![La Jana-Barakovich](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/83/La_Jana-Barakovich.jpg)
La Jana (born Henriette Margareta Niederauer, later surnamed Hiebel; 24 February 1905 – 13 March 1940) was an Austro-German dancer and actress.
Life and career
Born in Vienna as Henriette Margareta "Henny" Niederauer, the illegitimate daughter of the master
gilder Heinrich Hiebel and his housekeeper Anna Niederauer, her parents did not wed until 1909, in
Frankfurt
Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...
. Her family was Jewish. The children grew up in the
old city Old City often refers to old town, the historic or original core of a city or town.
Old City may refer to several places:
Historical cities or regions of cities
''(by country)''
*Old City (Baku), Azerbaijan
* Old City (Dhaka), Bangladesh, also ca ...
, near the
Goethe House
The Goethe House is a writer's house museum located in the Innenstadt district of Frankfurt, Germany. It is the birthplace and childhood home of German poet and playwright Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. It is also the place where Goethe wrote hi ...
. Henny's older sister, Anny, later trained as an opera singer.
Henny trained as a dancer at the Frankfurt Opera Ballet; she first appeared on stage there at the age of 8 and later became a dancer in
revues.
[Jo Fox, ''Filming women in the Third Reich'', Oxford/New York: Berg, 2000, ]
pg. 122
/ref>
In his autobiography, Géza von Cziffra says that he encountered her in the Chat Noir cabaret
Cabaret is a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music, song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, a casino, a hotel, a restaurant, or a nightclub with a stage for performances. The audience, often dining or d ...
in Paris and brought her back to Berlin, where he introduced her to Frederic Zelnik
Frederic Zelnik (born Friedrich Zelnik, 17 May 1885 – 29 November 1950) was an Austrian producer, director, and actor. He was one of the most important producers-directors of the German silent cinema. Zelnik achieved success through period oper ...
and got her into films. He describes her as he saw her then:And there I saw her dance for the first time: that woman possessed the most attractive body that I had set eyes upon in my not all that long life. The girl, here moving to and fro in the spotlight . . . had a boyish build: slim hips, practically just the suggestion of a bust. . . . She was a simple, nice, approachable girl, but she had as much interest in sex as in Immanuel Kant. That's to say, none at all.
Géza von Cziffra's version of events is disputed. There are at least two other versions of how La Jana was discovered. According to contemporary reports, she was first discovered in Frankfurt, at the Weinklause cabaret, before going to Berlin to dance. Another story is that she was brought in at a day's notice to replace the ailing star of a revue in Dresden
Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth larg ...
and later received engagements in Berlin as a result.
Around 1926, La Jana, still known as Henny Hiebel, became engaged
An engagement or betrothal is the period of time between the declaration of acceptance of a marriage proposal and the marriage itself (which is typically but not always commenced with a wedding). During this period, a couple is said to be ''fi ...
to the actor Ulrich Bettac
Ulrich Ewald Berthold Bettac (2 May 1897 – 20 April 1959), was an Austrian actor and theatre director. He was especially well known for his work as a character actor at the Burgtheater in Vienna; he also had a fairly extensive film career.
S ...
. That year she moved with him to Berlin; however, the engagement was called off a few years later.
She appeared as a dancer in revues in Berlin, Stockholm (1933) and London (1934/35) among other cities, performing in Herman Haller
Herman may refer to:
People
* Herman (name), list of people with this name
* Saint Herman (disambiguation)
* Peter Noone (born 1947), known by the mononym Herman
Places in the United States
* Herman, Arkansas
* Herman, Michigan
* Herman, Minne ...
's ''An und Aus'', Erik Charell
Erik Charell (April 8, 1894 – July 15, 1974), born as Erich Karl Löwenberg, was a German theatre and film director, dancer and actor. He is best known as the creator of musical revues and operettas, such as '' The White Horse Inn'' (''Im weià ...
's ''Casanova
Giacomo Girolamo Casanova (, ; 2 April 1725 – 4 June 1798) was an Italian adventurer and author from the Republic of Venice. His autobiography, (''Story of My Life''), is regarded as one of the most authentic sources of information about the c ...
'' and Max Reinhardt
Max Reinhardt (; born Maximilian Goldmann; 9 September 1873 – 30 October 1943) was an Austrian-born Theatre director, theatre and film director, theater manager, intendant, and theatrical producer. With his innovative stage productions, he i ...
