Rosa Valetti

Rosa Valetti, born Rosa Vallentin (17 March 1878 – 10 December 1937) was a German actress, cabaret performer and singer.

Biography

Rosa Valetti was born in Berlin, the daughter of industrialist Felix Vallentin and sister of actor Hermann Vallentin. She played her first roles in the theatres of suburban Berlin. Inspired by the November Revolution and her meeting with political satirist Kurt Tucholsky, Valetti began performing in cabarets. In 1920, she founded the "Café Grössenwahn" ("Café Megalomania"), which has been recognized as one of the most important literary and political cabarets in 1920s Berlin. Café Megalomania was frequented by Expressionist writers, and the program of sketch comedy and political songs reflected Valetti's belief in the cabaret as an instrument of political and social criticism. [Appignanesi, 138]

The inflation of 1919 to 1923 and the subsequent collapse of the German economy forced Valetti to close Cafe Megalomania. She directed the cabaret "Rakete" for a time, then launched another cafe of her own, the "Rampe", which hosted the works of revolutionist poet and singer Erich Weinert. Valetti was among the founders of the floating cabaret "Larifari" during the late 1920s [Appignanesi, 139] . In 1928 she performed as Mrs. Peachum in the original cast of Bertolt Brecht's "Threepenny Opera", which was staged under the direction of Erich Engel at Berlin's Theater am Schiffbauerdamm. [Eckhardt and Gilman, 88-89] Rosa Valetti acted in film roles from 1911. Her age and sturdy mien ensured that she acted mostly in motherly roles, as in the 1925 film "Die Prinzessin und der Geiger" ("The Princess and the Violinist"), in which she played a 46-year-old grandmother. In Josef von Sternberg's 1930 film "Der Blaue Engel" ("The Blue Angel") she plays the the wife of the magician, Kiepert (Kurt Gerron). Valetti also appears briefly in Fritz Lang's 1931 classic "M" as the proprietor of an underworld cafe. In 1933 Valetti went into exile, performing first in Vienna and Prague, then in Palestine in 1936. She married actor Ludwig Roth and had a daughter, the actress Liesel Valetti, with him. A street in Berlin's Malsdorf district is named "Rosa-Valetti-Strasse" in her honour.

Filmography

* 1911: Frau Potiphar
* 1914: Wollen sie meine Tochter heiraten?
* 1915: Das Laster
* 1918: Othello oder: Das Verhängnis eines Fürstenhauses
* 1918: Wanderratten
* 1918: Die Lachende Maske
* 1920: Die Tänzerin Barberina
* 1920: Kurfürstendamm
* 1920: Christian Wahnschaffe, 1. Teil - Weltbrand
* 1920: Die Schuld der Lavinia Morland
* 1921: Das Haus zum Mond
* 1921: Die Rote Katze
* 1922: Die Schneiderkomtess
* 1924: Steuerlos
* 1924: Zwischen Morgen und Morgen
* 1925: Die Prinzessin und der Geiger
* 1925: Die Moral der Gasse
* 1926: Tartüff (Komödie)
* 1926: Schatz, mach' Kasse
* 1926: Die Waise von Lowood
* 1927: Dr. Bessels Verwandlung
* 1927: Wie heirate ich meinen Chef?
* 1928: Spione
* 1929: Das brennende Herz
* 1929: Asphalt
* 1930: Der blaue Engel (The Blue Angel)
* 1931: Die Abenteuerin von Tunis / Treffpunkt Afrika
* 1931: M – Eine Stadt sucht einen Mörder
* 1931: Das Ekel
* 1931: Ehe mit beschränkter Haftung
* 1931: Täter gesucht
* 1931: Wiener Wald
* 1931: Das Geheimnis der roten Katze
* 1932: Die unsichtbare Front
* 1932: Die Tänzerin von Sanssouci
* 1932: Skandal in der Parkstraße
* 1933: Moral und Liebe
* 1934: Liliom

Notes

Sources

This article and filmography were translated from the corresponding article on the German Wikipedia, with additional information as cited from:

* Appignanesi, Lisa, 1976. "The Cabaret". New York: Universe Books
* Eckardt, Wolf von, and Gilman, Sander L., 1975. "Bertolt Brecht's Berlin: A Scrapbook of the Twenties." Garden City, New York: Anchor Press/Doubleday

External links

* [http://wwww.filmportal.de FilmPortal.de: Rosa Valetti]
* [http://www.imdb.com Rosa Valetti in the Internet Movie Database]
* [http://film.virtual-history.com/person.php?personid=5238 Photographs and literature]