Oliver Double and Michael Wilson

Karl Valentin’s Illogical Subversion: Stand-up and Alienation Effect

Admired by Brecht, yet also counting Hitler among his fans, the German performer Karl Valentin remains an enigmatic figure for most English-speaking theatre people; and his accommodation as a licensed jester during the Nazi years has reinforced the received wisdom that his comedy was ultimately offering reassurances of their own supremacy to bourgeois audiences. Here, Oliver Double and Michael Wilson outline Valentin’s life and career, and offer an analysis of his performance style closely linked to two of his best- known routines, which are here also translated for the first time into English. They conclude that Valentin’s idiosyncratic style of surreal logic had an effect akin to that of Brecht’s Verfremdung, of making the familiar strange, and so, while often extremely funny in its unexpected dislocations, never offering a simple view either of comedy or of life. Oliver Double worked as a for ten years on the alternative comedy circuit, was formerly proprietor and compère of Sheffield’s Last Laugh , and is the author of Stand-Up! On Being a Comedian (Methuen, 1997). Currently he lectures in Drama at the University of Kent at Canterbury. Mike Wilson, whose background is in community theatre, is now Professor of Drama and Field Leader for Performing Arts and Film at the University of Glamorgan. He has published widely on varying aspects of storytelling practice and, in particular, on teenage storytelling culture, notably in Performance and Practice: Oral Naratives Among Teenagers in Britain and Ireland (Ashgate, 1997). His latest book, Theatre, Acting, and Storytelling will be published by Palgrave in 2004.

VALENTIN Ludwig Fey was born on 4 June this context. Literally meaning ‘folk singer’ 1882 in the suburb of Au, effectively (the term preferred by Robert Eben Sackett in the only child of an artisan-class family – his his book Popular Entertainment, Class, and sister and two brothers all died in early child- Politics in Munich, 1900–1923),2 it is important hood before Valentin Ludwig was even six not to equate these performers with the agra- months old. Valentin himself only narrowly rian working-class amateur singers who acted survived a childhood encounter with dip- as the informants of the great folk-song col- theria (all of which, perhaps unsurprisingly, lectors such as Cecil Sharpe or Sabine Baring- contributed to his ever-increasing hypochon- Gould in England, nor with the professional dria),1 but he went on to become arguably the musicians who emerged from the ‘folk revival’ most famous German comedian and cabaret of the 1950s and 1960s. The Volkssänger was performer of his generation: Karl Valentin. a popular entertainer who ‘came from the common people . . . lived among them, and knew what troubled their hearts’,3 and a Popular Entertainment in Munich more useful comparison would be with the The popular entertainment scene in Munich artists of the British . The tradition in the early years of the twentieth century was began in the back rooms of pubs and had a vibrant mix of the traditional Volkssänger been centred on music and song, but by the culture, Salonhumoristen, and the more overtly end of the nineteenth century it was largely political cabaret established by figures like becoming sketch-based, or at least ‘patter’- and much frequented by the based. Bohemian intellectual community. Volkssänger What was distinctive about the Volkssänger is a notoriously difficult word to translate in in Munich was that their work was distinctly

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Downloaded from https:/www.cambridge.org/core. Open University Libraryy, on 13 Jan 2017 at 10:30:52, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https:/www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0266464X04000107 Bavarian and politically conservative – nostal- nity fled the country for self-imposed exile or gic for a more rural Bavarian past.4 The Salon- suffered worse fates (as did Erich Mühsam, humoristen were considered more upmarket, who was killed in 1934),7 Valentin chose to performing in a better class of venue and in remain and continued to enjoy a successful formal dress. They are best characterized by career under Hitler, one of his greatest fans. Karl Maxstadt, in whose honour the stage While still capable of criticizing the regime, names of both Valentin and his long-time co- Valentin found a way of accommodating performer, Liesl Karlstadt, were conceived.5 himself within the Third Reich, in contrast to Valentin’s uniqueness is that he was able to Weiss Ferdl, the other famous Munich Volks- span all these types of popular entertainment sänger of the time, with whom Valentin is and appeal across the spectrum of popular often contrasted. audiences. He was both Volkssänger and Salon- Weiss Ferdl’s act was fundamentally popu- , while also being courted by the list, often pandering to the worst conserva- political cabaret. tive and right-wing instincts of his audience, Much of Valentin’s career is characterized yet he was not apolitical and would openly by his long-standing stage partnership with criticize the Nazis as well as support them. Liesl Karlstadt, whom he met in 1911 at the He spent a number of short spells in Dachau Frankfurter Hof in Munich, where both were for his troubles,8 a dubious privilege that performing. They worked together (except Valentin managed to avoid. This is ironic, for a period in the late 1930s and 1940s fol- since Weiss Ferdl joined the NSDAP in 1937, lowing Karlstadt’s nervous breakdown) until which was to result in his being banned from Valentin’s death in 1948. Karlstadt (whose performing by the denazification authorities real name was Elisabeth Wellano) was also after the war, whereas Valentin never joined born in Munich, in 1892, and already had the party, although later he admitted that he theatrical experience as a singer, dancer, and would have done so – out of fear – if he had actor in thrillers by the time she teamed up been asked.9 with Valentin. For over thirty years the pair We can only speculate on why and how dominated the German cabaret scene during Valentin not only survived but continued to its most politically turbulent years with their thrive in Nazi ,10 but his enduring subversive sketches and monologues attack- popularity probably ensured that he was ing the conventions of German Bürgerlichkeit never in any real danger (even if his brazen with biting – fighting absurdity with refusal to sell Hitler his extensive collection absurdity. of photographs of old Munich seems a little For with such obvious anti- reckless),11 as long as he generally behaved establishment (if not explicitly left-wing) lean- himself. And so he did, although his relation- ings and anti-militaristic sympathies, these ship with the regime was not entirely unprob- were potentially dangerous times. Although lematic and involved several brushes with the political and social comment is often implied censors. Nor, as Murray Hill rightly asserts, rather than openly stated in their work, J. M. did Valentin purge his work of political Ritchie makes the point that Valentin ‘was an satire, as can be seen from the monologue outspoken pacifist, anti-militarist, and anti- Der Vereinsrede (‘Speech to the Membership’, capitalist and was able despite censorship and recorded in 1938), which unapologetically police control to express these sentiments in parodies the rhetoric of Goebbels.12 his amusing sketches, though even he had Ultimately, Valentin’s relationship with the trouble with the authorities because of his Nazis is complex and occasionally contra- stage utterances’.6 dictory, but his ability to remain unaligned to any official political party was undoubtedly a key factor in enabling him to continue his Valentin and Nazism work without too much interference. We After 1933, however, when many members of should be wary of being too critical of his Germany’s artistic and intellectual commu- decision to remain and prosper in Nazi

