Jenny Steiner

 

Jenny Steiner was one of the most exotic and glamorous stars of Jazz Age Berlin. Largely a dancer, she was also a model, a singer and an accomplished impersonator. Well known as one of Rudolf Nelson’s leading stars, her legacy has survived in numerous images and yet her importance has been somewhat marginalised. She was partner to several dancers but the most prominent association was with the somewhat mysterious Ipsen Andre who was most likely a pseudonym for the famous dress  designer Joe Strassner whom she married in 1932. 

 

Jenny Steiner was born on 28th July 1896 in Berlin into a theatrical and musical dynasty. Her paternal grandfather was Maxmillian Steiner (born in 1830 or 1839 in Hungary) who was an important theatrical manager who  moved to Vienna in the 1860s. He was influential in launching the era of Viennese operetta. Maximilian convinced Johann Strauss Jr. to write for the stage, leading to such classics as Die Fledermaus. Maxmillian had at least five children – Gabor (born 1858), Alexander Doc (born 1867),  Bruno, Jennie and Franz. 

 

Franz was Jenny Steiner’s father who was born in Hungary on 20/11/1855 and he was the eldest child of Maxmillian.  Franz worked with his father and brother Gabor in the Viennese theatre and on Maxmillian’s death in 1880 he took over, but seemingly only for a few years. However all was not well as Franz had inherited financial difficulties. He also became embroiled in a slight social scandal as he started an affair with Anglika Dietrich, the second wife of the great composer Johann Strauss in about 1881-1882. She left Strauss and moved in with Steiner and Strauss divorced her in 1882. But it is not clear if Steiner married her. 

 

In 1884 Strauss left Vienna and gave up his theatrical concessions and re-emerged taking up the position as director of the Residenz Theatre in Dresden. In 1885 Franz took over the Walhalla Operetta Theatre in Berlin for two years. Angelika accompanied him but the relationship fizzled  out.

 

Franz Steiner then returned to Vienna taking over the Carl Theater and the Karlsbad theatre (1887 and 1888). Interestingly, in 1890 amidst another potential take over bid in Berlin, Franz was described as ‘a good theater man but a bad businessman.’

 

In 1891 he became deputy director at the Thalia Theater in New York. Allegedly he was also was attached to the Metropolitan Opera House. On 6th November 1895 he married Charlotte Welsch (Welsh) in New York. Charlotte was 19 at the time (Franz was 40) and born 2/8/1876 in Meade, Pennsylvania. 

 

Franz Steiner and his new American wife returned to Germany in the late 1890s and moved to Berlin living at Mittelstraße 19, a central and salubrious location just north of the Unter den Linden. It was here that Jenny was born in 1896 followed by the birth of her brother Arthur on 10/11/1898. 

 

In about 1900, Franz Steiner joined the famous Wintergarten variety house becoming Managing Director in 1907. In May 1906 Charlotte took Jenny and Arthur to America presumably to meet her family. From 1909 Franz also ran his own Berlin theater agency. In 1916 he left the Wintergarten and took over the Apollo theatre in Berlin. In February 1920 he died in Berlin. Six months later both Charlotte and Arthur left for America arriving in New York 29/8/1920. Charlotte had been given an emergency passport to return and Arthur took out American citizenship. Arthur was described as a theatre agent and so must have followed in his father’s footsteps. They most likely stayed with Charlotte’s mother in Brooklyn and Brooklyn appears to be a place that Arthur lived for many years. Jenny obviously decided to remain in Berlin. 

 

What is very strange is that neither Charlotte nor Arthur returned to Berlin and Jenny never visited them in New York – at least throughout the 1920s. Does this indicate some form of schism within the family?

 

Franz’s brother Gabor remained in Vienna and became a leading theatrical impresario and his son Max emigrated to New York on 1914 and eventually became a highly successful composer in Hollywood. The other brother Alexander (Doc) emigrated to America and became a theatrical manager for Hammerstein’s and Keith’s vaudeville circuit.

