Max Reinhardt (; born Maximilian Goldmann; 9 September 1873 – 30 October 1943) was an Austrian-born
theatre
Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perfor ...
and
film director,
intendant, and
theatrical producer. With his innovative stage productions, he is regarded as one of the most prominent directors of German-language theatre in the early 20th century. In 1920, he established the
Salzburg Festival with the performance of
Hugo von Hofmannsthal's ''
Jedermann''.
Life and career
Reinhardt was born Maximilian Goldmann in the spa town of
Baden near Vienna, the son of Wilhelm Goldmann (1846–1911), a
Jewish merchant from
Stupava, Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, and his wife Rachel Lea Rosi "Rosa" Goldmann (''née'' Wengraf; 1851–1924). Having finished school, he began an apprenticeship at a bank, but already took acting lessons. In 1890, he gave his debut on a private stage in Vienna with the stage name ''Max Reinhardt'' (possibly after the protagonist Reinhard Werner in
Theodor Storm's novella ''
Immensee''). In 1893 he performed at the re-opened
Salzburg City Theatre. One year later, Reinhardt relocated to
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...
, joining the
Deutsches Theater ensemble under director
Otto Brahm
Otto is a masculine German given name and a surname. It originates as an Old High German short form (variants ''Audo'', ''Odo'', ''Udo'') of Germanic names beginning in ''aud-'', an element meaning "wealth, prosperity".
The name is recorded fro ...
in Berlin.
In 1918 Reinhardt purchased
Schloss Leopoldskron
Schloss Leopoldskron is a rococo palace and a national historic monument in Leopoldskron-Moos, a southern district of the city of Salzburg, Austria. The palace, and its surrounding seven hectare park, is located on the lake ''Leopoldskroner Weiher ...
castle in Salzburg, which had fallen into disrepair. While living in it for nearly 20 years, he painstakingly restored the castle; however he fled due to the Nazis' increasing anti-Semitic aggressions. The castle was seized following Germany's
Anschluss annexation of Austria in 1938. After the war, the castle was restored to Reinhardt's heirs, and subsequently the home and grounds became famous as the filming site for the early scenes of the Von Trapp family gardens in the movie ''
The Sound of Music''.
Reinhardt theatres
In 1901, Reinhardt together with
Friedrich Kayßler
Friedrich Martin Adalbert Kayssler, also spelled Kayßler (7 April 1874 – 30 April 1945), was a German theatre and film actor. He appeared in 56 films between 1913 and 1945.
Biography
Kayssler was born in Neurode in the Silesia Province ...
and several other theatre colleagues founded the ''Schall und Rauch'' (Sound and Smoke)
Kabarett stage in Berlin. Re-opened as ''Kleines Theater'' (Little Theatre)
it was the first of numerous stages where Reinhardt worked as a director until the beginning of
Nazi rule in 1933. From 1903 to 1905, he managed the Neues Theater (present-day
Theater am Schiffbauerdamm
The ''Theater am Schiffbauerdamm'' () is a theatre building at the ''Schiffbauerdamm'' riverside in the Mitte district of Berlin, Germany, opened on 19 November 1892. Since 1954, it has been home to the Berliner Ensemble theatre company, found ...
) and in 1906 acquired the Deutsches Theater in Berlin. In 1911, he premiered with
Karl Vollmöller's ''
The Miracle'' in
Olympia, London, gaining an international reputation.
In 1910,
Siegfried Jacobsohn wrote his book entitled ''Max Reinhardt''. In 1914, he was persuaded to sign the
Manifesto of the Ninety-Three
The "Manifesto of the Ninety-Three" (originally "To the Civilized World" by "Professors of Germany") is a 4 October 1914 proclamation by 93 prominent Germans supporting Germany in the start of World War I. The Manifesto galvanized support for the ...
, defending the
German invasion of Belgium. He was signatory 66; he later expressed regret at signing.
From 1915 to 1918, Reinhardt also worked as director of the
Volksbühne theatre and after
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...
re-opened the
Großes Schauspielhaus (after
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
renamed into
Friedrichstadtpalast) in 1919, following its
expressionist
Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it radi ...
conversion by
Hans Poelzig
Hans Poelzig (30 April 1869 – 14 June 1936) was a German architect, painter and set designer.
Life
Poelzig was born in Berlin in 1869 to Countess Clara Henrietta Maria Poelzig while she was married to George Acland Ames, an Englishman. Uncert ...