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Downloaded from https:/www.cambridge.org/core. Open University Libraryy, on 13 Jan 2017 at 10:30:52, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https:/www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0266464X04000107 Germany. In 1933 Valentin was firmly into attempt to tour as the ‘Musical Fantasist’ middle age, and he may have felt too old to Charles Fey, with his own invention, the go into exile or nervous about abandoning Orchestrion, a multi-instrumental machine, his significant following in Germany if he he was penniless. attempted to start his career all over again. Then Valentin met with some good for- He may simply have been reluctant to leave tune, finding lodgings with Ludwig Greiner, his beloved Munich. Either way, Valentin, who suggested that he make use of his un- very much like the character of Galileo in commonly lanky physicality. The result was Brecht’s Leben des Galilei, chose to remain and the establishment of his trademark image of survive. As Michael Schulte says, in spite of ‘elongated boots, a nose of equally absurd his complete distaste for National Socialism, length, and a tightly-fitting costume which ‘Valentin was anything but a resistance exaggerated his slight, gangling build’.16 This fighter. He was too frightened for that.’13 awareness of physicality and physical appear- So it was in the period of political and eco- ance became a defining characteristic of his nomic uncertainty in the years immediately work and marked him out from many of his after the war that Valentin found himself out contemporaries. It can be seen also in his of fashion. Unable to find regular radio work, choice of Karlstadt as a stage partner (whose he was forced back on the road, and reunited physicality was in stark contrast to Valentin’s with Liesl Karlstadt for a final set of perfor- own) and his use of giants and dwarfs for sup- mances. He died on 9 February 1948 in rela- porting roles in sketches such as Der Christ- tive poverty. baumbrettl (‘The Christmas-Tree Stand’) and Der Fotoatelier (‘The Photographer’s Studio’). Valentin’s playfulness and sense of the absurd Valentin’s Early Career is physical as much as it is verbal. Valentin’s early career was marked by false At this time Valentin began performing as starts and interruptions in contrast with the a Nachstandler,17 the equivalent of what we success that was to follow. In May 1902 he might today call ‘open-mike’ spots at Volks- entered the Münchener Varietéschule, a train- sängerlokale and the more upmarket Gastwirt- ing ground under the direction of Hermann schaften, under the stage name Skeletgiggerl,18 Strebel for Volkssänger and Salonhumoristen developing material specifically for these wanting to break into the burgeoning cabaret venues. Ich bin ein armer magerer Mann (‘I Am and scene in Munich. By October a Poor, Skinny Man’) was written for the for- of the same year Valentin had secured his mer type of venue, whereas Das Aquarium first professional engagement in . (‘The Aquarium’) was written for the latter.19 By the time he arrived there, however, he Valentin’s success bought him to the atten- found that Strebel, who had already been in tion of Josef Durner, the proprietor of the Nuremberg a month, had been performing Frankfurter Hof, and from that point on his Valentin’s material, word for word.14 We have career did not look back. His loyalty to Durner to be cautious of reading too much into what was constant throughout. was probably common practice among popu- The performance of these sketches marks lar entertainers,15 but it forced him to write a a critical point in Valentin’s career. It could whole new act for his debut performance. be said that it was in these early monologues This he did, and was an unqualified success. that Valentin found his comic voice, estab- The death of his father shortly afterwards, lishing a characterization and performance however, caused him to return to Munich to style that led the Berlin journalist, writer and take over the family business. For the next cabaret performer Kurt Tucholsky to call him four years he made occasional appearances Der Linksdenker,20 primarily with reference to on the Munich stage, but his main energies Valentin’s ability to think in illogical, uncon- were devoted to the struggling family busi- ventional and topsy-turvy ways. We should ness until he was forced to sell up in Autumn not, however, ignore the political implica- 1906. By the following year, after a disastrous tions of the moniker.

