During the 1920s, Berlin-born dancer and actress Valeska Gert was famous in Germany for her abstract and eccentric performances. She was, for example, part of Laterna Magica – auch eine Revue (1926, Friedrich Hollaender) together with Marion Palfi, who was at this time still working as an actress; after her emigration to New York, she worked as a photographer. In 1933 Valeska Gert emigrated to London, where she took part in the short film Pett and Pott. After marrying her second husband, the writer Robin Hay Anderson, she emigrated with him to New York in 1939. Restarting her dancing and acting career proved to be almost impossible.

Beggar Bar was located in Greenwich Village, which was already at the time a borough much frequented by émigré artists and home to such cultural avant-garde intellectuals as Berenice Abbot, Patricia Highsmith and Lisette Model. The exile publishing house Pantheon Books was also located there. Beggar Bar ran from 1941 to 1945 and was not only a showcase for Valeska Gert’s own performances, but also a contact zone, where other émigré and American artists like Kadidja Wedekind could perform, as well as meet there or work at the bar.