 

Given this background Jenny was clearly in a unique position given her family circumstances and connections and must have benefited from her father’s extensive network of contacts. Clearly, at an early age she took up dancing and must have appeared on the stage in some capacity before her first known credit that came in September 1917. This was in a show called Wenn Dir Sonne Kommt (When the Sun Comes) under the direction of Hugo Schreider and Rudolf Nelson in the building of the former “Folie” Capri now called the Theater der Friedrichstadt. The cast included Käthe Ertholz, Trude Troll, Kurt Fuß and Fritz Junkermann along with Jenny. 

 

Significantly, Jenny largely became a Nelson star. Rudolf Nelson was a Berlin institution and famous as a composer of hit songs and music and a trail-blazer in staging cabaret and revue in the Jazz Age of Berlin. His productions became a showcase for his music and songs and he continued to be the toast of Berlin. 

 

Jenny’s next appearance was in a film directed and produced by Hans Neumann for his own production company Harmonie-Film. Flimmersterne (Flickering Stars) was released in June 1919 and was the story of a film star played by Elli Glassner. The cast also included Ewald Bach, Arthur Bergen, Paul Biensfeldt, Hans Junkermann, Fritz Junkermann and Friedrich Kühne, Ewald Bach, Caudia Cornelius, Fritzi Held, Hans Junkermann, Meinhart Maur, Jean Moreau and Lotte Werkmeister. Jenny played the part of an artists model perhaps posing in the film for Jean Moreau who played the part of an artist. Moreau was also a well known chansonnier in Rudolf Nelson’s cabarets.

 

In late September 1920 Jenny Steiner emerged in the cast of a new Rudolf Nelson show. Nelson had taken over the imposing corner building at Kurfürstendamm 217 and Fasanenstraße 74 and renamed it the Nelson Theater am Kurfürstendamm. It was an apartment building but with a ground floor comprising an enclosed terrace and internal restaurant with a small cabaret stage that had been known as the Sanssouci. The new show was a mini-revue rather than a cabaret called Total Manoli (Totally Crazy) and was a landmark change in policy from Nelson. There were eight scenes written by Fritz Grünbaum and the show and the venue swiftly became a vital part of Berlin’s nightlife. Beside Jenny Steiner the cast featured Eugene Rex, Kathe Erlholz, E. Schonfelder, Trude Troll, Hedi Urs,  Eva Tinschmann, Curt Bois, J.S. Walter Ritter. Hannah Gad, Erna Leonard, Marge Lundgreen, Yvonne Wegener, Robert Negret and Ellen Stavride. Willi Schaeffers and Lilly Flohr as the compere and commere.

 

During the run of the show through 1921, Jenny took part, with many other Berlin stars, in the entertainment given at a big ball at the Admirals Palast on 19th March 1921. 

 

When Rudolf Nelson unveiled his new revue Bitte Zahlen! (Please Pay!) on 1st October 1921, Jenny was once again in the cast along with Willy Schaeffers, Kathe Erlholz, Hanst Burg, Blonde Ebinger, Erich Schönfelder. Robert Negrel, Kurt Fuß, Alice Rejane, Lilian Gray and Curt Bois. The legendary dancer Anita Berber also appeared in the show. In a review in Berliner Leben Jenny was was described as having ‘elegance in her delivery, movements and appearance. What she gives the Berliners every evening at the Nelson Kunstlerspiele seems extremely worldly – a rare thing in Berlin.’

 

From about this time in 1921, Jenny’s appearance and ability to wear costumes effectively enabled her to become a popular fashion model.

 

The next Nelson revue first staged in October 1922 was called Wir Stehn Versehrt (We are upside down). The cast included Kathe Erholz, Else Berna, Hertha Ruhs,  Eva Tinschmann,  Any Lenz, Madeleine Joust, Hans Albers, Kurt Bois and Elsa Bern, along with ‘the supple Jenny Steiner and Lena Amsel in grotesque dances.’

