Marie-Elisabeth "Betty" Kuuskemaa (born Marie-Elisabeth Jõggis; 28 January 1879 – 19 December 1966) was an
Estonia
Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...
n stage and film actress whose long career spanned over sixty years.
Early life and education
Betty Kuuskemaa was born Marie-Elisabeth Jõggis in
Hageri in
Rapla County
Rapla County ( et, Rapla maakond or ''Raplamaa'') is one of the fifteen counties of Estonia. It is situated in the western part of the country and borders Järva County to the east, Pärnu County to the south, Lääne County to the west, and Har ...
to storekeeper Andres Jõggis and Wilhelmine Jõggis (''née'' Sööt), who was a seamstress. She was the fourth-born child of six siblings. Her three older siblings were Voldemar, born in 1872; Ludwig, born in 1875; and Alma Sophie, born in 1877. Her two younger sisters were Wilhelmine, born in 1880; and Emilie, born in 1882.
She graduated secondary school in 1894 from the now defunct
Tallinn
Tallinn () is the most populous and capital city of Estonia. Situated on a bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, Tallinn has a population of 437,811 (as of 2022) and administratively lies in the Harju ' ...
Niclasen German Girls' School before traveling and studying abroad in
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
,
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
,
Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
and
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
. Beginning in 1897, she sang with the Estonia Song and Drama Society choir. From 1899 until 1901, she also worked as a florist.
Stage career
In 1898 Kuuskemaa began performing as a stage actress with the song and drama society called Estonia, founded in 1865. In 1906, the society became the basis for the professional theatre called Estonia, founded by the directors and actors
Paul Pinna
Paul Pinna (3 October 1884 Tallinn – 29 March 1949 Tallinn) was an Estonian actor and stage director.
Since 1899 he started stage activity at the "Estonia" theatre society. 1900s he was related to establish professional Estonia Theatre
E ...
and
Theodor Altermann
Theodor Altermann (24 November 1885 – 1 April 1915) was an actor, theatre director and producer in the Russian Empire.
His father was Jüri Altermann, his mother was Miina Nurm.
Sources
* Bernhard Linde, "Theodor Altermann" – Loomin ...
. In 1913, the
Estonia Theatre
Estonia Theatre is an historic building in Tallinn, Estonia, which houses the Estonian National Opera and the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra.
The original Jugendstil building was designed by Finnish architects Armas Lindgren and Wivi L ...
was built as a national effort under the leadership of the Estonia society and Kuuskemaa was among the original troupe of actors to appear onstage at the theatre following its opening.
Kuuskemaa would have a prolific career at the Estonia Theatre, lasting nearly fifty years. She would perform with the Estonia Society until 1949 (with some intermissions) when the drama troupe was eventually disbanded. Kuuskemaa performed in both dramatic and comedic roles as well as operettas. Her first performance with the Estonia Society was the role of Tiina in a production of Wilhelm Mannstädt's ''The Milk Maid of Schöneberg''; adapted into
Estonian
Estonian may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to Estonia, a country in the Baltic region in northern Europe
* Estonians, people from Estonia, or of Estonian descent
* Estonian language
* Estonian cuisine
* Estonian culture
See also ...
as ''Ilumäe piimatüdruk'' ("The Milk Maid of
Ilumäe") in 1898. Notable roles throughout her career at the Estonia Theatre include those in productions of such varied authors and playwrights as:
Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
,
Richard Voss
Richard Voss (2 September 1851 – 10 June 1918) was a German dramatist and novelist. In standard German orthography, his name is printed as Voß.
Biography
Voss was born at Neu-Grape near Pyritz, in Pomerania, the son of a country squire.
Th ...
,
Minna Canth
Minna Canth (; born Ulrika Wilhelmina Johnson; 19 March 1844 – 12 May 1897) was a Finnish writer and social activist. Canth began to write while managing her family draper's shop and living as a widow raising seven children. Her work addresse ...
,
Hermann Sudermann
Hermann Sudermann (30 September 1857 – 21 November 1928) was a German dramatist and novelist.
Life
Early career
Sudermann was born at Matzicken, a village to the east of Heydekrug in the Province of Prussia (now Macikai and Šilutė, i ...
,
Teuvo Pakkala
Teuvo Pakkala (originally Teodor Oskar Frosterus, 9 April 186217 May 1925) was a Finnish author, playwright, reporter, linguist and teacher.
Pakkala is considered to be one of the realists of the 1880s and 1890s, and he is also often called a n ...
,
Henrik Ibsen
Henrik Johan Ibsen (; ; 20 March 1828 – 23 May 1906) was a Norwegian playwright and theatre director. As one of the founders of modernism in theatre, Ibsen is often referred to as "the father of realism" and one of the most influential playw ...
