Adalet Cimcoz


Adalet Cimcoz was a Turkish voice actress, art curator, critic, translator and gossip columnist. She dubbed many film stars over a period of more than thirty years. She also opened and curated Turkey's first and only woman-owned private art gallery for exhibitions of painting, sculpture, mosaic, ceramics, photography, patterns, and folk art. She critiqued literature, art, and theatre for twenty years. She translated a number of classical works of European literature from German to Turkish. She was also a gossip columnist under the pen name "Fitne Fücur" ".

Private life

Adalet was born to Hüseyin Tayfur and his wife Aliye in Kilitbahir village of Eceabat district in Çanakkale Province, then Ottoman Empire, on 25 July 1910. Her father was an artillery Colonel of the Ottoman Army stationed at the Dardanelles as the commander. of Kilitbahir Castle. Her mother was a German, whom her father met during an official military mission in the German Empire. She converted to Islam from Christianity after her marriage, and took the name Aliye. Adalet had two older brothers Hayri and Ferdii. Ferdi Tayfur would be also a voice actor.
In 1916, Adalet went to Germany with her family. She finished her primary education in 1921, and then completed her secondary education in Germany.
In 1939, she married Mehmet Ali Cimcoz. Thanks to her husband, who was a lawyer and had a social circle of friends in arts and politics, she met and became associated with notable people in arts and literature, among them Sabahattin Ali, Nâzım Hikmet, Cemal Tollu, Bedri Rahmi Eyüboğlu, Ercüment Kalmık, Avni Arbaş, Kuzgun Acar, Ara Güler, and many more.

Career

Voice actress

Cimcoz, who was working at the Agricultural Products Bureau as a translator, entered voice acting upon the recommendation of her voice actor brother Ferdi Tayfur. She dubbed for lead characters in both domestic and foreign films. She also provided support to her brother by dubbing for major female roles. Among the actresses she dubbed for were Türkan Şoray, Hülya Koçyiğit, Belgin Doruk, Fatma Girik, Filiz Akın, Muhterem Nur, and Neriman Köksal in numerous films. Her career in voice acting extended from 1936 until her death in 1970.
Cimcoz used the language of the common people. She adopted the expressions of the people heard during her childhood years in her father's house in the Kocamustafapaşa quarter of Old Istanbul. Finding the opportunity to watch all the tours of the traditional theater where she lived, she also performed the shadow play Karagöz and Hacivat at home. She transferred new and original folk expressions, and imitations of dialects captured from master Karagöz artists, to film. The owner of Lale Film, for whom Cimcoz worked many years, said that "she translated Ottoman Turkish language or foreign words and terms given in the screenplay into pure Turkish by making the dialogues kindly but firmly".

Filmography ( Voice )

  1. Aşk Mabudesi - 1969
  2. Sonbahar Rüzgarları - 1969
  3. Otobüs Yolcuları - 1969
  4. Hayatım Sana Feda - 1969
  5. Bana Derler Fosforlu - 1969
  6. Köroğlu - 1968
  7. İstanbul Tatili - 1968
  8. Artık Sevmeyeceğim - 1968
  9. Kahveci Güzeli - 1968
  10. Kelepçeli Melek - 1967
  11. Eli Maşalı - 1966
  12. Düğün Gecesi - 1966
  13. Fakir Bir Gencin Romanı - 1965
  14. Serseri Aşık - 1965
  15. Taçsiz Kral - 1965
  16. Siyah Gözler - 1965
  17. Hayatımın Kadını - 1965
  18. Veda Busesi - 1965
  19. Yılların Ardından - 1964
  20. Fıstık Gibi Maşallah - 1964
  21. Öksüz Kız - 1964
  22. Öp Annenin Elini - 1964
  23. Çalınan Aşk - 1963
  24. Sipsevdi - 1963
  25. Belali Torun - 1962
  26. Kırmızı Karanfiller - 1962
  27. Yalnizlar Için - 1962
  28. Zorlu Damat - 1962
  29. Otobüs Yolcuları - 1961
  30. Melekler Şahidimdir - 1961
  31. Aşk Rüzgarı - 1960
  32. Aslan yavrusu - 1960
  33. Sahildeki Kadın - 1954

Art curator

On 5 December 1950, Cimcoz opened an art gallery named "Maya" in Beyoğlu, Istanbul. It was the country's first private art gallery curated by a woman and remained the only one until its closure in 1955. Cimcoz started new exhibition concepts at the Maya Art Gallery. She prepared exhibitions with paintings inspired by poetry or music, and opened cartoon exhibits to support the acceptance of caricature as an art, in addition to mounting exhibitions of painting, sculpture, mosaic, ceramics, photography, patterns, and folk arts. Her presentation of the subjects in tandem realized an interdisciplinary dimension for the first time in art. Among the various works exhibited at Maya Art Gallery were those by Cemal Tollu, a member of the artist collective Group D, and by Melda Kaptana. Organized by the Friends of Art Association which Cimcoz co-founded, 61 works of women painters were on display in the gallery. Cimcoz also curated exhibitions to support child cartoonists.

Critic

Between 1950 and 1970, Cimcoz critiqued literature, art, and theatre for the periodicals Yeditepe, Varlık, and Yeni Ufuklar.

Translator

Already in her early years, Cimcoz became well known for her translations of poems from German to Turkish. From 1957 on, she translated German works by such authors as Berthold Brecht, Knut Hamsun, Georg Büchner, B. Traven, Lope de Vega, Franz Kafka, T. Tibor Déry, and Max Frisch into Turkish.

Gossip columnist

Cimcoz was one of the first gossip columnists of Turkey, writing under the pseudonym "Fitne Fücur".

Awards

Death and legacy

Cimcoz died of cancer on 13 March 1970 in Istanbul, aged 59. She was interred at Aşiyan Asri Cemetery.
The state-owned Turkish Radio and Television Corporation published a documentary film on Cimcoz's life on 1 December 2011. Her life is told in a 1972-published book titled Adalet Cimcoz-Bir Yaşamöyküsü Denemesi by Mine Söğüt.

Translations

Following is a list of Cimcoz's translations:Ölüm Gemisi Sezuanın İyi İnsanı Milena’ya Mektuplar Dinamit Leonce ile Lena Galileo Galilei On Dakka Sonra Buffalo Bay Puntila ile Uşağı Matti Eğlentili Bir Gömme Töreni Kafka’nm Sevgilisi Milena
  • ''Adanmış Topraklar Üstünde''