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The Concise Cinegraph
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DOLLY HAAS(Dorothy Clara Louise Haas)Born April 29, 1910, Hamburg (Germany)Died September 16, 1994, New York (New York,USA)With her androgynous looks, petite frame, andbobbed hair, early 1930s Weimar star Haas played astring of plucky heroines, often in narratives that re-quired her characters to cross-dress as boys.Born to a British father and an Austrian mother, Haasattended ballet classes from age six, and gave her stagedebut in a juvenile role at Hamburg’s Kammerspieletheatre in 1924. After completing her schooling, shewas engaged for one of the main supporting parts inErik Charell’s 1927 Berlin production of ‘The Mika-do’, before Max Reinhardt cast her in hit stage revue‘Wie werde ich reich und glücklich’ (How to Get Richand Happy, 1930).Her first film roles followed the same year, playing adancing, singing shop-window dummy in Wilhelm(later William) Dieterle’sEINE STUNDE GLÜCK(One Hour of Happiness) and the lead in AnatoleLitvak’sDOLLY MACHT KARRIERE(Dolly GetsAhead).Haas’s screen persona was that of a pint-sized go-get-ter who could outperform men at every turn: for ex-ample, in Géza von Bolváry’sLIEBESKOMMANDO(Love’s Command, 1931), she joined the military inplace of her brother so that he could pursue a careeras an artist; in Hans Steinhoff’sSCAMPOLO, EINKIND DER STRASSE(Scampolo, 1932), she came tothe aid of a destitute banker; and in Victor Janson’sDER PAGE VOM DALMASSE-HOTEL(Pageboy at theDalmasse Hotel, 1933), she saved a rich aristocratfrom gold-diggers.Frequently dressed as boys in these films, she paro-died her image inDAS HÄSSLICHE MÄDCHEN(TheUgly Girl, 1933), directed by Hermann Kosterlitz(later Henry Koster). However, following a riot at thefilm’s premiere orchestrated by the Nazis and aimedat her co-star Max Hansen, Haas went to Britain tostar in Marcel Varnel’sGIRLS WILL BE BOYS(1934),and in 1936 left Germany forever.Following an impressively poignant, and uncharacter-istically tragic, performance in the Lillian Gish part ofthe British remake of D. W. Griffith’sBROKEN BLOS-SOMS(1936), directed by Hans (soon to becomeJohn) Brahm (1893–1982), Haas received a three-yearcontract from Columbia in Hollywood. However, al-though paying Haas well, the studio never made anypictures with her, while her marriage to Brahm lastedonly from 1937 to 1941.Relocating to New York, she initially undertook thea-tre work with Erwin Piscator, and scored severalsuccesses on Broadway from 1943. Apart from occa-sional television appearances, Haas made a memora-ble comeback to the big screen in a supporting part op-posite O. E. Hasse in Alfred Hitchcock’sI CONFESS(1952/53).Honoured by a film retrospective at the Berlin FilmFestival in 1983, she was seen on camera again to dis-cuss her life as one of the three subjects (apart fromLotte Goslar and Maria Ley-Piscator) in Rosa vonPraunheim’s TV documentaryDOLLY, LOTTE, UNDMARIA(1986/87). From 1943 until her death Haaswas married to ‘The New York Times’ caricaturist AlHirschfeld (1903–2003).[act – DE] 1930: Eine Stunde Glück; Dolly macht Karriere.1931: Der Ball [MLV – FR/DE]; Der brave Sünder; Liebes-kommando. 1931/32: Es wird schon wieder besser ...;Ein steinreicher Mann. 1932: Scampolo, ein Kind derStraße / Um einen Groschen Liebe [MLV – mus,act –DE/AT]; So ein Mädel vergißt man nicht [DE/AT]; Groß-stadtnacht [MLV – FR/DE]. 1932/33: Die kleine Schwind-lerin. 1933: Das häßliche Mädchen; Kleines Mädel – gro-ßes Glück; Der Page vom Dalmasse-Hotel. 1933/34: Es tutsich was um Mitternacht. 1934: Girls Will Be Boys [GB].1934/35: Warum lügt Fräulein Käthe? 1936: Broken Blos-soms [GB]; Spy of Napoleon [GB]. 1939: We Are Not Alone[GB]. 1949: Studio One: Riviera [TV – US]. 1952/53: I Con-fess [US]. 1954: The Fugitive [TV – US]; Armstrong CircleTheatre: The Fugitive [TV – US]. 1956: Regarding FileNumber 4356 [TV – US]. 1986/87: Dolly, Lotte und Maria[TVD – app].WILLY HAASBorn June 7, 1891, Prague (Austria-Hungary,now Czech Republic)Died September 4, 1973, Hamburg (West Germany)Willy Haas was one of the Weimar Republic’s most as-tute and challenging film and literary critics, whilealso writing screenplays for a number of the period’skey films.Reading law at Prague’s Charles University from 1909to 1911, Haas set up the literary journal ‘Die Herder-
