Joseph Delmont
Joseph Delmont , as Josef Pollak , (born May 8, 1873 in Loiwein , Austria-Hungary , † March 12, 1935 in Bad Pystian , Czechoslovakia ) was an Austrian film director and writer .
Growing up as an artist in an international traveling circus, he later became world famous as a film director for including predators in his films . In the last years of his life he worked as a writer. In addition to several feature films, the film pioneer, who also worked as a screenwriter, cameraman and actor in his films, also directed a total of around 200 short films from 1900 onwards. According to the list of harmful and undesirable literature of 1938, three of his books were banned by the National Socialists (e.g. Jews in Chains ).
Life
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Joseph Delmont was born in 1873 as one of 16 children of Moses (later Maximilian) Pollak, Kaufmann, and Resi (or Rösi, later Theresia). Fox, born. In the Vienna birth register 1872 - 74, rows 6229 - 6234, of the Israelitische Kultusgemeinde , as a result of a note from the kk district administration Krems dated October 11, 1873, six children were registered, all born in Loywein, Lower Austria, including Josef, née. May 15, 1873. In all other documents and records, the date of birth is given as May 8, 1873. According to the entry in the State District Archives in Pelhrimov, Pavlov Archival Community, Book 1, page 17, Josef Pollak applied for his name to be changed to Josef Delmont on June 26 and July 7, 1910, respectively.
At the age of eight he joined the artist group of a circus , with which he appeared in the following years as an aerial acrobat , among other things . He then completed an apprenticeship as a metal lathe operator . However, he continued to work as an artist and tamer, later also as an animal catcher and keeper in a circus and traveled with him to numerous countries around the world. In 1901, after a stay in the United States, he stayed there to work as a pet shop manager.
After participating in a few screenings of the young film medium , Joseph Delmont, according to his own statements, began to shoot minute - short one-act plays ( one-reelers ), such as western films, on behalf of the Vitagraph film production company in 1903 . In 1905 he made his first two-act book.
In 1910 he returned to Vienna, where he worked as a cameraman for the Austro-Hungarian film industry, among other things . He was the cameraman and scenic-technical director for the oldest Austrian feature film that is still fully preserved today: The miller and his child . A little later he moved to Germany. In Berlin, among others in the Rex studios , he staged a series of adventurous, fantastic, dramatic and action-packed films , partly together with Harry Piel as co-director and Fred Sauer , Curt and Ilse Bois as actors. The sensation of these films for the time was extraordinary shots of predators that appeared in his films.
In the course of filming, he toured Panama , Portugal , England , France , Spain and the Netherlands . In 1924 Delmont largely ended his career in film and devoted himself increasingly to writing, which he had only been doing on the side since 1892. Until his death in 1935 he wrote several novels and short stories and wrote numerous newspaper articles. In addition to crime stories and stories about his work with animals, he wrote adventure and crime novels, but with “Der Ritt auf dem Funken” (1928) also a science fiction story - a science fiction story about the possibility of using your own electric devices in the near future To move waves. Delmont last worked in film in 1925 - as the director of The Robbery of Millions in the Riviera Express .
According to the obituary, published by the municipality of Vienna -städt. Corpse burial, IV. Goldeggasse 19, on March 15, 1935, Joseph Delmont died on March 12, 1935 at 9:35 p.m., after a short period of severe suffering and receiving the sacred sacraments, at the age of 62. The holy masses for the soul were read in several parish churches.
The information that Joseph Delmont was born as Karl Pick, as well as the statements by Gerhard Winkler in his biography about Joseph Delmont published in 2005, according to which he invented his origins from Loiwein, are speculations. Equally speculative are Gerhard Winkler's statements, according to which Joseph Delmont invented his activity as an animal catcher at Hagenbeck and instead spent the time in police custody. According to information from the archivist von Hagenbeck on September 18, 2007, there are no references to Joseph Delmont's activities, but this is because a large part of the business documents were destroyed in a bombing in 1943, which is why the holdings are very sketchy. From the family tradition of the Pollak family, however, it is known that Joseph Delmont worked as an animal catcher for Hagenbeck for a long time.
Filmography
Joseph Delmont directed the following selected short and long films, and some he also played or wrote the script (see information in brackets):
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bibliography
- Wild animals in film: experiences from my film recordings all over the world. Dieck, Stuttgart 1925 (non-fiction book; published in 14 editions).
- The city under the sea. Novel. Wilhelm Grunow, Leipzig 1925.
- In chains. Wilhelm Gurnow, Leipzig 1926 (was published several times in the following years with the title Jews in Chains ).
- The Casanova from Bautzen. Neue Berliner Verlags-Gesellschaft, Berlin 1926 New edition: Lusatia-Verlag, Bautzen 2005.
- Of funny animals and stupid people: a mélange. Neue Berliner Verlags-GmbH, Berlin 1927.
- Adventure with wild animals: Experiences of a predator catcher “From wide world” Vol. 48. Enßlin & Laiblin, Reutlingen 1927.
- On the hunt for predators: experiences in the jungle and steppe. "From wide world" Vol. 50. Enßlin & Laiblin, Reutlingen 1927.
- The Isle of the Judged and other stories. Neufeld & Henius, Berlin 1927.
- Tim Shea's crooks. Weltbücher-Verlag, Berlin-Friedenau 1927.
- The prisoner of the desert. Neufeld & Henius, Berlin 1927.
- The seven houses: hiking trips of a rascal. Grethlein & Co., Leipzig 1927.
- The ride on the spark: fantastic science fiction. Otto Janke, Berlin 1928.
- On catching large animals and other animal stories. H. Schaffstein, Koen 1929.
- Croesus vagabond. Wilhelm Grunow, Leipzig 1929.
- Negro. H. Schaffstein, Cologne 1929.
- Jugglers and beasts. Wilhelm Grunow, Leipzig 1930.
- 20 years of large animal catching. Schlieffen-Verlag, Berlin 1930.
- The deportees from New Caledonia. Heim-Verlag, Berlin [around 1930].
- Earthquake. Otto Janke, Berlin 1931.
- The man with sex appeal. Janke, Leipzig 1931.
- The gallows rope. Janke, Leipzig 1933.
- The Adventures of Johnny Kilburn. Wilhelm Grunow, Leipzig 1934.
- The rock in the sea. Wilhelm Grunow, Leipzig 1934.
- Miss Bandit. FW Grunow, Leipzig 1935. New edition: Null Papier-Verlag, Düsseldorf 2014.
- The Wunderblutkirche. Wilhelm Grunow, Leipzig 1935.
literature
- Delmont Josef. In: Austrian Biographical Lexicon 1815–1950 (ÖBL). Volume 1, Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vienna 1957, p. 176.
- John Clute : Delmont, Joseph. In: John Clute, Peter Nicholls : The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction . 3rd edition (online edition), version dated May 25, 2017.
- Gerhard Winkler: Joseph Delmont: 1873–1935: adventurer - filmmaker - writer: his life - his films - his books. Documentation center for literature in Lower Austria - Literature editorship Lower Austria, St. Pölten 2005.
Web links
- Literature by and about Joseph Delmont in the catalog of the German National Library
- Joseph Delmont in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Joseph Delmont in the Internet Speculative Fiction Database (English)
- Works by and about Joseph Delmont at Open Library
Individual evidence
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Delmont, Joseph |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Pollak, Josef (maiden name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Austrian film director and writer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | May 8, 1873 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Loiwein , Austria-Hungary |
| DATE OF DEATH | March 12, 1935 |
| Place of death | Bad Pystian , Czechoslovakia |