduction (Athens, 2006)Google Scholar. On the association of Jews with “highbrow” culture, see Beller, Steven, Wien und die Juden 1867–1938 (Vienna, 1993), 1316CrossRefGoogle Scholar. Klaus Hödl, Zwischen Wienerlied und Der kleine Kohn, 17.

31 Ferdinand Steiner, “An unsere geehrten Leser,” Internationale Artisten Revue, 8 Nov. 1891, 1.

32 Koller, Josef, Das Wiener Volkssängertum in alter und neuer Zeit: Nacherzähltes und Selbsterlebtes, mit Biographien, Episoden, Liedern, zahlreichen Abbildungen und Porträts nach zeitgenössischen Bildern aus dem Volkssängerleben (Vienna, 1931)Google Scholar.

33 The domain of Volkssänger became ever more institutionalized during this period. Several associations for traveling artists and performers were founded across Europe and the United States. Newspapers tried to provide transatlantic information for a lively exchange in the business. In addition, several managers tried to help the artists and performers on both sides of the Atlantic to create transnational (and transatlantic) careers. Susanne Korbel, “Zwischen Budapest, Wien und New York,” 72–86.

34 Concerning Jews and popular entertainment in Vienna, see Dallinger, Brigitte, Verloschene Sterne: Geschichte des jüdischen Theaters in Wien (Vienna, 1998)Google Scholar, as well as the works of Klaus Hödl cited in this article.

35 For example, “New York City Jottings,” The New York Clipper, 15 July 1905, 13; “Fort George Fire Swept,” The New York Clipper, 16 Dec. 1911, 14.

36 The Internationale Artisten Revue was most widely read in Austria-Hungary; in the German Empire it was the newspaper Der Artist. The New York Clipper was the English-language equivalent in the United States. The New York Clipper had been published since 1853, the Internationale Artisten Revue was first published in November 1891, and Der Artist in 1892. On Der Artist, see Myers, Margaret, “Searching for Data about Ladies’ Orchestras, 1870–1950,” in Music and Gender, eds. Moisala, Pirkko and Diamond, Beverly (Urbana, 2000), 189213, 208Google Scholar.

37 In Vienna, the association Der Lustige Ritter was founded. Popular actors and artists in Budapest first joined the Viennese association but later founded their own, the Budapester Artisten Club. In America, circuits fulfilled the function of these associations. Korbel, “Zwischen Budapest, Wien und New York,” 156–58. On entrepreneurs and their associations in popular entertainment, see also Dietze, Antje, “Americanization of Show Business? Shifting Territories of Theatrical Entertainment in North America at the Turn of the 20th Century,” in Processes of Spatialization in the Americas: Configurations and Narratives, eds. Pisarz-Ramirez, Gabriele and Warnecke-Berger, Hannes (Bern, 2018)Google Scholar.

38 The weekly New York Clipper was published from 1853 to 1923.

39 Korbel, “Zwischen Budapest, Wien und New York,” 72–76.

40 On the vaudeville scene in Budapest, see Miklós, Konrád, “Music Halls and Jewish Identities in Budapest at the Turn of the Century,” in Jewish Space in Central and Eastern Europe: Day-to-Day History, eds. Šiaučiūnaitė-Verbickienė, Jurgita and Lempertienė, Larisa (Cambridge, 2009), 143–55Google Scholar.

41 Hödl, Zwischen Wienerlied und Der kleine Kohn, 62. Gluck, The Invisible Jewish Budapest, 168–70. Roßbach, Nikola, ed., Wien parodiert: Theatertexte um 1900 (Vienna, 2007), 99134Google Scholar.

42 “Budapester Brief,“ Wiener Montags-Journal (Extrapost), 15 Aug. 1892, 1.

43 Hödl, Zwischen Wienerlied und Der kleine Kohn, 98–100.

44 “Im Somossy Orpheum,” Internationale Artisten Revue, 1 Nov. 1893, 9.

45 On the concept of Jewish urban spaces not as enclosed areas but rather as spaces of contacts and interactions see Brauch, Julia, Lipphardt, Anna, and Nocke, Alexandra, “Exploring Jewish Spaces: An Approach,” in Jewish Topographies: Visions of Space, Traditions of Place, eds. Brauch, Julia, Lipphardt, Anna, and Nocke, Alexandra (Burlington, 2008), 1–26, 311Google Scholar.

