The Lost One

by Stephen D. Youngkin

  QUOTATION SOURCES BY PACE NUMBER

  247 “as a play … foreseeable future”: Peter Lorre to Lion Feuchtwanger, Jan. 10, 1941, FML USC.

  247 “Don’t go too … shall be back”: quoted in Hans Bunge, “Brecht im zweiten Weltkrieg,” Neue deutsche Literatur 10, no. 3 (1962): 37.

  247 “this moribund continent”: Bertolt Brecht to Ferdinand Reyher, Dec. 2, 1938, in Brecht, Letters, p. 294.

  247 “perched on one … of breaking loose”: Brecht to Henry Peter Matthis, April 11, 1939, in Brecht, Letters, p. 300.

  247 “Lorre has made … owes me money”: Elisabeth Hauptmann to Walter Benjamin, Aug. 23, 1934, EHA.

  248 “where it is … opportunities for earning”: Brecht, Journals, July 22, 1941, p. 156.

  248 “lobster-red”: ibid., Aug. 14, 1944, p. 324.

  248 “involuntary exile”: Lyon, Brecht in America, p. 35.

  248 “looked like a … to humiliate him”: Frisch, Sketchbook, p. 22.

  249 “He hadn’t many … very unpleasant sight”: Lanchester, Herself, p. 193.

  249 “One doesn’t eat such things in Augsburg”: Lyon, interview.

  249 “no feeling for nature”: Berlau, Living for Brecht, pp. 89–90.

  249 “houses are extensions of garages”: Brecht, Journals, Sept. 20, 1942, p. 257.

  249 “from nowhere and are nowhere bound”: “On Thinking about Hell,” in Brecht, Poems, p. 367.

  249 “a universally depraving … living with dignity”: Brecht, Journals, March 23, 1942, p. 210.

  249 “Almost nowhere has … of easy going”: ibid., Aug. 1, 1941, p. 157.

  249 “Enmities thrive here … another of Germanophilia”: Bertolt Brecht to Karl Korsch, end of Sept. 1941, in Brecht, Letters, p. 339.

  249 “I will not … hates Lorre etc”: Brecht, Journals, Nov. 14, 1941, p. 170.

  250 “They would talk … own writings, etc”: I. Yergin, interview, Dec. 31, 1973.

  250 “stink[s] of greed and poverty”: “Hollywood Elegies,” in Brecht, Poems, p. 381.

  250 “he was able … concern to him”: Berlau, Living for Brecht, pp. 112–13.

  250 “That, unfortunately, was … staged nor filmed”: ibid., p. 96.

  250 “out of the world”: Brecht to Karl Korsch, end of Sept. 1941, in Brecht, Letters, p. 339.

  250 “first priority”: Berlau, Living for Brecht, p. 112.

  250 “a platform for … his artistic views”: Lyon, “Brecht’s Hollywood Years,” p. 173.

  251 “all-American domestic bliss”: Lyon, Brecht in America, p. 48.

  251 “production, distribution and enjoyment of bread”: Reinhardt, Der Liebhaber, p. 268.

  251 “The industry isn’t making costume films”: Brecht, Journals, April 8, 1942, p. 219.

  251 “place among the sellers”: “Hollywood,” in Brecht, Poems, p. 382.

  251 “on the main … your quota number”: Ferdinand Reyher to Brecht, June 13, 1939, reprinted in Lyon, Bertolt Brecht’s American Cicerone, p. 180.

  251 “with few exceptions … tackle”: Reyher to Brecht, Feb. 14, 1939, ibid., p. 176.

  251 “almost every American knows”: Brecht to George Pfanzelt, mid-1946, in Brecht, Letters, p. 407.

  252 “devilish hunchback … in details, episodes”: Brecht, Werke, Prosa 5: Geschichten, Filmgeschichten, Drehbücher, 1940–1956 (1997), 20:23–26.

  253 “effect change”: Berlau, Living for Brecht, p. 197.

