The European Film Fund (EFF), also known as the European Relief Fund, was a

non-profit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...

established by the talent agent and producer

Paul Kohner Paul Kohner (May 29, 1902 – March 16, 1988) was an Austrian-American talent agent and producer who managed the careers of Ingrid Bergman, Maurice Chevalier, Marlene Dietrich, Greta Garbo, John Huston, Liv Ullmann and Billy Wilder, as well as act ...

History

The European Film Fund was founded on November 5, 1938 on the initiative of Paul Kohner,

Ernst Lubitsch Ernst Lubitsch (; ; January 29, 1892November 30, 1947) was a German-born American film director, producer, writer, and actor. His urbane comedies of manners gave him the reputation of being Hollywood's most elegant and sophisticated director; a ...

, and

Universal Pictures Universal City Studios LLC, doing business as Universal Pictures (also known as Universal Studios or simply Universal), is an American filmmaking, film production and film distribution, distribution company headquartered at the 10 Universal Ci ...

studio head,

Carl Laemmle Carl Laemmle (; born Karl Lämmle ; January 17, 1867 – September 24, 1939) was a German-American film producer and the co-founder and, until 1934, owner of Universal Pictures. He produced or worked on over 400 films. Regarded as one of the ...

. Founder members were

William Dieterle William Dieterle (July 15, 1893 – December 9, 1972) was a German-born actor and film director who emigrated to the United States in 1930 to leave a worsening political situation. He worked in Cinema of the United States, Hollywood primarily a ...

Bruno Frank Bruno Frank (June 13, 1887 – June 20, 1945) was a German author, poet, playwright, screenwriter, and humanist. Biography Frank was born in Stuttgart. He studied law and philosophy in Munich, where he later worked as a dramatist and novelist ...

Felix Jackson Felix Jackson (born Felix Raphael Joachimson; June 5, 1902 – December 4, 1992) was a German-born American screenwriter and film and television producer. Biography Jackson was born in Hamburg. He was a city editor in Germany at 21, then a dra ...

, Salka Viertel and

. The Domicile of the EFF was Paul Kohner Talent Agency and president was

, because he was considered the best known European filmmaker in Hollywood. The organisation was founded to help European emigrants who needed Affidavits, money or jobs. That is why, Liesl Frank, Bruno Frank's wife, worked together with the

Emergency Rescue Committee Varian Mackey Fry (October 15, 1907 – September 13, 1967) was an American journalist. Fry ran a rescue network in Vichy France from August 1940 to September 1941 that helped 2,000 anti-Nazi and Jewish refugees, mostly artists and intellec ...

. The fund collected and distributed money, some filmmakers donated one percent of their fees. For example,

Michael Curtiz Michael Curtiz (; born Manó Kaminer; from 1905 Mihály Kertész; ; December 24, 1886 April 10, 1962) was a Hungarian-American film director, recognized as one of the most prolific directors in history. He directed classic films from the silen ...

and

William Wyler William Wyler (; born Willi Wyler (); July 1, 1902 – July 27, 1981) was a German-born American film director and producer. Known for his work in numerous genres over five decades, he received numerous awards and accolades, including three Aca ...

, both Jewish and, respectively, of Hungarian and Swiss-German origin, were especially generous. Furthermore, there were earnings from benefit performances. In the early 1940s the fund earned about $40,000. Some persons were supported by credits, others by donations. Several beneficiaries of the EFF got jobs in the film industry (esp. at

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures, commonly shortened to MGM or MGM Studios) is an American Film production, film and television production and film distribution, distribution company headquartered ...

and

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...

) as screenwriters. These jobs weren't paid very well but they often were the precondition for getting visas. Many European filmmakers couldn't repay the money, because they didn't find well paid jobs.

''The more clear-headed émigrés understood very soon that these salaries paid them by Hollywood were fictitious, at least when the realized that, while they earned $100 or $200 a week for completely useless work, a real screen writer earned $3,500. It was quite symbolic that once their contracts expired ��''

EFF was closed in 1948.

List of benefit recipients

Adorno, Theodor W./ Eisler, Hanns / McCann, Graham: Composing for the Films. Continuum International Publishing Group, 2005. p. XIV) *

Heinrich Mann Luiz Heinrich Mann (; March 27, 1871 – March 11, 1950), best known as simply Heinrich Mann, was a German writer known for his sociopolitical novels. From 1930 until 1933, he was president of the fine poetry division of the Prussian Academy ...

Leonhard Frank Leonhard Frank (4 September 1882 in Würzburg – 18 August 1961 in Munich) was a German expressionist writer. He studied painting and graphic art in Munich, and gained acclaim with his first novel ''The Robber Band'' (1914, tr. 1928). When a Be ...

Alfred Döblin Bruno Alfred Döblin (; 10 August 1878 – 26 June 1957) was a German novelist, essayist, and doctor, best known for his novel '' Berlin Alexanderplatz'' (1929). A prolific writer whose œuvre spans more than half a century and a wide variety of ...

* Wilhelm Speyer * Hans G. Lustig *

Walter Mehring Walter Mehring (29 April 1896 – 3 October 1981) was a German author and one of the most prominent satirical authors in the Weimar Republic. He was banned during the Third Reich and fled the country. Early life Mehring was Jewish, the so ...

Bertolt Brecht Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956), known as Bertolt Brecht and Bert Brecht, was a German theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet. Coming of age during the Weimar Republic, he had his first successes as a p ...

* Ludwig Marcuse *

Ernst Lothar Ernst Lothar (; 25 October 1890 – 30 October 1974) was a Moravian-Austrian writer, theatre director/manager and producer. He was born Ernst Lothar Müller, and as Müller is a very common German surname, he dropped it. His brother, Hans M ...

References

External links

* https://web.archive.org/web/20080823065901/http://www.usc.edu/libraries/archives/arc/libraries/feuchtwanger/exiles/filmfund.html * http://www.filmportal.de/df/31/Artikel,,,,,,,,1E818B26A8CA2E22E04053D50B37734C,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,.html {{Authority control Film organizations in Europe

History

List of benefit recipients

References

Further reading

External links