46 Leopoldstadt's main streets, Taborstraße and Praterstraße, led directly into the entertainment area, as Joseph Roth mentioned in his novel Juden auf Wanderschaft. On Jewish sites in Leopoldstadt see Silverman, Lisa, “Jewish Memory, Jewish Geography: Vienna before 1938,” in Making Place: Space and Embodiment in the City, eds. Sen, Arijit and Silverman, Lisa (Bloomington, 2014), 173–97Google Scholar.

47 Situated at Annagasse 3 in Vienna's First District, the Varieté Max und Moritz was opened by Max Rott and Adolf Glinger in September 1910. Adolf Glinger and Max Rott were both the nom de plume of the two former Volkssänger who also lived under their stage names. In 1914 the Volkssänger Heinrich Eisenbach joined his colleagues from the Budapester Orpheumgesellschaft at the Max und Moritz. On Glinger and Rott see Korbel, “Zwischen Budapest, Wien und New York,” 64–66. “Ein Zwischenfall bei Max und Moritz,” Neues Wiener Journal, 19 Sept. 1910, 4.

48 In Vienna these areas overlapped with those where there was clandestine prostitution. On sites of clandestine prostitution in Vienna see Wingfield, The World of Prostitution, 145–55.

49 Diner, Hasia, “Yiddish New York,” in New York's Yiddish Theater: From Bowery to Broadway, ed. Nahshon, Edna (New York, 2016), 5063, 52CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

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51 Music halls evolved in New York around the turn of the century. They replaced the very large theaters, and especially members of the Yiddish theater scene complained about this newly emerging type of popular entertainment. Nahshon, Edna, “Overture: From the Bowery to Broadway,” in New York's Yiddish Theater, ed. Nahshon, Edna (New York, 2016), 849, 37CrossRefGoogle Scholar. James, Edmund, ed., The Immigrant Jew in America (New York, 1907), 222–27Google Scholar. Warneke, Nina, “Immigrant Popular Culture as Contested Sphere: Yiddish Music Halls, the Yiddish Press, and the Processes of Americanization, 1900–1910,” in Theatre Journal 48, no. 3 (1996): 321–35CrossRefGoogle Scholar. Early motion pictures provided an especially vivid picture of the music bar scene in New York in the early 1900s.

52 In this sense, the sites of popular entertainment functioned as spaces with a quality of in-betweenness, as described in postcolonial studies. Bhabha, Homi K., The Location of Culture (London, 2004), 67Google Scholar. Mayhill C. Fowler stated that the same concept applied to Yiddish theaters in Soviet Ukraine and described the paradox of “ethnic” theaters and spaces for the Soviet Ukrainian Yiddish theaters as a specific new avant-garde theater that aimed at deprovincializing the stages and in which the allegedly divided ethnic theaters interacted and intermingled. Fowler, Mayhill C., “Jews, Ukrainians, Soviets? Backstage in the Yiddish theatres of Soviet Ukraine,” Jewish Culture and History 18, no. 2 (2017): 152–69, 153–56CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

53 See note 24.

54 Matthias Bernhard Lautzky, “Der lustige Ritter in Wien,” Internationale Artisten Revue, 10 Dec. 1893, 5.

55 “Budapester Artisten Verein,” Internationale Artisten Revue, 20 May 1900, 1. Later on, in both Vienna and Budapest members of the associations discussed separating and founding new associations. However, Der lustige Ritter and Der Budapester Artisten Verein continued to exist until the end of World War I. The Internationale Artisten Organisation was founded thereafter. Koller, Das Wiener Volkssängertum in alter und neuer Zeit, 160.

56 “Treffen des Wiener Artistenverbandes,” Internationale Artisten Revue, 1 Nov. 1893, 8. See also Matthias Bernhard Lautzky, “Artisten,” Internationale Artisten Revue, 20 Jan. 1894, 2–3. And Mehrere lustige Ritter [signature of the authors, SK], “Der Club der lustigen Ritter in Wien,” in Internationale Artisten Revue, 10 May 1895, 2–3.

57 The Association of Traveling Variety Managers frequently reported on its activities and advertised invitations to meetings in the New York Clipper. Harry Jacobs, “Call: The Regular Meeting of Association of Traveling Variety Managers of America,” New York Clipper, 9 June 1900, 348.