© 2022, Berghahn Books, New York, Oxford

DOLLY HAAS(Dorothy Clara Louise Haas)Born April 29, 1910, Hamburg (Germany)Died September 16, 1994, New York (New York,USA)With her androgynous looks, petite frame, andbobbed hair, early 1930s Weimar star Haas played astring of plucky heroines, often in narratives that re-quired her characters to cross-dress as boys.Born to a British father and an Austrian mother, Haasattended ballet classes from age six, and gave her stagedebut in a juvenile role at Hamburg’s Kammerspieletheatre in 1924. After completing her schooling, shewas engaged for one of the main supporting parts inErik Charell’s 1927 Berlin production of ‘The Mika-do’, before Max Reinhardt cast her in hit stage revue‘Wie werde ich reich und glücklich’ (How to Get Richand Happy, 1930).Her first film roles followed the same year, playing adancing, singing shop-window dummy in Wilhelm(later William) Dieterle’sEINE STUNDE GLÜCK(One Hour of Happiness) and the lead in AnatoleLitvak’sDOLLY MACHT KARRIERE(Dolly GetsAhead).Haas’s screen persona was that of a pint-sized go-get-ter who could outperform men at every turn: for ex-ample, in Géza von Bolváry’sLIEBESKOMMANDO(Love’s Command, 1931), she joined the military inplace of her brother so that he could pursue a careeras an artist; in Hans Steinhoff’sSCAMPOLO, EINKIND DER STRASSE(Scampolo, 1932), she came tothe aid of a destitute banker; and in Victor Janson’sDER PAGE VOM DALMASSE-HOTEL(Pageboy at theDalmasse Hotel, 1933), she saved a rich aristocratfrom gold-diggers.Frequently dressed as boys in these films, she paro-died her image inDAS HÄSSLICHE MÄDCHEN(TheUgly Girl, 1933), directed by Hermann Kosterlitz(later Henry Koster). However, following a riot at thefilm’s premiere orchestrated by the Nazis and aimedat her co-star Max Hansen, Haas went to Britain tostar in Marcel Varnel’sGIRLS WILL BE BOYS(1934),and in 1936 left Germany forever.Following an impressively poignant, and uncharacter-istically tragic, performance in the Lillian Gish part ofthe British remake of D. W. Griffith’sBROKEN BLOS-SOMS(1936), directed by Hans (soon to becomeJohn) Brahm (1893–1982), Haas received a three-yearcontract from Columbia in Hollywood. However, al-though paying Haas well, the studio never made anypictures with her, while her marriage to Brahm lastedonly from 1937 to 1941.Relocating to New York, she initially undertook thea-tre work with Erwin Piscator, and scored severalsuccesses on Broadway from 1943. Apart from occa-sional television appearances, Haas made a memora-ble comeback to the big screen in a supporting part op-posite O. E. Hasse in Alfred Hitchcock’sI CONFESS(1952/53).Honoured by a film retrospective at the Berlin FilmFestival in 1983, she was seen on camera again to dis-cuss her life as one of the three subjects (apart fromLotte Goslar and Maria Ley-Piscator) in Rosa vonPraunheim’s TV documentaryDOLLY, LOTTE, UNDMARIA(1986/87). From 1943 until her death Haaswas married to ‘The New York Times’ caricaturist AlHirschfeld (1903–2003).[act – DE] 1930: Eine Stunde Glück; Dolly macht Karriere.1931: Der Ball [MLV – FR/DE]; Der brave Sünder; Liebes-kommando. 1931/32: Es wird schon wieder besser ...;Ein steinreicher Mann. 1932: Scampolo, ein Kind derStraße / Um einen Groschen Liebe [MLV – mus,act –DE/AT]; So ein Mädel vergißt man nicht [DE/AT]; Groß-stadtnacht [MLV – FR/DE]. 1932/33: Die kleine Schwind-lerin. 1933: Das häßliche Mädchen; Kleines Mädel – gro-ßes Glück; Der Page vom Dalmasse-Hotel. 1933/34: Es tutsich was um Mitternacht. 1934: Girls Will Be Boys [GB].1934/35: Warum lügt Fräulein Käthe? 1936: Broken Blos-soms [GB]; Spy of Napoleon [GB]. 1939: We Are Not Alone[GB]. 1949: Studio One: Riviera [TV – US]. 1952/53: I Con-fess [US]. 1954: The Fugitive [TV – US]; Armstrong CircleTheatre: The Fugitive [TV – US]. 1956: Regarding FileNumber 4356 [TV – US]. 1986/87: Dolly, Lotte und Maria[TVD – app].WILLY HAASBorn June 7, 1891, Prague (Austria-Hungary,now Czech Republic)Died September 4, 1973, Hamburg (West Germany)Willy Haas was one of the Weimar Republic’s most as-tute and challenging film and literary critics, whilealso writing screenplays for a number of the period’skey films.Reading law at Prague’s Charles University from 1909to 1911, Haas set up the literary journal ‘Die Herder-
© 2022, Berghahn Books, New York, Oxford
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