 

On 27th May 1923, Nelson launched Die Damen vom Olymp (The Ladies of Olympus) an operetta in 3 acts about the history of Helen and the judgment of Paris. Jenny Steiner was included in the cast along with Kathe Erlholz, Alice Hechy, Curt Fuss, Hans Unterkircher, Eva Tinschmann and Hans Wassmann. The show ran through 1923.  

 

The next Nelson revue at the Nelson Theater am Kurfürstendamm was Treffpunk Dorado (Meeting Point Dorado). With costumes by Czettel created by Theaterkunst (Herman J. Kaufmann) it was launched in early March 1924 but it did not include Jenny Steiner. Instead, on the 5th April 1923, she was part of what was called ‘a Fashion pantomime’ in 10 scenes called Die Reise nach Cairo (The trip to Cairo) stage at the fashionable Hotel Esplanade.  There was a host of other performers including the film star Lil Dagover and 8 Parisian mannequins and 6 English girls from the Jackson troupe. 

 

Immediately thereafter, Jenny moved to Munich and joined the revue Wien gib acht! (Vienna Watch Out) in early April 1924 that had been staged at the Deutsches Theatre in Munich by Hans Gruss on 1st April. The revue had been launched in Vienna in November 1923 with costumes by Czettel at the Ronacher Theatre and for a German tour had lost many of its leading players, so that in Munich the cast included Pia Von Moosberg, Auntie, Ilona Karlowena, Lulu Gregor and the 6 Kentucky Serenders. 

 

At about the same time Jenny became part of a cabaret show at the Hans Gruss venue called the Bonbonniere. This had become one of the most influential and celebrated night-club venues in Germany. 

 

When the show Wien gib acht! moved onto Frankfurt at the end of May 1924 Jenny stayed in Munich and carried on in the cast of the cabaret at the Bonbonniere. The cast changed through the summer and in June for example Jenny was appearing with Trude Hesterberg, Kate Ruhl, the Ray Sisters  and Willi Schaeffers as conferencier. Jenny was admired for an ‘impressive series of beautiful dances’ and was also seen in a circus dance duet with the Ray Sisters. 

 

Jenny remained at the venue until at least the end of August 1924. Significantly, the summer edition of  the show staged in July, but perhaps also in June, had been dressed by Joe Strassner, who was later in 1932 to become Jenny’s husband.  Perhaps this is when they met or they had met prior to 1924 in Berlin and it was Steiner who persuaded Hans Gruss to use Strassner’s designs? 

 

See the post on Joe Strassner (forthcoming)

 

Back in Berlin, and at the end of September 1924, Jenny Steiner began her association with Ipsen Andre as a dancing pair in a Rudolf Nelson   show that was called Bis zur Premiere (Until the Premiere). This was a precursor for Nelson’s new, main revue to be staged in October. The cast included Willi Shaeffers, Kathe Erlholz, Martin Kettner,  Ethel Karna, Segis Luvan, Eva Tinschmann, Martha Jaekel and Walter Joseph. It is my connection that Ipsen Andre was in fact a pseudonym for Joe Strassner in his dancing guise.

 

See the post on Ipsen Andre (forthcoming)

 

Finally, in the early part of October 1924 Harem Auf Reisen (The Harem on Tour) was staged with costumes by Jean Aumond created by Theaterkunst (Herman J. Kaufmann). The cast included Willi Shaeffers, Kathe Erlholz, Elly Leur, Fritz Steiner, Martin Kettner, Hans Horsten and the Nelson Girls chorus led by Ethel Garden. The dancing of Jenny Steiner and Ipsen Andre was described as ‘fiery’ and ‘masterful’.

 

Toward the end of 1924, Jenny Steiner was engaged for the Anglo-German film production for UFA and the Pioneer Film Agency entitled Vater Voss (The Rugged Path). Filming began at the end of November 1924 with the leads being played by the British actors Stewart Rome and Mary Odette with a complement of German support players including Jenny. The film directed by Max Mack was a human interest drama and released in April 1924.