58 Koller, Das Wiener Volkssängertum in alter und neuer Zeit, 160.

59 Charles Haydn, “Leserbrief,” Internationale Artisten Revue, 10 Jan. 1894, 9. It should be noted that Bethlehem and Wilmington were both cities with a high German-speaking population.

60 “Miscellaneous,” Internationale Artisten Revue, 24 Jan. 1894, 10.

61 “Warnung,” Internationale Artisten Revue, 8 Dec. 1891, 32.

62 “Folies Caprice,” Budapesti Hírlap, 7 Oct. 1893, 5.

63 Vries, Petra de, “‘White Slaves’ in a Colonial Nation: The Dutch Campaign against the Traffic in Women in the Early Twentieth Century,” Social and Legal Studies 14, no. 1 (2005): 3960CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

64 Stauter-Halsted, The Devil's Chain, 125.

65 Wingfield, The World of Prostitution, 172. On migration and trafficking in women, see ibid., 204–7.

66 Stauter-Halsted, The Devil's Chain, 121–2; Wingfield, The World of Prostitution, 10–12, 138–39.

67 On Damenkapellen see Myers, “Searching for Data about Ladies’ Orchestras, 1870–1950,” 189–213; Scott, Derek B., Sounds of the Metropolis: The 19th-Century Popular Music Revolution in London, New York, Paris and Vienna (Oxford, 2008), 2124CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

68 Myers, “Searching for Data about Ladies’ Orchestras, 1870–1950,” 194.

69 Stauter-Halsted, The Devil's Chain, 117–34.

70 On accusations raised against women traveling alone, see Wingfield, Prostitution, 193–202.

71 “Folies Caprice,” Budapesti Hírlap, 7 Oct. 1893, 5.

72 “Chantant und Polizei,” Internationale Artisten Revue, 8 Mar. 1892, 1.

73 On Jewish travel agents and the ideas and antisemitic polemics, see Zahra, Tara, “Travel Agents on Trial: Policing Mobility in East Central Europe, 1889–1989,” Past & Present, no. 223 (2014): 161–93, 177–80CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

74 Schreiben der Zentralstelle zur Überwachung des Mädchenhandels an das Ministeriums des Inneren betreffend das Engagement von Artistinnen in Belgrad, 5 Oct. 1912, Zahl 2758, 37587/1912, box 2122, Mädchenhandel und Prostitution, Ministerium des Inneren [hereafter: MdI], Allgemeines Verwaltungsarchiv [hereafter: AVA], Österreichisches Staatsarchiv [hereafter: OeStA], Vienna, Austria.

75 On the antisemitic background of these assertions, see Boyer, John W., Political Radicalism in Late Imperial Vienna: Origins of the Christian Social Movement, 1848–1897 (Chicago, 1981), 225–27Google Scholar. See also Stauter-Halsted, Keely, “A Generation of Monsters: Jews, Prostitution, and Racial Purity in the 1892 L'viv White Slavery Trail,” Austrian History Yearbook 38 (2007): 2535CrossRefGoogle Scholar. This discourse also interfered with the discussion of “white slavery,” bringing together “whiteness” and “Jewishness” under the guise of a colonial angle and separating “white slaves” from victims of trafficking from Southeastern Europe. De Vries, “‘White Slaves’ in a Colonial Nation,” 45–48.

76 Wingfield, The World of Prostitution, 172–78.

77 For example, Übermittlung eines Verzeichnisses der Prostitutionslokale, Varietés, Winkelhotels, Cafés und Gasthöfe der Stadt Astrackan, 20 Mar. 1914, Mädchenhandel und Prostitution, Zahl 58, 24444/1914, F52, box 45, Ministerium des Äußeren [hereafter: MdAe], Haus-, Hof- und Staatsarchiv [hereafter: HHStA], OeStA, Vienna, Austria.

78 Stauter-Halsted, The Devil's Chain, 132.

79 “Auf d.e. Tour,” Internationale Artisten Revue, 8 Jan. 1894, 1–2.