's ''Die schöne Helena''. In ''Casanova'' she was presented to the audience semi-naked on a silver platter. She became the talk of Berlin. Crown Prince Wilhelm became her lover and visited her regularly at her villa in Grunewald Grunewald is the name of both a locality and a forest in Germany:
* Grunewald (forest)
* Grunewald (locality)
Grünewald may refer to:
* Grünewald (surname)
* Grünewald, Germany, a municipality in Brandenburg, Germany
* Grünewald (Luxembourg), ...
.[ There were also rumours of an affair between her and ]Joseph Goebbels
Paul Joseph Goebbels (; 29 October 1897 – 1 May 1945) was a German Nazi politician who was the ''Gauleiter'' (district leader) of Berlin, chief propagandist for the Nazi Party, and then Reich Minister of Propaganda from 1933 to 19 ...
.[Géza von Cziffra, ''Es war eine rauschende Ballnacht: eine Sittengeschichte des deutschen Films'', Munich: Herbig, 1985, ]
p. 28
[''Kino- und Fernseh-Almanach'' 18 (1988]
p. 276, note 32
The impresario Charles B. Cochran
Sir Charles Blake Cochran (25 September 1872 31 January 1951), generally known as C. B. Cochran, was an English theatrical manager and impresario. He produced some of the most successful musical revues, musicals and plays of the 1920s and 193 ...
, in contrast, reports reading in a newspaper that "Hitler
Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Germany from 1933 until his death in 1945. He rose to power as the leader of the Nazi Party, becoming the chancellor in 1933 and then ...
was seldom seen in public without La Jana". When Charlie Chaplin
Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin Jr. (16 April 188925 December 1977) was an English comic actor, filmmaker, and composer who rose to fame in the era of silent film. He became a worldwide icon through his screen persona, the Tramp, and is consider ...
was in Berlin, they had an affair which he wrote up for the ''Women's Home Companion''. But she is said to have been married to or at least living with the opera singer Michael Bohnen
Franz Michael Bohnen (2 May 1887 – 26 April 1965) was a German bass baritone opera singer and actor. Bohnen was very popular in the Roaring Twenties.
Life
Michael Bohnen was born in Cologne. He trained in opera singing at the Hochschule fü ...
.[
With Cochran's ''Streamline'', La Jana toured throughout England and Scotland in 1934. In this show, she played a Spanish dancer. After her return to Germany, '']Truxa
''Truxa'' is a 1937 German drama film directed by Hans H. Zerlett and starring La Jana, Hannes Stelzer, and Ernst Fritz Fürbringer. It is a Circus
A circus is a company of performers who put on diverse entertainment shows that may inclu ...
'' (filmed in 1936, released in 1937
Events
January
* January 1 – Anastasio Somoza GarcÃa becomes President of Nicaragua.
* January 5 – Water levels begin to rise in the Ohio River in the United States, leading to the Ohio River flood of 1937, which continues into Fe ...
) made her a film star, and from then on she appeared in one or more films almost every year. She represented an exotic, not typically German type of womanhood. After she travelled to India with Richard Eichberg, millions admired her in the films she made there, ''Der Tiger von Eschnapur'' and ''Das indische Grabmal'', which also featured Frits van Dongen
Frits van Dongen (born 12 March 1946, in 's-Hertogenbosch) is an architect from the Netherlands. He designed a canal-side municipal theatre for the city of Leeuwarden with his firm De Architecten Cie. The building he designed that is known as The ...
, Theo Lingen and Gisela Schlüter
Gisela Schlüter (6 June 1914 – 28 October 1995) was a German cabaret performer and actress.
Early life
Gisela Schlüter was born in Berlin and grew up in Dresden. Her father was an army officer and mother came from Czechoslovakia. She felt ...
amongst others. In ''Menschen vom Variete'' and ''Es leuchten die Sterne
''The Stars Shine'' (german: Es leuchten die Sterne) is a 1938 German musical revue directed by Hans H. Zerlett and written by Zerlett and Hans Hannes.
Synopsis
A young secretary leaves the country and travels to Berlin to seek work as an actr ...
'', she appeared with Hans Moser and Grethe Weiser
Grethe Weiser (; 27 February 1903 – 2 October 1970) was a German actress.
