The Lost One
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27. As Lotte Lenya’s understudy in Die Dreigroschenoper, Lovsky had also taken over the role of Jenny when the production moved on to another theater.
28. In May 1919, Lovsky married Heinrich Vinzenz Nowak, a doctor of philosophy who worked as a journalist; she did not obtain a divorce until 1929. She was also romantically linked to Karl Kraus, who called her his “nightingale,” German stage director Karl Heinz Martin, and film director Fritz Lang. Engaged to director G.W. Pabst, she failed to show up for the wedding.
29. Nakamura is apparently shot at the end of act 2 and reappears at the very end of act 3.
30. Lovsky believed that “Lang knew perfectly well what the picture was going to be.” Lovsky, interview, Oct. 14, 1973.
31. According to Kraus scholar Harry Zohn, he “recognized his age as ‘the age of the feuilleton’ in which newspaper reports took precedence over events, form eclipsed substance, and the style, the atmosphere, the ‘package’ were all-important.” “Karl Kraus,” in Daviau, Turn-of-the-Century Austrian Literature, p. 191.
32. Assembling the necessary documents apparently complicated and ultimately postponed their marriage plans. Celia Lovsky maintained that Lorre had been unable to obtain a copy of his birth certificate. Actually, notations on the document indicate that the Bureau of Vital Statistics in Svosovskelic, Slovakia, fielded his request in December 1930. Whether he never received it, or other bureaucratic obstacles blocked their way, is impossible to say. Lovsky, interview, Oct. 14, 1973.
Heimatgefühl is difficult to translate into English; the phrase conveys a strong sense of belonging to place.
33. Radio stations in Stettin, Magdeburg, Breslau, and Königsberg broadcast Lorre’s performances for Funkstunde Berlin over the eastern part of Germany.
34. While Lorre appeared at the Renaissance Theater, Celia Lovsky performed on Funkstunde Berlin as Cupido in Shakespeare’s Timon of Athens.
35. In a subsequent retelling of the story, Bentley added that Brecht told Lorre to have white paint ready in a bowl upstage. Brecht Memoir, p. 55.
QUOTATION SOURCES BY PAGE NUMBER
5 “different and often … of reserve officers”: Rothenberg, Army of Francis Joseph, pp. 127, 151.
6 “To me, the … they were poisonous”: Kathy Vern-Barnett to author, Jan. 16, 1999. 6 “spoke of him … they needed it”: Vern-Barnett, interview.
6 “At home and … and so on”: Lorant, interview. 6 “extremely pragmatic”: Vern-Barnett, interview.
6 “dark mountains”: Service, “Women Scream.”
7 “taught me what … owning many castles”: ibid.
7 “To my small … further material welfare”: “If I Were Santa Claus: Peter Lorre Tells J.M. Ruddy What He Would Do If He Were Given the Role,” unidentified manuscript, Peter Lorre file, BFINL.
7 “Unadulterated B.S.”: Andrew Lorre to author, Feb. 6, 1978.
7 “not a real … was very often”: Lorant, interview.
8 “I believe the … verge of starvation”: Vern-Barnett, interview.
8 “clever … from my side”: Lorant, interview.
9 “unfeeling and soulless … soul out wide”: Zweig, World of Yesterday, pp. 32, 36, 54, 57, 59.
9 “the nicest time of our youth”: Lorant, interview.
9 “enemy officer”: A. Lorre, interview by Bigwood.
10 “Practically always on … for many years”: Lorant, interview.
10 “Opi was an … terribly practical man”: Vern-Barnett, interview.
10 “a passionate secret … journalist Theodor Herzl”: A. Lorre, interview, April 6, 1975.
10 “life-saving exercise”: Vern-Barnett, interview.
10 “Let’s just say … a lot longer”: Vern-Barnett to author, Dec. 31, 1987.
10 “examine a pregnant … to Lauren Bacall”: Vern-Barnett, interview.
