Karl Valentin died 75 years ago: A humorous search for clues – Munich

The most Munich-like of all Munich residents

Actually, everything about Karl Valentin has already been said. “Just not from everyone,” the comedian, singer, collector, author and producer, born Valentin Ludwig Fey, might add. He died 75 years ago, on February 9, 1948, a Rose Monday. After his death he was forgotten – and rediscovered a few years later. Since then he has stayed, he is considered the most Munich-like of all Munich residents. And it should also be said: Hardly anything is as fast-moving as humor, hardly anything is subject to such fashions and zeitgeist currents as the jokes of jesters, buffoons or comedians. Hardly anyone today laughs at yesterday’s jokes.

But Karl Valentin’s very special sense of humor has remained, people can still laugh about it today. He listened carefully to people, first taking their sentences verbatim and then taking them apart. In this way he exposed the absurdities of life and became an everyday philosopher. He influenced many other artists, was a pioneer and role model, even in the age of social media his quotes are shared and forwarded. The house where he was born is in Munich’s Zeppelinstraße, a commemorative plaque points to it. He died in Planegg, his descendants still live in the “Valentin House”. But he is most visible at the Viktualienmarkt, where a fountain made of bronze and stone reminds us of this lateral thinker from a time when this term was not yet a swear word and people actually thought outside the box. Josef Gruebl

The Museum

The Valentin-Karlstadt-Musäum is the magical custodian of the memory of Karl and Liesl, albeit quite cramped in the towers of the Isartor. On the anniversary of the death there will be a new special show next to the permanent exhibition: “Krautwurst & Weißwickel” is its title. It was developed by ten students of a design project at the Augsburg University of Applied Sciences under the direction of their professor Michael Wörgötter. It is dedicated to Karl Valentin and Kurt Schwitters together.

The two will have their 75th death anniversary in 2023, not on the same day but close together. Schwitters, the great Dadaist, died on January 8, 1948; Valentin, the incomparable universal artist, on February 9, 1948. Whether the two ever met in person is unknown, but in a book publication (Allitera Verlag) they juxtaposed future academics – as soul mates, and in the very Dada-appropriate form of wild ones collages.

“In a creative and consistently analogue process that even took on Dadaist traits,” the announcement says. In combination with the original texts by Valentin and Schwitters, they developed their very own dynamic. This should also apply to that small special tour for which Prime Minister Markus Söder and Mayor Dieter Reiter have registered, both of whom are not otherwise known as eager museum visitors. But in case of doubt, there is still something for you and everyone else the extremely cozy Turmstüberl, the very different museum café. The show can be seen from February 9th to May 2nd, im Tal 50, daily except Wednesdays, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., Sundays from 10 a.m. onwards. Susanne Hermanski

Valentine in front of the camera

Open detailed view

Karl Valentin threw himself into his films with full physical exertion. He set up his own film studio as early as 1912, and in the years that followed he made dozens of silent films, many of which unfortunately have been lost. The films that have been preserved are available on various DVD compilations, and you can also watch short film classics such as “Orchestral Rehearsal” or “In the Pharmacy” on online video portals.

These so-called valentines were mostly created from stage skits, the artist was aware of his camera effect from the start. He often appeared in skimpy suits or skin-tight jerseys, which showed off his hunched and rickety figure in the most disadvantageous way. In “Karl Valentin’s Wedding”, one of his first films from 1912, the comedy mainly arose from the fact that he was downright crushed by his corpulent wife.

Later the films became longer and more sophisticated, with the beginning of the sound film era you could also hear him and Liesl Karlstadt in productions such as “Der Firmling” or “Donner, Blitz und Sonnenschein”. The Munich Film Museum shows these two films on Thursday, February 9th at 7 p.m. on the big screen. In the last years of his life he did not make any more films, only decades after his death films were made about him – including Jo Baier’s biopic “Liesl Karlstadt und Karl Valentin” from 2009 or the 2019 BR documentary “Wrdlbrmpfd! Karl Valentin: The misunderstood one”. Josef Gruebl

Valentine in the theater

Open detailed view

There is not one Karl Valentin on the stage of the Residenztheater, but eight. And that’s good. Everyone has a different physicality, moves differently, speaks differently, so nobody is tempted to make a direct comparison to the original, which is overwhelming anyway. The evening can be what it is: a personal look at the comedian, packaged in an independent work of art.

