Mimi Kött

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Mimi Kött, ca.1923

Mimi Kött , actually Margit Weiß , (born June 3, 1890 in Neupest , Budapest , † February 10, 1931 in Vienna ) was a Hungarian singer and actress .

Life

childhood and education

Kött was born in Budapest as the daughter of a Jewish cantor . After graduating from elementary and community school, she first worked as a stenographer . After that, with the consent of her parents, she completed training as a dancer and actress at the Wieland Theater School.

Professional career

At the age of 17 she had her first appearance in a Budapest cabaret as an interpreter of a poem. Mimi Kött was discovered by Oskar Stalla , who arranged for her to work at the Olomouc City Theater . The theater director Wilhelm Karczag noticed her in Olomouc and invited her to Vienna. There she worked first as a second soubrette and in smaller roles at several well-known theaters. She was engaged as the first soubrette at the Johann Strauss Theater . Her greatest success was the leading role in Madame Pompadour at the Carltheater in 1923 , where she was recognized as the successor to Fritzi Massary . With "Madame Pompadour" she reached the high point of her career. After a short time Mimi Kött belonged to the first guard of the Viennese operetta soubrettes, was one of the most prominent actresses in Vienna and also celebrated great success as a revue star. In the purely acting field, she embodied Nana in the dramatization of the same name of Zola's novel in the Kammerspiele, which was initially intended for Maria Orska . Her last appearance in Vienna took place in 1928 in the Johann Strauss Theater in the Baker Revue. With their ensemble she completed another successful tour through Germany.

Society and interests

Mimi Kött not only played a major role on stage, but also in Viennese society. She lived in very good financial circumstances, owned a house in Wiedner Hauptstrasse 23 (4th district), also called Rainer-Hof, in which she lived in an elegant, magnificently furnished five-room apartment. Mimi Kött also acquired Villa Felicitas (Schratt Villa) in Pfandl near Ischl , where she spent the summer every year and which was often the focus of social life. Her hobbies included playing tennis, doing gymnastics (jumping rope 2000 times a day), and she was one of the members of the Vienna Athletic Sports Club. On numerous trips she got to know almost all of Europe, with the exception of Russia, although she was very interested in this country and had even developed a preference for Russian poets. She owned a library of Russian literature, which was one of the largest in German countries.

The last few years

Mimi Kött, like Orska, was addicted to morphine . The increasing problems forced her to end her stage career. After severe depression , she withdrew more and more from the public and fell into a state of progressive melancholy . She always tried to get well to relaunch her suddenly ended career because she was afraid she would be forgotten. She unsuccessfully underwent various withdrawal treatments in weaning institutions. In the meantime, she spent traveling to relax. In the summer she lived in her villa in Ischl, where she received many guests whenever her health permitted. After her last rehab, Kött settled in Paris for a long time in the fall of 1930, from where the first news of a suicide attempt came. She carried out the second in her Vienna apartment, where she could still be rescued. In her final months, she led a withdrawn life, suffered frequent fainting attacks and was under constant medical supervision. Her third, successful attempt took place on Saturday, February 7, 1931, also in her apartment in Wiedner. She had taken several veronal pills for insomnia , which she was making heavy use of. On Saturday, Kött felt particularly weak and suffered from severe depression. She received her asset manager Gilberberg and spoke to him in detail about her affairs. At an unguarded moment she took several pills of veronal and fell into a heavy sleep. In the evening, her nurse found that Kött was unconscious. She was then transferred to the Fürth sanatorium . Mimi Kött died on February 10, 1931 of sleeping pills, made more difficult by pneumonia, which was the immediate cause of death. The funeral took place on February 13, 1931 in the central cemetery . Her estate was auctioned in Vienna on May 12 and 13, 1931.

family

Mimi Kött was married a few times, but divorced each time. Her best-known marriage was with the Albanian Prince Katarici, but it only lasted a year. She had an only sister, Adele Hoffer, who was married in Agram and with whom she stayed in the last days of her life.

reception

Mimi Kött has often been praised for her obvious acting talent. Her temperament and Hungarian-oriental “racy” of her stage appearance as well as the real soubric tone of her singing, combined with the dancing talent and the elegance of her appearance, were always highlighted, which made her a stage favorite very quickly.

Wiener Neue Freie Presse wrote on May 5, 1923 about her portrayal of Madame Pompadour : [...] The role has so far been closely linked to Fritzi Massary's personal success [...] so unpopular "reenactments" of a role in the theater are special in this case difficult and ungrateful. […] Miss Mimi Kött has this playful courage and also many personal qualities that enable her to play the pompadour in an appealing and effective way. In keeping with her Viennese soup board temperament, she plays the character less important and more soubrette-like moody and cocky. She sings the difficult part with a remarkably advanced technique, dances extremely gracefully and looks lovely in her fancy costumes. She had to repeat the "Josef" duet countless times with Tautenhayn [...].

It was her way of producing an intellectual-parodistic joke, not an obligatory soubrette-heartedness. Mimi Kött was slim, black-haired, with almost hard features and, above all, with sex appeal . Kött also appeared in a few trouser roles , which looked dazzling to her. She was known for always working on her performance before and after the premiere of a play. Felix Fischer, a good friend of hers, reported that when she had to appear again in a revue after a series of “Nana” performances, she confided in him in a telephone conversation of up to an hour how much she was after she once had embodied a real character, suffered from the compulsion of revue nonsense . Mimi Kött was seen by the press as a lady of the big world who knew how to surround herself with dignified luxury. In Mimi Kött's time, newspapers had an informative and at the same time commentary character. In particular, they followed the end of this famous operetta diva with active participation. Kött is viewed entirely as a victim of drugs and is placed in a light that inspires pity. Her suicide attempts had generated strong participation.

Role Directory

Wiener Bürgerertheater

Johann Strauss Theater first soubrette

Carltheater

Modern theater Vienna

  • Leading role in a French comedy "La Bouche"

New Viennese stage

  • Katscher revue

Short film

  • Tonis Bridal Trip (1919)

Chamber plays

  • Stage version of Nana

tour

Web links

swell

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Auction house Albert Kende, Vienna: Voluntary auction of the furniture from the estate of Ms. Mimi Kött, [1]
personal data
SURNAME Kött, Mimi
ALTERNATIVE NAMES White, Margit (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Hungarian singer and actress
DATE OF BIRTH June 3, 1890
PLACE OF BIRTH Neupest , Budapest , Austria-Hungary
DATE OF DEATH February 10, 1931
Place of death Vienna , Austria