Hans Hömberg

Hans Hömberg (born December 14, 1903 in Berlin , † July 4, 1982 in Kufstein ) was a German novelist, playwright, film and radio play author, also known under the pseudonym JR George .

Life

Hömberg studied and worked as a journalist in Berlin. He made several trips to the Mediterranean countries, the Middle East and the USA and finally settled in Imst ( Tyrol ) and later in Wörgl as a freelance writer.

During the Nazi era he was an “art viewer” at the Völkischer Beobachter and wrote film reviews, among other things.

Works

His literary works, which include novels, plays, film scripts and radio plays, allow him to be classified primarily as an entertainment writer, although he also conveyed serious concerns.

theatre

One of his always "amusing and stage-safe" (J. Meyer) theater pieces was The brave Mr. S. about Socrates from 1942, which was quickly banned from the stage by the National Socialists due to "suspicious humor". Prolonged success was his post-war comedies Everyone lives s (1945) and Captain aD granted (1951). Other important comedies were Napoleon on Corsica (1945), The Chinese Widow (1955) and The Horse of the Happy Lark (1960). With You Only Live Once, Harry (1960) Hömberg also wrote a detective piece.

Cherries for Rome

However, Hömberg gained notoriety above all through his piece Kirschen für Rom , which premiered in Berlin in 1940 , which surprisingly conveys pacifist basic ideas for the circumstances of the time , e.g. B. when Hömberg lets the Roman general Lukullus, portrayed at the premiere by Gustaf Gründgens, say in the final scene:

And when the time comes one day, then one should say - and should say it cheerfully: That was Lukull. Despite his mistakes, he didn't live in vain - since he brought the cherries to Rome.

In contrast to Mr. S. this piece of escaped Nazi - censorship .

Post-war performances

The later Federal President Theodor Heuss loved the comedy about a war-weary general with a humanistic disposition so much that it was performed as a special performance in his honor in 1954 on his birthday. On February 6th of the same year Schmidt staged the play at the Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus - with Antje Weisgerber as Fotis and again with Gründgens as Lukullus, for whom the figure invented by Hömberg was a “brilliant shine type” and next to his Mephisto, Hamlet or Tasso only “apparently outsiders “Was (Vielhaber).

Radio play editing

As early as 1952, Kirschen was broadcast on the radio for Rome with Gustaf Gründgens and Agnes Fink ; The young Rolf Schimpf , who later became popular as Der Alte, also worked on this . The recording later appeared as a record in the literary archive of Deutsche Grammophon (1965) and is now available as part of the complete edition of Gründgenschen spokesman.

In 1980 - while Hömberg was still alive - the piece was edited again for radio.

Culinary guide

The success of cherries for Rome led to book publications in which the wine connoisseur and gourmet Hömberg advised on culinary matters, some of which made direct reference to the well-known play, e.g. B. Lukullische Handpostille (1968), Lukullische Schatztruhe (1980), but also other publications such as Professor Hömberg's chubby Schlürflust (1977).

Fiction

Almost at the same time as the comedy Kirschen für Rom , Hömberg wrote the novel under the pseudonym JR George for the Nazi propaganda film Jud Süß by Veit Harlan , which appeared in 1941 with many film photos and was translated into several languages, which may be one of the reasons for this that the rulers on the other hand escaped the pacifist tendencies in the play about Lukullus, which was often performed during the Nazi era , or appeared in a different light. A first novel based on his own material was published in 1947 with snow falling on black armor . In addition to the black armor , it is the novel The Memoirs of Hercules (1950) and the story The Roß of the Happy Lark (1962) that can be counted among Hömberg's most demanding work as a narrator.

As early as 1931, the long story of the still young author with Peter Lorre in the lead role of the film was worth it with The Suitcase of Mr. OF .

With writings such as Seven Funny Friends (1959) and The Secret of the Old Postage Stamp (1965), Hömberg also worked as an author of books for young people.

Scripts

From the early 1930s on, Hömberg worked as a screenwriter for German films. His only post-war work apart from a documentary, the screenplay for the film adaptation of the early Thomas Mann novel Königliche Hochheit , which was released in the cinemas in 1953 with Paul Bildt , Dieter Borsche and Lil Dagover in the leading roles, is probably his best-known work for the film.

Radio

Hans Hömberg has written a number of radio plays for radio, but was also the author of regular radio broadcasts.

Original radio plays

With Die Schnapidee Hömberg wrote his most important radio play. On the occasion of his thirty-year service, a bus driver is of course refused by the director of the bus company the absurd wish to be allowed to deviate from the timetable and to take the line E from Stromstrasse without further stops as far as he likes, instead of turning into Gruberstrasse as planned. The cognac that his boss offers him instead has the effect that the otherwise abstinent bus driver gives in to his wish to start work shortly afterwards, even without official permission. The scenes that now take place in the bus between the various passengers and the passengers and the driver form the core of the radio play, which is held in the style of a radio report.

The radio play was produced in 1953 by NDR under the direction of Gert Westphal and published in print in the radio play book of the European Publishing House in Frankfurt a year later. After that, other broadcasters produced their own versions of the game. It was still included in Reclam's radio play guide in the late 1960s .

Hömberg's other original radio plays are The June Christmas Festival (1975), There are no tears in Cognac, which humorously traces the life story of Franz von Cognac and was published in 1977 by Bayerischer Rundfunk a . a. occupied with Klaus Maria Brandauer and the early Eine Tonne Geld (1951).

Hömberg's kaleidophone

In Austria, Hans Hömberg is best known for her kaleidophone , a weekly literary feature section on the radio. As early as 1946, Radio Tirol broadcast this program every Saturday evening. The kaleidophone was finally taken over by Ö1 and thus broadcast throughout Austria. There he took a critical stance on daily events with seemingly insignificant everyday considerations. Hömberg wanted to depict the past, the future and the present. Speakers for the kaleidophone included Axel Corti and Ernst Grissemann , both of whom were still young.

Present meaning

Hömberg, his plays and works are no longer considered in contemporary theater guides and literary encyclopedias. His radio plays also hardly attract any attention.

Web links

• Literature by and about Hans Hömberg in the catalog of the German National Library
• Hans Hömberg in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Estate in the Brenner archive of the University of Innsbruck
• Radio reports about Hans Hömberg in the online archive of the Austrian Mediathek

Individual evidence

1. ^ Ernst Klee : The culture lexicon for the Third Reich. Who was what before and after 1945. S. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 2007, ISBN 978-3-10-039326-5 , p. 255.