Andrzej Włast

Andrzej Włast (born Gustaw Baumritter; 17 March 1895 – between 1941 and 1946) was a Polish lyricist, satirist, theatre director, and publicist. He was one of the most popular songwriters of the interwar period, a leading figure in Warsaw cabarets, and the founder of the revue theatre Morskie Oko. Włast wrote thousands of songs, including Tango Milonga, Jesienne róże, Rebeka, and Szkoda twoich łez, and is credited with coining the term przebój as a Polish equivalent of the German Schlager.

Włast was born in Łódź to Szymon Baumritter and Salomea née Eisenmann. He was introduced to cabarets and variety theaters in his hometown of Łódź by his friend Julian Tuwim, a year older than him. Immediately after high school, he moved to Warsaw, where, as Andrzej Włast, he made his debut on December 20, 1914, at the Shareholder Theatre (preceding Tuwim's cabaret debut by a year). He also studied law at the University of Warsaw and medicine from 1913 to 1915.

One of Włast's first hits was the song "Vivat coalition!" from the patriotic revue "Vivat freedom" from 1915 – sung at the Miraż Theatre with great success as late as 1918 (after the revue's second premiere on November 12, 1918). During the war, as a young cabaret artist, he managed to appear at the Bi-Ba-Bo Theatre, Miraż, and Czarny Kot.

After the war, he collaborated with the Teatr Arystyczny (Artistic Theatre), Teatr Mały (Little Theatre), and Sfinks (Sfinks). In 1920, he began working with the best cabaret of the interwar period, Qui Pro Quo , where he worked alongside cabaret heavyweights such as Tuwim, Hemar , and Fryderyk Jarossy . He created revues and operettas, including for other theaters, and wrote songs (including shimmy foxtrots for Hanka Ordonówna). During this time, he also published his debut and only book of poetry, "Serce tattooowane" (Tattooed Heart) (1923).^[1]

Andrzej Włast published the film column series Dziesiąta Muza (Impresje) in the trade magazine Ekran i Scena between 1923 and 1924. His criticism was impressionistic in form and focused less on plot analysis than on acting, directing, visual style, and audience response. Włast frequently criticized contemporary German cinema for excessive artificiality, overuse of spectacle, theatrical acting, and reliance on monumental sets and technical effects at the expense of realism. He also repeatedly expressed dissatisfaction with Polish film production, accusing it of weak scripts, stage-like acting, and low artistic ambition despite adequate financial and technical resources. In contrast, he praised American films for their narrative clarity, realism, restrained acting, and effective use of cinematic means. A central theme of his criticism was film acting, particularly facial expression and gesture, which he regarded as the defining elements of the medium. ^[2]

In 1927, Włast formed a writing and composing partnership with Henryk Wars, together they would write many hits. They would also collaborate on Włast's new stage, Morskie Oko, this time his own venture. At 3 Jasna Street (in the building formerly occupied by Perskie Oko), Włast created Warsaw's first proper revue theater, modeled on the lavish Parisian stage spectacles such as the Moulin Rouge and, above all, the Casino de Paris, which he frequently visited from 1926 (drawing heavily on their programs, by the way). At Morskie Oko, Wars and Włast also transplanted the latest styles from overseas – new ballroom dances derived from jazz: the cakewalk, the two-step, the Charleston, and the black-bottom. Despite successes in keeping up with new trends, the theater survived until 1933, but the Great Depression put an end to it.

Włast, however, was undeterred and launched another project that same year – the Rex Theatre at 18 Karowa Street. Later, the same location housed the Wielka Rewia music hall, run by Włast. It operated until January 1939, before giving way to the small literary theatre Ali Baba (created with Kazimierz Krukowski).

After the outbreak of the war, Andrzej Włast remained in Warsaw and soon found himself in the ghetto. During the Invasion of Poland, he encouraged for the theatre workers of Ali Baba to keep acting, saying that the "show must go on". As Dariusz Michalski writes, Włast was very heavily disliked, so almost no one wanted to help Baumritter. He was in bad shape in the ghetto from the start. Initially, he performed at the Sztuka café on Leszno Street, but his songs failed to amuse anyone. Singer and actress Ola Obarska, managed to get him out, and he hid in her and in the apartments of other Polish Catholic colleagues, but however, suffering from extreme depression and paranoia, as the sound of footsteps mentally disturbed Wlast completely, and one day walked out from his apartment near the ghetto to the street, but fled immediately into the Ghetto, terrified at the sight of a Gestapo Officer, who then shot Wlast point blank, just as he was about to flee back into the Warsaw Ghetto Gate. ^[3]

As others say - Włast consciously and deliberately lowered himself to the level of a suburban pub, a mangle, the amorous chatter of semi-literates.