  253 “dream factories of … smell of films”: “Hollywood Elegies,” in Brecht, Poems, p. 380.

  253 “market where lies are bought”: “Hollywood,” ibid., p. 382.

  253 “The very centre of world drug-trafficking”: Brecht, Journals, July 27, 1942, p. 249.

  253 “laxatives of the soul”: quoted in Lyon, Brecht in America, p. 56.

  253 “cesspool”: Brecht to Ruth Berlau, Aug. 31, 1943, in Brecht, Letters, p. 366.

  253 “spiritual mutilation … and moral invalids”: Brecht, Journals, Jan. 20, 1943, p. 276.

  253 “a cult of … do with art”: ibid., Aug. 9, 1944, p. 323.

  253 “Life in the … mordant social criticism”: Lyon, Brecht in America, p. 33.

  253 “Brecht’s Everyday Vocabulary … Words of Condemnation”: Berlau, Living for Brecht, pp. 239–41.

  254 “contradiction between conflicting … what is true”: Lyon, Brecht in America, p. 293.

  254 “a person basically … hard and rational”: Esslin, Brecht, p. 32.

  254 “the luxury of … a consistent framework”: Lyon, Brecht in America, p. 293.

  254 “political compatibility … be a disciple”: ibid., p. 15.

  254 “If he saw … things about them”: Riker, interview, June 21, 1987.

  254 “Peter was undisciplined … always apply himself”: Greenson, interview.

  254 “a certain European … with each other”: Reisch, interview.

  255 “Cream him, daddio”: Ives, interview.

  255 “Peter immersed himself … Real hip”: Martin, interview.

  256 “ability to resist assimilation”: November 18, 1941, Brecht, Journals, Nov. 18, 1941, p. 171.

  256 “glamorous swamp”: Mann and Mann, Escape to Life, p. 265.

  256 “Just like [Charles] … a $50,000 villa”: Brecht to Reyher, March 1947, in Brecht, Letters, p. 422.

  256 “salon socialist”: A. Lorre, interview, April 6, 1975.

  256 “Peter was not … people for fun”: Huston, interview.

  256 “The circle who … the Communist Party”: Bentley, interview.

  257 “From that time … good as dead”: Berlau, Living for Brecht, pp. 122–23.

  257 “He didn’t talk … any political commitment”: Bentley, interview.

  257 “an angry nonconformist … with limited courage”: Lyon, Brecht in America, p. 210.

  257 “until such time … and universal freedom”: “Newsreels Record Formal Signing of Declaration,” Hollywood Now, Dec. 23, 1938.

  257 “inhuman bombing of … of Loyalist Spain”: “Artists Protest Rebel Bombings to President,” Hollywood Now, Feb. 12, 1938.

  258 “imagine reading from … generation people didn’t”: Bentley, interview.

  258 “I knew that … Joyce and Brecht”: Lorre, interview by Gardner.

  258 “He worshiped Brecht … people like Lorre”: St. Joseph, interview.

  259 “comfortable intimacy”: Berlau, Living for Brecht, p. 73.

  259 “Bertolt Brecht’s actor”: Sanford, interview.

  259 “the only great friend he ever had”: Powers, interview.

  259 “[did] not love … the few intensely”: Hall, “Are You Insane?”

  259 “Brecht thought Lorre … actor he liked”: Viertel, interview.

  259 “In our wonderful … giving him shit”: Riker, interview, May 2, 1987.

  259 “a bit possessive … be won back”: Bentley, interview.

  259 “Brecht was very … of other people”: Riker, interview, June 21, 1987.

  260 “sad and inevitable … a certain regard”: Wurtele, interview.

  260 “For Brecht, criticism … to aid production”: Berlau, Living for Brecht, pp. 71–72.

  260 “Brecht was very … from beneath him”: Riker, interview, June 21, 1987.

  260 “For a grown … really very humiliating”: Patrick, interview.

