Claire Waldoff (Clara Wortmann) was a German

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 singer. She was a famous cabaret

Cabaret

Cabaret is a form, or place, of entertainment featuring comedy, song, dance, and theatre, distinguished mainly by the performance venue: a restaurant or nightclub with a stage for performances and the audience sitting at tables watching the performance, as introduced by a master of ceremonies or...

 singer and entertainer in Berlin

Berlin

Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

 during the 1910s and 1920s.

Biography

Clara Wortmann was born in 1884 the eleventh child of 16. Her parents owned a tavern

Tavern

A tavern is a place of business where people gather to drink alcoholic beverages and be served food, and in some cases, where travelers receive lodging....

 in Gelsenkirchen. After completing school, she studied theatre

Theatre

Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...

 and chose as her pseudoynm Claire Waldoff. In 1903, she got her first theatre jobs in Bad Pyrmont

Bad Pyrmont

-External links:* * -Multimedia:*...

 and in Kattowitz. In 1907, she went to Berlin, where she performed at the Figaro-Theater on Kurfürstendamm

Kurfürstendamm

The Kurfürstendamm, known locally as the Ku'damm, is one of the most famous avenues in Berlin. The street takes its name from the former Kurfürsten of Brandenburg. This very broad, long boulevard can be considered the Champs-Élysées of Berlin — full of shops, houses, hotels and restaurants...

. In 1907, she also began a working as a cabaret singer. Rudolf Nelson

Rudolf Nelson

Rudolf Nelson was a German composer of hit songs, film music, operetta and vaudeville, and the founder/director of the Nelson Revue, a significant cabaret troupe on the 1930s Berlin nightlife scene.-Biography:...

 gave her a job at the theatre Roland von Berlin on Potsdamer Straße. She had great success during the next several years in German cabaret. She sang at Chat Noir on Friedrichstraße and at the Linden-Cabaret on Unter den Linden

Unter den Linden

Unter den Linden is a boulevard in the Mitte district of Berlin, the capital of Germany. It is named for its linden trees that line the grassed pedestrian mall between two carriageways....

. Waldoff was known for singing her songs in distinctive Berliner slang. Waldoff's success reached its peak in the 1920s. She performed at the two great Berlin varieté

Varieté

Variety is a 1925 silent drama film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont based on the novel Der Eid des Stephan Huller by . Jannings portrays "Boss Huller," an ex-trapeze artist who runs a seedy carnival with his wife and child...

s, Scala and Wintergarten

Berlin Wintergarten theatre

The Berlin Wintergarten theatre was a large variety theatre in Berlin that opened in approximately 1887 and was destroyed by bombs in June 1944. The name was eventually taken on by a theatre in Potsdamer Strasse in 1992....

, sang together with Marlene Dietrich

Marlene Dietrich

Marlene Dietrich was a German-American actress and singer.Dietrich remained popular throughout her long career by continually re-inventing herself, professionally and characteristically. In the Berlin of the 1920s, she acted on the stage and in silent films...

, and had her songs played on the radio. Her repertoire included around 300 original songs.

Waldoff lived together with Olga von Roeder. The lesbian

Lesbian

Lesbian is a term most widely used in the English language to describe sexual and romantic desire between females. The word may be used as a noun, to refer to women who identify themselves or who are characterized by others as having the primary attribute of female homosexuality, or as an...

 couple lived happily in Berlin during the 1920s. Together they met often other lesbian friends in the club, Damenklub Pyramide, in Berlin. After the German Nazis won the elections 1933 and Hitler came to power, Waldoff's success ended. In 1939, she and Olga von Roder left Berlin together, and they lived in Bayerisch Gmain

Bayerisch Gmain

Bayerisch Gmain is a municipality in the district of Berchtesgadener Land in Bavaria in Germany....