. By 1930, he ran eleven stages in Berlin and, in addition, managed the
Theater in der Josefstadt in Vienna from 1924 to 1933. In 1920, Reinhardt established the
Salzburg Festival with
Richard Strauss and
Hugo von Hofmannsthal,
notably directing an annual production of the morality play ''
Jedermann'' in which God sends Death to summon a representative of mankind for judgment. In the United States, he successfully directed ''The Miracle'' in 1924, and a popular stage version of
Shakespeare's ''
A Midsummer Night's Dream'' in 1927.
Reinhardt followed that success by directing a
film version of A Midsummer Night's Dream in 1935 using a mostly different cast, that included
James Cagney,
Mickey Rooney,
Joe E. Brown and
Olivia de Havilland, amongst others. Mickey Rooney and Olivia de Havilland had also appeared in Reinhardt's 1934 stage production, which was staged at the
Hollywood Bowl. The Nazis banned the film because of the Jewish ancestry of both Reinhardt and
Felix Mendelssohn, whose music (arranged by
Erich Wolfgang Korngold) was used throughout the film.
After the
Anschluss of Austria to Nazi-governed Germany in 1938, he emigrated first to Britain, then to the United States.
Reinhardt opened the Reinhardt School of the Theatre in Hollywood, on
Sunset Boulevard.
Several notable stars of the day received classical theater training, among them actress
Nanette Fabray. In 1940, he became a
naturalized citizen of the United States. At that time, he was married to his second wife, actress
Helene Thimig, daughter of actor
Hugo Thimig.
By employing powerful
staging techniques, and integrating
stage design
Scenic design (also known as scenography, stage design, or set design) is the creation of theatrical, as well as film or television scenery. Scenic designers come from a variety of artistic backgrounds, but in recent years, are mostly trai ...
,
language
Language is a structured system of communication. The structure of a language is its grammar and the free components are its vocabulary. Languages are the primary means by which humans communicate, and may be conveyed through a variety of ...
,
music and
choreography, Reinhardt introduced new dimensions into German theatre. The
Max Reinhardt Seminar
The Max Reinhardt Seminar (Reinhardt Seminar) is the School of Drama at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna, Austria. It is located in the Palais Cumberland, Penzingerstraße 9, in Vienna's 14th district ().
History
A ''Leh ...
in Vienna, which is arguably the most important German-language acting school, was installed implementing his ideas.
Max Reinhardt and film
Reinhardt took a greater interest in film than most of his contemporaries in the theater world. He made films as a director and from time to time also as a producer. His first staging was the film ''Sumurûn'' in 1910. After that, Reinhardt founded his own film company. He sold the film rights for the
film adaptation of the play ''
Das Mirakel'' (''The Miracle'') to
Joseph Menchen
Joseph L. Menchen (1 April 1878 − 4 October 1940) was an American inventor, self-made businessman, film producer, screenwriter and literary agent.
Menchen was born on 1 April 1878 in Illinois.
In 1895, Menchen was a theatre electrician in Ka ...
, whose full-colour 1912 film of ''
The Miracle'' gained world-wide success. Controversies around the staging of ''Das Mirakel'', which was shown in the Vienna
Rotunde
The Rotunde () in Vienna was a building erected for the Weltausstellung 1873 Wien (the Vienna World Fair of 1873).
The building was a partially covered circular steel construction, 84 m (approx. 275 ft) in height and 108 m (approx. 354&nbs ...
in 1912, led to Reinhardt's retreat from the project. The author of the play, Reinhardt's friend and confidant
Karl Gustav Vollmoeller, had French director
Michel Carré finish the shooting.
Reinhardt made two films, ''Die Insel der Seligen'' (''Isle of the Blessed'') and ''Eine venezianische Nacht'' (''Venetian Nights''), under a four-picture contract for the German film producer
Paul Davidson. Released in 1913 and 1914, respectively, both films received negative reviews from the press and public. The other two films called for in the contract were never made.
Both films demanded much of cameraman Karl Freund because of Reinhardt's special shooting needs, such as filming a lagoon in moonlight. ''Isle of the Blessed'' attracted attention due to its erotic nature. Its ancient mythical setting included sea gods, nymphs, and fauns, and the actors appeared naked. However, the film also fit in with the strict customs of the late German and Austrian empires. The actors had to live up to the demands of double roles.
Wilhelm Diegelmann and
Willy Prager played the bourgeois fathers as well as the sea gods, a bachelor and a faun,
Leopoldine Konstantin the
Circe. The shooting for ''Eine venezianische Nacht'' by Karl Gustav Vollmoeller took place in Venice.
Maria Carmi played the bride,
Alfred Abel
Alfred Peter Abel (12 March 1879 – 12 December 1937) was a German film actor, director, and producer. He appeared in more than 140 silent and sound films between 1913 and 1938. His best-known performance was as Joh Fredersen in Fritz Lang' ...
the young stranger, and Ernst Matray Anselmus and Pipistrello. The shooting was disturbed by a fanatic who incited the attendant Venetians against the German-speaking staff.
