Maria Ney

Maria Ney (August 6, 1890, in Kiel – April 7, 1959, or April 6, 1961^[1][2][3] in West Berlin) was a German cabaret artist, film actress and accordionist.

Biography

Ney was born in Kiel in northern Germany in 1890.^[2][1] Her father was a physician.^[4] She first studied singing at the Kiel Conservatory.^[4]

In 1933, she was reported to live in Zurich.^[5] She returned to Nazi Germany by 1936, when she was in a film.^[6]

She is buried in the Waldfriedhof Zehlendorf in Berlin.^[4]

Career

Cabaret

In 1923, Ney made her debut at the Café Gößenwahn on Kürfurstendamm in Berlin.^[4] By the late 1920s, Ney was performing regularly in the "Cabaret of Comics" (Kabarett der Komiker [de]), the longest-running German-language cabaret.^[7][4][3][8] She was famous enough to receive reviews in the American magazine Variety and was one of the most famous German women singers in the 1920s and 1930s.^[9][10]

She often performed in a sailor suit, perhaps emphasizing her nautical background from the port town of Kiel, and played the accordion.^[4] In the 1920s "A Sailor in Marseille" at the Cabaret of Comics, Ney performed with ten backup accordionists.^[9] Her performance "Give It" (Gib ihn) with Heinrich Giesen included a scene in a gondola rowed by two masked characters who seem to be in blackface.^[11]

Films

Ney served as the master of ceremonies in several short sound films that consisted of several different acts or scenes. Terra-Melophon Magazine, No. 1 (1930), which was called a "magazine film," included the reading aloud of passages from a novel, an explanation of how a telephone call between Berlin and New York worked, a demonstration of how to make a martini, and a series of exercises led by a famous physical educator.^[12]

Cabaret Program No. 6 (1931), Ufa-Cabaret Program (4th Part) (1931), Aafa Potpourri II (1932) consisted of mixtures of different cabaret acts and film studio events.^[13][14] The Ufa-Cabaret was produced for the film company Universum Film AG (Ufa), while the Aafa Potpourri was about Aafa-Film.^[14] These films attempted to replicate cabaret performances and atmosphere.^[15]

During the Third Reich, Ney was in two feature films: The New Cabin Boy (1936), in which she played the accordion, and Shots in Cabin 7 (1937–38).^[6] Shots in Cabin 7 was a mystery film set on board a cruise ship traveling from Cape Town to Amsterdam, in which a pair of detectives uncover a diamond smuggling ring.^[16] Ney portrayed the wife of one of the detectives, who was played by Aribert Grimmer.^[17]

Radio

Starting in 1948, Ney presented "Coffee Table" and other light programs on Rundfunk im amerikanischen Sektor (RIAS, Radio in the American Sector), the United States-sponsored radio station in Berlin.^[3][4]

Filmography

Short Sound films

• 1926: Der sprechende Film (The Speaking Film) — as herself; documentary about sound films ("talkies")^[18]
• 1930: Terra-Melophon-Magazin Nr. 1 (Terra-Melophon Magazine, No. 1) — as master of ceremonies or narrator; directed by Rudolf Biebrach^[19][12]
• 1931: Ufa-Kabarett-Programm (4. Teil) (Ufa-Cabaret Program [4th Part]) — as master of ceremonies; directed by Kurt Gerron^[20]
• 1931: Kabarett-Programm Nr. 6 (Cabaret Program No. 6) — as master of ceremonies; directed by Kurt Gerron^[13][21]
• 1932: Aafa-Kunterbunt II (Aafa Potpourri II) — as master of ceremonies; about Aafa-Film^[14]

Feature films

• 1930: Stürmisch die Nacht (The Stormy Night) — a German and Austrian film about rum-running; directed by Kurt Blachy^[22][23]
• 1936: Der neue Schiffsjunge (The New Cabin Boy) — credited as "with her accordion;" directed by Hans Morschel^[6][21]
• 1937–1938: Schüsse in Kabine 7 (Shots in Cabin 7) — detective's wife; directed by Carl Boese^[16][21]

Made-for-TV Films

• 1954: Mit Musik geht alles besser (Everything is Better with Music) — as herself; documentary^[21]

Discography

• circa 1980, included in Meister des Humors: das ist doch mal was anderes, a historical recording of humorists and cabaret performances^[24]