Geza Silberer

Gustav A. "Geza" Silberer (1 December 1876 – 5? 8? April 1938) was an Austrian journalist and author of Jewish extraction[1] born in Werschetz who wrote in German under the pseudonym Sil-Vara.

Life and career

He was a journalist of long standing on the staff of Neue Freie Presse. A contemporary critic (who described him as a "literary non-entity") wrote of his book Englische Staatsmänner that he appeared to have spent some time in London and had close relations with the leading political figures he describes. The Vossische Zeitung "Aunt Voss" informed readers that they would be "agreeably surprised" to find the likes of Asquith, Curzon, Viscount Grey and Churchill treated "not as enemies but as men".[2]

In 1912, while living in London, he and Charles H. Fisher adapted The Playboy of the Western World as Der Held des Westerlands[3] and had it published by Georg Müller and performed at Max Reinhardt's Kammerspiele, Berlin, at the Neue Wiener Bühne in Vienna and at the Stadttheater in Münster.[4]

His play Ein Tag: Lustspiel in Drei Akten, adapted by theatre director Philip Moeller as Caprice, had a successful run in 1929 at New York's Theatre Guild, then elsewhere.[5]

His play Mädchenjahre einer Königin about the young Queen Victoria was the basis of several movies of the same name in 1936 and 1954[6]

Several of his books are still in print: Ein Wiener Landsturmmann ( ISBN 9781161145694) and Ein Tag: Lustspiel in Drei Akten ( ISBN 9781168352613)

Bibliography

  • Londoner Spaziergänge 1914
  • Ein Wiener Landsturmmann: Kriegstagebuchaufzeichnungen Aus Galizien 1915
  • Englische Staatsmänner (1916) biographies of Asquith, Balfour, Chamberlain, Churchill, Curzon, Bonar Law, Kitchener, Lloyd-George, Rosebery, Parnell and others.
  • Die Gitana. Szenen aus dem spanischen Leben um 1830 1916 illustrated by Erhard Amadeus
  • Briefe aus der Gefangenschaft 1917
  • Es geht weiter: Eine Nacht und ein Epilog 1919
  • Warum kommt der Friede nicht zustande 1932

Plays

  • Der Held der westlichen Welt or Der Held des Westerlands adaptation (with Charles H. Fisher) of J. M. Synge's The Playboy of the Western World 1912
  • Ein Tag: Lustspiel in drei Akten 1914
  • Mädchenjahre einer Königin. Komödie in acht Bildern 1933

Recognition

Silvaraweg, a street in Döbling, Vienna was named for him in 1966.[7]

References

  1. ↑ http://www.ajcarchives.org/AJC_DATA/Files/1938_1939_5_YRAppendices.pdf
  2. ↑ "Germany Day by Day" Kalgoorlie Argus 7 November 1916 p.1,2
  3. ↑ Fisher, Charles H.; Silberer, Geza; Synge, J. M. (1 January 1912). "Der Held des Westerlands: (The playboy of the western world) Komödie in drei Akten". G. Müller. Retrieved 30 July 2016 – via The Open Library.
  4. ↑ Bourgeois, Maurice John Millington Synge and the Irish theatre p.18
  5. ↑ "New comedy at Independent" Sydney Morning Herald 8 January 1944 p.11
  6. ↑ "The Story of Vickie". 10 October 1955. Retrieved 30 July 2016 – via IMDb.
  7. ↑ "Döblinger Strassennamen Herkunft und Bedeutung S". Retrieved 30 July 2016.
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