Austrian postcard by Eberle-Verlag, Wien (Vienna). Photo: I.S.B. Films. In 1948, Paul Hörbiger narrated the film A Door Stands Open (directed by Karl Sztollar and with music by Robert Stolz). produced by the Information Services Branch (ISB). The ISB was the central agency in charge of cultural diplomacy in Austria after WW II. Sources: Reinhold Wagnleitner (Coca-Colonization and the Cold War) and Lary May (Recasting America: Culture and Politics in the Age of Cold War).

Austrian stage and film actor Paul Hörbiger (1894-1981) belonged together with Hans Moser to the ‘primary rock’ of the Austrian cinema. His popularity was unique and was reflected in over 250 films, mostly lightweight comedies of the popular 'Wiener Film' genre.

Paul Hörbiger was born in Budapest, Austria-Hungary (now Hungary) in 1894. he was the son of Hans Hörbiger, an engineer who wrote Welteislehre on glacial cosmology. In 1902 his family returned to Vienna, while Paul attended the gymnasium (grammar school) at St. Paul's Abbey in the Lavanttal. In the First World War, he served in a mountain artillery regiment of the Austro-Hungarian Army, discharged in 1918 with the rank of an Oberleutnant. After the war, he attended shortly the Otto theater school and made his stage debut in 1919 at the city theatre of Liberec (Reichenberg). From 1920 he performed at the Neuen Deutschen Theater (New German Theatre) in Prague. In 1926, with a contract for Max Reinhardt's Deutsches Theater in Berlin, he made his breakthrough. In the silent era, he impersonated witty and vicious characters in such films as the classic Spione/Spies (Fritz Lang, 1928) with Willy Fritsch and Lien Deyers, Schmutziges Geld/Show Life (Richard Eichberg, 1928) starring Anna May Wong, and another classic, Asphalt (Joe May, 1929) with Gustav Fröhlich.

Paul Hörbiger's film image was subsequently shaped by the sound film comedies and operettas of Géza von Bolváry and Erik Charell. This can best be seen in the warm-hearted Viennese character ‘Feschak’, and most clearly in the figure of the old Weiring in Liebelei/Flirtation (Max Ophüls, 1933). Other interesting films from this period are Der Kongress Tanzt/The Congress Dances (Erik Charell, 1931) starring Lilian Harvey, Es war einmal ein Walzer/Once There Was A Waltz (Victor Janson, 1932) starring Márta Eggerth, Quick (Robert Siodmak, 1932), Scampolo, ein Kind der Straße/Scampolo, a Child of the Streets (Hans Steinhoff, 1932) featuring Dolly Haas, Walzerkrieg/The Battle of the Walzes (Ludwig Berger, 1933) with Renate Müller, Königswalzer/The Royal Waltz (Herbert Maisch, 1935) and Kitty und die Weltkonferenz/Kitty and the World Conference (Helmut Käutner, 1939) with Hannelore Schroth. In 1935 he founded the Algefa film company together with director E.W. Emo and consul Karl Künzel.

From 1940 on, Paul Hörbiger was a member of the Viennese Burgtheater. During the war, he acted in films like Operette/Operetta (Willi Forst a.o., 1940) and Wen die Götter lieben/Whom the Gods Love (Karl Hartl, 1942) starring Hans Holt as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. These were often lightweight comedies of the Wiener Film genre, which was popular among German and Austrian audiences during the 1930s and 1940s. Hörbiger often played roles similar to those of Hans Moser: waiters, servants, cab drivers, porters as well as ballad-singers and singers during wine festivities. He also frequently plays such Austrian greats as Franz Joseph the II., Haydn, or Radetzky. The two actors complemented one another brilliantly in such films as Wiener Geschichten/Viennese Stories (Géza von Bolváry, 1940), Schwarz auf weiß/Black on White (E.W. Emo, 1943), and Schrammeln/Strum (Géza von Bolváry, 1944). Though in 1938 he had openly acclaimed the Austrian Anschluss to Nazi Germany and smoothly continued his career in propaganda films like Wunschkonzert/Request Concert (Eduard von Borsody, 1940) or Die grosse Liebe/The Great Love (Rolf Hansen, 1942) starring Zarah Leander, he was arrested in Vienna in the late days of World War II. The Nazis accused him of high treason. The BBC already reported his death, but Hörbiger survived the war.

