The Continental Players
The Continental Players was a short-lived albeit well-chronicled
History
Die Reichskulturkammer of 1933
In Germany, in 1933, by decree of Joseph Goebbels under a newly created agency called Die Reichskulturkammer (DKK), Jewish actors were, among other things, prohibited from performing on German stage.
Stock company objective
The main objective of The Continental Players was to help newly arrived European actors and actresses warm-up to American audiences and hone their performing skills in the English language. A sub-objective was to cultivate employment opportunities by producing showcase productions – somewhat akin to a baseball
The theater workshop, since June 1938, had been led by Max Reinhardt under the auspices of Max Reinhardt's Workshop of Stage, Screen, and Radio. Reinhardt provided the studios with well-trained bit actors. According to author Saverio Giovacchini in his 2001 book, Hollywood Modernism, the workshop well-represented an alliance between Hollywood New Yorkers and Europeans as much as it exemplified a close relationship between Hollywood and experimental cinema. Dieterle taught film directing; Henry Blanke – film production; Karl Freund and Rudolph Maté – experimental camerawork; John Huston – screenwriting; Edward G. Robinson and Paul Muni – acting; and Samson Raphaelson – dramaturgy.[1]
Production
In May and June 1939, The Continental Players produced
The 1939 production failed, financially, due partly to actors struggling in English and partly to the version being non-traditional. The loss, about $30,000, was an impetus for shuttering the erstwhile popular production venue, The Players Dinner Theater. Yet, the effort was chronicled favorably as altruistic.
| Dates | Play | Writer(s) | Director | Theater |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 25 – June 12, 1939 | William Tell | Adaptation of Friedrich Schiller's 1804 original (two acts and ten scenes) |
Leopold Jessner | El Capitan Theatre Hollywood The Continental Players |
| Cast: Gertrude Stauffacher); Alexander Granach (Stauffacher); Bobby Moya (young Tell).
| ||||
| Leopold Jessner, director; Ralph Freed, text; Rudi Feld, art director (costumes and set design); Ernst Toch, music score; Ingolf Dahl, conductor;[3][4] Simon Mitchneck, Phd (1893–1986), English and voice coach (linguist). | ||||
Experimental theater companies in Los Angeles in the latter 1930s
- Contemporary Theater, founded 1934 by a coalition of Europeans and New Yorkers[1]
- Modern Theater, founded by Edward Gering (brother of Marion Gering), with the help of Fritz Lang, Francis Lederer, Frank Capra, and Salka Viertel
- Hollywood Theater Alliance, founded 1939; Gertrude Ross Marks (de) was managing director
Notes and references
Notes
- Werner Heymann. In 1952, she married artist Klaus Brill (1913–2007).
References
- ^ "The Continental Players," p. 110
"Contemporary Theater," p. 110
"Modern Theater," p. 110
"Hollywood Theater Alliance," p. 110 - Newspapers.com at www)
.newspapers .com /image /160145814 - OCLC 489704553
- OCLC 979970340