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Downloaded from https:/www.cambridge.org/core. Open University Libraryy, on 13 Jan 2017 at 10:30:52, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https:/www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0266464X04000107 However, for Douglas, the subversion in jok- Illogic and Subversion ing is ultimately toothless, because joking is Over the centuries, many theorists have em- both frivolous and subject to social control: phasized the importance of incongruity in comedy. Perhaps the earliest example of ‘in- Social requirements may judge a to be in bad congruity theory’ is the statement by Cicero taste, risky, too near the bone, improper or irrele- that, ‘The most common kind of joke is that vant. Such controls are exerted either on behalf of hierarchy as such, or on behalf of values which are in which we expect one thing and another is 21 judged too precious and too precarious to be ex- said.’ This idea that spring from a posed to challenge.26 deviation from the expected order certainly seems to fit Valentin’s work, where appar- Ultimately, this means that ‘the joker is not ently simple statements can lead to highly exposed to danger’. He ‘merely expresses con- unexpected conclusions. sensus. Safe within the permitted range of More recent incongruity theorists have attack, he lightens for everyone the oppres- begun to pick up on the sociological import- siveness of social reality.’ 27 ance of this kind of deviation from expec- Zijderveld’s conclusions are less certain. tation. Writing in 1968, Anton C. Zijderveld Like Douglas, he believes that joking can be describes jokes as ‘deviations from institution- used as form of ‘social sublimation of dis- alized meaning structures’, and places them content and conflict’,28 but he also accepts the in four categories: possibility that it can be genuinely subver- sive. Pointing to the use of anti-establish- 1 As deviations from the meaning of socio- ment by radical groups like the cultural and political life at large. Dutch provos (as in their feeding of sugar- 2 As deviations from the meaning of cane to police horses at a protest rally), he language. argues that joking can be ‘an important means of non-violent resistance’.29 3 As deviations from traditional logic. 4 As deviations from traditional emotions.22 Illogic versus Conservatism Two of these categories – those relating to Arguments about humour as subversion or language and logic – are particularly relevant as containment of subversion are central to to Valentin’s work. Zijderveld argues that Robert Eben Sackett’s Popular Entertainment, deviations perform an ‘unmasking function’ Class, and Politics in Munich, 1900–1923. Based in society, and that jokes on extensive historical research, Sackett’s book compares and contrasts the early careers of show that man’s taken-for-granted world is not Valentin and Weiss Ferdl. His key argument ‘normal’ and ‘natural’ as he himself often too easily is that the Munich Volkssänger played to an assumes. . . . Many of the justifications and explan- economically insecure middle-class audience ations appear to be embellishments and empty which ‘lived in fear of the day when they ideologies.23 would have to relinquish their last advan- tages of status and income after a humili- Mary Douglas puts forward a similar argu- ating decline into the working class’.30 The ment in Implicit Meanings (1976). Stating that middle classes dealt with their insecurity by ‘all jokes have [a] subversive effect on the constructing dominant structure of ideas’,24 she also sug- gests an unmasking function: an edifice that was held together by their own widespread need for assurance. Within its walls The joke . . . affords opportunity for realizing that and underneath its roof, everyone belonged; an accepted pattern has no necessity. Its excitement everyone felt like an ‘insider’ and looked out at lies in the suggestion that any particular ordering the rest of the world as though it were composed of experience may be arbitrary and subjective.25 of ‘outsiders’.31

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Downloaded from https:/www.cambridge.org/core. Open University Libraryy, on 13 Jan 2017 at 10:30:52, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https:/www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0266464X04000107 The Aquarium (Das Aquarium) of wire. Of course, it would make no sense to build an aquarium in this way, because then Translated and adapted by Michael Wilson the aquarium would be unable to hold the and Oliver Double water, because it would just keep on running Talking of aquariums, earlier – I don’t mean out through the wire. And so you see, earlier today, of course Ð earlier when I lived in everything is made according to the laws of the High Street Ð well, I didn’t live in the High nature. And so I had goldfish in the aquarium Street, of course, that would be ridiculous, and I kept a bird in the birdcage, although nobody could live in the High Street, because recently I did a stupid thing and put the of all the trams Ð I lived in the houses in the goldfish in the birdcage and the canary in the High Street. Well, not in all the houses, just in aquarium. Of course, the goldfish kept falling one of them, the one that’s crammed in off the perch and the canary would have between the others, you probably know the drowned in the aquarium, if I hadn’t put one I mean. And that’s where I lived. Well, not everything back to normal and put the bird in the whole house, just on the ground floor, back in the cage and the goldfish back in the which is the one below the first floor and above tank where they belong. the basement, and there’s a staircase that And now the fish were all swimming happily goes up to the first floor, and it also goes back around in the aquarium, first of all at the top, down again, only it’s not the staircase that and then down at the bottom, almost every day goes up, we’re the ones that go up, on the they would swim in a different way. The day staircase, it’s just a figure of speech. before yesterday I had a mishap. I noticed that And I had a living room there, where I had my the fish needed more water and so I filled a bed. Actually I had my bed in the extra living bucket, but then there was too much and the room and I lived in the bedroom, and in the water was so high (indicates) it stuck out over living room for my private enjoyment I had an the top of the aquarium, which I noticed just aquarium, that stood in the corner, and it fitted the other day, and one of the goldfish swam into the corner beautifully. I could have had a out over the top of the aquarium and fell onto round aquarium, but there would have been the floor – because in the room where the bits of corner left over. The entire aquarium aquarium is we’ve got a floor – and there it lay, was no bigger than that, let’s say (indicates), but only after it had stopped falling. here are the two glass sides Ð actually, they’re Now, the fish didn’t have any water on the floor, my hands, I’m just trying to explain it so that because apart from in the aquarium we don’t you can understand it better Ð and here are the have any water in the room. Then my landlady other two glass sides, and underneath is the said, ‘You’ll see, that fish will come to no good bottom, which holds all the water in, so that there on the floor, you’d better put it out of its what you pour in at the top doesn’t keep misery.’ Of course, I didn’t want it to suffer any running out again at the bottom. If there was longer than necessary, so I thought to myself no bottom, you could just keep on pouring in that I might hit it with a hammer. But then I ten, twenty, even thirty gallons and it would all thought I might end up hitting my thumb, so I just run out. considered shooting it. But then, if you don’t Of course, with a birdcage, it’s completely get a direct hit, it would end up suffering even different. With a birdcage the walls are very more, and then I had a brainwave. I said to similar to those of an aquarium, only with a myself, ‘I’ll pick up the fish, carry him down to birdcage they’re not made out of glass, but out the river and give him a good old drowning!’