  260 “Me act? said … you did yesterday”: Harold Heffernan, “Lorre ‘Mad’ in Every Film—Likes It,” Stars and Stripes (European ed., Darmstadt, Germany), May 4, 1957.

  261 “His whole attitude … of the story”: Garnett, interview.

  261 “business, like any … stumble-bum years ago”: “Face Making a Racket States Screen Madman,” The Beast with Five Fingers, pressbook, 1946.

  261 “I felt a … of a freak”: Sherman, interview.

  261 “jokingly referred to … with Bert Brecht”: PEM, “Mein Freund, der Versteller.”

  261 “commercialisation of art”: Brecht, Journals, Nov. 14, 1941, p. 170.

&nb
sp; 261 “custom here requires … to the urinal”: ibid., Jan. 21, 1942, p. 193.

  262 “play[ing] both a … its own commentary”: Heilbut, Exiled in Paradise, p. 176.

  262 “derives his morality … as an actor”: Brecht, Journals, Oct. 17, 1942, p. 260.

  262 “Brecht was very … to be recovered”: Viertel, interview.

  262 “When you heard … like to do”: Bentley, interview.

  262 “When he liked … it was his”: “Brecht in Hollywood,” p. 8.

  262 “bright enough to … give him resistance”: Cook, Brecht in Exile, p. 167.

  262 “Lorre was talking … grasp he had”: Bentley, interview.

  263 “Talked to LORRE … for technical maturity”: Brecht, Journals, July 11, 1943, p. 284.

  263 “was not enthusiastic … a great director”: Andrew Doe, interview.

  263 “I think Brecht … to carry out”: Ralph Greenson to author, Sept. 10, 1973.

  263 “oppositional stance”: Lyon, Brecht in America, p. 31.

  263 “[Brecht] was anti-everything … a professional anti-”: “Brecht in Hollywood,” p. 11.

  264 “with dead-pan face … had intended it”: Lehmann, Whispering Gallery, p. 290.

  264 “like a piece … anyone could speak”: Roth, interview.

  264 “thankless task of … above all, pathos”: Henry Marx, “Bert Brecht Abend der Tribüne im Studio Theater,” New Yorker Staats-Zeitung und Herold, March 8, 1943.

  264 “have forgotten nothing … remained completely fresh”: Brecht, Journals, March–April–May 1943, p. 278.

  264 “as the finest … German poetry alive”: Wurtele, interview.

  265 “in many of … and Schweykish tone”: Knust, Materialien zu Brechts “Schweyk,” p. 149.

  265 “a sly batman … scenes, an idiot”: Max Brod, quoted in Parrott, Jaroslav Hasek, p. 178.

  265 “Weill has a … plan a Schweyk”: Brecht, Journals, March-April-May 1943, p. 278.

  265 “really went for it”: Brecht to Ruth Berlau, June 4, 1944, in Brecht, Werke, Briefe 2: 1937–1949 (1998), 29:265.

  265 “the scene where … a dog-dealer”: Brecht, Journals, May 29, 1943, p. 279.

  266 “a pure librettist, without any author’s rights”: Brecht to Kurt Weill, June 23, 1943, in Brecht, Letters, p. 356.

  266 “I must have … have a say”: Brecht to Berlau, June 23, 1943, ibid, p. 358.

  266 “largely finished”: Brecht, Journals, June 24, 1943, p. 280.

  266 “make some money soon”: Brecht to Berlau, June 30, 1943, in Brecht, Letters, p. 358.

  266 “something permanent could … with United Artists”: Brecht to Berlau, June 28, 1943, in Brecht, Werke, 29:273.

  266 “rides, swims, drives … and my student”: Brecht, Journals, July 3–6, 1943, p. 283.

  266 “playground of the … a lost century”: Brecht to Berlau, July 5, 1943, in Brecht, Letters, p. 360.

  267 “Brecht had a … introduced the character”: Viertel, interview.

