“Berlin was in a state of civil war. Hate exploded suddenly, without warning, out of nowhere; at street corners, in restaurants, cinemas, dance halls, swimming-baths; at midnight, after breakfast, in the middle of the afternoon ... From 1929 to 1933, I lived almost continuously in Berlin, with only occasional visits to other parts of Germany and to England. Already, during that time, I had made up my mind that I would one day write about the people I’d met and the experiences I was having. So I kept a detailed diary, which in due course provided raw material for all my Berlin stories." ― Christopher Isherwood, whose books on Berlin provided the basis for the musical Cabaret.
Welcome to The Weimar Spectacle, where I explore the brief and extraordinary life of the Weimar Republic. I’m Bremner Fletcher Duthie, singer, actor and theatre maker. I’ve spent years performing songs and theatre and cabaret from the Weimar period, and I’m inspired and maybe more than a little obsessed by that moment in time.
Listen to Bremner's two albums of Weimar Cabaret songs
https://songwhip.com/bremnerduthie/bremner-sings-weill
https://songwhip.com/bremnerduthie/bremner-sings-kurt-weill-vol-2-moon-faced-starry-eyed
I talk to author Brian Fairbanks whose new work in progress promises to uncover the extraordinary real characters in behind the musical Cabaret, and "give them agency".
There is no transcript for this interview. Here are images of some of the names and events mentioned in the podcast.
Brian Fairbanks
Brian Fairbanks started out as a film critic and features reporter for the Hartford Courant, as well as Nerve and AOL.com, and was Gawker's first investigative reporter while working for The Consumerist. He also has written for Mic, the New York Press, the Guardian, Cinema Thread, Your Tango, Vinyl Me Please and numerous other outlets. As a junior editor, author's assistant and typist, he worked on books by Hunter S. Thompson, Jack Kerouac and Stephen E. Ambrose.
He has written two critically acclaimed non-fiction books:
Journalist Brian Fairbanks explores how the final showdown between Duke and Edwards in November 1991 led to a major shift in our national politics, as well as the rise of the radical right and white supremacist groups, and how history repeated itself in the 2016 presidential election. The story of these political "wizards," almost forgotten by history, remains eerily prescient and disturbingly relevant, and a compulsive page-turner.
The tragic and inspiring story of the leaders of Outlaw country and their influence on today’s Alt-County and Americana superstars, tracing a path from Waylon Jennings’ survival on the Day the Music Died through to the Highwaymen and on to the current creative and commercial explosion of Chris Stapleton, Brandi Carlile, Zach Bryan, Jason Isbell, and the Highwomen.
The book that started it all. Based on Isherwood's diaries from his life in Berlin between 1929 and 1933.
Kabarett in Berlin: the Kabarett der Komiker and TanzKabarett. Two of the sources for the Kit Kat Club Kabarett in Isherwood's stories.
Jean Ross, the original Sally Bowles. Isherwood's roommate in Berlin.
Wilfrid Israel, one of the major figures in Isherwood's Berlin, and one of the founders of the Kindertransport that saved the lives of so many Jewish children
Kindertransport children
Gerald Hamilton, 'the most evil man in the world'
From the Broadway production of I Am A Camera, the first adaptation of Isherwood's book
Julie Harris as the first Sally Bowles on stage
the movie adaptation of the stage play
Cabaret poster from the original musical adaptation of I Am A Camera
Production images from the original Broadway musical Cabaret
The iconic poster from the film adaptation
Liza. With a look and haircut that her own father advised her to model after the iconic 20's flapper Louise Brooks