According to Sackett, both Valentin and Weiss pre-industrial way of life, the resentment Ferdl owed their success to providing reassur- of the Jews, and the patriotism of Munich’s ance to their audience, albeit in radically middle class’.32 Valentin, on the other hand, different ways. Weiss Ferdl represented the represented the outsider, by deviating from insider, reinforcing the audience’s beliefs with accepted values. He made a career ‘out of comedy which ‘mirrored the yearning for a representing chaos for those in his audience’,

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Downloaded from https:/www.cambridge.org/core. Open University Libraryy, on 13 Jan 2017 at 10:30:52, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https:/www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0266464X04000107 and whether he was aware of it or not, thereby This subversive streak was reflected in the gave them feelings of superiority. . . . Worried that surrealism of much of his early material. A they were caught on a ladder of social decline, it song called Rezept zum russischen Salat (‘Recipe reassured them to see Valentin on a much lower rung. . . . By laughing, they ‘punished’ Valentin for Russian Salad’) listed increasingly bizarre for his failures; grateful for the chance to do so, ingredients, among them turpentine, cement they rewarded him by coming again and again to and two young white mice.35 ‘Rezept zum 33 watch him fail. russischen Salat’ was not a great success, but his similarly anarchic routine Das Aquarium, However, this is where Sackett’s argument performed at the Baderwirt in 1908, was the becomes less convincing. Valentin’s work is breakthrough, representing the beginning of characterized by a gleeful disorder. In Das Valentin’s success. Aquarium, for example, he takes nothing for granted, so that even the simplest, most basic Valentin’s Performance Style linguistic and logical assumptions are chal- lenged. He cannot tell us ‘there’s a staircase The success of Das Aquarium puzzles Sackett, that goes up to the first floor’ without telling since it fits uneasily into his argument. He us that ‘it also goes back down again’, and acknowledges that ‘trying to relate its ele- further qualifying this with the explanation ments . . . to specifically middle-class atti- that, ‘It’s not the staircase that goes up, we’re tudes in turn-of-the-century Munich would the ones that go up, on the staircase, it’s just a be pointless’, and that it is not clear that it figure of speech.’ Similarly, he cannot tell us allowed Valentin’s middle-class audience to 36 that his fish fell out of the aquarium ‘onto feel superior to him. A major part of the floor’ without explaining, ‘because in the Sackett’s problem is that he concentrates too room where the aquarium is we’ve got a heavily on broad sociological factors to ex- floor’. There are also delightfully surreal des- plain Valentin’s success. Clearly, comedians criptions, as in his explanation that he did not build their reputations on much more than choose a round aquarium to sit in the corner this, not least their performance ability. of his room because ‘there would have been Das Aquarium is a comic monologue very bits of corner left over’; or that when he over- much of the sort that we would now associ- 37 filled it, the water ‘stuck out over the top of ate with stand-up comedy: self-contained, the aquarium’. addressed directly to the audience, and with Surely audiences would have enjoyed this the primary purpose of provoking laughter; kind of wholesale disruption of language a type of performance involving skills which and logic rather than looking down on it as a are complex, multifaceted, and seldom fully series of mistakes to be avoided? It seems explored by academics. The most tangible more plausible to portray Valentin as a celeb- are those exhibited by any performer: vocal rator rather than a denigrator of illogic, sub- delivery, tone, rhythm, pace; and physicality, version and chaos. From early childhood he stance, facial expression, gesture. had been an anarchic character – for example Then there is characterization, which can playing havoc on a visit to a farm belonging be ambiguous: is this a performer presenting to relatives: a character, a comic persona, or a reasonable approximation of the performer’s offstage self? This leads to a third category of per- I threw cats into the manure pile, which was located in the farmyard, made the farm dogs rebel- formance skills to do with the direct connec- lious with all conceivable means, mowed down the tion between the performer and the audience: prettiest garden flowers and the rose patch with warmth, charisma, tailoring the performance the scythe, knocked in the windowpanes, tricked to the audience’s reactions, and being able to the cows by putting stickers up their noses, pinched incorporate the unexpected into the routine. the ears of the rabbits they were raising and of the goats with clothes-pegs, and opened the doors to This element of stand-up comedy is per- the pig stalls, in spite of being frequently warned haps the most mysterious. Comedians form that it was forbidden.34 relationships with their audiences based on

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Downloaded from https:/www.cambridge.org/core. Open University Libraryy, on 13 Jan 2017 at 10:30:52, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https:/www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0266464X04000107 friendship, mutual antagonism, fear, flirta- tion, and many other qualities – or more often on unique combinations of these qualities. The ways these relationships are formed, established, and maintained is in need of fur- ther study. There is plenty of evidence which helps us to imagine what Valentin’s live performance might have been like. Surreal comedians tend to adopt one of two distinct perform- ance styles: slow, subtle, and underplayed, even (Jimmy James, Steven Wright); or manic and cartoonish, with exaggerated voice and facial expressions (Tommy Cooper, ). Still photographs of Valentin38 suggest his performance style was of the exaggerated, cartoonish variety. His face is often covered with improbable facial hair, pulled into grimaces, and topped with out- landish hats. He wears false noses, particu- larly a long, pointed one. However, his film work suggests that his actual performance tended more towards the subtle and underplayed. For example, in Mysteries of a Barbershop (Mysterien eines Frisiersalons),39 the silent film on which he collaborated with Brecht, we see Valentin, wearing his trademark long nose, dealing with bizarre events in a very matter-of-fact manner. Whether taking a hammer and chisel performance style might have worked in to a customer’s chin or bandaging another encounters with live audiences, and at the customer’s head back on (having acciden- kind of relationship he forged with them. tally cut it off while shaving him), he remains None the less, given how compelling his per- calm and unhurried. His long body is loose formances in film are, it seems likely that and relaxed, his arms often held at his sides, a significant reason for his success was his his face impassive, registering emotions only strength and distinctiveness as a performer. subtly. There is a slow pace, a sense of inner It may even be that Das Aquarium became stillness. a career breakthrough because it marked a Ultimately, though, it is difficult to capture significant development in Valentin’s perfor- in words the distinctiveness of Valentin’s mance skills. There is often a moment in a underplayed surreal comedy. It is a far more comedian’s career when he/she finds his/ subtle style of performance than the slightly her voice: when the process of performing cartoonish characterization of his long-time suddenly becomes easier, when the contact collaborator Liesl Karlstadt, or the rather with the audience becomes more intense, hectoring style of his rival Weiss Ferdl. when the comic’s world view becomes more Although Valentin made a number of sharply defined. films (both silent and sound) and numerous The seminal British alternative comedian studio-based sound recordings,40 there is a Tony Allen has hypothesized about how this dearth of live recordings. What this means is process occurs. He argues that confronting a that we can only guess at the subtleties of live audience in stand-up comedy ‘appears how his distinctive, relaxed, and underplayed to trigger a sort of strategic identity crisis’.