,
Maxim Gorky
Alexei Maximovich Peshkov (russian: link=no, Алексе́й Макси́мович Пешко́в; – 18 June 1936), popularly known as Maxim Gorky (russian: Макси́м Го́рький, link=no), was a Russian writer and social ...
,
Carl Zeller
Carl Adam Johann Nepomuk Zeller (19 June 1842 – 17 August 1898) was an Austrian composer of operettas.
Zeller was born in Sankt Peter in der Au, the only child of physician Johann Zeller and Maria Anna Elizabeth. Zeller's father died before hi ...
,
Anton Chekhov
Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (; 29 January 1860 Old Style date 17 January. – 15 July 1904 Old Style date 2 July.) was a Russian playwright and short-story writer who is considered to be one of the greatest writers of all time. His career ...
,
Henryk Sienkiewicz
Henryk Adam Aleksander Pius Sienkiewicz ( , ; 5 May 1846 – 15 November 1916), also known by the pseudonym Litwos (), was a Polish writer, novelist, journalist and Nobel Prize laureate. He is best remembered for his historical novels, especi ...
,
Leo Tolstoy
Count Lev Nikolayevich TolstoyTolstoy pronounced his first name as , which corresponds to the romanization ''Lyov''. () (; russian: link=no, Лев Николаевич Толстой,In Tolstoy's day, his name was written as in pre-refor ...
,
August Kitzberg
August Kitzberg ( in Laatre Parish, Governorate of Livonia, Russian Empire – 10 October 1927 in Tartu) was an Estonian writer.
Life
Until 1863, August Kitzberg was known as August Kits. He grew up in Niitsaadu farmstead in Penuja village, A ...
,
Hugo Raudsepp
Hugo Raudsepp (10 July 1883 – 15 September 1952) was an influential and prolific Estonian playwright and politician. Cody, Sprinchorn 2007, p. 428. In 1951 he was deported to the Irkutsk region by the Soviet authorities, where he died. Raun 2001 ...
,
Eugene O'Neill
Eugene Gladstone O'Neill (October 16, 1888 – November 27, 1953) was an American playwright and Nobel laureate in literature. His poetically titled plays were among the first to introduce into the U.S. the drama techniques of realism, earlier ...
,
Eduard Vilde
Eduard Vilde ( – 26 December 1933) was an Estonian writer, a pioneer of critical realism in Estonian literature, and a diplomat. Author of classics such as ''The War in Mahtra'' and ''The Milkman from Mäeküla''. He was one of the most revere ...
and
August Jakobson
August Jakobson (2 September 1904 – 23 May 1963) was an Estonian writer and politician. He was one of the few Estonian playwright among his contemporaries whose plays were untouched by Soviet censorship and reached other Soviet states. He h ...
.
Following the
Soviet annexation of Estonia
The Estonian SSR,, russian: Эстонская ССР officially the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic,, russian: Эстонская Советская Социалистическая Республика was an ethnically based admini ...
in 1944, Kuuskemaa fled to Sweden. The Estonia Theatre building, which housed the Estonia song and drama society theatre and the
Estonian National Opera
Estonian National Opera (''Rahvusooper Estonia'') is the national opera company of Estonia. The company is based at the Estonia Theatre in Tallinn. The theatre has had several names throughout its existence. The latest one being "The Estonian Nati ...
was bombed and heavily damaged by Soviet air raids on 9 March 1944. Kuuskemaa remained in Sweden until 1946, when she was
repatriated
Repatriation is the process of returning a thing or a person to its country of origin or citizenship. The term may refer to non-human entities, such as converting a foreign currency into the currency of one's own country, as well as to the pro ...
to the
Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic
The Estonian SSR,, russian: Эстонская ССР officially the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic,, russian: Эстонская Советская Социалистическая Республика was an ethnically based adminis ...
. In 1947, she resumed her career with the Estonia song and drama society when the Estonia Theatre building was reopened. She remained there until its dissolution in 1949.
Film career
Betty Kuuskemaa made her screen debut in the 1947
Herbert Rappaport
Herbert Rappaport (1908–1983), known in the Soviet Union as Gerbert Moritsevich Rappaport, was an Austrian-Soviet screenwriter and film director.
Rappaport was born in 1908 in Vienna, Austria-Hungary, to Jewish parents from Lemberg (now Lv ...
directed
Soviet
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
Estonian language drama ''Elu tsitadellis'' (English: ''Life in a Citadel'') for
Lenfilm
Lenfilm (russian: link=no, Ленфильм) is a Russian production company with its own film studio located in Saint Petersburg (the city was called Leningrad from 1924 to 1991, thus the name). It is a corporation with its stakes shared betwee ...