The “Valentiniade” with the subtitle “Sporting singspiel by all means” premiered in December. It is a commissioned work, texts by Karl Valentin were supplemented here by additional ones by the author Michel Decar. Director was Claudia Bauer and that was and is a good idea. Because Bauer’s handwriting has little to do with Valentin’s, where he is stingy with means and words, the director prefers to go one better. So the “Valentiniade” now tells of Valentine’s inner world, which is basically not funny here, but more of bilious humor. And she plucks passages from the work, sprinkles them wildly, grotesquely, delicately into the evening. The music of Michael Gumpinger hovers above it, a 1920s sound transferred to the present day. This is how a homage succeeds (Next dates: February 17th and 18th and March 9th, 10th and 14th). Yvonne Poppek

Read, collect and listen to Valentin

Of the countless sayings, pieces, scenes or couplets that Karl Valentin left behind, this one probably sums it up best: “Art is beautiful, but it takes a lot of work.” And the trained carpenter and failed freight forwarder has worked a lot all his life. He appeared in variety shows for the first time in his early 20s, and in his late 20s he met Elisabeth Wellano, who became his stage partner as Liesl Karlstadt. The two stood together on stage for decades and made films. He also collected photographs, opened a theater and a so-called panopticon.

You can read about all of this in countless books about Valentin (and Karlstadt), they are just as extensive as her work. “The Great Reading Book” (published by Fischer in 2019) offers a good overview of monologues, scenes, plays or films, while “Karl Valentin’s dashing Mizzi: The actress Anne-Marie Fischer” or “The inventor of Karl Valentin: Wiggerl Greiner” (both at Allitera), who approach the artist through people from his environment.

If you not only want to read it, but also want to listen to it, we recommend the “Total Edition Ton 1928-1947” published by Trikont on MP3 CD. In the audio library of the ARD you can “Karl Valentin – The podcast with the comedian legend” listen There are also several special programs on the radio to mark the 75th anniversary of his death, including Bayern 2 repeating the radio play on February 11th “The Unknown Valentine” (2007) with Gerhard Polt, Gisela Schneeberger and the Biesmosl Blosn. Josef Gruebl

The Crux with the Order

Open detailed view

Finally, one more serious chapter. After all, the great humorist Karl Valentin also gave his name to honors. On 11.11. In 1972, on the occasion of her 80th birthday, the Munich carnival society Narrhalla decided to donate a Karl Valentin medal. Since then, a 15 centimeter Karl Valentin figure with a tricycle, forged from fine gold-plated sterling silver and hanging on a chain, has been awarded annually to “a personality from art, politics, science, literature or sport for a humorous and enigmatic remark or action, for extraordinary work as an artist or to an outstanding person in public life.”

With Werner Finck, Loriot, Sigi Sommer and Gert Fröbe, worthy medal bearers were found without a doubt, but starting with Franz Josef Strauss things got increasingly out of hand. Awards were also regularly given to involuntarily funny people like Helmut Kohl, Til Schweiger and Günther Beckstein or real fun brakes like Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger (yes, the later Pope), Jürgen Möllemann, Edmund Stoiber, Heino (who triggered an initial outcry), the Klitschko brothers and (final outcry) Andreas Gabalier. And of course, joker Markus Söder also got his turn in 2020. Even Monika Gruber, who was awarded just a week ago (and only the fifth woman) can be considered suitable, but it doesn’t have to be.

The real Valentin fans, namely his biographer Alfons Schweiggert, his estate administrator Gunter Fette and the representatives of the Valentin-Karlstadt-Musäum and the “Saubande” association, were gradually so upset about this strange carnival activity that they themselves, starting in 2007, called the “Big Karl-Valentin-Prize”, now appropriately renamed the Big Valentin-Karlstadt-Prize. It is awarded irregularly and with nothing to those who have demonstrated outstanding artistic achievements in Karl Valentin’s spirit or who have made special contributions to his work. Gerhard Polt and the Biermösl Blosn, Fredl Fesl, Helge Schneider and Sigi Zimmerschied had previously received it, but with the clown Gardi Hutter last year there was so much trouble behind the scenes of the jury that you have to worry here too. Humor isn’t for everyone, especially more Valentine’s. Oliver Hochkeppel