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Downloaded from https:/www.cambridge.org/core. Open University Libraryy, on 13 Jan 2017 at 10:30:52, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https:/www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0266464X04000107 This leads us to draw on ‘minority person- ences, it is simplistic to believe that this is alities’, and to become successful we must always the case. For example, the British ‘assemble an individual palette of available alternative comedy scene of the early 1980s emotional states . . . learn to switch seam- championed the idea of challenging the lessly from one to another, and how we audience’s beliefs, even if they were similar laugh at ourselves and the world around us’. to those of the comedian.43 He calls this process ‘discovering our own But if Valentin enjoyed a licence to chal- unique range of Attitude’, and he points out lenge his audiences’ conservatism, the licence that the acquisition of comic Attitude can was not as simple as that suggested by Mary occur quite suddenly, citing as an Douglas, who argues that the joker can never example of this.41 be subversive because he or she is bound by restrictions imposed on behalf of hierarchy. Valentin was no respecter of such restrictions, Delight in Disorder and there were times when he transgressed Whether or not Das Aquarium was the point them. For example, in 1917 he performed a at which Valentin discovered his Attitude, it monologue which satirized King Ludwig III seems likely that his performance was driven of . When the Munich police became by the minority personality of the childhood aware of this, Valentin was banned from anarchist who wreaked havoc, and that at performing on any stage for six weeks.44 some point he learned to share with his audi- An earlier incident highlights Valentin’s ence the way that he laughed at the world ability to transgress restrictions on comedy around him. This clearly suggests that when even more sharply. At the very beginning of Valentin broke the rules of language and the First World War, theatre directors ordered logic, the audience would not look down on acts to present only serious, patriotic perfor- him for his mistakes (as Sackett suggests), mances. Valentin found himself forced to but instead share with him his delight in sing a war morality song ‘in dead serious- disorder. ness’. But his subversive comic outlook was This idea is supported by listening to the so well known that this made audiences 1928 recording of Das Aquarium, though we laugh:45 he was sending up the song – and should approach this with caution. It was more importantly, its attitude, sentiment, made twenty years after the original stage and ideology – without even trying to. performances, and it seems unlikely that it was a particularly faithful recreation.42 The Satirizing the Obsession for Order text differs significantly from the published script, and the performance has a mannered If Das Aquarium works by disrupting the quality which suggests that the material is conventional rules of language and logic, being somewhat laboriously recited rather elsewhere Valentin challenged conservative than being performed. However, if the deli- values by directly satirizing them. For very bears any resemblance to that which example Verein der Katzenfreunde (‘The Cat was seen on the stage in 1908, the character Lovers’ League’), performed by Liesl Karl- Valentin was portraying was not someone to stadt,46 portrays the General Secretary of the be looked down on. The tone is confident, League conducting a meeting. The piece and lacks any hint of hesitancy or uncer- works by exaggerating an obsession with tainty which might suggest pathos. order, procedure, and social status to the Even if Valentin’s audience was as in- point of absurdity. Indeed Verein der Katzen- secure and conformist as Sackett has argued, freunde was written around the same time his skill as a performer could have given him as the Goebbels parody Vereinsrede,47 and can the licence to share his anarchic world view also be read as a none-too-subtle satire on the with them, perhaps to challenge their conser- ideology of the regime. Those very middle- vatism. While some comedians undoubtedly class obsessions with order, hierarchy, respec- work by reasserting the values of their audi- tability, and status that Karlstadt mercilessly

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Downloaded from https:/www.cambridge.org/core. Open University Libraryy, on 13 Jan 2017 at 10:30:52, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https:/www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0266464X04000107 The Cat Lovers’ League (Verein der Katzenfreunde) Translated and adapted by Michael Wilson and Oliver Double Ladies and Gentlemen, members of the League of Cat Lovers! As General Secretary of the League of Cat Lovers, I have the pleasure of announcing the following to today’s general meeting. The membership, up to the present day, has risen to twenty-six members. They are as follows: Mrs Booker, the Managing Director’s wife; Mrs Brand, the Secretary to the Chancellery’s wife; Mrs Chamberlain, the Postmaster General’s wife; Mrs Bunting, the Diocesan Senior Administrator’s wife; Mrs Hope, the Regional Commissioner’s wife; Mrs Salter, the Chief Inspector’s wife; Mrs Strawmore, the Junior Barrister’s wife; Mrs Ironside, the Council Officer’s wife; Mrs Fandangle, the Head of Public Transport’s wife; Mrs Holesnifter, the Company Director’s wife; Mrs Naming, the police constable’s wife; Mrs Price, the Director of the Chamber of Commerce’s wife; Mrs Flatland, the Director of Freight for the National Railways’s wife; Mrs in attendance we find only the following Spoonhill, the Privy Councillor’s wife; Mrs members: Bernard, the Captain’s wife; Mrs Mainwaring, the Chief Customs Officer’s wife; Mrs Rampart, Mrs Rampart the Junior Railways Officer’s the Junior Railways Officer’s wife; Mrs Ledger, wife; Mrs Ledger, the Finance Minister’s wife; the Finance Minister’s wife; Mrs Uptowner, the Mrs Uptowner, the Professor’s wife; Mrs Professor’s wife; Mrs Gallagher, the Major- Gallagher, the Major-General’s wife; Mrs General’s wife; Mrs Codpond, the District Codpond, the District Councillor’s wife; Mrs Councillor’s wife; Mrs Tripp, the architect’s wife; Tr ipp, the architect’s wife; Mrs Panting, the Mrs Panting the Head of the Local Planning Head of the Local Planning Department and Department and Buildings Control Office’s Buildings Control Office’s wife; Mrs Pettigrew, wife; Mrs Pettigrew, the Head Forester’s wife; the Head Forester’s wife; Mrs Bighorn, the Mrs Bighorn, the entrepreneur’s wife; and Mrs entrepreneur’s wife and Mrs Edgecombe, the Edgecombe, the Landlord’s wife. Landlord’s wife. The aforementioned were all issued with invita- If those absent members Ð namely, Mrs tions to today’s general meeting. Unfortunately Booker, the Managing Director’s wife; Mrs

satirizes found their ultimate expression in the Postmaster General’s wife; Mrs Bunting, the values of the Third Reich. the Diocesan Senior Administrator’s wife’).48 The entire meeting consists of Karlstadt She then reads out the names of the ten reading out lists of the members’ names. First members in attendance, before berating those she reads out those of the entire member- who have not turned up in a series of sen- ship, taking care to note the profession of tences which incongruously pause between each of the 26 members’ husbands to empha- clauses – or even mid-clause – as she repeats size their social standing (‘Mrs Chamberlain, the names of the absentees.

