Valentin, Karl

born Valentin Ludwig Fey (1882-1948)

   comic actor; a Munich "character" with a gift for satire and the absurd. Born to a middle-class Munich home, he completed Volksschule in 1897 and apprenticed as a cabinetmaker at his father's bidding. His father, owner of a shipping company, died in 1902, leaving the business to Valentin. But Valentin was already enrolled in acting school. Soon aware of his talent, he sold the shipping company in 1906. Although his early years on stage were difficult, his comic ability was evident by 1908. Changing his name to Karl Valentin, he was engaged by Mu-nich's Frankfurter Hof Hotel, where, in 1911, he met his stage partner, Liesl Karlstadt (born Elisabeth Wellano). For twenty-five years the couple acted and traveled together, becoming Munich's premier attraction at beerhalls such as the Augustiner-Keller and the Kindl-Keller.

   Adept with dialect and masks, Valentin wrote about four hundred comic sketches. Portraying the impotence of common people, he lampooned the war during 1914-1918 and then made a career of drawing laughter to himself and life's unexpected disasters. By injecting humor into such skits as Das Christ-baumbrettl and Der Firmling (both of 1922), he assured audiences that their situations were in fact secure. His humor was praised by Alfred Kerr* and Kurt Tucholsky,* and his skill at reproducing life's struggle influenced Bertolt Brecht,* with whom Valentin collaborated. Throughout the 1920s Valentin per-formed throughout central Europe. Despite attractive offers, he refused to leave Munich, where he was a cult figure among upper-class audiences. Since much of his work was written in untranslatable dialect, Munich remained his best "stage." Although the Republic had revoked censorship, Valentin carefully avoided topics that might offend the NSDAP, a strong force in Munich. He continued to entertain widely in the 1930s, but the Third Reich was not conducive to satire. In 1942, after he lampooned Hitler,* his performances were banned (he continued to write). In 1947, shortly before his death, he returned to the stage with Karlstadt. His publications included Das Karl-Valentin-Buch of 1932.

   REFERENCES:Sackett, Popular Entertainment; Schulte, Valentin-Buch.