11 “read a great … my many parts”: Service, “Women Scream”; Lorant, interview. 11 “I was the … and not talk”: Lorant, interview.
11 “He had no … intended to pursue”: Hans Winge, “Mein armer Freund Peter,” Die Presse (Vienna), March 26, 1964.
11 “expressing yourself and … is to it”: Peter Lorre, interview by Mike Wallace, Mike Wallace Interviews, WNTA-TV, March 8, 1960, MWC HRHRC.
11 “I did not … my father’s house”: Service, “Women Scream.”
11 “imagine that anybody … as the theater”: Vern-Barnett, interview.
12 “some other nuts”: W. Ward Marsh, “Lorre’s Stage Experience on Continent Brilliantly Flares at the Palace Now,” Cleveland (Ohio) Plain Dealer, Aug. 25, 1944.
12 “I am amazed … of an audience”: Reynolds, “Reluctant Menace.”
12 “Counting people’s money is a thankless business”: A.P. Eismann, “Weltberühmter ‘Mörder’: Ein erfundenes Interview mit Peter Lorre,” Welt am Sonntag (Berlin ed.), Jan. 28, 1951.
12 “You know … me so severely”: A. Lorre, interview, June 19, 1973.
13 “wasn’t very good … I was fired”: Peter Lorre, interview by O’Connell.
13 “his boss got … to the stage”: A. Lorre, interview, June 19, 1973.
13 “We got our … away from home”: Reisch, interview.
13 “sometimes he was … to live on”: Lorant, interview.
13 “robbed people out of necessity”: Carradine, interview.
14 “little lilac wool jacket for a roll”: Lovsky, interview, Oct. 14, 1973.
14 “For a long … a sweet-shop”: Straker, “Modest Murderer.”
14 “I am the … really had scurvy”: Karsten Peters, “Der Mörder mit der sanften Stimme,” Münchner Abendzeitung, March 25, 1964.
14“I know that … theater or learning”: Lorant, interview.
14 “Peter’s great obsession … about the theater”: Reisch, interview.
15 “petrified formality … disciplined conformity”: Janik and Toulmin, Wittensteins Vienna, pp. 37, 42.
15 “ersatz totality”: Alfred Polgar, “Theorie des Cafe Central,” Kleine Schriften, vol. 4, Literatur (Reibek bei Hamburg: Rowohlt, 1984), pp. 254–59, quoted in Segel, Vienna Coffeehouse Wits, p. 267.
15 “asylum for people … killed by it”: ibid., p. 268.
15 “cosmic uneasiness”: ibid., p. 269.
15 “into an irresponsible … relationship to nothingness”: ibid.
15 “organization of the disorganized”: ibid., p. 268.
15 “on the Viennese … meridian of loneliness”: ibid., p. 267.
15 “solo voice … of the chorus”: ibid.
15 “as an unmasked … not by Gründgens”: Dubrovic, Veruntreute Geschichte, p. 159.
16 “now and then flashes”: Moreno, Stegreiftheater, p. 37.
16 “impromptu play … extemporaneously”: Moreno, Psychodrama, p. 3.
16 “science”: ibid., p. 12.
16 “he had been … impregnated a maid”: Zerka Moreno to author, Jan. 8, 1985.
16 “were middle-class … evaluate his ability”: ibid., July 27, 1977.
17 “ideal school of acting”: “Kein Platz für zwei Mörder.”
17 “the subject to … unlived out dimensions”: Moreno, Psychodrama, p. 18.
17 “dramatic suicide”: “Kein Platz für zwei Mörder.”
17 “I don’t believe … realm of imagination:” Alice L. Tildesley, “Behind the GREASE PAINT,” unidentified clipping, TCLC.
17 “the actor must … in his performances”: Otis L. Guernsey Jr., “Peter Lorre, Who Is Nothing like His Roles,” New York Herald-Tribune, June 18, 1944.
17 “ecstatic pathos of expression”: Dubrovic, Veruntreute Geschichte, p. 158.