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Downloaded from https:/www.cambridge.org/core. Open University Libraryy, on 13 Jan 2017 at 10:30:52, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https:/www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0266464X04000107 Chamberlain, the Postmaster General’s wife; choose to attend only if it is convenient to Mrs Bunting, the Diocesan Senior attend, then those invited members are sorely Administrator’s wife; Mrs Hope, the Regional mistaken. The following members: Mrs Booker, Commissioner’s wife; Mrs Salter, the Chief the Managing Director’s wife; Mrs Brand, the Inspector’s wife; Mrs Strawmore, the Junior Secretary to the Chancellery’s wife; Mrs Barrister’s wife; Mrs Ironside, the Council Chamberlain, the Postmaster General’s wife; Officer’s wife; Mrs Fandangle, the Head of Mrs Bunting, the Diocesan Senior Administr- Public Transport’s wife; Mrs Holesnifter, the ator’s wife; Mrs Hope, the Regional Com- Company Director’s wife; Mrs Naming, the missioner’s wife; Mrs Salter, the Chief police constable’s wife; Mrs Price, the Director Inspector’s wife; Mrs Strawmore, the Junior of the Chamber of Commerce’s wife; Mrs Barrister’s wife; Mrs Ironside, the Council Flatland, the Director of Freight for the National Officer’s wife; Mrs Fandangle, the Head of Railways’s wife; Mrs Spoonhill, the Privy Public Transport’s wife; Mrs Holesnifter, the Councillor’s wife; Mrs Bernard, the Captain’s Company Director’s wife; Mrs Naming, the wife; Mrs Mainwaring, the Chief Customs police constable’s wife; Mrs Price, the Director Officer’s wife Ð think that they can stay away of the Chamber of Commerce’s wife; Mrs from the general meeting without sending their Flatland, the Director of Freight for the National apologies, then our Chairman, Mr Weaver, the Railways’s wife; Mrs Spoonhill, the Privy Trading Standards Inspector, will be obliged to Councillor’s wife; Mrs Bernard, the Captain’s issue the absent members Ð that is, Mrs wife; Mrs Mainwaring, the Chief Customs Booker, the Managing Director’s wife; Mrs Officer’s wife, will receive an official warning. If Brand, the Secretary to the Chancellery’s wife; at the next General Meeting, those members Mrs Chamberlain, the Postmaster General’s are not present, then the following members: wife; Mrs Bunting, the Diocesan Senior Mrs Booker, the Managing Director’s wife; Mrs Administrator’s wife; Mrs Hope, the Regional Brand, the Secretary to the Chancellery’s wife; Commissioner’s wife; Mrs Salter, the Chief Mrs Chamberlain, the Postmaster General’s Inspector’s wife; Mrs Strawmore, the Junior wife; Mrs Bunting, the Diocesan Senior Barrister’s wife; Mrs Ironside, the Council Administrator’s wife; Mrs Hope, the Regional Officer’s wife; Mrs Fandangle, the Head of Commissioner’s wife; Mrs Salter, the Chief Public Transport’s wife; Mrs Holesnifter, the Inspector’s wife; Mrs Strawmore, the Junior Company Director’s wife; Mrs Naming, the Barrister’s wife; Mrs Ironside, the Council police constable’s wife; Mrs Price, the Director Officer’s wife; Mrs Fandangle, the Head of of the Chamber of Commerce’s wife; Mrs Public Transport’s wife; Mrs Holesnifter, the Flatland, the Director of Freight for the National Company Director’s wife; Mrs Naming, the Railways’s wife; Mrs Spoonhill, the Privy police constable’s wife; Mrs Price, the Director Councillor’s wife; Mrs Bernard, the Captain’s of the Chamber of Commerce’s wife; Mrs wife; Mrs Mainwaring, the Chief Customs Flatland, the Director of Freight for the National Officer’s wife Ð with a reprimand. Railways’s wife; Mrs Spoonhill, the Privy Councillor’s wife; Mrs Bernard, the Captain’s If the aforementioned ladies believe that our wife; Mrs Mainwaring, the Chief Customs Committee only issues invitations to the Officer’s wife, will simply be expelled from our membership so that the invited members can League of Cat Lovers.

Verein der Katzenfreunde is a brave and letting the audience anticipate another repeti- innovative piece of comedy, in which there tion of the list; and the final suspended clause are few words beyond the lists of names. It (‘with a reprimand’; ‘will receive an official risks being boring and trying the audience’s warning’) is surprising and incongruous patience, but succeeds in drawing humour because it has been so long in coming. In its from a blend of anticipation and surprise. direct satire of the very middle-class values The repeated list of absent members is sig- and craving for order which Sackett claims nalled in advance by words and phrases like Valentin’s work to have reinforced, the routine ‘namely’, ‘that is’, ‘the following members’, pours further doubt on his argument

