Ipsen Andre

The enigmatic Ipsen Andre was an elegant German dancer who seemingly emerged out of nowhere dancing mainly in Berlin cabaret revues from 1924. His dancing career lasted until the late 1920s when he simply disappeared. Frequently paired with Jenny Steiner, they became a prominent dancing pair in Berlin nightlife.

There is no biographical information about the exotically named Ipsen Andre and there are few listings online other than specific stage and photographic credits. It is not known when or where he was born or what happened to him after 1930. This may suggest that the mysterious Ipsen Andre was a stage name.

Ipsen Andre’s first known stage credit came in January 1924 when he was part of the variety bill at the famous Berlin Wintergarten along with a host of other performers including the Martens Trio, the two Gezettis, Jeffries’ Radio Boat, Gilbert’s Pigeons, the two Silhans, Dario Paini, Esther Carena, Vera Waldheim, Bueron and the Four Ferdinis. One may presume that he danced with Esther Carena.

Then in late September 1924, he was in the Rudolf Nelson show called Bis zur Premiere (Before the Premiere) staged at the Nelson Theatre, Kurfurstendamm 217. Here it looks like he was paired with Ethel Karna, although Jenny Steiner was also in the cast. In the next Rudolf Nelson revue Harem Auf Reisen (Harem on the Move) staged in October 1924, Andre was paired with Jenny Steiner.

Interestingly, in the subsequent Rudolf Nelson show Madame Revue, staged in the Spring of 1925 (once again in the Nelson Theatre) Andre and Steiner were featured but Joe Strassner was credited with the costuming. The Rudolf Nelson show Confetti followed in September 1925.

Then in April 1926 Andre and Steiner appeared in two revues at the Metropol Theatre – Die Nacht der Nachte (from April 1926) and Wieder Metropol (from September 1926). Here they scored a big success with a negro parody that had been carried forward from Confetti.

See the post about Jenny Steiner here

Both Andre and Steiner were amongst a plethora of stars attending a charity social evening and ball staged over two nights from 2-3 November 1926 at the Mercedes Palast, 50/51 Unter den Linden.

At the end of January 1927 something strange happened and Ibsen Andre was paired with Senta Born and Rigmor Rasmussen for the show ‘Twenty Years of Nelson’ celebrating Rudolf Nelson’s work and career to date. Jenny Steiner was mysteriously absent from the record for about 8 months and may indicate that she had fallen ill.

The new show represented the change in taste and entertainment over time from intimate cabaret to the current vogue of intimate revue. It had at least 19 scenes with Kathe Erlholz and Willi Shaeffers and many other performers some of whom were regular Nelson ‘stars’ along with the Nelson chorus girls. Ibsen Andre with Senta Born and Rigmor Rasmussen were described as ‘elegant’ with good technique and Andre was thought to show ‘pleasant masculinity without violent gestures.’ There were two gala nights in Berlin at the end of January and then a tour taking in Stuttgart, Mannheim and Frankfurt. The start of the tour was at the beginning of February 1927 in Stuttgart at the Friedrichbau theater.

Andre was re-united with Steiner in Nelson’s Nacht Revue staged at the Komodie, 206 Kurfurstendamm in October 1927 along with conferencier Willi Schaffers, Irene Ambrus, Oskar Karlweiss and Trude Lieske. In addition, and a little later, in November 1927 they both took part in an artistic program with the Steiner-girls for about a week given at Grammophon-Spezialhaus, Tauentzienstrasse 14 to support the marketing of the musical instrument called ‘Polyfar’.

They were both featured in the January 1928 programme at the Kabarett der Komiker 193/4 Kursurstenddamm and in March 1928 were part of the stage presentation at the Titania Picture palace supporting the film Der Piccolo vom Goldenen Löwen. They were supported by a chorus called the Robby Girls and Andre ‘whirled Jenny Steiner through the air with unparalleled power and grace.’ The act may well have continued through 1928 in other picture houses in Berlin.