 

The next Nelson revue was entitled The Madame Revue with a premiere on 21st March 1925. Once again it delighted the audience. The cast included Ethel Karna, Fritzi Schadl, Kurt Fuss, Kathe Erlholz, Willi Shaeffers, Hugo Fischer-Koppe, Walter Ritter, Kurt Geren, Elly Leux, Eva Tinschmann, Irmgard Bern, Vivian Gibson and the 12 Nelson Girls, along with Jenny Steiner and Ipsen Andre. The star of the show was the American dancer Nina Payne who had already been a huge hit in Paris. the scenery was by Jean Aumond and Leo Impekoven, but significantly the costumes were designed by Joe Strassner and created by Theaterkunst (Herman J. Kaufmann). 

 

On 1st June 1925 the entire company of the Madame Revue transferred from the Nelson Theater to the Theatre am Kurfurstendamm to make way for a guest appearance in Berlin of the Leopoldi-Wiesenthal cabaret from Vienna. The Madame Revue ran until mid-September 1925 at the Theatre am Kurfurstendamm. This theatre was located at 206-207 Kurfurstendamm and had been built on the site of an art gallery by Max Reinhardt one of Germany’s most successful theatre directors in 1921. 

 

During this period Jenny Steiner was clearly being used as a fashion model as her photograph appeared in the press wearing creations from Hess and Manheimer. 

 

The premiere of the next Nelson revue came on 2nd October 1925. Confetti had a similar cast to the Madame Revue with the 10 Nelson Girls and Nina Payne once again was in the headlining spot. The set design was by Jean Aumond, Theaterkunst (Herman J. Kaufman) supplied the costumes and the modern gowns by Manheimer. The ‘whirlwind’ acrobatic dancing of Jenny Steiner and Ipsen Andre was admired.

 

Equally, Kurt Fuss (with Jenny Steiner) performed in blackface in a  Negro parody and was described as a real, proper ‘Chocolate Kid’ thus referencing the Chocolate Kiddies show. Before the Revue Negre, this was the negro revue, constructed in America, that stormed Berlin in mid-1925 at the Admirals Palast and clearly inspired Fuss. 

 

With the success of Confetti, it was revealed that Jenny Steiner had been approached by American managers to appear in America and that the show was being considered for the London West end theatre. Neither materialised. 

 

Confetti only ran for three months because on New Years Eve 1925, Rudolf Nelson turned over the Nelson Theatre to the Revue Negre troupe from Paris with Louis Douglas, Josephine Baker and others. It was a resounding success and ran for 2 months, to be followed once again by the Leopoldi-Wiesenthal Viennese cabaret. 

 

In the meantime, Nelson  launched a new show entitled Die Nacht der Nachte (The Night of Nights)  staged at the Theatre am Kurfurstendamm in early January 1926. The cast included Mady Christians, Charlotte Andre, Harald Paulsen, Kathe Erhlolz, Edith Schollwer, Harry Hardt, Max Adelbert and Schroder Schrom. The set design was by  Benno von Arent. Once again the dancing of Jenny Steiner and Ipsen Andre was a big feature. One of their most iconic photographs shows them posing for the dance Spanische Phantasie – most likely a tango. Jenny wore a stunningly elegant floral embroidered outfit and Ipsen was dressed in baggy trousers, boots, a white blouse, scarf and a hat.  On the 1st April 1926, Die Nacht der Nachte  was transferred to the Metropol Theatre in the central Mitte district. 

 

Weider Metropol (Metropol Again!) was the new show at the Metropol theatre staged in mid-September 1926 with 25 scenes. Described as the biggest revue success of the season it starred Hans Albers, Max Hansen and Paul Westermeier, the dancing pair Kitty Zammit and Fidi Grube (who also appeared in the avant-garde segment Triavisches Ballett) along with Jenny Steiner and Ipsen Andre. The costumes were designed by Jose de Zamora and Leopold Verch, executed by Hugo Baruch and Theaterkunst 

and the modern gowns were by Manheimer. 