  267 “Marseilles. Autumn 1942 … old-fashioned way”: “The Fugitive Venus,” unpublished treatment, ca. Aug. 1944, PKC AMPAS.

  268 “flee the slaughter … land of peace”: “Children’s Crusade,” in Brecht, Poems, pp. 369.

  268 “I wouldn’t want … against wasting time”: Brecht to Berlau, July, 1943, in Brecht, Letters, pp. 361–62.

  268 “he was ashamed … with, of course”: Wurtele, interview.

  269 “he drew a … stay with us”: Berlau, Living for Brecht, p. 161.

  269 “hanger on who … was throwing away”: N. Yergin, interview.

  269 “swinish Brechtian trick”: Willett, “Piscator and Brecht,” p. 89.

  269 “some American writers … in the play”: Brecht to Berlau, Aug. 12, 1943, in Brecht, Letters, p. 364. (Manheim incorrectly dates this letter Aug. 11, 1943).

  269 “has as many … dog has fleas”: ibid., Sept. 14, 1943, p. 368.

  269 “seems perfect, simple and powerful”: Brecht to Alfred Kreymborg, beginning to middle of Sept. 1943, ibid., p. 369.

  269 “In despair about … are greatly disappointed”: Brecht to Berlau, Sept. 1943, ibid., p. 372.

  270 “[He] would solve … make a counterproposal”: ibid., Sept. 18, 1943, p. 371.

  270 “Peter Lorre supported … written the music”: Berlau, Living for Brecht, pp. 161–62.

  270 “seems, so far … come of it”: Brecht to Berlau, April 2, 1944, in Brecht, Letters, p. 379.

  271 “to the north … and home”: Ewen, Bertolt Brecht, p. 405.

  271 “Under no circumstances … ground for liberation”: Brecht, Journals, May 27, 1943, p. 279.

  271 “who is boastfully … his demoralising influence”: Parrott, Jaroslav Hasek, p. 187.

  271 “recognizes their political … to sort out”: ibid., p. 184.

  271 “help of comedy, humour and parody”: F.X. Šalda, quoted ibid., p. 175.

  271 “a non-heroic individual … only to survive”: Lyon, Brecht in America, p. 120.

  272“lives-in-death”: May Swenson, introduction to Edgar Lee Masters, Spoon River Anthology (New York: Macmillan, 1962), p. 9.

  272 “national debt … shameful charity way”: Earl Wilson column, New York Post, June 23, 1945.

  272 “KORTNER and HOMOLKA … sold by speculators”: Brecht, Journals, Aug. 10, 1944, p. 324.

  272 “Commercialism has a … of any integrity”: John Crockett, “Lorre, Famous Film Villain Less Maniacal in Real Life,” Hartford (CT) Times, Sept. 22, 1944.

  273 “will be to … Pan-Germanist movements”: “Council for Democratic Germany Formed by Refugee Leaders Here,” NYT, May 3, 1944.

  273 “every outstanding personality … and theatrical folk”: PL FBI.

  273 “Brecht has been … a Soviet agent”: J. Edgar Hoover, Memorandum for the Attorney General, March 27, 1945, Bertolt Brecht FBI file.

  273 “confess my guilt … England and America”: Prozess gegen die Leitung, p. 253.

  273 “confidential information”: PL FBI.

  274 “I don’t want … with U.S. authorities”: Lyon, Brecht in America, p. 314.

  274 “a revolutionary writer … Marxian [sic] thought”: Jan. 23, 1945, PL FBI.

  274 “a radical and … with Communistic tendencies”: PL FBI.

  274 “express purpose of … cooperative publishing house”: ibid.

  274 “reportedly formed for … in this country”: ibid.

  274 “to spend his … writers and actors”: Duncan, “Mr. Moto Roles Childish.”

  275 “desks and trunks … his own concoction”: “Out in Hollywood, Cherchez Mystery Cherchez M. Lorre,” Mask of Dimitrios, pressbook, 1944.