Biography
Born in Hanover, she spent her childhood in Dresden. She escaped from her dominant and sometimes violent father by marrying a Jewish confectionery manufactu ...
amongst others. She "initiate the experiments of Nazi
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...
cinema in mimicking the Hollywood musical" and became the top dance and musical star in German films.[
]
Death
In the winter of 1939/40, La Jana was engaged for a multi-city tour of Germany entertaining the troops, since her fame made her an assured draw. In February 1940, she fell ill with bilateral pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severity ...
, and she died on 13 March 1940, aged 35, in Wilmersdorf
Wilmersdorf (), an inner-city locality of Berlin, lies south-west of the central city. Formerly a borough by itself, Wilmersdorf became part of the new borough of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf in Berlin's 2001 administrative reform.
History
The vi ...
.[ The premiere of her last film, ''Stern von Rio'', took place a week later on 20 March at the ]Ufa-Palast am Zoo
The Ufa-Palast am Zoo, located near Berlin Zoological Garden in the New West area of Charlottenburg, was a major Berlin cinema owned by Universum Film AG, or Ufa. Opened in 1919 and enlarged in 1925, it was the largest cinema in Germany until 19 ...
.
La Jana was buried in Waldfriedhof Dahlem
The Waldfriedhof Dahlem ( Dahlem forest cemetery) is a cemetery in Berlin, in the district of Steglitz-Zehlendorf on the edge of the Grunewald forest at Hüttenweg 47. Densely planted with conifers and designed between 1931 and 1933 after the ...
. The grave site had been cleared, but on 25 September 1990, the City of Berlin declared it an honorary grave and it is now marked by a simple stone with a bas relief plaque of her in profile. The stone had been kept at the Heimatmuseum in Steglitz
Steglitz () is a locality of the Steglitz-Zehlendorf borough in Southwestern Berlin, the capital of Germany. is a Slavic name for the European goldfinch, similar to the German .
Steglitz was also a borough from 1920 to 2000. It contained the ...
.
Stage name
According to contemporary reports, 'La Jana' was an Indian name meaning 'like a flower'. It is likely that it was actually made up. It is uncertain how she came to adopt it, although some sources say a director chose it for her. She appeared in 1924/25 as part of a two-woman act called 'The Charming Sisters'.[Bonacker]
p. 168
Autographed cards exist in Sweden on which her name appears as 'Lary Jana'.
The German dancer and actress Brunhilde Marie Alma Herta Jörns chose Laya Raki as her stage name in honour of La Jana and raki.
Filmography
Silent films
*''Ways to Strength and Beauty
''Ways to Strength and Beauty'' (german: Wege zu Kraft und Schönheit) is a 1925 German cultural film directed by Wilhelm Prager. The 125 minute full-length silent film was produced by Ufa-Kulturabteilung of Weimar Germany. The film was first ...
'' (1925, Germany)
* ''The White Geisha
''The White Geisha'' (German: ''Die weisse Geisha'') is a 1926 Danish-German silent drama film directed by Valdemar Andersen and Karl Heiland.
Cast
In alphabetical order
* Irene Ambrus as Lisa
* Philip Bech as Consul Vangen
* Kurt ...
'' (1926, Danish/German)
* ''His English Wife
''His English Wife'' (German: ''Die Lady ohne Schleier'', Swedish: ''Hans engelska fru'') is a 1927 German-Swedish silent drama film directed by Gustaf Molander and starring Lil Dagover, Gösta Ekman and Karin Swanström.Donoghue p.viii It was s ...
'' (1927 Sweden/Germany)
* '' A Perfect Gentleman'' (1927, Sweden)
* '' Thérèse Raquin'' (1928, France/Germany)
* ''The Beaver Coat
''The Beaver Coat'' (german: Der Biberpelz) is a satirical play by Gerhart Hauptmann premiered in Berlin in 1893.
The work is an example of a German naturalistic ''Diebskomödie'', or 'thief's comedy'. The drama takes place "somewhere in Berlin ...
'' (1928, Germany)
* ''Two Red Roses
''Two Red Roses'' (german: Zwei rote Rosen) is a 1928 German silent film directed by Robert Land and starring Liane Haid, Alexander Murski, and Harry Halm.Wlaschin p. 181 The film was released in England by First National Pathé.