 

Steiner and Andre excelled in dances called the Lovers of the Biedermeier Era, Traumvision (Dream vision) and Ich hab heut noch ne kleine Sache vor (I have a little thing to do today). They also both appeared with Fidi Grube in Die Drei Kauboys (the Three Cowboys). Jenny did a ‘wonderful parody’ of Josephine baker along with Hans Albers and Max Hansen and danced with Ellen Hajdu in Tanz der Dompteusen (Dance of the Tamers). Andre also danced a tango with Lori Leux in Zur Ballsaison (Tango).

 

Both Steiner and Andre were amongst a host of major Berlin stars at a social evening and ball on 2nd and 3rd November 1926 at the Mercedes Palast, Unter den Linden 50-51. The ball was to honour the film star  Hedwig Wange in support of a charitable foundation. 

 

Following her appearance in the Wieder Metropol show, Jenny transferred to a guest appearance in the Pavilion Mascotte and Palais de Danse, part of the Metropol building and famous dance palaces. She was part of the January cabaret programme that also included  the Parisian dancers Maud Resy and Dragor,  Lea Niako, a Javanese dancer and Pierrino Faraboni described as the king pirouettes. Jenny gave her popular parody of Josephine Baker. But then she is absent from the record from February-September 1927. Could she have been taken ill ? 

 

However, Jenny was glaringly absent from a hugely important entertainment that was a major retrospective of Rudolf Nelson’s work and a celebration of his 20 years in the business. Simply called ‘Twenty Years of Nelson’ there were two gala performances at the Nelson Theatre on the Kurfurstendamm (prior to closure) at the end of January 1927 followed by a tour in the spring to Stuttgart, Mannheim and Frankfurt. 

 

The 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.  With Jenny Steiner absent, Ibsen Andre was paired with Senta Born and Rigmor Rasmussen.

 

Jenny Steiner returned to the limelight for a new Nelson revue called Nelson’s Nachtrevue (Night Revue) or Die Lichter von Berlin (The Lights of Berlin). The show was staged staged on 1st October 1927 at the Komödie am Kurfürstendamm 206-207 behind the Theater am Kurfürstendamm. The Komodie had been constructed in 1922 (and opened in 1924) by Max Reinhardt and was an elegant and intimate theater and a perfect alternative to Nelson’s own theater further down the street that he had given up. 

 

The cast for Die Lichter von Berlin, included the usual Nelson stars – Käthe Erlholz Willi Schaeffer, Trude Lieske, Irene Ambrus, Oskai Karlweis, Senta Born, E. Nicolaieva, Eva Tinschmann, Didier Aslan, Hans Bergmann, V. Chappuis, Walter Ritter, Rolf Lindau, Erich Miersch and the Nelson Girls with Fritzi Schadl, Katja Böhm and Stella Gojo. The ‘graceful’ Jenny Steiner and her ‘elegant partner’ Ipsen Andre were once again admired and were a major feature of the show. 

 

The remarkable photograph of Jenny Steiner dancing with an identical puppet and called ‘the Steiner Sisters’ must have been seen in this revue.

 

The idea must have come from one of the most novel and amusing cabaret acts from the Jazz Age of the 1920s in London – that of Fred Dixon and Girlie. Dixon and ‘his girl-friend’ danced in the 7th edition of the New Princess Frivolities cabaret show in 1926 in a number called ‘a Dance Moderne.’ Significantly, after a regional tour of the 7th edition of the New Princess Frivolities in the UK in late 1926, it transferred in its entirety with a complement of 40 performers to Berlin. Here, it became the core part of the January programme at the famous Wintergarten variety house. It is highly likely that Fred Dixon and Girlie was part of the show and therefore an inspiration to the producers of the Nelson show and an ideal concept for Jenny Steiner to exploit. 

 

 

Both Steiner and Andre were also engaged by the Deutsche Grammophon (Polydor) company to perform in a musical entertainment from 21st November to 3rd December 1927. This was to promote the new musical instrument called a ‘Polymer’ and was staged in the intimate concert hall of Grammophon House at Tauentzienstrasse 14 each day from 5-7pm. The first part comprised renditions of classical favourites and the second part the dancing of Steiner and Andre along with the addition of four dancing girls. 

