The Original Eldorado, Berlin A Night of Cabaret, Comedy, and Defiant Self-Invention

Original text: Das Original Eldorado
Location: Lutherstraße, opposite the Scala theatre
Style: Weimar cabaret advertising, theatrical caricature, modernist poster design
Collection: Weimar Summer Series
Restoration: Elliott Best Gallery

Berlin’s Nightlife Refuses to Behave

With a fan raised to the face, one heel kicked into the air, and arms thrown wide in theatrical delight, the performer at the centre of this Eldorado poster seems to burst directly into the viewer’s space. The figure is comic, extravagant, and completely uninhibited. A beard and moustache remain visible beneath the costume, while a white dress, jewellery, bracelets, stockings, and bright yellow heels transform the body into a joyful collision of masculine and feminine signs. Nothing about the image is discreet. This is nightlife as performance, exaggeration, and liberation.

“The Original Eldorado”

The large German text reads:

“The Original Eldorado”
“Directly opposite the Scala”
“Lutherstraße”
“International clientele”
“Interesting nights”

The language is wonderfully suggestive. It promises neither a respectable evening nor a conventional theatre performance. Instead, it offers the excitement of an international crowd and nights worth talking about afterward. The phrase “Das Original” also suggests competition. The Eldorado name had become so strongly associated with Berlin nightlife that venues could use it as a recognizable symbol of cabaret, gender performance, and metropolitan adventure.

Gender as Spectacle and Freedom

Weimar Berlin’s clubs and cabarets created public stages on which gender could be exaggerated, rearranged, and reinvented. Some performers adopted glamorous feminine personas. Others used parody, theatrical cross-dressing, music, or comedy to challenge conventional expectations. Audiences were invited to enjoy not only the performance itself but also the daring act of transformation. This poster captures that world with unusual directness.

Comedy with a Radical Edge

The artwork is undeniably humorous. The curled moustache, exposed bloomers, oversized fan, tiny shoes, and exuberant pose all belong to the visual language of comic theatre. Yet the joke is not simply at the performer’s expense. The figure appears delighted, confident, and firmly in control of the spectacle. Their body may be exaggerated, but so is their power. They are the person having the most fun in the room, and the viewer is invited to join them. That balance of caricature and confidence gives the poster its enduring appeal.

A Night Opposite the Scala

The reference to the Scala places the club within Berlin’s larger entertainment landscape. Grand theatres and popular revues offered polished spectacle, while nearby cabarets and nightclubs provided something more intimate, provocative, and unpredictable. The Eldorado’s advertisement openly borrowed the excitement of the theatre district while promising a very different kind of evening. Across the street from respectable entertainment, another Berlin was waiting.

Why We Included This Work

We included The Original Eldorado in our Weimar Summer Series because it reveals the humour, theatricality, and bold public visibility that made Berlin’s nightlife so distinctive. Other works in the collection show elegant couples, sophisticated performers, and glamorous club interiors. This poster brings us closer to the unruly comic spirit of the cabaret itself: a world where gender could become costume, identity could become performance, and the person society might ridicule could command the stage instead.

The Elliott Best Restoration Signature™

Our restoration preserves the poster’s strong graphic simplicity, comic linework, expressive typography, and unmistakable nightclub energy while improving its overall clarity and visual impact. The restored edition includes:

• Refined definition throughout the performer’s face, fan, costume, and footwear

• Revitalization of the original red, yellow, black, cream, and white palette

• Restoration of softened lettering and irregular graphic edges

• Improved contrast between the figure and the dark background

• Correction of fading, surface wear, and uneven tonal areas

• Preservation of the original caricature and hand-drawn character

Curator’s Note: This poster does not whisper about Berlin’s nightlife. It throws open the door. The performer lifts a fan, kicks up a heel, and welcomes us into a world where elegance and absurdity could share the same stage. The beard remains visible. The costume refuses subtlety. The night promises to be “interesting,” and the poster makes certain we believe it. It is comic, provocative, and wonderfully alive: the Eldorado not as a place of quiet escape, but as a celebration of being seen.