Heinrich Eisenbach

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Heinrich Eisenbach at the Orpheum in Budapest .

Heinrich Eisenbach , (born August 10, 1870 in Vienna , Austria-Hungary , † April 14, 1923 in Vienna, Austria ) was one of the most important cabaret artists and grotesque comedians in Vienna at the turn of the century and star of the Budapest Orpheum cabaret ensemble .

Life

Family and origin

Heinrich Eisenbach was born on August 10, 1870 in Vienna II., Novaragasse 30, as the son of the Krakow merchant Julius Eisenbach and his wife Pauline born. Feller born. The birth was entered in the birth register of the Israelitische Kultusgemeinde in Vienna, the often mentioned place of birth Kraków is incorrect. He only had one older brother, Isidor Eisenbach, who was born in Rzeszów in Galicia . In 1911 he was adopted by Samuel Wottitz.

Heinrich Eisenbach was born through his second wife Maria. Pfleger (1879–1958; stage name: Mitzi Telmont) and her sister Hermine Pfleger (stage name: Mia May ) the brother-in-law of the film artist Joe May .

Career

He made his first public appearances at the age of 16 as a “negro clown” in circuses. He soon moved to Budapest , where he appeared as a singing comedian in concert cafes . This is how he met his future wife Anna, with whom he often performed grotesque dances accompanied by couplets (see also Wiener Couplet ). These dance couplets initially formed their repertoire with the Budapest Orpheum Society . This cabaret ensemble included numerous Jewish comedians, couplet singers and cabaret artists, and thus some of the most important Viennese entertainers of the turn of the century and beyond, such as Armin Berg and Hans Moser . Heinrich Eisenbach, who was also known by the nickname “Wamperl”, was one of them and had a significant impact on the Orpheum in Budapest during his twenty-year membership from 1894 to 1914. The local “house authors” Louis Taufstein , Josef Armin and Adolf Glinger wrote his “ solo scenes ” for him.

In 1907 Eisenbach founded his own company, which he called "Eisenbach - Budapester Varieté" and played in the Hotel Stephanie, but continued to perform for the "Budapest Orpheum Society". There he also met his second wife, the singer Mitzi Telmont. Due to differences of opinion between Eisenbach and the directors of the Budapest Orpheum Society, who wanted patriotic to war-glorifying lectures in the program, Eisenbach left the company together with a large part of the ensemble and from then on they played under different names such as "Eisenbach's Budapester" or "Eisenbach's Antics Ensemble" in different establishments. In 1915 they finally moved to a permanent venue on Annagasse : the “Max und Moritz” in St. Annahof . They stayed there until Eisenbach's death in 1923.

Eisenbach made additional income by painting landscapes, which he sold for the price of two guilders per meter . In addition, Eisenbach made guest appearances on various Viennese theaters and took part in silent films. The film Sami, der Seefahrer , released in 1916 , not only featured comedians like Eisenbach and Armin Berg as actors, but was also based on a comedy written by Eisenbach. He performed well-known cabaret solo scenes in films such as house ball at the Blunzenwirt or Klabriaspartie , where the behavior of Jewish card players in the coffee house is shown.

He rests in an honorary grave in the Hietzinger Friedhof (group 12, number 150) in Vienna. In 1955 the Eisenbachgasse in Vienna- Hietzing was named after him.

At least once in his life, Eisenbach suffered from severe melancholy. This is what one of Sigmund Freud's most famous patients reports in his memoir. Freud himself told him about "how once a small inconspicuous man came to see him in his ordination" because of his depression and Freud was very surprised that he was the most famous Viennese comedian at the time.

reception

Heinrich Eisenbach's grave

“He offered these cynical jokes on his board, which are so illuminated by inexorable knowledge of human nature, these salt jokes, which are lucid with ruthless self-irony, these overwhelming anecdotes that only open up afterwards, only after they have been bellowed by the general cheerfulness reveal the core of the wisdom they hold. [...] His art was of the kind from which the beginnings of theater developed. He was an improviser, rhapsodist, impromptu poet and performer of himself. This species only thrives in rare specimens today, only here and there, in musical halls and similar venues. In our time it was the most perfect example of this genre. "

- Felix Salten , 1924

Filmography (selection)

literature

  • Heinrich Eisenbach: Heinrich Eisenbach's anecdotes: collected and presented in the Budapest Orpheum Society in Vienna. published in 21 issues, kuk Universitätsbuchhandlung, Georg Szelinski, Vienna 1905–1906
  • Audio CD: Popular Jewish Artists. Vienna. Music & entertainment 1903-1936. Trikont 2001, with recordings a. a. by Heinrich Eisenbach
  • Eisenbach Heinrich. In: Austrian Biographical Lexicon 1815–1950 (ÖBL). Volume 1, Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vienna 1957, p. 236.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ https://www.geschichtewiki.wien.gv.at/Heinrich_Eisenbach
  2. ↑ Electric shadows. Filmarchiv Austria, Vienna 1999
  3. ^ Georg Wacks: The Budapest Orpheum Society. A variety show in Vienna 1889-1919. Vorw. By Gerhard Bronner , Verlag Holzhausen, Vienna 2002
  4. ^ Wacks, p. 86
  5. ↑ The Wolf Man from Wolf Man. Edited by Muriel Gardiner . Frankfurt am Main 1972, p. 178
  6. ^ Felix Salten : Eisenbach. In: Ruth Beckermann : The Mazzesinsel. 4th edition, Löcker Verlag, Vienna 1992, p. 90
  7. ↑ a b c Anthon Thaller (Ed.): Austrian Filmography - Volume 1, 1906-1918. Filmarchiv Austria, Vienna 2010, pp. 90, 275
personal data
SURNAME Eisenbach, Heinrich
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Mandl, Heinrich (birth name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian cabaret artist
DATE OF BIRTH August 10, 1870
PLACE OF BIRTH Vienna , Austria-Hungary
DATE OF DEATH April 14, 1923
Place of death Vienna , Austria