80 On the image of the “bad male Jew,” see Gilman, Sander L., “Salome, Syphilis, Sarah Bernhardt and the ‘Modern Jewess,’The German Quarterly 66, no. 2 (1993): 195211, 196CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

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82 On Jewish passing, see Wallach, Kerry, Passing Illusions: Jewish Visibility in Weimar Germany (Ann Arbor, 2017), 36CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

83 Mary Gluck, “Jewish Humor and Popular Culture in Fin-de-Siècle Budapest,” Austrian History Yearbook 34 (2008): 1–21.

84 On the analytical framework of “Jewishness,” see Silverman, Lisa, “Reconsidering the Margins: Jewishness as an Analytical Framework,” Journal of Modern Jewish Studies 8, no. 1 (2009): 103–20CrossRefGoogle Scholar. On similarities and differences between antisemitic and misogynistic stereotypes, see Braun, Christina von, “Antisemitismus und Misogynie: Vom Zusammenhang zweier Erscheinungen,” in Von einer Welt in die andere: Jüdinnen im 19. und 20. Jahrhundert, eds. Dick, Jutta and Hahn, Barbara (Vienna, 1993), 179–96Google Scholar; Volkov, Shulamit, Das jüdische Projekt der Moderne (München, 2001), 6281Google Scholar.

85 Heinrich Eisenbach was born on 10 Aug. 1870 in Cracow and died at the age of 52 on 14 Apr. 1923 in Vienna. The “popular comedian” recognized his wife Mizzi Eisenbach (née Pfleger) as his sole heiress in his last will and testament, signed on 23 Mar. 1923. Todfallsaufnahme Heinrich Eisenbach, Verlassenschaftsabhandlung 658/23, Bezirksgericht Hietzing A4/2, Wiener Stadt- und Landesarchiv, Austria.

86 Risa Basté was born Sali Sarah Friedmann on 5 Apr. 1879. Meldezettel Sali Sarah Friedmann, K2 – C-Antiquariat, Historische Meldeunterlagen, Wiener Stadt- und Landesarchiv, Austria. Meldezettel Sali Sara Glinger Hargesheimer, geb. Friedmann, K4 – Meldekartei, Historische Meldeunterlagen, Wiener Stadt- und Landesarchiv, Austria. Meldezettel Sali Risa Glinger, geb. Friedmann, K5 – E-Antiquariat, Historische Meldeunterlagen, Wiener Stadt- und Landesarchiv, Austria. Todfallsaufnahme Sali Glinger, Verlassenschaftsabhandlungen: 46/68, Bezirksgericht Innere Stadt A4/3, Wiener Stadt- und Landesarchiv, Austria. Meldezettel Adolf Glinger, K2 – C-Antiquariat Historische Meldeunterlagen, Wiener Stadt- und Landesarchiv, Austria. Meldezettel Adolf Glinger Hargesheimer, K4 – Meldekartei, Historische Meldeunterlagen, Wiener Stadt- und Landesarchiv, Austria. Meldezettel Adolf Glinger, K5 – E-Antiquariat, Historische Meldeunterlagen, Wiener Stadt- und Landesarchiv, Austria. Todfallsaufnahme Adolf Glinger, Verlassenschaftsabhandlungen: 360/47, Bezirksgericht Innere Stadt A4/15, Wiener Stadt- und Landesarchiv, Austria.

87 Using the previous examples, Klaus Hödl highlighted that popular culture was constituted and consumed jointly by Jews and non-Jews. Hödl, Klaus, “The Quest for Amusement: Jewish Leisure Activities in Vienna circa 1900,” Jewish History and Culture 14, no. 1 (2014): 1–17, 14CrossRefGoogle Scholar. Regarding Jews and the Viennese Operetta, see Beller, Steven, Wien und die Juden 1867–1938 (Vienna, 1993), 3132CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

88 At that time, it was a common practice among Jews to change their names. Bering, Dietz, “Der jüdische Name,” in Antisemitismus: Mythen und Vorurteile, eds. Schoeps, Julius and Schlör, Joachim (Munich, 1996), 153–66Google Scholar. Hödl, Zwischen Wiener Lied und Der kleine Kohn, 6.

89 On imaginary spaces of Vienna in fin-de-siècle literature, see Bach, Ulrich E., Tropics of Vienna: Colonial Utopias of the Habsburg Empire (New York, 2016), 2, 31CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

90 Risa Basté, Liedertexte, Theater TB – Textbücher der Theaterzensur 117/24, NÖ Reg. Präs, Niederösterreichisches Landesarchiv, St. Pölten, Austria.

