Difference between revisions of "Anita Berber"
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'''Sobriquet:''' ''Berlin's Priestess of Debauchery'' | '''Sobriquet:''' ''Berlin's Priestess of Debauchery'' | ||
| − | '''Appearance:''' | + | '''Appearance:''' Scandalously androgynous, she quickly made a name for herself. She wore heavy dancer's make-up, which on the black-and-white photos and films of the time came across as jet black lipstick painted across the heart-shaped part of her skinny lips, and charcoaled eyes. Her hair was cut fashionably into a short bob and was frequently bright red, as in 1925 when the German painter Otto Dix painted a portrait of her, titled "The Dancer Anita Berber". Her dancer friend and sometime lover Sebastian Droste, who performed in the film Algol (1920), was skinny and had black hair with gelled up curls much like sideburns. Neither of them wore much more than lowslung loincloths and Anita occasionally a corsage worn well below her small breasts. |
| − | '''Behavior:''' | + | '''Behavior:''' Her performances broke boundaries with their androgyny and total nudity, but it was her public appearances that really challenged taboos. Aside from her addiction to narcotic drugs, she was also a heavy alcoholic. Berber's overt drug addiction and bisexuality were matters of public chatter. In addition to her addiction to cocaine, opium and morphine, one of Berber's favorites was chloroform and ether mixed in a bowl. This would be stirred with a white rose, the petals of which she would then eat. |
| − | '''History:''' | + | '''History:''' Born in Leipzig to Felix Berber, First Violinist with the Municipal Orchestra, and Lucie Berber, an aspiring actress and singer, who later divorced, she was raised mainly by her grandmother in Dresden. By the age of 16, she had moved to Berlin and made her debut as a cabaret dancer. By 1918 she was working in film, and she began dancing nude in 1919. That same year, she entered into a marriage of convenience with a man with the surname Nathusius. She later left him in order to pursue a relationship with a woman named Susi Wanowski, and became part of the Berlin lesbian scene. She married a second time in 1922 to Sebastian Droste. This lasted until 1923. In 1925, she married a gay American dancer named Henri Chatin-Hofmann. |
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| + | In 1928, at the age of 29, she suddenly gave up alcohol completely, but died later the same year. She was said to be surrounded by empty morphine syringes. According to Mel Gordon, in ''"The Seven Addictions and Five Professions of Anita Berber: Weimar Berlin's Priestess of Debauchery"'', she was diagnosed with severe tuberculosis while performing abroad. After collapsing in Damascus, she returned to Germany and died in a Kreuzberg hospital on 10 November 1928. She was buried in a pauper's grave in St. Thomas Cemetery in Neukölln. | ||
'''Recent Events:''' | '''Recent Events:''' | ||
Revision as of 18:21, 13 March 2017
- Berlin 1933 -B33- Wizards & Witches
Sobriquet: Berlin's Priestess of Debauchery
Appearance: Scandalously androgynous, she quickly made a name for herself. She wore heavy dancer's make-up, which on the black-and-white photos and films of the time came across as jet black lipstick painted across the heart-shaped part of her skinny lips, and charcoaled eyes. Her hair was cut fashionably into a short bob and was frequently bright red, as in 1925 when the German painter Otto Dix painted a portrait of her, titled "The Dancer Anita Berber". Her dancer friend and sometime lover Sebastian Droste, who performed in the film Algol (1920), was skinny and had black hair with gelled up curls much like sideburns. Neither of them wore much more than lowslung loincloths and Anita occasionally a corsage worn well below her small breasts.
Behavior: Her performances broke boundaries with their androgyny and total nudity, but it was her public appearances that really challenged taboos. Aside from her addiction to narcotic drugs, she was also a heavy alcoholic. Berber's overt drug addiction and bisexuality were matters of public chatter. In addition to her addiction to cocaine, opium and morphine, one of Berber's favorites was chloroform and ether mixed in a bowl. This would be stirred with a white rose, the petals of which she would then eat.
History: Born in Leipzig to Felix Berber, First Violinist with the Municipal Orchestra, and Lucie Berber, an aspiring actress and singer, who later divorced, she was raised mainly by her grandmother in Dresden. By the age of 16, she had moved to Berlin and made her debut as a cabaret dancer. By 1918 she was working in film, and she began dancing nude in 1919. That same year, she entered into a marriage of convenience with a man with the surname Nathusius. She later left him in order to pursue a relationship with a woman named Susi Wanowski, and became part of the Berlin lesbian scene. She married a second time in 1922 to Sebastian Droste. This lasted until 1923. In 1925, she married a gay American dancer named Henri Chatin-Hofmann.
In 1928, at the age of 29, she suddenly gave up alcohol completely, but died later the same year. She was said to be surrounded by empty morphine syringes. According to Mel Gordon, in "The Seven Addictions and Five Professions of Anita Berber: Weimar Berlin's Priestess of Debauchery", she was diagnosed with severe tuberculosis while performing abroad. After collapsing in Damascus, she returned to Germany and died in a Kreuzberg hospital on 10 November 1928. She was buried in a pauper's grave in St. Thomas Cemetery in Neukölln.
Recent Events:
