The rapid success of his variety theater "Buntes Theater," initially housed in the Secession stage on Berlin’s famous Alexanderplatz, left Ernst von Wolzogen (1885-1934) with enough money to purchase his own building on Köpenicker Street and to commission the famous Jugendstil architect August Endell (1871-1925) to remodel it. The new theater opened on November 28, 1901, with a performance of Ludwig Thoma’s The Medal. Wolzogen’s personal role in the management of the "Buntes Theater" was ultimately short-lived. As a result of quarrels with investors and an increasingly mediocre and low-brow program that alienated critics, he was forced to cede the directorship in 1902. Nonetheless, he had launched a trend: between 1901 and 1906 alone, 32 cabarets in the same style opened in Berlin, thus making clear that cabaret, as the anti-thesis of established art forms, had grown considerably more popular with the public.