. After World War II, she lost her money in German Monetary reform in 1948. In 1953 she wrote her autobiography. 1954 she got a little monetary support by senate of city Berlin. Waldoff died in 1957 and she was buried on the cemetery Pragfriedhof in Stuttgart

Stuttgart

Stuttgart is the capital of the state of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. The sixth-largest city in Germany, Stuttgart has a population of 600,038 while the metropolitan area has a population of 5.3 million ....

. Waldoff has a star in Walk of Fame of Cabaret

Walk of Fame of Cabaret

The Walk of Fame of Cabaret is a sidewalk between Proviant-Magazin and Schönborner Hof in Mainz, Germany, which is embedded with more than 40 seven-pointed irregularly shaped stars featuring the names of cabaret celebrities selected by a group of experts and honored by several sponsors for their...

.

Songs by Waldoff

• Wer schmeißt denn da mit Lehm
• Hermann heeßt er!
• Nach meine Beene is ja janz Berlin verrückt!
• Wegen Emil seine unanständ´ge Lust
• An de Panke - an de Wuhle - an de Spree
• Was braucht der Berliner, um glücklich zu sein?
• Romanze vom Wedding
• Da geht mir der Hut hoch

• 1909:
  • Das Varieté (1909)
  • Das Schmackeduzchen (M.: Walter Kollo, T.: Hermann Frey)

• 1910:
  • Det Scheenste sind die Beenekins (M: Walter Kollo, T.: C. Waldoff).
  • Kuno der Weiberfeind (Rudolf Nelson).
  • Morgens willste nicht und abends kannste nicht (E. Hartmann).
  • Mir hab’n se de Gurke vom Schnitzel weggemopst.

• 1911:
  • ’ne dufte Stadt ist mein Berlin (M.: Walter Kollo, T.: Hardt).
  • Wenn der Bräutigam mit der Braut so mang die Wälder geht (M.: Walter Kollo, T.: Hardt).
  • Nach meine Beene is ja janz Berlin verrückt (M.: Walter Kollo, T.: Hardt).
  • Was liegt bei Lehmann unterm Apfelbaum (M.: Walter Kollo, T.: A.O. Alberts).
  • Knoll der Trommler (Soldatenlied).
  • Der kleine Kadett (Soldatenlied).
  • Und wieder stand ich Wache (Soldatenlied).
  • Knoll, jawoll (Soldatenlied).

• 1912:
  • Soldatenmarschlied (= Wenn die Soldaten durch die Stadt marschieren (J.F. Rollers).
  • Er ist nach mir verrückt (M.: Max Kluck, T.: Ludwig Mendelssohn).
  • Er stand beim Train (= Die Tante aus Hamburg).(Heinrich Lautensack)
  • Gustav mit’m Simili (M.: O.B. Roeser, T.: Harry Senger).
  • Das noble Berlin (M.: Georg Mewes, T.: Harry Senger).
  • Na, dann laß es dir mal jut bekommen (M.: Walter Kollo, T.: Hartmann).

• 1913:
  • Mir ist so trübe (Soldatenlied).
  • Klärchen aus dem Gartenhaus (Harry Senger).
  • For mir (Köchinnenlied) (Harry Senger).
  • Ich gehe meinen Schlendrian (Studentenlied).
  • So denkt im Frühling die Berlinerin (Hermann Schultze-Buch).
  • Was meinste Mensch, wie man sich täuschen kann (M.: Gutkind, T.: Willy Hagen).
  • Es ist nicht gerade angenehm (Jobst Haslinde).
  • Kusslehre (Jobst Haslinde).
  • Herr Meyer, Herr Meyer, wo bleibt denn bloß mein Reiher (from operette „So bummeln wir“) (Jean Gilbert).
  • Die Berliner Pflanze (M.: Otto Erich Lindner, T.: Alexander Tyrkowski).
  • Berlin, so siehste aus (Niklas-Kempner).
  • Hermann heeßt er (Ludwig Mendelssohn).
  • Zippel-Polka (Hermann Schultze-Buch).
  • Moritat (Ludwig Mendelssohn).
  • Argentinisch (M.: Ehrlich, T.: Alexander Tyrkowski).
  • Fern der Heimat (Soldatenlied).
  • Das Produkt unserer Zeit (before 1914)
  • Des Treulosen Entschuldigung (before 1914)

