By the first decade of the twentieth century, Berlin had finally awakened and developed self-consciously into a metropolis. Its streets ceased to be deserted after dark, and cafés and bars teemed with countless revelers who, after returning from their visits to Berlin's theaters and fairs, refused to call it a night. Not even the First World War could put a damper on this unsurpassed expansion of Berlin's nightlife, and by the middle of the 1920s, four million Berliners found amusement and distraction in 49 theaters, 3 opera houses, 3 large variety theaters, and 75 cabarets. In addition, live entertainment increasingly competed with 363 movie theaters for which 37 film companies produced 250 movies annually. This abundance of entertainment venues was complemented by an equally impressive expansion of Berlin's gastronomy. Some 16,000 restaurants, including 550 cafes, and 220 bars and dancehalls made certain that in Berlin the live performances were not limited to the official stages.

In light of the glamour, the morbid decadence, and the iconoclasm of avant-garde Weimar culture, researchers today often forget that Berlin's “entertainment revolution” was initiated by the much lighter sentiments of libertine optimism and growing confidence of middle-class Berliners two decades earlier.