The film's ar ...
'' (1928 Germany)
* ''Der Ladenprinz
''Der Ladenprinz'' (''The Shop Prince'') is a 1928 German silent film directed by Erich Schönfelder, starring Harry Halm, La Jana and Paul Henckels and also with La Jana, Sig Arno and Hermine Sterler. It was adapted from a novel by . Kurt Mün ...
'' (1928, Germany)
* ''Gaunerliebchen'' (1928, Germany)
* ''Knights of the Night
''Knights of the Night'' (german: Ritter der Nacht) is a 1928 German silent film directed by Max Reichmann and starring Ivan Koval-Samborsky, , and La Jana.
The film's art direction was by Leopold Blonder
Leopold Blonder (1893–1932) was an ...
'' (1928, Germany)
* ''Der Herzensphotograph
''Der Herzensphotograph'' (''The Heart Photographer'') is a 1928 German silent film directed by Max Reichmann starring Harry Liedtke and Robert Garrison and also with La Jana and Betty Bird. The film's art direction was by Andrej Andrejew.
Cast ...
'' (1928, Germany)
* ''Spanisches Intermezzo'' (1929, Germany), short film
* '' Perjury'' (1929, Germany)
* ''The Merry Widower
''The Merry Widower'' (german: Der lustige Witwer) is a 1929 German comedy film directed by Robert Land and starring Harry Liedtke, La Jana, Alice Roberts.Bock & Bergfelder p. 392 The film's sets were designed by Robert Neppach.
It is not to b ...
'' (1929, Germany)
Sound films
* '' The Warsaw Citadel'' (1930, Germany)
* ''Der Schlemihl'' (1931, Germany)
* ''Ich bin Du'' (1934, Germany) Short film
* ''Truxa
''Truxa'' is a 1937 German drama film directed by Hans H. Zerlett and starring La Jana, Hannes Stelzer, and Ernst Fritz Fürbringer. It is a Circus
A circus is a company of performers who put on diverse entertainment shows that may inclu ...
'' (1937, Germany)
* '' The Tiger of Eschnapur'' (1938, Germany)
* '' The Indian Tomb'' (1938, Germany)
* ''The Stars Shine
''The Stars Shine'' (german: Es leuchten die Sterne) is a 1938 German musical revue directed by Hans H. Zerlett and written by Zerlett and Hans Hannes.
Synopsis
A young secretary leaves the country and travels to Berlin to seek work as an actr ...
'' (1938, Germany)
* ''Menschen vom Varieté'' (1939, Germany)
* ''Der Trichter Nr. 10'' (1940, Germany) Short film
* '' The Star of Rio'' (1940, Germany)
Revues
* 1924 ''An und Aus'' (Berlin)
* 1927/28 ''Alles aus Liebe'' (Vienna)
* 1928 ''Helene'' (Berlin)
* 1928 ''Casanova'' (Berlin)
* 1928–1933 ''Die drei Musketiere'' (Berlin)
* 1930–1932 ''Die schöne Helena'' (Berlin)
* 1930–1932 ''Hoffmanns Erzählungen'' (Berlin)
* 1933 ''Casanova'' (Stockholm)
* 1934–1935 ''Streamline'' (Berlin, London, followed by English and Scottish tour)
* 1935 ''A Kingdom For A Cow'' (London)
* 1937 ''Piccadilly'' (Berlin)
Notes
Sources
* Christa Bandmann. ''Es leuchten die Sterne. Aus der Glanzzeit des deutschen Films''. Munich: Heyne, 1984.
* Helena Lehmann. ''La Jana. Eine Biografie''. Self-published, Wiesbaden 2008.
* Rolf Weiser. "La Jana gestorben". ''Filmwelt'' 29 March 1940.
External links
La Jana
at the German Dance Archive, Cologne
at filmportal.de
* La Jana at th
English
an
German
Internet Movie Database
IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...
La Jana pictures
at Virtual History.com
La Jana Memorial Page
The La Jana Shrine
{{DEFAULTSORT:La Jana
1905 births
1940 deaths
Austrian emigrants to Germany
German film actresses
Austrian film actresses
Austrian silent film actresses
German female dancers
Deaths from pneumonia in Germany
People from Liesing
20th-century German actresses
20th-century Austrian actresses