Elsie Altmann-Loos (27 December 1899 - 19 May 1984) was an Austrian dancer, actress and autobiographer.
Elsie Altmann-Loos | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 27 December 1899 |
| Died | 19 May 1984 (aged 84) |
| Nationality | Austrian |
| Occupation(s) | Dancer, actress and autobiographer |
Biography
editAltmann's debut concert was in 1919. Later that year she became the second wife of modernist architect Adolf Loos, who was 29 years older than her.[1] Elsie Altmann starred as Lisa in the original production of Emmerich Kálmán’s operetta Gräfin Mariza at Theater an der Wien in 1924. A photograph of her by Madame D'Ora was used to advertise the operetta.[2] Altmann's dance "projected [an] image of cheerfulness, reinforced by an elegant taste for Biedermeyer-style costumes".[1]
Elsie Altmann later recalled some of the strain of her relationship with Loos, who would be imprisoned for child abuse in 1928:
I have always been a woman-child and this is what Loos loved in me. But all of a sudden, he finds that I don’t have sex appeal, and moreover, that my legs are too short. If I had longer legs, he said, it would change my life. So Loos decided to take me to a surgeon who would break my two legs and elongate them[3]
The pair divorced in 1926. Altmann continued her professional connection with Kálmán, playing Princess Rosemarie Sonjuschka Die Herzogin von Chicago, which premiered at Theater an der Wien in 1928.[4]
With the rise of Hitler, Altmann went into exile in Argentina. Adolf Loos died in 1933. Under a 1922 will, she was Loos's sole heir, and his estate was released to her in 1938.[5]
Selected works
edit- Adolf Loos, der Mensch [Alfred Loos, the man], 1968
- Mein Leben mit Adolf Loos [My life with Adolf Loos], 1984
References
edit- ^ a b Karl Eric Toepfer (1997). Empire of Ecstasy: Nudity and Movement in German Body Culture, 1910-1935. University of California Press. p. 157. ISBN 978-0-520-91827-6.
- ^ Kevin Clarke, “Make Me Look Beautiful, Madame D’Ora!” Or: Revivisting Elsie Altmann And The Viennese Operetta Soubrette, Operetta Research Center, 16 July 2018.
- ^ Colomina, Beatriz (2010). "Sex, Lies and Decoration: Adolf Loos and Gustav Klimt". Thresholds. 37: 70–81. doi:10.1162/thld_a_00197. S2CID 57562745.
- ^ Kurt Gänzl (1994). The Encyclopedia of the Musical Theatre. Schirmer Books. p. 653. ISBN 978-0-02-871445-5.
- ^ Adolf Loos (1998). Ornament and Crime: Selected Essays. Ariadne Press. p. 202. ISBN 978-1-57241-046-6.