91 Ibid.

92 Zweig, Stefan, Die Welt von Gestern, 41st ed. (Frankfurt, 2014), 94Google Scholar.

93 “Theater und Vergnügungen in Wien,” Neue Freie Presse, 18 July 1894, 12. “Advertisements,” New York Clipper, 26 Sept. 1903, 735. Such references to the famous Soubrette can be found in nearly all newspapers. On the sensibility of censorship concerning sexual references, see Bachleitner, Norbert and Ferstl, Paul, “Österreichische Theaterzensur im 20. Jahrhundert: Ein Abriss ihrer Entwicklung und eine Fallstudie zur Zensur englischer Stücke während des Ersten Weltkriegs,” in Weltbühne Wien: Rezeption anglophoner Dramen auf Wiener Bühnen des 20. Jahrhunderts vol. 2, eds. Mengel, Ewald, Schnauder, Ludwig, and Weis, Rudolf (Trier, 2010), 27–50, 2731Google Scholar.

94 “Roithners Theater Variété,” Neue Linzer Tagespost, 29 Apr. 1899, 4.

95 “Im Somossy Orpheum,” Internationale Artisten Revue, 1 Nov. 1893, 9.

96 On Czechs in Vienna 1900, see Hamann, Brigitte, Hitlers Wien: Lehrjahre eines Diktators (Munich, Zurich, 1996), 435–55Google Scholar. Michael and Lichtblau, Schmelztiegel, 143–45.

97 Heinrich Eisenbach, Der Afrikareisende, Theaterzensur Textbücher 1899–1901, Kt. 116/3, NÖ Reg. Präs, Lower Austrian National Archives, St. Pölten, Austria.

98 András Vari has concluded that the functions of ethnic stereotypes at the turn of the nineteenth century fluctuated regularly, including both positive and negative components. Vari, András, “The Functions of Ethnic Stereotypes in Austria and Hungary in the Early Nineteenth Century,” in Creating the Other: Ethnic Conflict and Nationalism in Habsburg Central Europe, ed. Wingfield, Nancy M. (New York, 2004), 39–55, 4854Google Scholar.

99 Heinrich Eisenbach, Der Afrikareisende. Theaterzensur Textbücher 1899–1901, Kt. 116/3, NÖ Reg. Präs, Lower Austrian National Archives, St. Pölten, Austria.

100 I want to thank Frank Stern for bringing this fact to my attention. For further information on Zionist discourse, see Brenner, Michael, Geschichte des Zionismus (Munich, 2002)Google Scholar, particularly 44–55.

101 Such anthropological evening lectures became quite popular among the bourgeoisie around 1900 and could regularly be found in institutions like the Urania. This was also represented in the new emerging panopticons, such as Präuscher's Panoptikum in the Prater.

102 Because research has mainly focused on differences, Dorothee Kimmich and Anil Bhatti elaborated on the function of difference within societies. Bhatti and Kimmich argue that thinking about difference is based on a binary construct that solely differentiates between those who are equal and “the other”—without any range in between. However, they state that difference does not matter in the practice of everyday life but instead that the possibility to recognize difference is based on the ability to perceive similarity. Rather than merely perceiving a total difference or similarity, a person perceives a range (of stereotypes, of facets, of identities, and so on) of differences and/or similarities. The paradigm of similarity does not negate difference but elaborates on the range and practice between the dichotomous opposition of similarity and otherness. Bhatti, Anil and Kimmich, Dorothee, eds., Ähnlichkeit: Ein kulturtheoretisches Paradigma (Konstanz, 2015)Google Scholar. Johannes Feichtinger and Heidemarie Uhl highlighted that research on the Habsburg Empire has recently began to reexamine dichotomies based on differences. Feichtinger, Johannes and Uhl, Heidemarie, “Stichwort Habsburg Zentraleuropa: Ein kulturwissenschaftliches Untersuchungsfeld,” in Habsburg neu denken: Vielfalt und Ambivalenz in Zentraleuropa, 30 kulturwissenschaftliche Stichworte, eds. Johannes Feichtinger and Heidemarie Uhl (Vienna, 2016), 918, 15CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

103 I am here referring to what Sigmund Freud noted on the function of humor and jokes, and moreover the way popular culture works. Freud, Sigmund, Der Witz und seine Beziehung zum Unbewußten: Der Humor (Frankfurt, 2012), 193–200, 209–11, and 253–54Google Scholar.

104 Moritz Csáky coined and defined this notion of a new quality of mobility. See note 6.