Seite - 66 - in Entangled Entertainers - Jews and Popular Culture in Fin-de-Siècle Vienna

66 | Entangled Entertainers Ben Tieber was always concerned with off ering the public new attractions, which is why he often traveled abroad. In 1905, for example, he spent several months in Germany, France, and England to discover new acts that he could bring back to Vienna.109 Success, however, did not grace Tieber forever. Over time, the variety show outlived its popularity. As a result, Tieber saw the need to transform the Apollo into a theater in the traditional sense. He obtained the necessary approval for this change through the persistence that he was known to bring to all his endeavors. When Gabor Steiner replace d Franz Kriebaum as director of Danzer’s Or- pheum in May 1900, he seems to have realized that the golden years of singspiel and vaudeville were, if not yet entirely over, fast approaching their end.110 His predecessor’s bankruptcy may have acted as a warning to him.111 For this reason, Steiner sought to rebrand Danzer’s Orpheum and turn it into a “boulevard the- ater” that would “unite true art with international artists.”112 For him, “true art” consisted of the operetta and bourgeois theater. Gabor Steiner (1858–1944) was born in Temesvár, then part of the Kingdom of Hungary. He came from a family fi rmly rooted in the theater business. His father, Maximilian Steiner (1 830–80), made his living as an actor before taking over as artistic director of the Th eater an der Wien in 1869 and then as princi- pal director of the theater in 1873. He appointed the operetta composer Carl Millöcker (1844–9 9) musical director of the theater. Later he also hired Johann Strauss II (1825–99) to work at the theater.113 After Maximilian’s death, his eldest son Franz Steiner (1855–1920) took over as director of Th eater an der Wien. A few years later, he became manager of the Carltheater in the Praterstrasse, wher e his brother Gabor Steiner worked as a director and artistic director. He gained fame primarily as the director of Venice in Vienna (Venedig in Wien), located in the Vienna Prater, which replicated the sights of Venice with its canals and gondolas.114 Venice in Vienna In its early days, Venice in Vienna was by far the most important entertain- ment venue in all of Vienna. Th ere were days when it attracted up to twenty thousand people. Gabor Steiner was able to make a name for himself as theater director there. During the winter months, Danzer’s Orpheum served as a tempo- rary home for Venice in Vienna’s theatrical productions. From 1909 until 1912, Gabor Steiner also functioned as the director of the Ronacher. His son Max (1888–1971) was a fi lm composer in the United States. He wrote the score for fi lm classics such as Gone with the Wind (1939) and Casablanca (1943).115 Th e opening event at Danzer’s Orpheum at the end of October 1900 fea- tured the Brothers O’Brien, a pair of horizontal bar gymnasts, the dancer La This open access edition has been made available under a CC BY 4.0 license thanks to the support of Knowledge Unlatched.