Grete river

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Grete Fluss (born January 6, 1892 in Cologne , † July 25, 1964 in Unkel am Rhein) was a German singer , humorist , comedian , scabber singer and actress in Cologne dialect .

Career

She grew up as the ninth of a total of 14 children of the upholsterer and coal merchant Anton Fluss and his wife Ursula in the Cologne neighborhood - Veedel von "Unter Krahnenbäume". While still a student, Grete Fluss had her first appearance as a lieder singer in 1906 at an event of the carnival society "KG Greesberger" in Cologne. After attending elementary school, she was accepted into the ensemble of the orchestra conductor Heinrich Körfgen in 1907 . The artistic focus was on operettas , light entertainment and hits . She subsequently appeared in the “Colosseum” ( Schildergasse ) and outside Cologne. From 1910 she was able to prevail in the Cologne Carnival, which had been dominated by men until then, and was the first woman in the "Bütt" . Lyricist Hubert Ebeler wrote the text of her first dialect song Ech ben et Flusse, Flusse Griet ("I am the Gretchen River"), from which her nickname was derived.

Her first stay abroad was a guest performance during the First World War as part of the troop support at Saint-Quentin , which became a highly regarded success in November 1915. From 1917, "et Flusse Griet", on the advice of the humorist Paul Beckers, concentrated exclusively on comedy and revue. Together with the composer Fritz Hannemann and the lyricist Engelbert Sassen, she also influenced the conceptual design of the revues. These acted as replacements for the traditional carnival sessions that were banned during the occupation since 1913 .

The daily performances from January to Ash Wednesday, initially in the “Kristallpalast” ( Severinstraße ) and from 1926 in the “ Groß-Köln ” theater (today Sartory-Säle ) formed a Cologne mix of vaudeville and carnival sessions. Fluss celebrated her first revue appearance in 1919 as the leading actress in Jan un Griet in “Metropol” (Apostelnstrasse). Outside the carnival season, Grete Fluss undertook extensive tours through Germany from 1928 onwards. Through her guest performances in the “Scala” , the Plaza and the “Wintergarten” (all in Berlin) she became one of the most popular artists in Germany of that time; they helped her national breakthrough.

In 1930 the theater "Greater Cologne" was the Fastelovend Princess premiered in which she sang the title role and with that of Willi Ostermann composed title Och, wat wor dat Fröher nice but in Colonia (Oh, what was that earlier beautiful but in Colonia) - the later unofficial anthem of the city of Cologne and an evergreen - the audience was enthusiastic. Her parodistic interpretation of the "dying swan" in Dat singende klingende Köln (Das singende klingende Köln) from 1931 became the high point of the Cologne revue theater.

After the Second World War , it started in 1946/1947 in one of the few remaining halls in Cologne, the Cologne Varieté Theater Tazzelwurm, together with the composer Gerhard Jussenhoven . In 1949 she appeared in the “Circus Building Williams” in Cologne in the revue Rund öm de Freud (All about joy). There the plump humorist delighted the visitors with a riding insert on an elephant. With her appearance as "Mother Colonia" in 1950 on the occasion of the first Rose Monday procession after the Second World War, she succeeded in spreading new confidence among the traumatized population of her destroyed hometown.

In the course of her career she worked with important Cologne authors and composers. They included Hans Jonen (1892-1958), Franz Chorus († 1952), Gerhard Ebeler (1877-1956) and his brother Hubert Ebeler (1866-1946), who wrote the text of their first dialect song Ech ben et Flusse, Flusse in 1910 Griet had taken care of. By the end of 1956 she worked in 30 revues. In her roles as mother Colonia , harem lady , madam butterfly , negress or as Petronell from the ladies ' band , she amused the audience.

On the occasion of her 65th birthday on January 6, 1957, she celebrated a successful premiere at the Kaiserhof Theater in Cologne with the revue Stell dich jeck (Stell dich crazy). After her fiftieth stage anniversary, Grete Fluss tried several times to withdraw. With the guest appearance in the revue Do sidder paff (Since you surprised) in 1962 in the "Edelweiss" theater, she finally said goodbye to her audience. She spent her retirement with her husband Ludwig Westkamp († 1976) in Unkel. Here she died on July 27, 1964 after a long illness. She was buried in the local cemetery.

Grete Fluss became the role model for the - also plump - Trude Herr , who was able to witness the last few years of her popular predecessor.

literature

  • Gérard Schmidt: Cologne stars . Wienand Verlag, Cologne 1992. ISBN 3-87909-286-9
  • Willy Key: 50 years of Grete Fluss - Uns Griet . Cologne picture book publishing house, 1956.
  • Elisabeth Skrzypek: "The women were crazy ..." Women celebrate the fifth season , Oertel + Spörer, Reutlingen 2016, p. 177. ISBN 978-3-88627-691-2

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Jürgen Müller, Willkommen - Bienvenue - Welcome ...: Political Review - Cabaret - Varieté in Cologne 1928–1938 , 2008, p. 360
  2. ↑ Anja Katzmarzik / Silke Palm, Frauen, Weiber, Karneval , 2001, p. 70
  3. ↑ where Peter Wilhelm Millowitsch was also a guest
  4. ↑ Ulrich S. Soénius / Jürgen Wilhelm, Kölner Personen-Lexikon , 2008, p. 159
personal data
SURNAME River, Grete
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German singer, humorist, comedian, scabies singer and actress in Cologne dialect
DATE OF BIRTH January 6, 1892
PLACE OF BIRTH Cologne
DATE OF DEATH July 25, 1964
Place of death Unkel on the Rhine