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Downloaded from https:/www.cambridge.org/core. Open University Libraryy, on 13 Jan 2017 at 10:30:52, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https:/www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0266464X04000107 As well as being a highly significant per- career as a young playwright, Valentin was former in his own right, Karl Valentin is already established as a highly successful often considered in the light of his influence performer. He is hardly likely to have col- on , who claimed in The laborated with Brecht had he not held him in Messingkauf Dialogues that he ‘learnt most some regard. from the Valentin’.49 The two met for Brecht was clearly attracted by the social the first time at some point between 1918 and milieu of the cabaret scene in Munich, in 1922, although the precise date is unclear.50 which he saw possibilities for the kind of Certainly Brecht’s admiration for Valentin is theatre he wanted to create – a theatre of fun not in doubt, and the two collaborated on (Spaß) and social comment, where audiences more than one occasion, most notably in the could drink, smoke, and discuss the play cabaret Die Rote Zibebe at the Munich Kam- between each scene. As J. M. Ritchie says, ‘It merspiele in October 1922.51 is clear that Brecht was enamoured not only of the ambience, but also of everything about this kind of theatre.’ 52 What particularly Illogic as Verfremdungseffekt drew him to Valentin (beyond the obvious Unquestionably Brecht admired Valentin fact that he found him extremely funny) was more than Valentin – who was well known Valentin’s ability to criticize bourgeois con- for his general dislike of high culture and vention and, through comedy, deliver subver- intellectualism – admired Brecht; but by the sive social comment, albeit often implicitly 1920s, when Brecht was just launching his rather than explicitly. It was through his

Brecht (on clarinet) with Valentin (on tuba) and Liesl Karlstadt at the Munich Oktoberfest.

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Downloaded from https:/www.cambridge.org/core. Open University Libraryy, on 13 Jan 2017 at 10:30:52, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https:/www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0266464X04000107 observation of Valentin that Brecht, at least in pose. Interestingly, in the recording of the part, developed his theory of Verfremdung in sketch, but not in the published text, Valentin relation to acting. does something similar with his description In recounting a scene from Valentin’s play of the birdcage, which he describes as being Die Raubritter vor München (‘The Robber made of wire so that the air can flow in and Barons at the Gates of Munich’), Robert Eben out. Sackett describes a moment when an actor This is also classic Verfremdung, making the steps out of character to deliver an aside to familiar seem strange so that we see it critic- the audience. For Sackett this is a classic ally as if for the first time. It is comparable to moment of Verfremdung: Brecht’s own example of Verfremdung, for which he offers the Eskimo definition of a car It was as though Valentin wanted to jolt his audi- as ‘a wingless aircraft that crawls along the ence out of the past, to remind them that they ground’.57 For Brecht, the defamiliarizing were not actually at the old city wall, but seated in a theatre in the 1920s, and to suggest that the effect of this kind of thinking was neither significance of this story about an earlier citizens’ containment (as Mary Douglas’s argument militia lay in the present.53 implies) nor reassurance (as Sackett argues), but the beginning of political awareness. Deliberately breaking theatrical illusion for political effect is only part of what connects Valentin’s theatre with Verfremdung. It is well Notes and References documented that Brecht’s decision to whiten 1. Michael Schulte, Karl Valentin: Eine Biographie the faces of soldiers preparing for battle in (Hamburg: Hoffmann und Campe, 1982), p. 21. 54 2. Robert Eben Sackett, Popular Entertainment, Class, Edward II was inspired by Valentin. Perhaps and Politics in Munich, 1900–1923 (Cambridge, Mass.; his most important influence, though, was London: Harvard University Press, 1982). what Lisa Appignanesi has called ‘the comic’s 3.From Weiss Ferdl, Bayerische Schmankerln, ed. Bertl Weiss (Munich: Süddeutscher Verlag, 1960), p. 34, use of an estranged or alienated thinking quoted in Sackett, op. cit., p. 1–2. process’.55 4. Sackett, op. cit., p. 5. Brecht defined the Verfremdungseffekt as 5. Schulte, op. cit., p. 30, 49; Sackett, op. cit., p. 28. 6. J. M. Ritchie, ‘Brecht and Cabaret’, in Graham ‘turning the object of which one is to be made Bartram, and Anthony Waine, ed., Brecht in Perspective aware, to which one’s attention is to be (London; New York: Longman, 1982), p. 165. drawn, from something ordinary, familiar, 7. Peter Jelavich, Berlin Cabaret (Cambridge, Mass.; London: Harvard University Press, 1996), p. 230. immediately accessible, into something pecu- 8.F. K. M. Hillenbrand, Underground Humour in Nazi liar, striking, and unexpected’.56 This is just Germany, 1933–1945 (London; New York: Routledge, how much of Valentin’s comedy works. For 1995), p. 59. 9. Murray Hill, ‘Karl Valentin in the Third Reich’, example, in Das Aquarium his description of German Life and Letters, XXXVI, No. 6 (1983), p. 53. where he lives (in the High Street/in der 10. For a fuller exploration of this issue, see ‘Karl Sendlingerstraße), which might normally be Valentin in the Third Reich’, ibid. 11. According to Michael Schulte, op. cit., p. 185, passed by without further comment, becomes Hitler imposed a condition that the money from the sale a tortuous wrestling match with the linguis- of the collection should not be spent on the making of a tic logic of the sentence, which ultimately film. This was precisely what Valentin had in mind and so he refused to sell. gives us an insight into the character’s hous- 12. Murray, op. cit., p. 48–9. ing conditions and, therefore, his social 13. Schulte, op. cit., p. 165. status. An ordinary, throwaway line becomes 14.From a letter from Valentin to his parents, quoted in Schulte, op. cit., p. 22. something extraordinary which allows us 15. It is certainly the case that performers in British greater insight. music hall and variety regularly plagiarized each other’s Another example might be his description material. 16. Schulte, op. cit., p. 41. of the aquarium itself as having four sides 17. The Nachstandler performed, without any billing, and a bottom so that the water does not run at the end of the official programme of entertainment. out. This encourages us to see the aquarium It was a way for young, up-and-coming performers to showcase their work and develop a following and a in a more critical way – not as an ‘aquarium’, reputation. but as a manufactured structure with a pur- 18. Literally, ‘The Skeletal Dandy’.

