Adolf Ernst (actor)

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Adolf Ernst, 1893
Grave complex at the Jewish cemetery in Berlin-Weißensee

Adolf Ernst , first name also spelled Adolph , (born May 10, 1846 in Breslau ; † May 10, 1927 in Berlin ) was a German actor , director and theater manager .

life and work

Adolf Ernst was the son of a mechanical engineer and was supposed to be a Catholic priest. In April 1866 he made his debut at the Stadttheater Breslau , played briefly in Görlitz , Breslau, the then third-class Royal Theater in Potsdam and at the suburban theater in Berlin. From 1869 there followed better engagements at the Würzburg City Theater , in Nuremberg and at the Königsberg City Theater . This was followed by a guest appearance at the Victoria Theater in Berlin, another provincial engagement at the Ems Summer Theater and an engagement at the Hamburg Thalia Theater . In 1872 Ernst went to Berlin for good. He worked as an actor and director at the Reunion Theater until 1875 , then moved to the Suburban Theater , where he became popular as a comedian .

In 1878/79 Adolf Ernst became director of the Luisenstadt Theater, built in 1867, at Dresdener Strasse 72 ( Berlin-Kreuzberg ). In 1880 he took over the former Reunion Theater, which was located in a hall built in 1865 at Alte Jakobstrasse 30–32 in today 's Waldeckpark, and renamed it Central Theater . Ernst played popular plays, antics and parodies at both theaters with great success . While Ernst visited theater in Paris and London in 1883 , the playwright and actor Heinrich Wilken was director of the Central Theater for a year . After that, Ernst took over the management again and now also played equipment pieces , with the comedian Guido Thielscher as the star. "The complete lack of any sensible action was replaced by very pretty and very decollete girls in leotards."

In 1888 Adolf Ernst bought the Luisenstädtische Theater and opened it in August as the Adolf Ernst Theater . The selection of his plays, the direction, the staging and his portrayal as an actor received the highest praise at the time. But instead of harmless social criticism, the antics played by Ernst - so the Vossische Zeitung looking back in its obituary in 1927 - "a fatal hurray patriotism" in the style of Kaiser Wilhelm II. At the invitation of the Kaiser, Ernst and his troop led in 1893 the play Charley's aunt with Thielscher in the title role even in the New Palais in Sanssouci .

As an enterprising theater entrepreneur, Ernst was able to retire financially secure into private life as early as August 1896. He only appeared occasionally in guest appearances. In addition to his wife Rosalie Ernst, née Abraham (1853–1899), he was buried in 1927 in the Jewish cemetery in Berlin-Weißensee . The renovated grave complex is still preserved today.

literature

Web links

Commons : Adolf Ernst  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Ottmar G. Flüggen: Ernst, Adolph. In: Biographisches Bühnen-Lexikon der Deutschen Theater. 1st year. A. Bruckmann, Munich 1892, p. 75.
  2. ^ A b c Ludwig Eisenberg: Ernst, Adolf. In: Large Biographical Lexicon of the German Stage in the XIX. Century. List, Leipzig 1903, p. 239.
  3. ↑ Horst Windelboth: "Small Temple of the Muses in the Alte Jacobstrasse." About the Berlin Central Theater. In: Der Bär von Berlin 6 (1956), pp. 86-107; Nic Leonhardt: Pictorial dramaturgy. Visual culture and theater in the 19th century (1869–1899). Bielefeld 2007, p. 243 f .; Gerhard Wahnrau: Berlin. City of theaters. The Chronicle I. Part. Berlin 1957, p. 560.
  4. ↑ Karl Friedrich Flögel , Max Bauer : History of the Grotesque-Comical. A contribution to the history of mankind. Munich 1914, p. 372.
  5. ↑ a b Adolf Ernst †. In: Vossische Zeitung v. May 5, 1927 (evening edition).
  6. ^ New Theater-Almanach 8 (1897), p. 141.
  7. ↑ Description of graves , Jewish cemetery Berlin-Weißensee (accessed on February 7, 2014).
personal data
SURNAME Ernst, Adolf
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Ernst, Adolph
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German actor and theater director
DATE OF BIRTH May 10, 1846
PLACE OF BIRTH Wroclaw
DATE OF DEATH May 10, 1927
Place of death Berlin