17 “facial muscle acrobatics … spontaneous healing reactions”: ibid., pp. 159–60.
17 “He acted particularly … was captivatingly infectious”: Zerka Moreno to author, July 27, 1977.
17 “bedeviled creature”: Moreno, Psychodrama, p. 4.
17 “mixture of mockery and kindness”: Moreno, “Escape Me Never,” p. 6.
1
7 “news just came … in ecstasy”: Moreno, Psychodrama, p. 4.
18 “moments”: Moreno, Stegreiftheater, p. 37.
18 “pictures”: Herbert Jhering, “Pioniere in Ingolstadt,” Berliner Börsen Courier, April 2, 1929.
18 “There is little … feelings and being”: Zerka Moreno to author, Jan. 8, 1985.
18 “peculiar grin … mimic behavior”: ibid., July 27, 1977.
18 “kitten table for the children”: Zohn, “John Kafka,” p. 424.
18 “an exploding expression … think of Kubin”: Kosch, Deutsches Theater-Lexikon, 2:1679.
19 “whose hair and … of the inspiration”: Zerka Moreno to author, July 27, 1977.
19 “that he met … from Peter’s mouth”: Falkenberg, interview.
19 “Moreno did say … would not be”: Zerka Moreno to author, Feb. 8, 1985.
19 “through a certain … enough of it”: Lorre, interview by Wallace.
20 “an actor was … as a comic”: Frazier, The One with the Mustache, p. 207. The chapter on Peter Lorre first appeared as “PETER LORRE: I got to go make faces,” in True, July 1947.
20 “I was on … be coming up”: Lorre, interview by O’Connell.
20 “dropped my spear … promptly fired me”: “Biography of Peter Lorre,” Publicity Department, RKO Pictures Inc., July 1940, Peter Lorre file, MHL AMPAS.
20 “did not expect … his protruding eyes”: Sahl, interview.
20 “gave him the … to scare others”: Sahl, Memoiren eines Moralisten, p. 83.
20 “very intelligent, well … serious about it”: Sahl, interview.
21 “We often went … a new dimension”: Sahl, Memoiren eines Moralisten, p. 83.
21 “dreams of grandeur”: Sahl, interview.
21 “When I got … was operated on”: Statement of Peter Lorre taken in the Office of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, Feb. 27, 1947, USPHS DHHS. Copies of records relating to Lorre’s treatment at the U.S. Public Health Service Hospital in Fort Worth, Texas, are from the author’s collection.
21 “excellently”: “Schauspielhaus: Gesellshaft,” (Loyalties), Neue Zürcher Zeitung, Dec. 24, 1925.
21 “extremely vivid … too much volume”: “Schauspielhaus: Das Tapfere Schneiderlein,” ibid., Dec. 25, 1925.
22 “His little bit … to see you”: St. Joseph, interview.
22 “numerous episodes of … vomiting, and diarrhea”: Dr. D.D. Le Grand, Admission Summary, Personal History, March 24, 1947, Department of Justice, Penal and Correctional Institutions, U.S. Public Health Service Hospital, Fort Worth, Texas, USPHS DHHS.
22 “was not done by the best doctor”: Statement of Peter Lorre, Feb. 27, 1947, USPHS DHHS.
22 “no doubt having … be the beginning”: Lorant, interview.
22 “On and off … at that time”: Statement of Peter Lorre, Feb. 27, 1947, USPHS DHHS.
22 “My Dear Brother and Kinsman”: Peter Lorre to Andrew Lorre, July 1, 1926, author’s collection.
23 “was the hit of the evening”: F.R., “Die fleissige Leserin,” Arbeiter-Zeitung (Vienna), Oct. 24, 1926.
23 “Noteworthy is only … encouragement and cultivation”: F.R., “Das Mädchen auf dem Diwan,” ibid., Nov. 6, 1926.
23 “The only one … he presented it”: F.R., “Alles verkehrt,” ibid., April 22, 1927.