After the war, Paul Hörbiger remained one of the most popular German-speaking film actors. He played a small role as the intimidated doorman in the classic The Third Man (Carol Reed, 1949). More demanding roles followed in Das Tor zum Paradies/The Strange Story of Brandner Kaspar (Josef von Báky, 1949), Epilog: Das Geheimnis der Orplid/Epilogue (Helmut Käutner, 1950), and Hallo Dienstmann/Hello Dienstmann (Franz Antel, 1951). Yet, soon the old stereotypical roles returned in Viennese 'swindel' films. He also starred in numerous 'Heimatfilme', again performing as the warm-hearted Viennese type and 'Heurigen' singer, often together with Hans Moser and director Franz Antel. To his best-known films of these years belong Mädchenjahre einer Königin/The Story of Vickie (Ernst Marischka, 1954) featuring Romy Schneider, Banditen der Autobahn/Bandits of the Highway (Géza von Cziffra, 1955), and Sebastian Kneip (Wolfgang Liebeneiner, 1958) with Carl Wery. In his later years, he focused on stage acting at the Burgtheater. He also has stage appearances in Zürich, Moscow, and New York as well as in West Germany and Israel. In 1969 he received the Filmband in Gold Award for his longtime contributions to the German cinema. He was married to actress Josepha Gettke, with whom he had four children. He was the father of actor Thomas Hörbiger, grandfather of actor Christian Tramitz and actress Mavie Hörbiger, brother of actor Attila Hörbiger and uncle of actress Christiane Hörbiger. Paul Hörbiger died in 1981 in Vienna, Austria. He was 86.

Sources: Thomas Staedeli (Cyranos), Filmportal.de, Steffi-line.de, Wikipedia (English and German), and IMDb.

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Austrian postcard by Eberle Verlag, Wien, no. 38. Photo: Archiv I.S.B. Films.

Austrian actress Viktoria von Ballasko was a leading lady of the German cinema of the 1930s and 1940s. She also worked as a writer.

Viktoria von Ballasko was born Viktoria Maria Franziska Ballasko in 1909 in Vienna, Austria-Hungary (now Austria). She was an officer's daughter. After high school, she trained at Vienna's Akademie für Darstellende Kunst (Academy of Performing Arts in Vienna) and from 1929 to 1931, she first acted on stage at the Stadttheater in Bern, Switzerland, in 1929. There she appeared as Gretchen in Faust. From 1931 to 1932 she played at the Chemnitz Stadttheater, then in Wroclaw, Vienna, Stuttgart, and Munich. From 1935 she appeared at the Berliner Theater am Schiffbauerdamm. She made her film debut in the Western Der Kaiser von Kalifornien/The Emperor of California (Luis Trenker, 1936), starring Luis Trenker. It was the first Western film made in Nazi Germany. Some exterior scenes were even shot on location in the United States at Sedona, Arizona, the Grand Canyon and at Death Valley in California. She played her first leading role in Kinderarzt Dr. Engel/Dr. Engel: Child Specialist (Johannes Riemann, 1936) with Paul Hörbiger. Another interesting film was the drama Heiratsschwindler/The Marriage Swindler (Herbert Selpin, 1938), starring Eduard von Winterstein. The film was directed by Selpin for the small studio A.B.C.-Film and distributed by the major company Tobis Film. Its neorealism and pessimistic tone were a sharp change from Selpin's recent work which had been dominated by musicals, comedies, and society dramas and was extremely rare in the Nazi era when German cinema strove to be light and entertaining. The film had trouble with the censors, and its release was delayed. It has been described as "One of the finest German sound films ever made". She then appeared in the Nazi Propaganda film Robert Koch, der Bekämpfer des Todes/Robert Koch (Hans Steinhoff, 1939), starring Emil Jannings. The film was a biopic of the German pioneering microbiologist Robert Koch (1843-1910), who experimented on colonial African subjects.

