Research: Anita Berber

Anita Berber was a very famous German dancer during the 1920s, and it is claimed that no one of the present day would know who Anita Berber was, had it not been for Otto Dix and his painting of her in 1925.  She danced in the nude in nightclubs, appeared in soft porn films, drank cognac daily, was addicted to cocaine and opium, was never seen in public without wearing a heavy face of make-up and she died at a young age.

Anita Berber; Berlin's Queen of Decandence
Available: http://brucesterling.tumblr.com/post/60888693735/nitratediva-weimar-cabaret-goddess-anita-berber

Berber was born in 1899 in Dresden to Felix and Lucie Berber, however she was raised mostly by her grandmother.  At the age of 14 she joined her mum in Weimar, and then in 1915 they both moved to an apartment in Berlin.  Berber began acting classes, through which she was spotted by the dance choreographer Rita Sacchetto.  In February 1916 she made her debut with the Sacchetto dance-troupe and throughout 1916 and 1917 Anita Berber was becoming a rising star.  By 1918 she had made her first nine silent films and then in 1919 she married the young screenwriter Eberhard von Nathusius.  Whilst her film career was flourishing, Berber's personal life was getting out of control with rumours of lesbian and S&M sex affairs following her tour to Vienna.

Back in Berlin during the Winter of 1919, Anita Berber spent her nights in luxury hotels and restaurants wearing just a coat, with her pet monkey around her neck and an antique brooch that was usually filled with cocaine.  Whilst her cabaret career was blossoming and her reputation was growing, Berber's film career was not doing so well, due to her addictions and behavioural aspects making her a liability to work with.

Berber's marriage to Eberhard von Nathusius sadly ended in 1921, and following that she dated many men and women, including Marlene Dietrich.  Then in 1922 Berber met the dancer and poet Sebastian Droste and they quickly decided that they wanted to create something brilliant together.  July 1922 brought bookings for performances of their production 'The Dances of Depravity, Horror and Ecstasy' in Viennafor the November, but Droste's insincere promises and the pair's debts along with contract breaches and double booking themselves, led to them being banned from the International Artists Union (IAU) and no one could book them for two years.  By the end of 1922, Berber had violated the rules of the ban many times, she had been arrested for theft and assault, and so she was expelled from Vienna.

Otto Dix's painting of Anita Berber
Available: http://www.nndb.com/people/115/000161629/

In January 1923, Anita Berber married Sebastian Droste and they went on a five month nightclub tour to Italy and Yugoslavia, because their ban from the IAU put massive restrictions on their work.  On their return in September they were both highly dependent on cocaine.  The month following their return, Droste stole all of Berber's fur, jewellery, etc, sold them on and fled to New York.

By early 1924 Anita Berber was back living with her mother and ready to begin work again.  Then in the August of 1924 she attended a performance by the American dancer Henri Chatin-Hoffman, they fell in love instantly, and two weeks later they were married.  Anita and Henri's first collaboration, 'Shipwrecked' premiered in Stuttgart in April 1925, and then in October 1925 they began a nationwide tour of their production.  It was during this tour at their stop in Dusseldorf that Otto Dix created his infamous painting of Berber; 'The Dancer Anita Berber'.

In June 1926, Anita and Henri were touring again with their new production 'Dances of Sex and Ecstasy', during which Berber spent six weeks in prison for insulting the King of Yugoslavia.  Because of this, the couple were now broke, and so Berber returned to cabaret on their return to Berlin.  After this people in the Netherlands were asking for them to come and perform, which triggered a sizeable tour through the middle east and keeping them away from Berlin for almost two years.

During this tour on July 13th 1928, Berber collapsed on stage in Beirut, Lebanon.  She was diagnosed with pulmonary tuberculosis (a contagious bacterial infection involving the lungs), and proceeded on a journey home to Berlin, which took four months.  Berber had to recuperate at each stage of the travel, and finding the money to fund this travel was difficult.  When she finally arrived back in Berlin, from Prague, she was taken straight to hospital.  However, Anita Berber died from the disease on the 10th November 1928, aged just 29 years old.

References:

- Brendan. (2010). Anita Berber. Available: http://www.cabaret-berlin.com/?p=365. Last accessed 19th Oct 2014.

- Esaak, S. (n.d.). Special Exhibition Gallery - Glitter and Doom: German Portraits from the 1920s; The Dancer Anita Berber, 1925. Available: http://arthistory.about.com/od/from_exhibitions/ig/glitterdoom/gad_07.htm. Last accessed 19th Oct 2014.