In early 1929 there was a new Rudolf Nelson show called Taglich 15 Tropsen Berlin (13 drops of Berlin every day) in Berlin. Ipsen Andre was not in the show but Jenny Steiner was and she danced with Kurt Fuss and Hans Albers. When Steiner joined the cast of the revue-operetta Casanova in Hamburg in May 1929, Andre was appearing in a cabaret in the Luna Park in Berlin. Here he was dancing with Maria Ford and they were described as ‘an excellent and precise, eccentric dance couple.’ The rest of the cast included the singer Vicky Werckmeister and the poet Richard Schwarz.

In July 1929, Andre joined Steiner in Dresden for an appearance at the Pavillon Eden (Eden Garten) and possibly the Tanzpalast Libelle. Subsequently it looks as if Ipsen Andre made no further appearances and effectively disappears from the record.

Two photographs of Ipsen Andre appeared with a new dancing partner called Mary Gladys, one in September 1929 and another in June 1930 but both photo’s are likely to be actually dated to 1928. On the surface it would appear that Ipsen Andre danced with the unidentified Mary Gladys for a short period sometime between 1928 – 1930 and then vanished. However, there are no clues as to who Mary Gladys was and there are no references anywhere other than in the photo captions. I have to say that the the two images of the mysterious ‘Mary Gladys’ do look uncannily like Jenny Steiner. But if this identification is correct why would this change of name be necessary? Could the name simply be a mistake ?

It is my belief that in fact Ipsen Andre was the designer Joe Strassner. This is primarily based on a comparison of a side profile photo of Joe Strassner from 1933 against two photoraphs of Ipsen Andre from about late 1929. The similarity is simply palpable. Further, identifying Andre as Strassner is supported by the fact that Andre was Jenny Steiner’s dancing partner and Joe Strassner married her in 1932.  Andre was only active as a dancer from 1924-1929 and his disappearance could be explained by the fact that after being a freelance designer during the 1920s and dancing as Ipsen Andre, Strassner finally opened a couture shop in late 1929 and he likely concentrated more on this business, so the time line works. Having a previous career in the Berlin entertainment world would have been both plausible and helpful to Strassner’s career. This identification also explains why there are no records about Ipsen Andre’s early and later life.

Please see the post about Jenny Steiner (forthcoming)

Please see the post about Joe Strassner (forthcoming)

All images (unless specified in the caption) and text © copyright Gary Chapman / Jazz Age Club and must not be re-used without prior consent

Sources

Billboard 2/2/1924
Berliner Tageblatt and Handels-Zeitung 28/9/1924
Berliner Tageblatt und Handels-Zeitung 30/8/1924
Berliner Börsen-Zeitung 12/10/1924
Berliner Tageblatt und Handels-Zeitung, 15/03/1925
Berliner Börsen-Zeitung 23/9/1925
Berliner Tageblatt und Handels-Zeitung 28/3/1926
Berliner Tageblatt und Handels-Zeitung 21/9/1926
Berliner Tageblatt und Handels-Zeitung 31/10/1926
Programme revue Wieder Metropol
Süddeutsche Zeitung : für deutsche Politik und Volkswirtschaft 31/1/1927
Stuttgarter neues Tagblatt 2/2/1927
Schwäbischer Merkur 2/2/1927
Neue Mannheimer Zeitung 16/3/1927
Vorwärts 3/10/1927
Deutsche allgemeine Zeitung 3/10/1927
Berliner Tageblatt und Handels-Zeitung 16/10/1927
Berliner Börsen-Zeitung 27/11/1927
Berliner Tageblatt und Handels-Zeitung 8/1/1928
Deutsche allgemeine Zeitung 3/3/1928
Breslau Schlesische Illustrierte Zeitung 1/10/1929
Paris Plaisirs June 1930
Deutsche allgemeine Zeitung 18/5/1929