Lena Amsel

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Lena Amsel
(Photo by Franz Xaver Setzer , 1918)

Lena Amsel (born July 27, 1898 in Łódź , Weichselland , † November 2, 1929 in Paris ) was a dancer and actress.

Life

She came from Jewish manufacturing circles. In 1914 she moved to Dresden, in 1915 to Berlin. She sought contact with the greats from variety , film and theater. In 1916, she met Karl Gustav Vollmoeller and Max Reinhardt in the Café des Westens . Vollmoeller became her lover and supporter for several years.

In 1917 she appeared on stage as a dancer in the Wintergarten variety theater in Berlin , and shortly afterwards in front of the camera in Vienna. In 1917/18 she played in the silent films Brushes Putzi donates disaster and a marriage , Brush Putzi rendevouzelt , Lena's noble acquaintance , My daughter, your daughter and The way to riches .

Although she had no dance training, Lena Amsel was able to hold on as a dancer on German and Austrian stages for a few years. Her film career also continued in the early 20s. In 1922/23 she took part in the four episodes of Tragedy of Love , directed by Joe May and alongside Emil Jannings , Mia May , Curt Goetz and Marlene Dietrich . Her last film was " The Mighty Dollar ", 1923, with Eduard von Winterstein .

Privately, the liaison with Vollmöller from 1917 to 1924 was interrupted by three short marriages and three divorces. In 1927 Lena Amsel moved to Paris. Through Vollmoeller she came into contact with well-known artists: André Derain , Georges Braque , Pablo Picasso , Ossip Zadkine , Louis Aragon , André Breton , René Crevel , Paul Éluard .

Lena Amsel died on November 2, 1929 at the age of 31 near Paris as a result of an automobile accident that occurred on a road between Paris and Fontainebleau. There the dancer and the painter André Derain , who drove a Bugatti sports car like herself , challenged each other to an improvised race. Amsel's car skid, overturned, and caught fire. Derain did not succeed in rescuing her and her friend Florence Pitron, who also died in the fatal accident , from the burning wreck . Lena Amsel was buried in Paris on the Cimetière du Montparnasse (Division 28, Section 3).

Lena Amsel's life and fate inspired Ruth Landshoff to write her fictional biography, probably completed in 1933, with the title The novel of a dancer . The work was no longer allowed to appear in Germany after the National Socialists seized power. The first posthumous edition was printed almost 70 years later in 2002.

Filmography

  • 1917: Pinselputzi causes mischief and a marriage
  • 1918: Brush cleaning rendevouzelt
  • 1918: Lena's noble acquaintance
  • 1918: My daughter, your daughter
  • 1918: The road to wealth
  • 1918: Lene or Lena?
  • 1923: tragedy of love
  • 1923: The mighty dollar

literature

  • Ruth Landshoff : A dancer novel. Novel 1933; First edition from the estate of Walter Fähnders. Aviva, Berlin 2002; 2. revised 2005 edition; ISBN 3-932338-23-5
  • Frederik D. Tunnat: Karl Vollmoeller. Poet and cultural manager. A biography. tredition, [Hamburg] 2008, ISBN 978-3-86850-000-4

Web links

Commons : Lena Amsel  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The grave of Lena Amsel in the Montparnasse cemetery in Paris (2019), photo by Androom in the website The Androom Archives (en).
  2. ↑ The novel by a dancer (approx. 1933). First edition from the estate (Ed.) Walter Fähnders. Aviva, Berlin 2002, 2nd revised. Edition 2005, ISBN 3-932338-15-4 .
  3. ^ Walter Fähnders: About two novels that were not allowed to appear in 1933. Mela Hartwig's “Am I a superfluous person?” And Ruth Landshoff-Yorck's “Novel of a Dancer”. In: Axel E. Walter (Ed.): Regional cultural space and intellectual communication from humanism to the age of the Internet. Rodopi Verlag, Amsterdam and New York 2004, ISBN 90-420-1715-5 , pp. 161-190 ( digitized version ).
personal data
SURNAME Blackbird, Lena
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Dancer and actress
DATE OF BIRTH July 27, 1898
PLACE OF BIRTH Łódź
DATE OF DEATH November 2, 1929
Place of death Paris