Theodor Ottawa

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Memorial plaque for Theodor Ottawa

Theodor Ottawa (born July 28, 1909 in Leoben , † June 19, 1972 in Vienna ) was an Austrian journalist and writer and a columnist with multiple awards .

Life

Theodor Hugo Georg Ottawa came from an Austrian civil servant family and studied law and political science as a student trainee at the Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz , where he received his doctorate in both rights in 1934. In 1939 he moved to Vienna. He was able to evade proceedings for “ disrupting military strength ” because a bomb hit in 1945 destroyed his criminal record.

Immediately after the war his “Viennese Walks” appeared for the first time, initially as satirical glosses about post-war Vienna in the British “ World Press ” (1945–1950), in two volumes also in book form, and later in “ New Austria ” (1963–1967) ) often as a warning against the overly rapid suppression and forgetting of the burdensome recent history. Behind ostensible amusement, Ottawa proved by no means to be a comfortable contemporary in his contributions. The “Viennese walks” became his trademark. He broke with the style of previous “Viennese walkers”, such as Daniel Spitzer , and is a model for contemporary Viennese journalism.

Tomb of Theodor Ottawa in Neustift Cemetery

Since 1949, Ottawa also appeared as a screenwriter. “ Der Seelenbräu ” according to Zuckmayer , as a successful Austrian version of Don Camillo and Peppone, was just as popular with the public as “Hengst maestoso Austria” or “Hallo Taxi”. "The Comedian of Vienna" - for the German audience "Wiener Herzen", was shot in 1953 in the Rosenhügel film studios, which are located in the Soviet occupation zone. In these last days of Stalin's life , culture commissioners were gripped by hysterical obedience. The figure of the comedian, the Viennese folk actor Alexander Girardi , did not appear to them to be too “revolutionary” against the Austrian imperial family at the time. Ottawa opposed this falsification of history. After Stalin's death in March 1953, a political thaw set in and the film project was implemented as planned. An irony of fate was that the script won the Moscow Film Academy Award in 1954.

His lovingly humorous considerations of the Viennese types were published in the “Wiener Panoptikum” and other magazines, often under the pseudonyms he used (Eric Garden, Lois H. Bernegger, Peter Markus). His features and short stories appeared in almost all the major daily and weekly newspapers in German-speaking countries and in reading books in Austrian compulsory schools.

In addition, Ottawa was also the lyricist of Wienerliedern and for over forty years one of the most prominent sports journalists, who became the creator of the humorous sports fiery tone, such as in "The Third Half".

Theodor Ottawa died after a brief, serious illness and was buried on June 26, 1972 in an honorary grave in the Neustift cemetery (group N, row 11, no. 85).

His grandson, Clemens Ottawa , is also a writer.

Quote

“And then you raised your hand again in the German greeting and left. Austria had become a sanatorium - otherwise it was always the spittoon of Europe - and there was genuine joy. Joy of the alley. Wherever there was an opportunity - and it was just everywhere - people stood together and sang the Deutschlandlied . And then ' raise the flag '. The way of Horst Wessel. The melody of the Deutschlandlied was known - it came from an Austrian, Comrade Joseph Haydn - only the text was not yet right. But it was known that it begins with 'Deutschland, Deutschland über alles, über alles in der Welt'. The rest was hummed along. In general, there was an uninterrupted hum in the air. It came about because so many people were singing. You never thought that there would be such a large number of people who love to sing. ”
Mein Österreich-Buch , p. 198.

Create

Book publications

  • Viennese walks . Humboldt, Vienna 1947 (volume 1) and 1948 (volume 2).
  • Dous san things! Cheerful stories about sports . Sailer, Vienna 1949.
  • My book of Austria. A best seller in numerous chapters . With illustrations by Wilfried Zeller-Nahrungsmittelberg . Kremayr & Scheriau, Vienna 1953.
    (A satirical inventory of Austria before the State Treaty.)
  • People only start with the car . Wancura, Vienna / Stuttgart 1958.
  • Eat and let eat. Consoling speeches composed between 2 slimming cures . Wancura, Vienna / Stuttgart, 1958.
  • Cinema without make-up . Ehrenwirth, Munich 1956.
    (A snappy chat about his experiences with Austrian film.)
  • The latest from Max and Moritz . Bergland, Vienna 1969.

Other publications

His contributions have appeared in many newspapers and magazines and also in edited volumes, such as:

  • The Austrian man . In: Laughing Austria . Anthology. Kremayr & Scheriau, Vienna 1978.
    With contributions by Herzmanovsky-Orlando, Waggerl, Kreisler, Grünbaum, Farkas, Roda-Roda, Bronner, Torberg, Qualtinger, Grünmandl.

For more than a decade, Ottawa wrote large documentary series on Viennese and Austrian topics for Bunte , such as "World-famous Viennese Opera", "Folk singers and Viennese song", " Salzburg Festival ", " Leo Slezak ", "The poet who came from the forest" ( Rosegger ), an Archduke Johann / Johanna Plochl documentary, “Wiener Kabarett” with a touching contribution about “ Simpl ” and the Grünbaum / Farkas era or a series about the Wiener Varieté Ronacher .

Film scripts

Working for radio and television

Radio series, including with Fritz Muliar or Hans Thimig (“Visit on Monday”) radio plays, commemorative programs, for example for Kurt Tucholsky , Fritz Grünbaum and Karl Föderl .

For television reports about the Viennese song composer Johann Sioly , as well as a Moser-Hörbiger program "The better older gentlemen".

Song lyrics

  • Hello Vienna . Wienerlied and Slowfox. Music: Erwin Halletz , 1964
  • Come and fly with us . Marching song. Words: Wilhelm Hufnagl and Theodor Ottawa. Music: Carl M. Zwerenz and Norbert Pawlicki . 1964
  • Today the bouquet is playing . Wienerlied. 1965

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Ottawa, Theodor
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Garden, Eric (pen name); Bernegger, Lois H. (pseudonym); Markus, Peter (pseudonym)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian journalist and writer
DATE OF BIRTH July 28, 1909
PLACE OF BIRTH Leoben
DATE OF DEATH June 19, 1972
Place of death Vienna