 

At the beginning of 1928 Steiner and Andre spent about two months engaged at the Kabarett der Komiker,  Kursurstenddamm 193. Often called Kadeko, it was founded in December 1924 by Paul Morgan, Kurt Robitschek and Max Hansen and embodied the cosmopolitan spirit of the Kurfürstendamm with a mix of satire, dance, comedy and a bit of political criticism. The dancers were on a bill along with conferencier Fritz Wiesenthal, Max Hansen, Willy Rosen, Kate Ruhl, Tom Jersey, Edith Meinhard and Jonny Richards. There was a 450 seat theater but there was also a restaurant and palmenhaus (perhaps a winter garden) and it was in the latter that Steiner and Andre performed at what may have been a daily tea-time entertainment at 5pm. 

 

At the same time and throughout 1928 Jenny was once again a featured and prominent model for Berlin couture houses including Herrmann Gerson. 

 

In March 1928 Steiner and Andre were part of a stage presentation at the Titania Picture palace in Berlin supporting the film Der Piccolo vom Goldenen Löwen (The Piccolo of the Golden Lion). 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.

 

At the beginning of 1929, Rudolf Nelson returned to his old theater at Kurfürstendamm 217 with a new revue called Taglich 15 Tropsen Berlin (13 drops of Berlin every day). The cast included: Kurt Fuss, Claire Bauroff, Fritzi Schadl, Irene Ambrus, Käthe Erlholz, Willy Schaffer, Anni Mewes, Hans Albers, Richard Tauber, Walker Brothers (eccentric American dancers). the Nelson Girls and Jenny Steiner, but without Ipsen Andre.

 

Jenny danced in this new Nelson show with Kurt Fuss and Hans Albers. She was greatly admired and one review said she danced ‘as always with elegance and skill, and shows such a lovely face that she captivates and delights both the other players and the audience.’ Dressed in a tailcoat she also sang ‘Jenny Steiner doesn’t just dance delightfully, she sings a French Boston ‘Gigolotte’ with a very quiet, delicate voice that is really charming and unique. Another review said that she had ‘soft, meowing cat voice.’ 

 

Jenny also repeated her parody of Josephine Baker and also gave another as a ‘black Johnny’ clearly creating an impersonation of the magnificent black star Johnny Hudgins who had made a big name for himself in America and Europe. Along with the Sam Wooding orchestra he had headlined at the UFA Picture Palace in Berlin in the summer of 1928. In these sequences called ‘Jenny plays up’, she received thunderous applause.

 

At some point in mid-February 1929 Jenny was one of the celebrity stage guests at a fancy dress and Carnival ball held at the Adlon Hotel. She was with Max Hansen and Willi Schaeffers and a host of other local and foreign dignitaries from all walks of life. The various rooms of the Adlon had been converted into a Venetian banquet hall, an Oriental hall of state, a Spanish bodega and in one room was a scene of a winter festival at St Moritz.

 

With the move to sound film, in the late 1920s, the Tobis Film company was formed in 1928 and began experimenting with sound output in 1929 with various films. One of these was the short film Und Nelson Spielt (and Nelson Plays) released in May 1929. This showed elements of a miniature Rudolf Nelson revue with Rudolf Nelson playing the piano, Willy Schaeffers, Jenny Steiner, Willi Stettner and the Weintraub Syncopaters jazz band. Jenny, immaculate made-up and costumed,  gave her Josephine Baker imitation and sang in English beautifully. 

 

 

 

In mid-May 1929 Jenny was added to the cast of the spectacular revue-operetta Casanova when it was staged at the Operetten Haus in Hamburg. The original production by Ralph Benatzky had been staged by Erik Charell at the Grosse Schauspielhaus in Berlin in September 1928. With it’s 18th century setting Casanova was set in Vienna, Russia and carnival time in Venice. This version starred Fritz Blankenhorn, the first tenor of the Great Opera House in Berlin and Jenny played the part of Dolores, a gypsy dancer and for some inexplicable reason she also performed her parody of Josephine Beaker. 