  275 “a COPY OF … Lorre and Reyher”: Brecht, Journals, Sept. 20, 1945, p. 355.

  275 “Maybe I can sell it”: Brecht to Berlau, Sept.–Oct. 1945, in Brecht, Letters, p. 398.

  275 “have chosen to … future with it”: Brecht, Werke (1997), 20:143.

  275 “Be bold in … got a market”: ibid., 20:144.

  276 “If he makes … we’ll fool him”: ibid., 20:146.

  276 “I made him do it”: ibid., 20:162.

  276 “a distant rumble … herd of steers”: ibid., 20:183.

  276 “quite good”: Jerry Wald, interoffice communication to Steve Trilling, Nov. 6, 1945, WBA USC.

  276 “RECOMMENDED … basic and screenable”: Judith Meyers, Blood Will Have Blood, Dec. 4, 1945, WBA USC.

  276 “pleased with this … a little push”: Tom Chapman to Ellingwood Kay, Dec. 4, 1945, WBA USC.

  276 “It’s a grim … play to perfection”: Ellingwood Kay to Steve Trilling, Dec. 4, 1945. WBA USC.

  277 “we weren’t interested … if he could”: Kay, postscript dated Jan. 21, 1945, on memo to Trilling, Dec. 4, 1945, WBA USC.

  277 “The kind of … it—Peter Lorre”: Bentley, interview.

  277 “and ensure[s] it is a good likeness”: “Wenn Herr K. einen Menschen liebte,” in Brecht, Werke, Prosa 3: Sammlungen und Dialoge (1995),
18:24.

  277 “You have the … it is needed”: Brock Brower, “The Vulgarization of American Demonology,” Esquire, June 1964.

  277 “mental reserve [to] play a great part”: Riker, interview.

  277 “dissenter by disposition”: Cooke, Six Men, p. 194.

  278 “againster”: Wilson, Show Business Nobody Knows, p. 279.

  7. Relations, Division of Labor

  Epigraphs: Slocum, “The Peter Lorre Nobody Knows”; Lorre, interview by Glover.

  1. Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center included both the New York State Psychiatric Institute and Hospital and the Neurological Institute of New York, where the shock treatments were administered.

  2. Two years earlier, Philco Radio Hall of Fame had first welcomed “the dark genius of Poe and the even darker genius of Peter Lorre.”

  3. Director Henry Koster shared the same doctor with Lorre, one of many from whom the actor inveigled both morphine and medical ministration. Because he felt sorry for him and wanted to relieve his suffering, the “warm-hearted” physician risked his license, which he nearly lost after narcotics authorities discovered he was regularly supplying Lorre with opiates. Koster, interview.

  4. Harry J. Anslinger’s “statutory authority allowed him considerable flexibility in the formulation of drug control policy. The commissioner was empowered to regulate commerce in drugs used for medical and scientific purposes, to enforce federal narcotic laws, and to assist the State Department in conducting antidrug diplomacy.” Douglas Clark Kinder and William O. Walker III, “Stable Force in a Storm: Harry J. Anslinger and United States Narcotic Foreign Policy, 1930–1962,” Journal of American History 72, no. 4 (March 1986): 908.

  5. On March 4 Lorre also canceled play dates in Philadelphia and Columbus, along with a March 9 appearance at the Carnegie Chamber Music Hall in New York for a celebration marking the tenth anniversary of Karl Kraus’s death. Sponsored by the Austro-American Council to aid Austrian concentration camp victims, the evening also included other members of the Kraus circle: Berthold Viertel, Oskar Homolka, Elisabeth Neumann, and others. Lorre had been scheduled to recite poems and epigrams by the author. The federal government operated two facilities—totaling two thousand beds—for the treatment of narcotic addicts, the larger located in Lexington, Kentucky, and the other in Ft. Worth, Texas, constructed in 1938.