Critics emphasized that his lyrics, in terms of style—especially against the backdrop of the progressive and contemporary language of Hemar and Tuwim's texts—were a return to the Young Poland movement. But it was his songs that the streets—and not just Warsaw—sang with relish. Marian Hemar recalled:

"Before the war in Warsaw, Tuwim and I were supposedly writing the best songs. But the hits that went straight from the stage to the streets of Warsaw, Łódź, Radom, that blared from radio and gramophone speakers – only Andrzej Włast could write these." Marek Groński explains what the phenomenon of Włast's popularity was:

The cult of Włast arose from the need to fill the void that existed between intelligentsia culture and the rest of society. Włast consciously employed melodrama, the archetypal Cinderella fairy tale, and the exotic. He presented it in a version that was as trivial as possible, making it all the more easily digestible.

He was said to have a series of rhymes prepared, to which he would then add more or less appropriate words, recalled cabaret actor Kazimierz Krukowski (Lopek). Słonimski and Boy-Żeleński laughed at them, writing that "his songs have the valuable property that they can be sung backwards and in all directions – a spring of happiness, a swarm of dreams, the heat of songs, the charm of caresses." Włast didn't pretend to be a poet; he was more of a craftsman who delivered new products on time (often weekly in the cabaret). Sometimes even ahead of schedule, keeping his finger on the pulse of new developments and staying ahead of the competition. As Groński writes:

"When Gypsy rhythms became fashionable, he switched to Gypsyism, when Russia came into fashion via Paris, he quickly overtook Tuwim and translated Bubliczki."

He was also a pioneer in the field of szmonces—a popular genre in Polish cabaret that exploited the humorous qualities of Jewish Polish (the sketch "Uś, Wiosna ta"). His szmonces, the first in Polish cabaret, were performed by Józef Urstein (Pikuś). His first hit song, "Gołda," sung by Janina Madziarówna, also referenced szmonces. ^[4]

All those who remember Włast emphasize his exceptional intelligence (which also explains the frequent accusations of cynicism). Jerzy Jurandot says as to why he focused on mass commercialization: I think he simply quickly realized that a song's street popularity depends primarily on its melody, and to a much lesser extent on its lyrics, while the composer's and lyricist's income depends on the song's popularity. Having gained this awareness, he abandoned all literary ambitions and, with complete cynicism, embarked on a serial production of melodramatic, tear-jerking masterpieces."

Andrzej Włast expressed a distinctly anti-elitist attitude toward literature and literary criticism. In his only published volume of poetry, Serce tatuowane (Tattooed Heart), he openly distanced himself from professional critics. In the poem “Krytykom” (“To the Critics”), he rejected scholarly interpretation of his work, declaring that he valued the opinions of ordinary readers more highly than expert criticism. This stance reflected his broader conviction that literature should be addressed to a popular audience rather than to literary elites.

Włast articulated his worldview more explicitly in the poem “Ewangelia” (“The Gospel”), where he dissociated himself from poets associated with philosophical or symbolic traditions, such as Leopold Staff and Maurice Maeterlinck. In contrast to their idealism, Włast presented a bleak and cynical vision of reality, portraying the world as morally degraded and everyday life as governed by material and mundane concerns.

A particularly revealing text in Serce tatuowane is the poem “Prostytucja” (“Prostitution”), which is often read in a biographical context. The poem depicts writing as a form of commercial transaction carried out under time pressure and external demand. The act of producing commissioned work is presented as leading to a sense of inner death and creative exhaustion. Although the speaker is praised for his talent and rewarded financially, he experiences a loss of personal authorship and emotional connection to his work. The poem concludes with the admission that, despite continuing to write, the resulting texts no longer feel authentically his own. ^[5]