In 1935, Reinhardt directed his first film in the US, ''
A Midsummer Night's Dream''. He founded the drama schools
Hochschule für Schauspielkunst "Ernst Busch" in Berlin and the
Max Reinhardt Seminar
The Max Reinhardt Seminar (Reinhardt Seminar) is the School of Drama at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna, Austria. It is located in the Palais Cumberland, Penzingerstraße 9, in Vienna's 14th district ().
History
A ''Leh ...
. Many alumni of these schools made their careers in film.
Death and legacy
Reinhardt died of a stroke in New York City in 1943 and is interred at
Westchester Hills Cemetery
The Westchester Hills Cemetery is at 400 Saw Mill River Road in Hastings-on-Hudson, Westchester County, New York, approximately 20 miles north of New York City. It is a Jewish cemetery, and many well-known entertainers and performers are interred ...
in
Hastings-on-Hudson
Hastings-on-Hudson is a village in Westchester County located in the southwestern part of the town of Greenburgh in the state of New York, United States. It is located on the eastern bank of the Hudson River, approximately north of midtown Man ...
,
Westchester County, New York. He was 70 years old. His papers and literary estate are housed at
Binghamton University (SUNY), in the Max Reinhardt Archives and Library.
His sons by first wife Else Heims (m. 1910–1935),
Wolfgang and
Gottfried Reinhardt, were well-regarded film producers. One of his grandsons (by adoption),
Stephen Reinhardt, was a
labor lawyer who served notably on the
United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit from his appointment by
Jimmy Carter
James Earl Carter Jr. (born October 1, 1924) is an American politician who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he previously served as th ...
in 1980 until his death in 2018. Another grandson,
Michael Reinhardt
Michael Reinhardt (born Michael Max Reinhardt aka Mike Reinhardt) is an American photographer whose images were featured in magazines such as ''Vogue'', ''Harper's Bazaar'' and ''Sports Illustrated''. His work also includes a wide range of photo ...
, is a successful fashion photographer. In 2015 his granddaughter Jelena Ulrike Reinhardt was appointed as researcher at the University of Perugia in German literature.
Tribute
On 18 November 2015, the
Friedrichstadt-Palast in Berlin inaugurated a
memorial at Friedrichstraße 107 dedicated to the theatre's founders, Max Reinhardt,
Hans Poelzig
Hans Poelzig (30 April 1869 – 14 June 1936) was a German architect, painter and set designer.
Life
Poelzig was born in Berlin in 1869 to Countess Clara Henrietta Maria Poelzig while she was married to George Acland Ames, an Englishman. Uncert ...
and
Erik Charell
Erik Charell (April 8, 1894 – July 15, 1974), born as Erich Karl Löwenberg, was a German theatre and film director, dancer and actor. He is best known as the creator of musical revues and operettas, such as '' The White Horse Inn'' (''Im weiß ...
.
Work on Broadway
* ''Sumurun'' (
pantomime) (1912) – leader of the Deutsches Theater of Berlin on a New York tour
* ''
The Miracle'' (1924) – Co-playwright and director
* ''
A Midsummer Night's Dream'' (
revival) (1927) – Producer
* ''Jedermann'' (1927) – Co-producer
* ''Peripherie'' (1928) – Playwright
* ''
Redemption'' (
revival) (1928) – Director
* ''
The Eternal Road'' (1937) – Director
* ''
The Merchant of Yonkers'' (1938), Thornton Wilder's play, later rewritten as ''The Matchmaker''
* ''Sons and Soldiers'' (1943) – Producer and director
Films
* ''
A Midsummer Night's Dream'' (1935)
See also
*
The Continental Players, co-founded by Reinhardt
References
External links
Max Reinhardt Archives and Library at
Binghamton University, State University of New York
*
*
''A hard-nosed Utopian''By Esther Slevogt at signandsight.com
*
Michael Frayn's play ''Afterlife'', based on Reinhardt's life:
National Theatre, London (2008
Literature on Max ReinhardtMax Reinhardt Facts
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Reinhardt, Max
1873 births
1943 deaths
Jewish emigrants from Austria to the United States after the Anschluss
American opera directors
American theatre directors
Austrian opera directors
Austrian theatre directors
Burials at Westchester Hills Cemetery
Ernst Busch Academy of Dramatic Arts
Jewish American male actors
Jewish Austrian male actors
People from Baden bei Wien
Salzburg Festival directors
Jewish theatre directors