Carl Zuckmayer

Zuckmayer, Carl (Nackenheim, 1896-1977, Visp), the son of a prosperous manufacturer, volunteered in 1914 and served throughout the war, though he soon condemned its brutality. After studying briefly at Heidelberg and Frankfurt universities (1918-19), he worked as an assistant producer at theatres in Berlin, Kiel, and Munich. By the late 1920s he had established his reputation as a dramatist. In 1926 he settled near Salzburg. In consequence of his plain-spoken opposition to National Socialism his plays were banned in Germany after 1933. In 1938 he escaped from Austria to Switzerland, and in 1939 settled in the USA. He was in Germany in 1946-7 as an official of the American Military Government. In 1952 he returned to the USA and in 1958 settled at Saas-Fee, Switzerland. Deprived of his German citizenship in 1939, he became in 1946 a US and in 1966 a Swiss citizen.

After the early Expressionist play Kreuzweg (1921) and the drama Pankraz erwacht oder Die Hinterwäldler (1925, alternative title Kiktahan), Zuckmayer achieved a great stage success with the Volksstück Der fröhliche Weinberg (1925). This was followed by the historical play Schinderhannes (1927, dealing with the rebel Schinderhannes), the drama of a tightrope dancer Katharina Knie (1928), and the first of his two international successes, the comedy Der Hauptmann von Köpenick (1931, well known also in three film versions, 1931, 1941, and notably 1956). Der Schelm von Bergen (1934) dramatizes a popular legend already treated by H. Heine (see Schelm von Bergen); Carl Michael Bellman (1938), concerned with the Swedish poet Bellman (1740-95), was revised as Ulla Winblad (1953). Des Teufels General (1946), a critical presentation of the higher levels of political and military life in Berlin during the 1939-45 War, marks the second peak of Zuckmayer's career as a dramatist. Later works are the historical play Barbara Blomberg (1949, see Blomberg, Barbara), Der Gesang im Feuerofen (1950), commemorating the French Resistance, Das kalte Licht (1955), on a then well-known physicist and atom spy, the comedy Der trunkene Herkules (1958), Die Uhr schlägt eins (1961), Das Leben des Horace A. W. Tabor (1964), Kranichtanz (1961, first perf. 1967), and Der Rattenfänger (1975).

Although Zuckmayer is best known as a dramatist, he is the author of two novels, Salwàre oder Die Magdalena von Bozen (1936) and Herr über Leben und Tod (1938), and of a number of Novellen and Erzählungen. These include Der Bauer aus dem Taunus (1927, a collection including the title-story), Die Affenhochzeit (1932), Eine Liebesgeschichte (1933), Ein Sommer in Österreich (1937, filmed as Frauensee), Der Seelenbräu (1945), Die Erzählungen (1952), Engele von Löwen (1952, filmed as Ein Mädchen aus Flandern in 1955), and Die Fastnachtsbeichte (1959).

Zuckmayer's writings include essays on J. and W. Grimm (Die Brüder Grimm, 1948), on Schiller (Ein Weg zu Schiller, 1959), and on G. Hauptmann (Ein voller Erdentag, 1962). His poetry appeared as Der Baum (1926), Gedichte 1916-48 (1948), and Gedichte (1960). Autobiographical works are Second Wind (1940, published in English only), Die langen Wege. Ein Stück Rechenschaft (1952), and the very successful Als wär's ein Stück von mir (1966), which is also a valuable cultural document on writers, actors, and the theatre (notably in Berlin). Among his numerous friendships was that with K. Barth (from 1968); their correspondence, Späte Freundschaft in Briefen (1977, ed. H. Stoevesandt), was published posthumously. In 1963 Zuckmayer was awarded the Büchner Prize. Although interest in him has somewhat declined, he is still recognized as a compassionate observer of milieu, capable of deft humour and irony, not least in some of his stories; a selection, Erzählungen, appeared in 1989.

Gesammelte Werke (4 vols.) appeared 1947-52 and 1960 and Werkausgabe in zehn Bänden in 1976.

• Occupation: Writer, Actor
• Active: '30s-'50s
• Major Genres: Drama, Romance
• Career Highlights: The Blue Angel, Des Teufels General, Der Hauptmann von Koepenick
• First Major Screen Credit: The Blue Angel (1930)

Biography

German screenwriter, playwright, and poet Carl Zuckmayer is best known for two plays: the masterful Captain of Koepenic, which was twice filmed in 1931 and 1956, and The Devil's General (1946), which became a German film nine years later. Born in Nackenheim, Germany, a cork manufacturer's son, Zuckmayer didn't begin writing until he attended Frankfurt and Heidelberg Universities. Prior to that he had served in the German army during WWI and had received several medals for his courage. As a writer, he began writing lyric poetry and then plays. By the 1920s, Zuckmayer was being hailed the successor to dramatist Gerhart Hauptmann. As a screenwriter, he got his start adapting his play Captain of Koepenic for both film versions. He also worked on the script of Josef Von Sternberg's classic The Blue Angel (1930). Because his mother had been a Jew, Zuckmayer found himself persecuted by the Nazis. After Hitler banned his plays, Zuckmayer moved to Austria and began writing a few screenplays for British films. In 1938, he fled to France and emigrated to the U.S. where he began teaching playwriting at the New York New School for Social Research. Zuckmayer also wrote screenplays in Hollywood. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

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