Siegfried Geyer

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Siegfried Geyer , born as Siegfried Geyerhahn (born January 23, 1883 in Marchegg , Austria-Hungary , † early 1945 in Hungary ) was an Austrian comedian , dramaturge , journalist , screenwriter , theater director , translator and editor .

Live and act

Born in the Austrian border area with Hungary, the son of the businessman Bernhard Geyerhahn first studied law at the University of Vienna before starting his professional career in 1904 as a trainee at the Schauspielhaus Berlin . Activities as a theater critic and correspondent for domestic and foreign newspapers followed. In the following decades Geyer also began to write pieces with satirical undertones or cheerful folk piece character, including Die Sachertorte, Essig und Öl , Das neue Gold and Kleine Komödie . Some of these works, mostly comedies and comedies, were created in collaboration with other authors such as Paul Frank , Rudolf Österreicher , Karl Farkas or as German adaptations, as in the works of Ladislaus Fodor , and were in part also made into films or set to music.

All's well that ends bad, written together with Laszlo Bus-Fekete , was filmed in Hungary in 1934 and adapted for television by Austrian Radio in 1962 . In the film Today is the most beautiful day of my life , the well-known tenor Joseph Schmidt played and sang in 1936 under the direction of Richard Oswald . In 1958 the trees in the Prater are in bloom again after Die Sachertorte . But Geyer celebrated his greatest success with Kleine Komödie , also known as By Candlelight . The play ran from late September 1929 to January 1930 as Candle Light with great success on 128 evenings at New York's Empire Theater on Broadway . In 1933 James Whale filmed the material under the title By Candlelight in Hollywood ; this film was shown in Austria in 1934 as Casanova by candlelight . Four years later there was a rerun of By Candlelight on Broadway; this time the piece ran from the end of September to the end of November 1938 under the title You Never Know (a total of 78 performances). In 1949 and 1953, American television finally produced two more by candlelight films. In April 1968, the ZDF broadcast another film by candlelight .

In 1919 Siegfried Geyer made his first contact with Austrian film when he wrote two scripts that were implemented under the direction of Rudolf Stiassnys . Nevertheless, Geyer remained largely absent from the film in the following period. It was not until the mid-1930s that he wrote for the film again. Before that, he had devoted himself intensively to the theater: from 1922 Siegfried Geyer headed several theaters in the Austrian capital for several years, including the Neue Wiener Bühne , the Wiener Kammerspiele and the Bürgertheater . At these venues he sometimes also worked as a dramaturge. Geyer also worked as a chief editor at Georg Marton Verlag and as a translator .

After the annexation of Austria in March 1938, Geyer had to flee to Hungary as a Jew . There he was arrested in 1940 and interned by the Horthy regime . Just before the end of the war, Siegfried Geyer was violently killed. He is said to have been shot on the Hungarian border with what was then Slovakia .

Works

Compiled from the catalogs of the German and Austrian National Libraries and the Vienna Library (as of January 2013).

Stage works

  • The powder puff. Comedy in 3 acts, together with Ludwig Hirschfeld. WF Schmiedell, Vienna 1910.
  • The young lady from a good family. A Viennese comedy in three acts by Betty Winter and Siegfried Geyer. Müller, Munich 1912.
  • The big drum. Variation in 3 acts. Together with Paul Frank. WF Schmiedelt, Vienna 1912.
  • The four-in-hand . Comedy in 3 acts. Together with Paul Frank. W. Karczag, Leipzig / Vienna 1915.
  • The Mary. 4 pictures from good company. F. Bloch, Berlin 1921.
  • The most beautiful woman in Corviglia. Comedy in 3 acts. Georg Marton, Vienna undated (~ 1925).
  • Little comedy. Comedy in 3 acts. Georg Marton, Vienna 1927. Set to music
    by Robert Katscher in 1937 under the title At Candle Light .
  • Scandal in the Savoy. 3 acts. Together with Viktor Kelemen. Gordon, Berlin 1929.
  • Cold and warm. Comedy in 3 acts (5 pictures). Georg Marton, Vienna 1930.
  • Prince of Derby. A comedy in 3 acts. With music for jazz and gramophone by Robert Katscher. Georg Marton, Vienna 1930.
  • The Sachertorte. Comedy in three acts by Rudolf Oesterreicher and Siegfried Geyer. Bloch, Berlin 1930.
    Filmed in 1958 as Im Prater the trees are blooming again.
  • Vinegar and oil. A fairy tale from Vienna by Siegfried Geyer and Paul Frank. Music by Robert Katscher. Song texts by Robert Katscher and Siegfried Geyer. Alrobi, Berlin 1932. Well-known songs:
The Dr. Lueger shook hands with me once
Yes, the wine that I mean '
  • By candlelight. Little comedy in three acts by Karl Farkas and Siegfried Geyer. Music by Robert Katscher. 1937.

Translations

  • Ladislas Fodor: As poor as a church mouse . Comedy in three acts. German adaptation of the Hungarian original: A templom egere. Bloch, Berlin 1928.
  • Ladislas Fodor: Roulette . Comedy in three acts. Marton, Vienna 1931.
  • André Birabeau and Georges Dolley: Eight days in Nice. Comedy in 3 acts. Georg Marton, Vienna 1931.

Scripts

  • 1919: The rebel
  • 1919: the fool of his heart
  • 1933: By candlelight
  • 1934: All's well that ends bad (title of the Hungarian version: Helyet az öregeknek )
  • 1936: Today is the best day of my life 1936.
  • 1936: Miss Lilli
  • 1958: The trees are blooming again in the Prater

literature

  • Kay Less : Between the stage and the barracks. Lexicon of persecuted theater, film and music artists from 1933 to 1945 . With a foreword by Paul Spiegel . Metropol, Berlin 2008, ISBN 978-3-938690-10-9 , p. 135.
  • Kay Less : "In life, more is taken from you than given ...". Lexicon of filmmakers who emigrated from Germany and Austria between 1933 and 1945. A general overview. ACABUS Verlag, Hamburg 2011, ISBN 978-3-86282-049-8 , p. 576.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Property and gender. Social and economic scope for action by Viennese “Jews” in the first half of the 20th century: a socio-historical study of wealth creation, Nazi persecution and restitution.  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Vienna 2008, p. 63 (accessed on January 29, 2013; PDF document 1.3MB)@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.kreisky.org  
  2. ^ Documentation archive of the Austrian resistance: Entry in the victim database : Geyerhahn, Siegfried, date of birth: 23.01.1883, place of birth: Marchegg, Lower Austria. Deportation: Hungary / unknown camp. Last known residential address: Vienna 4, Theresianumgasse 23/2
  3. ↑ See his legal treatise: The Problem of Proportional Representation. An attempt to find a solution  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.katalog.wienbibliothek.at   In: Viennese political studies. Edited by Edmund Bernatzik and Eugen von Philippovich. JCB Mohr, Freiburg / Br. 1902.
  4. ^ Candlelight in Internet Broadway Data Base
  5. ^ You Never Know in Internet Broadway Data Base
  6. ↑ Pseudonym for Betty Rosl von Scheibenhof (1885–?)
  7. ↑ "Today is the best day of my life!" In:  Neue Freie Presse , May 28, 1936, p. 12 (online at ANNO ).Template: ANNO / Maintenance / nfp
personal data
SURNAME Geyer, Siegfried
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Geyerhahn, Siegfried (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian writer, dramaturge, journalist, screenwriter, theater director, theater critic, editor and translator
DATE OF BIRTH January 23, 1883
PLACE OF BIRTH Marchegg
DATE OF DEATH 1945
Place of death Hungary