• 1914:
  • Kann ich dafür? (Jobst Haslinde).
  • Burlala (Studentenlied).
  • Der Soldate (Marsch-Duett aus der Operette „Immer feste druff“, with Karl Gessner) (Walter Kollo).
  • Auf der Banke, an der Panke (aus der Operette „Immer feste druff“, with Karl Gessner) (Walter Kollo).
  • Soldaten-Romanze (around 1914)

• 1915:
  • Waldmar-Mieze-Duett (aus der Operette „Woran wir denken“, mit Guido Thielscher) (M.: Jean Gilbert, T.: Walter Turzinsky).
  • Mein Justav (aus der Operette „Woran wir denken“) (M.: Jean Gilbert, T.: Walter Turzinsky).
  • Da kann kein Kaiser und kein König was machen (T.: Claire Waldoff).
  • Es steht ein Storch auf einem Bein

• 1916:
• Wozu hat der Soldat eine Braut? (Bromme).
• Maxe von der schweren Artillerie! (Leander).
• Kriegslied eines Tertianers (Ludwig Mendelssohn).
• Dann hat Reserve Ruh (Konrad Scherber).
• Schlesisches Soldatenlied (Willy Prager).
• Jetzt ist’s zu Ende mit der Schiesserei (Hartmann).

• ... (1917-1932)

• 1933:
• Werderlied (= Was willst du denn im Engadin?) (M.: Erwin Strauss, T.: Käthe Huldschinsky).
• Ich kann um zehne nicht nach Hause geh’n (M.: Claus Clauberg, T.: Erich Kersten).
• Unsere Minna (M.: Claus Clauberg, T.: Erich Kersten).
• Menschliches – Allzumenschliches (M.: Claus Clauberg, T.: Erich Kersten).
• Mach’ kein Meckmeck’ (M.: Mac Rauls, T.: Erich Kersten).
• Hätt’ste det von Ferdinand jedacht? (M.: Mac Rauls, T.: Willy Hagen).
• Bei mir da häng’ste (= über meinem Bett) (M.: Alex Stone and Walter Borchert, T.: Alex Stone and Friedrich Schwarz).
• Dann wackelt die Wand (M.: Mac Rauls, T.: Erich Kersten).
• Gruß an unsere Heimat (M.: Werner Schütte, T.: Erich Kersten and Koenigsborn).
• Nu schön, da haben wir eben Pech gehabt (= Ich hab ein Herz) (M.: Werner Schütte, T.: Erich Kersten and Koenigsborn).

Books by Waldoff

• Claire Waldoff: Weeste noch ...! Aus meinen Erinnerungen. Progress-Verlag, Düsseldorf/Munich 1953; new edition: „Weeste noch ...?“ Erinnerungen und Dokumente. Parthas, Berlin 1997, ISBN 3-932529-11-1

Literature

• Helga Bemmann: Wer schmeißt denn da mit Lehm. Eine Claire-Waldorff-Biographie. VEB Lied der Zeit, Berlin Ost [1984?]; new edition: Claire Waldoff. „Wer schmeißt denn da mit Lehm?“ Ullstein, Frankfurt/Berlin 1994, ISBN 3-548-35430-0
• Maegie Koreen: Immer feste druff. Das freche Leben der Kabarettkönigin Claire Waldoff. Droste, Düsseldorf 1997, ISBN 3-7700-1074-4

External links

• Literature about Claire Waldoff in German National Library
  German National Library
  The German National Library is the central archival library and national bibliographic centre for the Federal Republic of Germany...
  
  
• Biography about Claire Waldoff
• Website about Claire Waldoff