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Downloaded from https:/www.cambridge.org/core. Open University Libraryy, on 13 Jan 2017 at 10:30:52, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https:/www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0266464X04000107 19. Schulte, op. cit., p. 30, asserts that Ich bin ein armer 45. Ibid., p. 75. magerer Mann was performed in costume at the Bader- 46. It is generally accepted that this particular sketch wirt, a Volksängerlokal in Dachauerstraße, whereas Das was written by Liesl Karlstadt, yet is to be found in Aquarium was performed in formal dress in the Gastwirt- numerous anthologies of Valentin’s work, sometimes schaften. Murray Hill, however, in his article ‘Thinking with and sometimes without due credit. Undoubtedly Sideways: Language, Object, and Karl Valentin (1882– Karlstadt had a hand in the creation and writing of 1948)’, New German Studies, XVIII (1980), p. 131, suggests many of the other plays and sketches attributed to that the latter sketch was also performed to huge acclaim Valentin, such being the nature of their professional at the Baderwirt, and it was this performance that brought relationship. The strand of improvisation that also runs Valentin to the attention of Josef Durner. through their work also meant that material was con- 20. Kurt Tucholsky, ‘Der Linksdenker’, in Das stantly being developed collaboratively through perfor- Valentinbuch: von und über Karl Valentin in Texten und mance. We should be wary, however, of accusing Valentin Bildern, ed. Michael Schulte (Munich; Zurich: Piper of misogyny or selfishly denying Karlstadt due credit. Verlag, 1984), suggesting a person who thinks in an Although it has been argued that ‘Valentin’s best work is unconventional way. unthinkable without Liesl Karlstadt’ (Denis Calandra, 21.From On the Orator, Ch. 63, quoted in John Mor- ‘Karl Valentin and Bertolt Brecht’, The Drama Review, reall, ed., The Philosophy of Laughter and Humor (Albany: XVIII, No. 1 (March 1974), p. 90), Valentin was always State University of New York Press, 1987), p. 18. senior partner and enjoyed top billing over Karlstadt, 22. Anton C. Zijderveld, ‘Jokes and their Relation to and there is no evidence to suggest that Valentin made Social Reality’, Social Research, XXXV, No. 2 (1968), p. 299. anything other than the major contribution to the writ- 23. Ibid., p.303 ing of their material. For the sketches to be published 24. Mary Douglas, ‘Jokes’, in Implicit Meanings under Valentin’s name does not seem out of line with (London: Routledge, 1999), p. 150. common practice of the time, and to accuse him of 25. Ibid., p. 150–1. unfair practice would be as misguided as John Fuegi’s 26. Ibid., p. 152. denunciation of Brecht on similar grounds 27. Ibid., p. 159. 47. Karl Valentin, Alles von Karl Valentin, ed. Michael 28. Zijderveld, op. cit., p. 306. Schulte, (Munich: Piper Verlag, 1978), p. 59–60. 29. Zijderveld, op. cit., p. 311. 48. The individual names of the league members 30. Sackett, op. cit., p. 5 used by Karlstadt serve a number of comic functions. 31. Ibid., p. 6. Some of the names are commonly found, whereas others 32. Ibid., p. 9. are more obviously comic either because of their mean- 33. Ibid., p. 10. ing, or more usually because of the unlikely juxtaposi- 34. Karl Valentin, Der Knabe Karl, quoted in ibid., tion of two words. Occasionally the names reflect – or p. 24. hint at – the jobs of the women’s husbands, and not 35. Sackett, op. cit., p. 31. always in a flattering light. Most importantly, Karlstadt 36. Ibid., p. 36–7. has given consideration as to how the names will sound 37. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the when spoken, both separately and together – that is, the first recorded use of the term is from 1966, although it was actual sound of the word, and the performed rhythm of almost certainly being used before then. See http://dic the entire list. We have attempted, at different times, to tionary.oed.com/cgi/entry/00236110/00236110se2?single reflect all these strategies in the translation. Therefore, =1&query_type=word&queryword=stand-up+comedia Frau Brandt becomes Mrs Brand, Frau Stangl becomes n&edition=2e&first=1&max_to_show=10&hilite= Mrs Fandangle, Frau Lochpichler becomes Mrs Hole- 00236110se2. snifter (Loch = hole, anus, or vagina; picheln = to booze, 38. For example, see http://www.chuck-fotografik. but also a pun on picken, meaning ‘to peck’ or ‘to pick’), de/valentin-karlstadt/galerien/06masken/seite_01.htm. Frau Sollfrank becomes Mrs Ledger, the Finance Minis- 39. Mysterien eines Frisiersalons, 1922/23, dir. Erich ter’s Wife, and Frau Löffelberger becomes Mrs Spoon- Engels and Bertolt Brecht. hill, etc. 40. An 8-CD collection of Valentin’s audio recordings, 49. Bertolt Brecht, The Messingkauf Dialogues, trans. Gesamtausgabe Ton 1928–1947 (Trikont/Indigo, CD-300, John Willett (London: Methuen, 1965), p. 69. 2002) has recently ben issued. 50. Schulte, op. cit., p.104. Denis Calandra, op. cit., is 41.Tony Allen, Attitude: Wanna Make Something of It? convinced that ‘Brecht had considerable contact with The Secret of Stand-Up Comedy (Glastonbury: Gothic Image Valentin prior to 1919’ (p. 87). Publications, 2002), p. 35, 37. 51. Ibid., p. 87. 42. As Murray Hill points out, the recorded and 52. J. M. Ritchie, ‘Brecht and Cabaret’, op. cit., p. 166. filmed versions of sketches are often different from the 53. Sackett, op. cit., p. 132. published texts, as Valentin’s work was constantly 54. For example, see Martin Esslin, Brecht: a Choice of subject to revision through improvisation. See Hill, op. Evils (London: Eyre Methuen, 1980), p. 16. cit., p. 129–30. 55. Lisa Appignanesi, Cabaret: the First Hundred Years 43. See Oliver Double, Stand-Up! On Being a Comedian (London: Methuen, 1984), p. 151. (London: Methuen, 1997), p. 182–7, for a full account of 56. Bertolt Brecht, Brecht on Theatre, trans. John this. Willett (London: Eyre Methuen, 1978), p. 143. 44. Sackett, op. cit., p. 91–2. 57. Ibid., p. 145.

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