 

In July 1929 Jenny Steiner was in Dresden and appearing at the Tanzpalast Libelle but was also involved in various competitions and festivals at the adjacent Pavillon Eden (Eden Garten), a well known outdoor summer rendezvous. And, at one such event Jenny danced with Ipsen Andre who must have joined her from Berlin and gave ‘a beautifully formed Argentine tango’ and an old waltz in black and white. However, Ipsen Andre is not mentioned  as dancing at the Tanzpalast Libelle which is odd but it is likely he was there with Jenny and various other cast members. On the other hand Jenny was described as the highlight of the show at the Libelle and erroneously as an international revue star. She was highly praised ‘you really don’t know what to admire more, her beauty, her diverse skills or her fantastic costumes. A wonderful woman who rightly receives thunderous applause every evening.’

 

Another event in mid-July 1929 at the Pavillon Eden was allegedly ‘pleasantly spiced up by a solo performance by Jenny Steiner from the Libelle. A Berlin beauty queen, a fresh, lovely girl.’

 

Significantly, this is when Ipsen Andre effectively disappears from the record. Two photographs of him appear in print in September 1929 and June 1930, However, both photo’s are likely to be actually dated to 1928. He is also seen in these photos with a new dancing partner named as Mary Gladys. It is a possibility that the name is merely a mistake as there are no clues as to who Mary Gladys was and there are no references anywhere other than in the photo captions. She does look uncannily like Jenny Steiner. 

 

It would appear that Jenny Steiner’s last stage appearance was in the November programme of the Wintergarten in Berlin where she was acknowledged as the daughter of the late Franz Steiner, one time manager of the Wintergarten. The headline act was the versatile comedian, dancer and parodist Ilse Bois, along with the Parisian revue stars the Irwin Sisters. Steiner did various dances including her popular parody of Josephine Baker. 

 

What happened to Jenny Steiner after November 1929 and what she did is a mystery. The next known momentous thing in her life was that she married the dress designer Joe Strassner in Berlin on 16th June 1932. Strassner had become the premier dress designer in Berlin when he opened a store on the Kurfurstendamm in late 1929 and also became a hugely popular designer for German film. Perhaps Jenny gave up her stage career to work with Strassner in his business?

 

Given that they were both in their mid-30s at the time it was a late marriage given that they had probably known each other for sometime. Was it perhaps a reaction to the political situation in Germany at the time with an awareness that things were not going well as the political instability was leading to the rise of the Nazi party and they felt they needed to protect themselves? 

 

Three months after her marriage a strange report appeared in the British press with a challenge that read ‘if England has a Venus de Milo, now Is her chance to earn £5OO. Mlle. Jenny Steiner, who claims that her figure is the closest living replica of the famous statue, will pay this sum to any girl whose measurements more nearly correspond to the original.’ It was stated that Jenny would be seen at a West End Restaurant soon. What was this all about? It is most likely that this was a publicity stunt to trail a proposed visit to London. Sadly there are no reports of Jenny appearing in London but this does not mean that she did not arrive and perform, simply that it was not reported. 

 

A little later in November 1932 it was announced that Joe Strassner had been asked to dress the German film star Lilian Harvey in Hollywood for Fox Pictures. Both arrived in New York bound for Hollywood from Bremen on 12/1/1933.  Strassner listed his wife as Jenny Strassner living at 2a Albrecht Achilles str, Berlin (just south of the Ku’damm). It would appear that Jenny stayed in Berlin and did not accompany her husband. This is very strange given that her mother and brother were living in New York and it would have been an ideal opportunity for her to visit them. However, a later report in Variety stated that Joe Strassner had left Hollywood and therefore New York with his wife Jenny and returned to Berlin, so perhaps she did indeed make the trip to America. However, to complicate matters further, in the summer of 1933 a newspaper report in Holland stated that Jenny had been a singer and dancer at the Kabarett der Komiker in Berlin util 31st May 1933 (but there are no confirmed press listings for this.)

