The Cabaret
Player pianos and dance organs – Les Gets
Discover the Cabaret of the 1930s: automatic pianos, a Decap organ, a music-hall atmosphere and cafés-concerts in a spectacular Art Deco setting.
The Cabaret – The golden age of mechanical entertainment
Step into the vibrant world of the Cabaret and the café-concerts of the interwar years. This emblematic space of the museum pays tribute to the origins of the music-hallwhere art, popular entertainment and mechanical ingenuity came together.
From Café-Concerts to Music Halls: the complete show
During the 1920s and 1930s, café-concerts – surnommés cafés-concerts – often known as Caf’Conc’ – were lively venues where singers, comedians, dancers, musicians performed.
Gradually, they evolved into music halls,true variety theatres featuring sumptuous Art Deco ornamentation, sometimes transformed into genuine “palaces of mirrors”..
The Cabaret’s Player Pianos
At the heart of this captivating room, you will discover magnificent automatic pianos,also known as “bastringues”,concealed within finely decorated cabinets. These instruments operated using various mechanical music media: :
- Perforated cardboard books
- Pinned wooden cylinders
- Metal discs
- Perforated metal cylinders
Each of these systems made it possible to reproduce a wide range of music, from popular songs to the most fashionable dance tunes.
Pablo PICASSO’s Mechanical Piano The instrument known as the "mechanical piano" is in fact a true orchestrion, incorporating a bass drum, snare drum, cymbals, triangle, sleigh bells, and piano. It plays ten musical pieces.
The artist acquired it in 1952 from the café “La Tonnelle” in Vallauris, which he frequented, and installed it in his villa “La Galloise”. In a 1953 article published in Paris Match, Pablo Picasso exclaimed: "It is a whim I treated myself to... it scatters nostalgic notes. Look how the atmosphere changes in an instant."
Purchased at auction in February 2024, the instrument was fully restored—both mechanically and cabinet-making—before joining the museum in July 2025.
A monumental organ for unforgettable evenings
An impressive dance organ stands proudly in the Cabaret Hall:
- 244 pipes
- Built-in accordions
- Percussion section
- 2 saxophones
- Hours of uninterrupted music!
Built by the renowned Decap and Mortier companies,, these instruments were designed to animate entire dance evenings,either on their own or alongside stage performances.