Three men in the snow

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Three men in the snow is a novel by Erich Kästner from 1934 . It is a mix-up comedy with many misunderstandings.

Plot of the novel

The eccentric and good-natured privy councilor and millionaire Tobler wants to study people. He participates under the name Edward Schulze in a contest of his own company, the world-famous plaster Blank works. Schulze wins second prize: a ten-day stay at the Grand Hotel zu Bruckbeuren in the Alps. Tobler goes there to experience how people react to a poor man. As a companion he takes his long-time servant Johann with him, who has to play a rich shipowner during his hotel stay.

Tobler's worried young daughter Hildegard secretly prepares the hotel for the visit of the disguised millionaire and his habits before he leaves, but does not get around to mentioning the name. Wrongly, Dr. Fritz Hagedorn, an unemployed advertising man who won the first prize in the competition, was mistaken for the rich man and spoiled accordingly. Tobler, on the other hand, is put in a small attic room without heating, harassed by the staff and used to do odd jobs. On the very first day he became friends with Hagedorn, although the horrified staff tried to prevent any conversation between the two. Hildegard is informed by Johann about the mix-up and its consequences. She can no longer stand it at home and appears in the hotel, accompanied by Tobler's housekeeper, Frau Kunkel, who she pretends to be her aunt Julchen, to check on her father. Fritz falls in love with Hildegard “Schulze” and the two secretly forge wedding plans. (Hildegard had told Fritz that her last name was the same as his friend Eduard.)

After a few days, Tobler is disgusted from the hotel under pressure from the other guests and returns to Berlin with his daughter, Johann and wife Kunkel. The departure is so hasty that Hagedorn can no longer be informed. Before that, however, Hildegard quickly clarifies the mistake to the hotel manager, who then almost suffers a nervous breakdown.

The desperate and unsuspecting Hagedorn also returns to Berlin and searches in vain for his Hildegard, who he must assume is called Schulze. There he and his mother are invited by Tobler; he confesses his true identity, but this does not end the friendship. Hildegard also identifies herself as Tobler's daughter. In the course of the following banquet, Tobler was told by telephone that he already owned the Grand Hotel - he intended to buy it and then kick out the porter and director.

“The lifelong child” by Robert Neuner

Erich Kästner, who had already fallen out of favor with the National Socialists who were already ruling at the time and was practically prohibited from publishing, published the material of “Three Men in the Snow” in 1934 under the pseudonym Robert Neuner as a comedy in four acts under the title “Das lifelong child ”. Apart from the names of the people involved (here, for example, Schlüter instead of Tobler, as well as later in the film), the contents are largely identical. The premiere on September 7, 1934 at the Bremen Theater (director: Fritz Saalfeld) was a great success.

Movies

There are several films based on the novel by Erich Kästner, including:

(France, 1935)
Directed by Richard Pottier based on a script by Jacques Prévert
With: Max Dearly , Pierre Brasseur , Monique Rolland
(Sweden, 1936)
Directed by Tancred Ibsen and Ragnar Arvedson
With: Anna Olin , Adolf Jahr , Ernst Eklund
(ČSR, 1936)
Director: Vladimír Slavinský
With: Hugo Haas , Jindřich Plachta , Vladimír Borský , Věra Ferbasová
(USA, 1938)
Directed by Edward Buzzell
Length: approx. 75 min.
Starring: Robert Young , Frank Morgan , Reginald Owen , Edna May Oliver , Sig Ruman , Mary Astor
(Austria, 1955)
Director: Kurt Hoffmann
Length: approx. 90 min.
With: Paul Dahlke , Günther Lüders , Claus Biederstaedt , Margarete Haagen , Nicole Heesters
(Federal Republic of Germany 1974)
Director: Alfred Vohrer
Length: 92 min.
With: Klaus Schwarzkopf , Grit Böttcher , Lina Carstens , Elisabeth Volkmann , Gisela Uhlen , Thomas Fritsch , Ingrid Steeger

Note : The characters in the film are the same as in the book, but the names have been partially changed. So is called z. B. Tobler in the 1955 film Schlueter.

Radio plays

  • Three men in the snow
Bavarian Radio 1950
Director: Heinz-Günter Stamm
Length: 74'30 minutes
With Fritz Benscher , Trude Hesterberg , Bruni Löbel , Ulrich Beiger
  • Three men in the snow
NWDR Hanover : 1954
Director: Heinrich Koch
Length: 55'00 minutes
With Kurt Ehrhardt , Marilene von Bethmann , Max Du Menil , Friedel Mumme , Jörn Anderson

Incidental music

  • The millionaire in the Dachstübli
Musical comedy by Albert Jenny based on the text of Erich Kästner's "Three Men in the Snow"
arranged for the school stage: 11 numbers (songs, duets, choirs, orchestral pieces) (1940)
World premiere: Stans (Kollegium St. Fidelis), February 1940
Operetta by Thomas Pigor (libretto) based on Erich Kästner's novel "Drei Men im Schnee"
Music: Konrad Koselleck , Christoph Israel , Benedikt Eichhorn and Thomas Pigor
World premiere: Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz , Munich , January 31, 2019

expenditure

  • Erich Kästner : Three men in the snow. A story . Unabridged edition, 10th edition. Deutscher Taschenbuch-Verlag (dtv), Munich 1995, 233 pages, ISBN 3-423-12108-4
  • Erich Kästner: Three men in the snow or the lifelong child . Special edition. Atrium-Verlag, Zurich 2004, 219 pages, ISBN 3-85535-958-X
  • Erich Kästner: Three men in the snow. A story . Rascher, Zurich 1934, 277 pp. (First edition)

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Stefan Neuhaus: "The secret work (Erich Kästner's collaboration on plays under a pseudonym)", Königshausen & Neumann, 2000, 162 pages, ISBN 978-3-8260-1765-0
  2. ↑ Three men in the snow , Gärtnerplatztheater