 

Strassner spent a few months in Hollywood designing for Lillian Harvey and arrived back in Europe at Le Havre from New York on 27/5/1933 and returned to Berlin. In his absence from Berlin the political situation had deteriorated considerably and Hitler and the Nazis had effectively taken over and Germany was now a dictatorship. Political opponents were being intimidated and arrested and the persecution and exclusion of jews had reached new heights. 

 

In Berlin, Strassner discovered his shop on the Kurfürstendamm had been closed because he was Jewish. It was reported that he was arrested and jailed and the Nazis handled him so roughly that he spent five days in hospital. Immediately afterward in about mid-June, he and Jenny and most likely his mother and sister fled to Paris. He placed an intriguing advert in a newspaper in Zurich (and perhaps elsewhere). Described as the former owner of the leading fashion house in Berlin, and just back from Hollywood, he was seeking offers for him to immediately establish a haute couture salon in Paris. He was staying at the new and salubrious Hotel De Castiglione, 40  Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré, Paris. 

 

In late July 1933, Jenny travelled to Holland and joined a cabaret troupe largely made up of Jewish refugees from Berlin headed by Willy Rosen. One of the most successful cabaret artists of Weimar Germany and a popular song-writer, pianist and entertainer, Jenny had worked with Rosen at Kabarett der Komiker in 1928. 

 

Rosen had created the show Chauffeur Meiner Frau that had been launched in Amsterdam in June 1933 and then toured throughout Holland to places like the Hague, Rotterdam, Eindhoven, Venlo and Apeldoorn. The cast included Eduard Lichtenstein (tenor of Melropol-Theater, Berlin), Hilde Wörner (operetta diva), Willy Stettner (film star), Margot Bodo (soubrette) and Bood and Bood (dancers and parodists). Jenny was part of the show for a few weeks through August 1933. 

 

Perhaps prior to the move to London, Jenny was once again in a cabaret show with Willy Rosen. This time in Zurich, Switzerland in May 1934. This show was called Willy Rosen’s Kabarett Optimismus and featured Wolf and Hope, Mario Marys (a jovial ventriloquist) and the four Bardys. Jenny was described as an ‘elegant chanteuse…. with her warm alto voice and sweeping movements, which are so compelling because she remains true to herself, whether she is imitating an elderly lady, the distant ‘lady of yesterday’ or Marlene Dietrich.’ 

 

Further, she returned to join Willy Rosen in another show that was staged in the Urania Cinema Gold in Prague in November 1934, But this was her last visible credit in the record. 

 

For whatever reason the move to Paris was transitory and it is not known if Joe Strassner in fact did open a couture house there in 1933. Certainly by the summer of 1934 he had moved to London and Jenny must have moved there too along with his mother and sister. 

 

In London Strassner started once again to design the wardrobe for film. His first credit was for Victor Saville’s The Dictator with Madeleine Carroll and Clive Brook and by August 1934 the firm of Motley were creating the costumes from his designs. By 1935 Strassner became designer for Gaumont-British Pictures and in April 1937 he opened his own couture salon but continued designing for film. 

 

Then in May 1937 tragedy struck and Jenny died suddenly in Zurich of a stomach ailment. On the surface this is very strange.  It was made clear that she was a resident of London. But what was she doing in Zurich ? Perhaps she was meeting Willy Rosen with the intent of joining him in a new cabaret show. Rosen was certainly in Switzerland at the time and had been performing at the Corso variety theatre in Bern during March 1937. Sadly, Willy Rosen was murdered by the Nazi’s in 1944. 

 

During the 1930s both Swissair and Imperial Airways had regular flights on a route from Croydon airport in London to Zurich via Basle or sometimes Paris, so Jenny may well have taken advantage of this. It is important to point out that during and leading up to Word War 11 Switzerland was a hotbed of espionage from every major power. Was Jenny perhaps involved in subterfuge given her background and good cover story as an entertainer? Was this that led to her demise?

 

Joe Strassner continued living and working in London with his mother and sister but eventually moved to America in 1941 and remarried in 1946.

 

See the post on Joe Strassner (forthcoming)

 

 

Sources

 

https://gw.geneanet.org

Internet Movie Database

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