Karen Bramson

Early life in Denmark

Karen Adler was born on August 10, 1875, in Tårbæk, Denmark with parents Julius Frederick Adler a wealthy cigar merchant in Copenhagen and Dorothea (Thea) Monies a second cousin of the physicist Niels Bohr. She had several siblings, one of which was her elder brother, David Julius Adler. Karen was apparently a better writer than David, because she would sometimes write David Adler's school essays for him. Karen Adler started writing plays at the age of 12 and at 14, had a play in two acts - "Veninder" (Girlfriends) and "I pension for unge piger" (In a boarding house for young girls) - accepted at the Folketeatret (People's Theatre) in Copenhagen for a fee of 200 Danish Kroner. She had insisted that she should remain anonymous, but the theatre director could not resist giving her name to the local newspaper. Karen hurriedly withdrew her play and refunded the fee to avoid scandal and her father's wrath, for in 1890s Copenhagen, it was unheard of for a young lady of her class to attract such publicity and get paid for writing a play. In 1893, at the age of 17, Karen Adler married Louis Bramson (b. 1861 - d 1952). Louis, like Karen, came from a relatively prosperous Danish family, was a doctor and was 15 years older than Karen. In 1895 they had a son, Mogens Bramson. Karen Bramson continued to write and made her début in print with the two plays "Den unge Frue. Mands Vilje" (The young lady - Man's Will) published in 1900 and performed in 1907 at the People's Theatre in Copenahgen.

In 1904, Karen and Louis Bramson built a country mansion which they called Solgården (Sun Yard) near the sea in Strøby Egede, Stevns Municipality just south of Copenhagen. They invited artists from different parts of Europe and held plays on a stage they had built there. King Frederick VIII of Denmark is said to have stayed there in 1911 and, in commemoration, is said to have presented Karen with four marble statues of eagles which were placed on the corners of a tower in the building.

In 1912, Karen Bramson was elected a councillor of Copenhagen Municipality but declined, preferring to concentrate on writing. In 1914, Karen Bramson left Denmark and moved to France in a personal protest against Denmark remaining neutral during the World War I. She was to spend the rest of her life in France.

Literary career in France

After Karen Bramson settled permanently in Paris, France at the beginning of the First World War, she wrote mostly in French. During the war, she was attached to the press department of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which tried to create international awareness of the country's situation. Bramson was an enthusiastic writer and propagandist for the French cause and tried to help the plight of French prisoners of war in Germany. She was awarded the rank of Chevalier in the Légion d'honneur in 1917 for the work she did during the First World War.

After the war, her greatest triumph was the performance in 1923 of her play “Le Professeur Klenow” at the Theatre de l'Odeon in Paris with actor Poul Reumert in the lead role. Later in 1923 there was a reworked version of her 1902 play, "Den Stærkeste“ (The Strongest), as guest performance at the Royal Theatre in Copenhagen. Shortly before, at the same theatre, her play “De evige Fjender" (The Eternal Enemies) with Reumert and the actress Bodil Ipsen in the lead roles met with limited success. However, in June 1924 the same play translated into English with the title “Tigercats” and starring Edith Evans, Nicholas Hannen and Robert Loraine was performed at the Garrick Theatre and then the Royal Strand Theatre in London, where it was much more successful and ran for 116 performances. "Tigercats", directed by David Belasco also ran for 48 performances in the Belasco Theatre on Broadway in New York with Katharine Cornell and Lorraine in the lead roles. Other plays by Karen Bramson performed in England about this time were "Medusa", "The Godless" (Wyndhams theatre December 1925), "The Enchantress" (The Garrick Theatre April 1926), "The Man they Buried…" (The Ambassadors Theatre June 1928) and "The Tower of Babel" (Venturers Society July 1929). "Tigercats" was revived at the Royalty theatre in May 1931 with Edith Evans and Robert Lorraine in the same roles as before. In 1925 she was the first foreign female author to have a play accepted at the Comédie-Française in Paris. Other plays of hers performed in Paris included "Puissance de Roi" (Odéon Theatre), "Des yeux qui s'ouvrent" (also at the Odéon) and "Bonheur" (Ambassadeurs theatre). She was made an Officier in the Légion d'honneur in 1927 because of her contributions to French literature and plays. In 1934 she also received the Tagea Brandt Rejselegat Danish award. Karen Bramson was known in fashionable circles in Paris had a reputation for being a brilliant hostess inviting artists, diplomats and politicians to receptions in her house. For example, she was friends with the poet and diplomat Saint-John Perse (who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature), the diplomat Philippe Berthelot, his wife Hélène and the French politician Louis Barthou. Despite her versatile talents, her literary ambitions and a life in the media spotlight, her inner personality was mostly hidden. She disliked giving interviews and was reticent about divulging details of her personal life.

Final years and Death

In her final years she retired from public life and studied spiritualism. She had always loved a cosmopolitan life and travelled throughout Europe staying in various hotels before dying in 1936 of a cerebral hemorrhage in a hotel room in Paris. Her ashes were buried at the Père Lachaise cemetery in Paris.

Reception and legacy

Her first plays ("The Young Lady", "Man's Will" in 1900 and "Mothers" in 1901 ) have been described as focussing on the oppression women suffer in marriage and she often explored themes of interpersonal relationships and the battle of the sexes. Deadly love and female masochist tendencies have also been mentioned by reviewers. One newspaper review of her play "Tiger Cats" noted the London audience "...consisting mainly of middle-aged, unmarried women cheered wildly these scenes of sadism." She has also been described as a feminist and a writer of science fiction in the near future. In 1932 she was regarded by some critics as "the most significant figure in Nordic literature since Ibsens time." The opinion of The Times obituary in January 1936 was that she was perhaps more successful as a novelist than a playwright - in particular for her books "Parmi les hommes" (a vast fresco of Europe before and after World War 1 including the curious character of Lenin), "Un seul homme" (an analysis of an English revolutionary), "Nous les barbares" (a study of middle-class life ofher day) and "Star" (the story of a young girl and Hollywood).

Bramson's family

Karen Bramson and her husband Louis Bramson had one son Mogens Louis Bramson After 1914, she lived apart from her husband, but had a friendly relationship with him throughout her life. She adored her son Mogens, who was a pilot and aviation engineering consultant. Mogens Bramson lived much of his life in England and played a crucial role in helping Frank Whittle develop the world's first jet engine. Later in his life Mogens moved to California, USA where he invented a heart lung machine. One source says Karen Bramson's older sister Olga married the Russian Prince Vladimir Orloff. Karen's brother David Julius Adler was the father of the author and painter Vera Stanley Alder.

List of works