Kurt Egon Wolff

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Kurt Egon-Theodor Wolff (born November 4, 1911 in Berlin ; † June 21, 2001 in Seattle ), was a German cabaret artist, emcee , director , founder of the earliest cabaret in exile Ping-Pong in Holland and music manager at Warner Bros.

Portrait of the young Kurt Egon Wolff
Hans Robertson , around 1931
photography
Berlin

Link to the picture
(please note copyrights )

Life

Kurt Egon Theodor Wolff, son of William Wolff and Hedwig, nee Cohn, began his career with performances as master of ceremonies in various Berlin cabarets , played next to occasionally as an actor on small stages or in film roles. In October 1931 he founded the political-satirical cabaret Ping-Pong in the “Café Plantage” on Uhlandstrasse and the corner of Kurfürstendamm , in which he himself appeared as a conférencier and cabaret artist. Artists such as Colette Corder , Ellen Frank , Fritz Lafontaine , Robert Klein-Lörk , Ilse Trautschold , Hans-Joachim Sohn-Rethel , Dora Gerson and many more were involved in the colorful mix of the program . In Berlin, venues were found in the “Der Blaue Vogel” theater or the “Tonhalle” café, and on tours, such as the Kurhaus cabaret in Scheveningen from 1931 to 1933 .

After the National Socialists came to power , Wolff emigrated to the Netherlands and founded the Ping-Pong cabaret in exile in May 1933 . Wolff had not fled for political reasons, but because, as a Jew , he had been banned from performing in Germany . Some of the ping-pong members who remained in Berlin decided to join Wolff. Among the most prominent were artists from the Berlin catacomb cabaret , including the chanteuse Dora Gerson and the dancers Chaya Goldstein (1908–1999) and Julia Marcus (1905–2002). Composer and singer Curt Bry also joined the troupe. The ping-pong shows were decidedly anti-militarist and political, with texts by Brecht, Hollaender, Kästner and Tucholsky. Towards the end of 1933 the work permit was threatened with revocation. The Aliens Police wanted to see evidence of the “no need for support”. Wolff evaded the closure by going to Switzerland with the ping-pong troop. Here the actor Erwin Parker (1903–1987) joined.

In autumn 1934, back in Amsterdam , Wolff appeared with a new ping-pong program, without Gerson and son-Rethel. Parker had come from Switzerland and the German ensemble was enriched by Wolff with Dutch entertainers in order to avoid a ban again. They protested against the oversupply of German emigrants in Dutch entertainment, so that in future Dutch people had to be represented in German ensembles. However, there was no success. Wolff had shifted the program to entertainment and the big stars were missing. After negative reviews, the audience stayed away and after a few performances the ping-pong finally dissolved.

Kurt Egon Wolff shifted his profession and became the manager of Sohn-Rethel (then known as Freddy Dosh ), with whom he moved to England in 1937 and emigrated to Los Angeles in 1939 . In Hollywood Wolff eventually worked in various jobs until he a career as manager of the orchestra mediation , in the music department of Warner Bros. made. He also ran an artist agency. In 1977 Kurt Egon Wolff moved to Santa Monica and later to Washington State , where he died in Seattle in 2001 at the age of 89. Kurt Egon Wolff, after fifty-five years of marriage, left Dorothy, a Lewy born in Berlin, and his son Efram, graphic artist and sculptor, born in Los Angeles. His grave is in the "Bikur Cholim" cemetery in Seattle.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ May 1933: Kurt Egon Wolff's political cabaret Ping-Pong is one of the first cabarets to start work in exile in the Netherlands. , at kuenste-im-exil.de, accessed on November 2, 2016
  2. ↑ Chaya Goldstein, singer and dancer , on exilarchiv.de, accessed on November 2, 2016
  3. ↑ Christine Wyss: Julia Tardy-Marcus. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland . November 25, 2011 , accessed June 24, 2019 .
  4. ↑ Anna Beck: Biography Erwin Parker , born Erwin Pinkus (born June 26, 1903 in Berlin; † November 1, 1987 in Zurich) , on theaterwissenschaft.ch/wiki, by: Andreas Kotte (Ed.): Theaterlexikon der Schweiz , volume 2, Chronos Verlag, Zurich, 2005, pp. 1372–1374, accessed on November 2, 2016
  5. ↑ Erwin Parker, Pincus, Erwin (real name), GND: 118803255
  6. ↑ Short biography of Efram Wolff ( Memento of the original from October 19, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , from monamuseum.org, accessed November 2, 2016 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.monamuseum.org
  7. ↑ Kurt Egon Wolff (born November 4, 1911 in Berlin; † June 21, 2001 in Seattle), obituary in Los Angeles Times, June 29, 2001 , on legacy.com, accessed on November 2, 2016
  8. ^ Burial list (Excel): Bikur Cholim Cemetery, Seattle: Wolff, Kurt Egon-Theodor; born in Berlin, November 4, 1911, died in Seattle June 21, 2001/30 Sivan 5761; Seattle, WA Cemetery: BBC, Block 13, E 7; Father: Wilhelm Wolff, mother: Hedwig Cohn, wife: Dorothy Lewy, son: Efram , from the Jewish Genealogical Society of Washington State, accessed on November 2, 2016
personal data
SURNAME Wolff, Kurt Egon
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Wolff, Kurt Egon-Theodor (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German cabaret artist, emcee, founder of cabaret and music manager
DATE OF BIRTH November 4, 1911
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin
DATE OF DEATH June 21, 2001
Place of death Seattle