On-screen, Viktoria von Ballasko was often typecast as devoted, long-suffering or self-sacrificing wives and daughters, very much in keeping with the prevailing national socialist ideals of femininity. Her other films included Mann für Mann/Man for man (Robert A. Stemmle, 1939), and Heimaterde/Home earth (Hans Deppe, 1941) with Viktor Staal. Viktoria von Ballasko failed to rekindle her film career in the aftermath of World War II. From 1946 she played at the Berlin Comedy and appeared as Luise in Kabale und Liebe. She worked for a while as a radio actress and was also briefly active as a voice-over artist, including dubbing for Joan Fontaine in Alfred Hitchcock's Suspicion (1941). Then, together with Udo Vietz, she wrote the screenplay for the short documentary Anmut und Kraft/Grace and Strength before she got offers as an actress again. Among her later films were the DEFA production Unser täglich Brot/Our Daily Bread (Slatan Dudow, 1949) and the crime drama Die Schuld des Dr. Homma/The Guilt of Doctor Homma (Paul Verhoeven, 1951), starring Werner Hinz and Ilse Steppat. She also played Horst Buchholz's mother in Die Halbstarken/The Hooligans/Wolfpack (Georg Tressler, 1956), one of the first juvenile delinquency films in post-war West Germany. Her final film was Made in Germany (Wolfgang Schleif, 1957) with Winnie Markus and Carl Raddatz. Viktoria von Ballasko died in 1976 in West Berlin, West Germany. She was married twice. Her first husband was dubbing author and director Kurt Werther. Since 1949, she was married to Curt Behrendt. The grave of Viktoria von Ballasko is in the cemetery of the Giesensdorfer Dorfkirche in Berlin.

Sources: Wikipedia (German and English), and IMDb.

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Austrian postcard by Eberle Verlag, Wien, no. 21. Photo: I.S.B. Films.

Austrian actress Marte Harell (1907-1996) played strong women who determined the events, in several Viennese comedies and operettas of the 1940s and 1950s.

Marte Harell was born as Martha Schömig in 1907 in Wien (Vienna), Austria-Hungary, now Austria. She was the daughter of architect Rudolf Schömig and his wife Emilie Mathilde née. Passetzky. She visited a secondary school for girls in Vienna. Her acting career started when she married director Karl Hartl in 1930. She followed acting classes from Margit von Tolnai and attended the Max-Reinhardt-Seminar. At 30 years she made her debut at the Kammerspielen des Theaters in der Josefstadt. She worked for theatres in Munich and Berlin, where she was spotted by director Geza von Bolvary at the Deutsches Theater. He cast her as the leading lady in his film Opernball/Opera Ball (Géza von Bolváry, 1939) opposite Paul Hörbiger, and her film debut at 32 as the typical Wiener mädel (Viennese girl) became an unexpected success. More leading roles followed in Wiener G'schichten/Vienna Tales (Géza von Bolváry, 1940) again opposite Paul Hörbiger, and an adaption of the Zeller operetta 'Der Vogelhändler', Rosen in Tirol/The Bird Seller (Géza von Bolváry, 1940) with Johannes Heesters. When her husband Karl Hartl became the production manager of the newly founded Wien-Film, she became a very busy actress for this company. She convinced critics and audiences with her performances in Brüderlein fein/Dear Brother (Hans Thimig, 1941), the comedy Die heimliche Gräfin/The Secret Countess (Géza von Bolváry, 1942) with Wolf Albach-Retty, Frauen sind keine Engel/Women Are No Angels (Willi Forst, 1943) with a young Curd Jürgens, and Tolle Nacht/Great Night (Theo Lingen, 1943). She always played the strong woman who determined the events and was not able to hide her typical Viennese accent. The part of Fiakermilli (Cabby Milli) in the beautiful tragi-comedy-musical Schrammeln (Géza von Bolváry, 1944) was her most popular role. For the adaptation of Johann Strauss' comic opera Die Fledermaus/The Bat (1945), she worked again with director Géza von Bolváry, with whom she made a total of ten films.