23 “Peter Lorre tried … for grotesque strangeness”: F.R., “Sie darf seinen Sohn haben,” ibid., Aug. 18, 1927.
23 “acid-like grotesque humor”: F.R., “Bitte, wer war zuerst da?” ibid., Sept. 7, 1927.
24 “What was the … him more morphine”: Lorant, interview.
24 “the most exciting … city in Europe”: Slezak, What Time’s the Next Swan? p. 130.
24 “striking mixture of cynicism and confidence”: Gay, Weimar Culture, p. 2.
24 “sticky, perfumed, sultry”: Zweig, World of Yesterday, p. 71.
24 “Everything is jam-packed … what a scale”: Bertolt Brecht to Caspar Neher, Feb. 1920, in Brecht, Letters, p. 58.
24 “organically structured”: Bruno Taut, quoted in Friedrich, Berlin between the Wars, p. 97.
25 “alter ego … odd type”: Joseph, interview.
25 “big amounts of … I became addicted”: Statement of Peter Lorre, Feb. 27, 1947, USPHS DHHS.
25 “come out of … not at all”: Franz Theodor Csokor to Ferdinand Bruckner, Nov. 28, 1936, in Csokor, Zeuge einer Zeit, p. 129.
25 “In my forechamber … (Engineers in Ingolstadt)”: Aufricht, Erzähle, p. 92.
26 “[Brecht] cast me … like an actor”: P.K., “Peter Lorre—Fan of Brecht,” San Francisco Chronicle, Feb. 8, 1963.
26 “hold with beautiful … appealed to him”: Lenya, interview.
26 “In those days … unique, the distinctive”: Feuchtwanger, interview.
26 “Whatever he said … I really was”: Jacobi, interview.
26 “Normally, you don’t … you don’t forget”: Alten, interview.
26 “ridiculous … was making fun”: Rühmann, Das War’s, p. 48.
27 “making a movie … were just soldiers”: Charles Bennett to author, April 19, 1975.
27 “He had such … asparagus with Vaseline”: Koster, interview.
27 “unchained bidet”: Ophüls, Spiel im Dasein, p. 135.
27 “He showed himself … a comedian’s melancholy”: Lotte H. Eisner, “Sur le procès de Quat’Sous,” Europe, Special Brecht Number, 35 (Jan.-Feb. 1957): 112.
27 “overpowering”: Greenberg, “Peter Lorre.”
27 “in that small … of our times”: Bronnen, Tage mit Bertolt Brecht, p. 14.
27 “It was as … play I have”: David Slavitt, ed., “In the Red,” Newsweek, Sept. 3, 1962.
28 “Why do you … radiates an aura”: Peter Lorre, “Ein Aberglaube ist immer dabei,” Berliner Film Anzeiger, Sept. 28, 1951.
28 “blaze of glory”: Lenya, “August 28, 1928,” p. ix.
28 “the naked human … heard in years”: Jhering, “Kritiken aus den zwanziger Jahren,” p. 231.
28 “the genius, the … master, the creator”: Günther Rühle, “Leben und Schreiben der Marieluise Fleisser aus Ingolstadt,” in Gesammelte Werke, by Marieluise Fleisser, ed. Günther Rühle (Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp, 1972), 1:17. (Rühle cobbled together this list of descriptive terms from Fleisser’s “Avantgarde” in vol. 3).
28 “You must write like a child”: Marieluise Fleisser, “Frühe Begegnung,” in Akzente: Zeitschrift für Dichtung, ed. Walter Höllerer and Hans Bender (Munich: Carl Hanser, 1966), p. 241.
29 “an epic tableau with different motifs”: ibid., p. 19.
29 “change and change … they didn’t complain”: Rühle, Materialien zum Leben und Schreiben der Marieluise Fleisser, p. 198.
29 “a half-cretin … high school student”: Alfred Polgar, “Soldaten und Dienstmädchen,” Das Tagebuch (Berlin), April 6, 1929.
