Sascha Kolowrat-Krakowsky

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Alexander Graf Kolowrat-Krakowski (left) at work around 1916.

Alexander Joseph Graf Kolowrat-Krakowsky (born January 29, 1886 in Glen Ridge (New Jersey) , USA ; † December 4, 1927 in Vienna ; better known under the name Sascha Kolowrat-Krakowsky ) was an Austrian film producer. He founded the Austrian film industry.

Life

His father was Count Leopold Philipp von Kolowrat-Krakowsky and his mother Nadine geb. Freiin von Huppmann-Valbella, daughter of a cigarette manufacturer from Saint Petersburg . His three siblings were called Bertha, Friedrich and Heinrich.

He studied at the Catholic University of Leuven ( Belgium ) and became a member of the Catholic student association KAV Lovania Leuven . He served in the military and spoke several European languages. After being in 1909 Paris Charles Pathé met, he was enthusiastic about next to the motorcycle - and car racing drive , the flying and ballooning also henceforth for cinematography . In 1909 he filmed privately, among other things, a car race on Semmering .

In 1910, after his father died and he inherited his property in Bohemia , Alexander Kolowrat founded the Sascha Film Factory and a film laboratory in Groß Meierhöfen Castle in Pfraumberg . In 1912 he moved to Vienna and in 1913 founded the “Sascha-Filmfabrik” in Vienna- Brigittenau . One of his first productions with Sascha-Film was “The extraction of ore on the Styrian Erzberg in Eisenerz” . In 1915 he took over the film exposure of the kuk war press quarters in Vienna and was also active in the production of propaganda films during the First World War .

Kolowrat-Krakowsky discovered numerous actors for the film, including Willi Forst and Marlene Dietrich . Kolowrat did important pioneering work in all film genres of the time. The highlights of his artistic work were the productions of monumental strips from the silent film era on Vienna's Laaer Berg . In 1916 he had Austria's first large studio built in Sievering . His Sascha film also included some cinemas. He liked to visit the Münstedt Kino Palast , the castle and the opera cinema .

In the Vienna Prater , west of the rotunda, he had "Old London" built for the purpose of filming in 1920, similar to the backdrop of Venice in Vienna , but smaller. The count owned a large city ​​palace on Wenceslas Square in Prague . In the early 1920s he once again made a name for himself as an entrepreneur and racing driver when he had a lightweight “Volkswagen” built by Austro-Daimler under the direction of Ferdinand Porsche , which was not a business in the poor post-war era, but was successful in his own Version as a sports car and racing car, among others at the Sicilian Targa Florio as " Austro-Daimler Sascha " caused a sensation.

On April 30, 1923, he married Princess Sonja Troubetzkoi in St. Stephen's Cathedral . He died of cancer in the Loew sanatorium at 20 Mariannengasse.

In 1975 Kolowratgasse in Vienna- Favoriten was named after him.

Filmography (small selection)

Monument to Count Sascha Kolowrat-Krakowsky on the former Vienna Film site in Vienna Sievering.
Obituary

See also

literature

  • Walter Fritz, Margit Zahradnik (ed.): Memories of Count Sascha Kolowrat. Series of publications by the Austrian Film Archive, 31. 1992.
  • Gregor Gatscher-Riedl : "Graf Kilowatt". A picture of the life of the Bohemian-Austrian film pioneer and bon vivant Alexander Graf Kolowrat-Krakowský (1886–1927). In: Adler. Journal of Genealogy and Heraldry . 23rd volume, issue 8, Vienna 2006, pp. 280-295.
  • Gregor Gatscher-Riedl: Hollywood on the Danube. For the 120th birthday of the Bohemian-Austrian film pioneer and bon vivant Alexander Kolowrat-Krakowský (1886–1927). Wiener Geschichtsblätter , Volume 61, Heft 2 (2006), pp. 46–60.
  • Ingrid Maria Hübl: Sascha Kolowrat-Krakowsky. A contribution to the history of Austrian cinematography. Dissertation. University of Vienna 1950.
  • Hans Christoph Graf von Seherr-Thoß:  Kolowrat, Alexander Graf von Kolowrat-Krakowský. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 12, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1980, ISBN 3-428-00193-1 , p. 474 ( digitized version ).

Web links

Commons : Sascha Kolowrat-Krakowsky  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Remarks

  1. ↑ Why Kolowrat-Krakowsky was born in the USA explains a letter from Count Colloredo-Mannsfeld dated March 30, 1984 to the Austrian film scholar Walter Fritz : “My grandfather [Leopold] shot dead because of an alleged or actual 'insult' of his bride Duel his adversary; a Prince Auersperg, which, according to the customs of the time, had to be paid for by several years of exile. This old Austrian, very Schnitzlerian drama could have provided the son [Sascha] with a beautiful film subject! ”
    Quoted from Walter Fritz: I experience the world in the cinema. 100 years of cinema and film in Austria. Brandstätter, Vienna / Munich 1997, ISBN 3-85447-661-2 , p. 38.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Marriage of Count Alexander Kolowrat, head of the Count's house Kolowrat-Krakowsky-Novohradcky, with Princess Sonja Troubetzkoi, daughter of Prince Nikolaus Troubetzkoi, General of the Imperial Russian Guard, and Princess Isolina Troubetzkoi, née. Moreno .. In:  Wiener Salonblatt , May 12, 1923, p. 9 (online at ANNO ). Template: ANNO / Maintenance / wsbThe subsequent déjeuner for 118 guests took place in the Hotel Bristol.
  2. ^ Kolowratgasse in the Vienna History Wiki of the City of Vienna
personal data
SURNAME Kolowrat-Krakowsky, Sascha
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Count Kolowrat-Krakowsky, Alexander Joseph (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian film pioneer and film producer
DATE OF BIRTH January 29, 1886
PLACE OF BIRTH Glen Ridge, New Jersey
DATE OF DEATH 4th December 1927
Place of death Vienna