THE RELEVANT QUEER: Claire Waldoff, German Cabaret Singer, Born October 21, 1884

“I danced on the brink but nobody dared to throw me in.”

TRQ: Claire Waldoff, Born October 21, 1884

Cabaret singer Claire Waldoff was born on October 21, 1884 in Gelsenkirchen, Westphalia in the German Empire. Brash and infectiously comical, Waldoff’s vocal style is distinctively rough. She won over audiences with her ironic renditions of folk songs, street music and operettas, and often played on lesbian themes and double entendres. Throughout her career, the flamboyantly red-headed Waldorf confronted female stereotypes by smoking and cursing onstage while wearing men’s clothes.

Born Clara Wortmann, she was the eleventh child of a tavern owner. Waldoff wanted to be a doctor, but her parents’ divorce made studying medicine unaffordable. Instead, she trained to be an actor.

In 1903, Waldoff landed her first roles with touring companies in Bad Pyrmont and Kattowitz, Silesia. Three years later, she moved to Berlin.

“I saw the gigantic city Berlin for the first time and was overwhelmed. I immediately sensed the special qualities of this town, the incredible tempo, the temperament, the amazing brio.”

— Claire Waldoff

She started performing at the Figaro-Theatre soon after arriving in the city. In 1907, Waldoff started singing in cabarets. Her first big breakthrough happened in 1908, when she started singing at the nightclub Roland Von Berlin, owned by Jewish composer Rudolf Nelson. Nelson wrote music for film, vaudeville and operettas. The Nelson Revue was one of Berlin’s biggest hits.

Whenever she appeared on stage, Waldoff performed only three songs. Across Berlin, her sassy and direct style made her a star. Her bawdy persona and Berlin slang shocked and entertained cabaret audiences used to more stylish and elegant performers.

By 1924, Waldoff regularly performed in Berlin’s most well-known theatres, the Scala and Wintergarten. She dressed in a shirt and tie and sometimes shared the stage with Marlene Dietrich.

“My Berlin, you are unique in your exciting atmosphere, in your unheard-of work force, in your great spirituality.”

— Claire Waldoff

True to her style, Waldoff was open abut her sexuality and her queerness. She shared a home with her partner Olga “Olly” Von Roeder. Together they hosted a salon in their home where they entertained artists, thinkers, singers and actors. Waldoff and von Roeder socialized with Anita Berber, Kurt Tucholsky, and Heinrich Zille.

Waldoff’s life changed in 1933 when the Nazis took power in Germany. Waldoff and her social circle mocked the Nazis. The regime banned her song, “There’s Only One Berlin,” for its political content. They also banned several other songs, many of which were written by Jews, for being too bold and risqué.

After the Nazis closed most of the cabarets, Waldoff and von Roeder left Berlin to spend time in their country home in Bavaria. The regime noticed her absence and spread disinformation that she had committed suicide.

In 1939, the Nazi Propaganda Minister banned her from performing altogether. However, in 1942, she performed for Nazi troops in occupied Paris. This irreparably damaged her career.

After the war, Waldoff survived on public assistance. In 1950, she performed a last concert in Berlin. In 1953, she published her autobiography, Weeste noch…! Aus Meinen Erinnerungen. One descriptive passage brings Eldorado, the secret club for lesbians, to life:

You had to pass through three front doors before you got to the secret women’s Eldorado, 30 pfennigs entry fee, where four musicians with brass instruments played the banned club songs. A room decorated with garlands, populated by women painters and models. You saw well-known male painters from the Seine; beautiful elegant women who wanted to see the other side of Berlin, the disreputable Berlin; and infatuated secretaries; and there were jealous scenes and non-stop tears, and couples had to keep disappearing to settle their marital strife outside.

Waldoff died in Stuttgart on January 22, 1957, of a stroke. She was 72.

Stricken with grief, Von Roeder wrote in a letter to her friend Paul Marcus, that “Life has no longer any meaning to me… I would be glad if my ashes were to rest in peace together with Claire’s ashes.” Von Roeder died in 1963 and buried together with Waldoff in Stuttgart.

Waldoff has a star on The Walk of Fame of Cabaret in Mainz.

About the Authors:

Troy Wise is currently a PhD student at UAL Central St Martins and teaches fashion and graphic design at London College of Contemporary Arts. His background is in marketing and he is founder and co-editor of Image Amplified. He lives in, and is continually fascinated by, the city of London.

Rick Guzman earned his most recent MA at UAL Central St Martins in Applied Imagination in the Creative Industries. He currently holds two MA’s and an MBA in the New Media, Journalism and International Business fields. Co-editor at Image Amplified since its start, he lives in London, is fascinated by history and is motivated by continuing to learn and explore.

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Sources:

Lesbengeschichte

Cabaret Berlin

WoW

Andrej Koymasky