, based on the 1946 play of the same name by Estonian author and communist politician
August Jakobson
August Jakobson (2 September 1904 – 23 May 1963) was an Estonian writer and politician. He was one of the few Estonian playwright among his contemporaries whose plays were untouched by Soviet censorship and reached other Soviet states. He h ...
. ''Elu tsitadellis'' was the first post-World War II Estonian feature film following the annexation of Estonia into the Soviet Union. The plot largely revolves around the arrival of the
Soviet Army
uk, Радянська армія
, image = File:Communist star with golden border and red rims.svg
, alt =
, caption = Emblem of the Soviet Army
, start_date ...
following the
German occupation of Estonia in 1944 and justice being meted out to Estonians who had collaborated with German occupying forces. The film ends with jubilant Estonians celebrating their "liberation" and inclusion into the Soviet Union and accepting
communist ideology
Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...
.
Ten years would pass before Betty Kuuskemaa appeared in another film. In 1957, she appeared in the Aleksandr Mandrõkin directed drama ''Pöördel'' (''The Turning Point'') for
Tallinnfilm
Tallinnfilm is the oldest surviving film studio in Estonia. It was founded as Estonian Culture Film in 1931, and was nationalized in 1940 after Estonia was forced into the Soviet Union. During the first year of Soviet Occupation
During Worl ...
. ''Pöördel'' stars actors
Gunnar Kilgas
Gunnar Kilgas (8 May 1926 Narva – 6 August 2005 Tallinn) was an Estonian actor and theatre director.
In 1949 he graduated from Estonian State Theatre Institute. 1951-1960 he was an actor at Vanemuine Theatre. 1960-1969 he was an actor and direc ...
as the new chairman of a failing Estonian
collective farm
Collective farming and communal farming are various types of, "agricultural production in which multiple farmers run their holdings as a joint enterprise". There are two broad types of communal farms: agricultural cooperatives, in which member ...
and his struggle win the trust of the farm workers and boost the farm's production.
In 1961, she appeared in the role of Mari in the
Egon Rannet
Egon Rannet (until 1940 Eugen/Jevgeni Brükke; 29 November 1911 – 1 November 1983) was an Estonian writer. Many of his works were affected by socialist realism.
He was born in Tallinn
Tallinn () is the most populous and capital city of Esto ...
penned and Ilja Fogelman and Reet Kasesalu directed color musical comedy film ''Laulu sõber'' (''Friend of Songs''), again set against the backdrop of a collective farm.
Personal life
Betty Jõggis was married August Mart Kuuskemaa, who died in 1955. She did not remarry. The couple had two sons. Their firstborn, Ado Kuuskemaa died soon after his birth in 1914. In 1920, Betty Kuuskemaa gave birth to Madis Kuuskemaa, who died in 1944 at the
Battle of Narva as an Estonian volunteer for the
German Army
The German Army (, "army") is the land component of the armed forces of Germany. The present-day German Army was founded in 1955 as part of the newly formed West German ''Bundeswehr'' together with the ''Marine'' (German Navy) and the ''Luftwaf ...
with the rank of ''
Oberfähnrich
(OFähnr or OFR) designates in the Heer of the Bundeswehr a military person or member of the armed forces with the last or highest Officer Aspirant (OA – de: ) rank. According to the salary class it is equivalent to the ranks of or , an ...
''; he was age 23 at the time of his death; a month shy of his 24th birthday. Madis had a son in 1942, Jüri Kuuskemaa, who is now a prominent Estonian art historian.
Betty Kuuskemaa died at age 87 in Tallinn and was buried in Tallinn's
Forest Cemetery.
Acknowledgements
In 1924, Kuuskemaa sat for a portrait painting by Anna Luik-Püüman. The painting now belongs to the Estonian Theatre and Music Museum.
In 1936, Betty Kuuskemaa received the Honoured Actress and Estonian Actors Union gold merit badge for her accomplishments as an actress. In 1947, she was named a
Merited Artist of the Estonian SSR. In 1980, a 100 x 50 centimeter bronze memorial plaque was placed on her former residence at J. Poska St. 10 in Tallinn which reads, "Here lived in the years 1953–1966 Estonian SSR Honoured artist Betty Kuuskemaa." The plaque was stolen in 2003, but later replaced.
Postimees
''Varastati Betty Kuuskemaa mälestustahvel'' 30 June 2003. Retrieved 7 January 2017.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kuuskimaa, Betty
1879 births
1966 deaths
People from Kohila Parish
People from the Governorate of Estonia
Estonian stage actresses
Estonian film actresses
Estonian musical theatre actresses
20th-century Estonian actresses
Burials at Metsakalmistu