100th birthday of Hans Albers - Germany / Federal Republic of Germany 1991 - 100 Pfennig

His radiant, watery eyes made him famous - and his songs. For almost thirty years, Hans Albers captivated audiences with his boyish charm, unshakeable self-confidence, and the disarming way of being himself on stage and in film. His songs all knew, "This is the love of the sailors" (1931), "Come on the swing, Luise" (1931), "Oops, here I come" (1932) "Yes, gentlemen, that's the way we have it like ... "(1937)," Goodbye, Jonny "(1939)," La Paloma ohe "(1944)" Take us, Captain, on the journey "(1953). The career of Hans Albers began in the province: at small town theaters in Mecklenburg and Brandenburg, for a short time also in Wiesbaden, Cologne and Altona. Actually, he should become a merchant. This is what the father, as the youngest of six children, Hans Albers, born on September 22, 1891, wanted. But when he saw a performance of Schiller's Wilhelm Tell in the Schauspielhaus, his further life was decided. Although the father sent him as a trainee apprentice to Frankfurt a. M., but already the first salary invested the not yet 20 years in acting classes. His talent for the easy muse, for operettas and social comedies enabled him to make the decisive leap to Berlin. That was the end of the First World War, after he had been a soldier at the front for two years and had been severely wounded. In Berlin in the 1920s, in the midst of lively city life with more than a hundred theater performances per evening, Hans Albers became a popular revue star. Albers was one of the first German actors, whose voice could be heard from the screen, 1929 in the sound film "The night belongs to us". The medium of film was his love since he took a first small role in a silent movie in Berlin in 1917 as a newcomer, in order to earn some money. Then he played in addition to his theatrical work in countless silent films of the 20s usually in supporting roles the libertine or bon vivant. However, he became really famous as a film actor only after »Der blaue Engel« (1930) with Marlene Dietrich and »Bombs on MonteCarlo« (1931), when in the movie »Der Sieger« (1932) he wrote the song »Oops, now come ' I sang. This song, which characterizes Hans Albers in a significant way, became his personal identification. In 1928, before his sound film career began, the Revue star also became a serious theater actor. In the time-critical piece »Criminal«, he impersonated an unscrupulous waiter and achieved a huge success. When he played a few months later in the anti-war drama »Rival«, directed by Erwin Piscator, he had conquered his place among the first actors in Berlin. In 1931 Hans Albers played his favorite role, the fairground crier Liliom in Franz Molnár's eponymous comedy; He played this role over 1,800 times and returned to the theater stage after the war in 1946. During the reign of the National Socialists, he had focused entirely on the film work. Like many artists of his time, he felt he could stay out of political contexts. But the National Socialists wanted to use his popularity for their own ends, and so Albers became part of the glittering Ufa film world, which the National Socialists used as an illusion of their reign of terror. But Albers made himself as uncomfortable as possible, assisted in the private circle, and eluded any extra-occupational capture. He let himself be celebrated by the public, not by the National Socialists. During this time he shot his most famous films, u. a. "The Man Who Was Sherlock Holmes" (1937), "Water for Canitoga" (1939), "Trenck the Pandur" (1940) and of course "Munchausen" (1943) and "Great Freedom No. 7" (1944) , Even until the last days of the war in 1945, he was engaged in filming. After the surrender, he was able to resume his work immediately. He played theater, u. a. the Mackie Messer in Brecht-Weill's "Threepenny Opera," and from 1947 he made films again. He now embodied more thoughtful and tragic figures besides the rough-legged types. For example, in "Föhn" (1950), "At Night on the Streets" (1952), "The Last Man" (1955) and especially in the film version of Gerhart Hauptmann's drama "Before Sunset" (1956). Hans Albers saw himself as a folk actor, as one who could have lived the roles he played privately. That brought him in a special way to his audience. Hans Albers died on 24 July 1960 and was buried in his hometown of Hamburg. (Text: Dr. Hedwig Müller, Institute for Theater, Film and Television Studies, University of Cologne)