Marte Harell continued her film career immediately after the Second World War with Glaube an mich/Believe in Me (Géza von Cziffra, 1946), but the film was torn to pieces by the critics. Two years later she returned in the romance Nach dem Sturm/After the Storm (Gustav Ucicky, 1948), based on a story by Carl Zuckmeyer. Wien Tanzt/Vienna Waltzes (Emil E. Reinert, 1951) was an old-fashioned musical extravaganza in the tradition of the pre-war Austrian films. The story centers upon Waltz King Johann Strauss (Adolf Wohlbrueck) and his ‘progressive’ composer son Richard, and their terrific music. About the female lead Hal Erickson writes at AllMovie: “The feminine interest in Wien Tanzt is provided by Marte Harell, who refreshingly is not a Hollywood-style glamourpuss.” In 1951 the Austrian public chose her as the most popular actress, but her film roles became rarer in the 1950s. She appeared in one film each year, among others the comedy Liebeskrieg nach Noten/Love War for Music (Karl Hart, 1953l) with Johannes Heesters, the historical thriller Spionage/Espionage (Franz Antel, 1955) based on the tragic life story of the homosexual ‘Oberst’ Alfred Redl, and the operetta Im Prater blühn wieder die Bäume/Trees Are Blooming in Vienna (Hans Wolff, 1958). In between, she dedicated herself again to the theater and had a successful stage comeback. Her last films were the spy yarn Assignment K (Val Guest, 1968) starring Stephen Boyd, Abenteuer eines Sommers/Summer Adventure (Helmut Pfandler, 1974) starring Matthias Habich, the sex comedy Das Love-Hotel in Tirol/Love Hotel in Tyrol (Franz Antel, 1978), and the historical drama Der Bockerer (Franz Antel, 1980), about the naïve Viennese butcher Karl Bockerer who refuses to get assimilated by the Nazi system and with his aggressive but charming behaviour, and a whole lot of luck survives the war. During the 1970s Marte Harell also worked regularly for television and made guest appearances in series like Hallo – Hotel Sacher… Portier!/Hello – Hotel Sacher…Doorman! (1973), Van der Valk und die Reichen/Van der Valk and the Rich (1975), and the popular Krimi Tatort (1974). In 1985 she was awarded the Filmband in Gold for her longtime and important attributions to the German cinema, and that same year she retired. In 1996 Marte Harell died in Vienna. Her husband, Karl Hartl, had passed away in 1978. In 1951 the couple was divorced, but eight years later they have married again. In 2000 a street was named after her, the Marte-Harell-Gasse in Wien-Liesing.

Sources: Thomas Staedeli (Cyranos), Hal Erickson (AllMovie), Stephanie D’heil (Steffi-Line), Wikipedia and IMDb.

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Austrian postcard by Eberle Verlag, Wien, no 27. Photo: I.S.B. Films.

Austrian actor Hans Moser (1880–1964) appeared in over 150 films. During his long career, from the 1920s up to his death, he became very popular as the mumbling factotum in comedy films. Moser was particularly associated with the genre of the Wiener Film.

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Austrian postcard by Eberle Verlag, Wien (Vienna), no. 22. Photo: I.S.B. Films.

The Austrian actor Willi Forst (1903-1980) was a darling of the German-speaking public. He was also one of the most significant directors, producers, writers and stars of the Wiener Filme, the light Viennese musical comedies of the 1930s. On stage, he played in operettas and revues but also worked with Erwin Piscator and Max Reinhardt.

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