29 “was aiming for … that guaranteed success”: Rühle, Materialien zum Leben und Schreiben der Marieluise Fleisser, p. 342.
29 “Do you believe … allow such things”: Aufricht, Erzähle, p. 94.
29 “The times had … which came afterwards”: Fleisser, “Avantgarde,” p. 154.
30 “splendid in local stupidity”: Alfred Kerr, “Pioniere in Ingolstadt,” Berliner Tageblatt, April 2, 1929.
30 “Things are ready … its political annihilation”: Dr. Richard Biedrzynski, “Eine Frau ausgepfiffen! Der Skandal im Theater am Schiffbauerdamm,” Deutsche Zeitung (Berlin), April 2, 1929.
30 “natural art”: Brecht, Werke, Schriften 4: Texte zu Stücken(1991), 24:296.
30 “Peter was completely … a whole scene”: Lenya, interview.
30 “He bills himself … slow motion actor”: Polgar, “Soldaten und Dienstmädchen.”
30 “And a new … first-class actor”: Kurt Pinthus, “Abermals ein Verbot im Theater am Schiffbauerdamm,” 8-Uhr-Abendblatt (Berlin), April 2, 1929.
31 “I was afraid … I will buy a new suit’”: Reynolds, “Reluctant
Menace.”
31 “I was the … the Berlin stage”: Greenberg, “Peter Lorre.”
31 “there were women … could say that”: Lovsky, interview, Oct. 14, 1973.
32 “I was only … and worshipped”: Paul Dehn, “Mrs. Lorre says: Peter Is No Monster,” Sunday Referee (London), Feb. 9, 1936.
32 “love at first sight”: Lovsky, interview, Oct. 14, 1973.
32 “I always wanted … my private life”: Rick du Brown, “Peter Lorre wollte lieber Bösewicht sein als Liebhaber,” Hamburger Echo, May 9, 1959.
32 “for exemplary and needy students”: Hochschule für Musik und darstellende Kunst in Wien, Archiv.
32 “form her parts … and her mind”: F.R., “Ein ganzer Mann,” Arbeiter-Zeitung, June 19, 1927.
33 “the city which consumes one totally”: Celia Lovsky to Arthur Schnitzler, July 30, 1929, Schiller Nationalmuseum, Deutsches Literatur Archiv, Marbach am Neckar, Germany.
33 “If somebody said … to get out”: Lovsky, interview, Oct. 14, 1973.
33 “in the same combination”: Aufricht, Erzähle, p. 96.
33 “middlebrow popular success”: Michael Feingold, introduction to Brecht, Happy End, p. v.
33 “contained not a … or political satire”: Die Rote Fahne (Berlin), Sept. 4, 1928, reprinted in Monika Wyss, “Die Dreigroschenoper,” in Wyss, Brecht in der Kritik, pp. 82–83.
33 “best”: Brecht, Arbeitsjournal, vol. 1, 1938–1942, p. 43.
33 “a couple of nice ideas”: Alfred Kerr, “Happy End?” Berliner Tageblatt (evening ed.), Sept. 3, 1929.
33 “vulgar Marxist provocations”: Aufricht, Erzähle p. 100.
34 “build your position … positions are impossible”: Herbert Jhering, “Happy End,” Berliner Börsen-Courier, Sept. 3, 1929.
34 “world-view drama”: Günther Stark, “Dantons Tod” (theater program), Sept. 22, 1929.
34 “You thought I … little bit injured”: “Kein Platz für zwei Mörder.”
35 “philosopher of terror”: Herbert Jhering, “Dantons Tod,” Berliner Börsen-Courier, Sept. 2, 1929.
35 “Hypocritical, mollusk-like … to the people”: Alexander von Sacher-Masoch, “Dantons Tod in der Volksbühne,” Vorwärts (Berlin), Sept. 2, 1929.
35 “many natural possibilities”: Wilhelm Westecker, “Danton in Blau-weiss-rot,” Berliner Börsen-Zeitung, Sept. 2, 1931.