Armin Berg

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Photo by Berthold Friedmann (~ 1930)

Armin Berg , born in Hermann Weinberger (born May 9, 1883 in Hussowitz , Austria-Hungary ; † November 23, 1956 in Vienna , Austria ), was an Austrian cabaret artist , composer , pianist , writer and actor .

Life

Armin Berg was the son of Ignaz Weinberger and Johanna (Hanni) Bass, who came from Boskowitz (Moravia) . At the age of 15 he first tried his hand at the city theater in Leitmeritz as a comedian . Engagements in Teplitz , Mährisch-Ostrau and Aussig followed.

He had his first major successes together with Heinrich Eisenbach as a member of the Budapest Orpheum in Vienna, to which he belonged for 17 years. As a result, he appeared in various cabarets and bars, such as the Theater der Komiker in St. Annahof (Vienna) , in whose management he participated for a time, and the Ronacher . On July 2, 1907, he married the artist Susanne Emilie Flückiger from Vevey .

He also played in several Austrian film productions, including Charly, der Wunderaffe (1915, director: Joe May ) and the film adaptation of Hugo Bettauer's novel Die Stadt ohne Juden .

Berg fled to the USA in 1938 , where he made a makeshift living from selling paper goods. Every now and then he had the opportunity to give performances, as in the New York exile cabaret " Cabaret of the Comedians ".

After his return to Vienna in 1949, he was involved in Simpl , among other things , and gave several guest performances in Amsterdam and Zurich . After he had no further engagements, he moved to the USA again. From 1954 until his death he lived in Vienna again. His grave is on the Vienna Central Cemetery in the new Israelite section, Gate IV. He was buried in the grave of his mother, who died in 1918.

His best-known couplet lectures include “Der Überzieher” (by Otto Reutter ), “I think I'm not quite normal”, “I don't care about anything” and “What does a Viennese need to be happy”.

obituary

“He was a buffoon with a classic character, a 'pojazzer' so old (and venerable) style that instead of 'old' you could also say 'timeless'. He was not a jargon comedian in the narrower sense, but a folk comedian in the broadest sense, and he was also in a tuxedo, even on the lecture platforms in the city. He spoke the universal language of humor - a warm, cheerful, completely unaggressive humor. He never hurt anyone. But he had made many thousands laugh for many, many years. [...] He sang them [the couplets] with a lively, greasy voice vibrating with the joy of the jokes of existence, with twinkling eyes and a masterly art of pointing. "

- Friedrich Torberg , 1956

Filmography (selection)

literature

  • Simon Usaty: "I think I'm not quite normal". The life of Armin Berg. Biography . With a discography by Alexander Sieghardt. Theaterspuren, Volume 3. Edition Steinbauer, Vienna 2009, ISBN 978-3-902494-37-5 . - Partly at the same time: Diploma thesis, University of Vienna, Vienna 2008 under the title Simon Usaty: O tempora o Zores. The Austrian-Jewish cabaret artist Armin Berg . Full text online (PDF; 3.3 MB), accessed on November 8, 2010.
  • Georg Wacks: The Budapest Orpheum Society. A variety show in Vienna 1889-1919 . Foreword by Gerhard Bronner. Verlag Holzhausen, Vienna 2002, ISBN 3-85493-054-2 .
  • Armin Berg, Hans Veigl (ed.): Armin Berg, the man with the overcoat. Couplets, conferences and parodies from the repertoire. Verlag Kremayr & Scheriau, Vienna 1990, ISBN 3-218-00522-1 .
  • S. Usaty:  Berg, Armin . In: Austrian Biographical Lexicon 1815–1950 . 2nd revised edition (online only).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Friedrich Torberg : The heirs of Aunt Jolesch: Appendix: Obituaries: Armin Berg. In: Friedrich Torberg: Die Tante Jolesch and Die Erben der Tante Jolesch (double volume), Verlag Langen / Müller, Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-7844-3139-0 , pp. 626f
personal data
SURNAME Berg, Armin
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Weinberger, Hermann (birth name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian cabaret artist, composer, pianist, writer and actor
DATE OF BIRTH May 9, 1883
PLACE OF BIRTH Hussowitz , Austria-Hungary
DATE OF DEATH November 23, 1956
Place of death Vienna , Austria