- Werner Finck
Werner Finck (
May 2 ,1902 -July 31 ,1978 ) was a Germancomedian , anactor with "comic bones". He could read the phone book and it would seem extremely funny.Fact|date=April 2008Life
Born in
Görlitz , he began his career as an itinerant storyteller of fairy tales in the 1920s. He took acting lessons and began a mediocre career in the theater. However, it was when he met a friend who had contacts in theBerlin cabaret that he found his true calling.He founded the cabaret "Die Katakombe" (The Catacombs") with some friends in 1929. He, and the cabaret, became successful because of his critical and subtly impudent remarks against the
Nazis , proving to be an early thorn in their side. Finck had an ability to be seemingly lost for words when saying something and the audience, playing along, finished his sentences. He often defied authority by daring police informers in the audience to write down every word he said; as to whether they could keep along (writing down his jokes) or whether he could come along (with them). According to oneanecdote , Finck once noticed an officer from theGestapo taking notes. He confronted the informer asking with seeming innocence, "Am I talking too fast? Do you want me to slow down so you can follow?" The way Finck presented his jokes made it very difficult for authorities to nail him down. His exploits made him a legend in his lifetime, to an extent that when he introduced himself to British and Americanjournalists after the war, he was met with disbelief, for they believed that "Werner Finck" who joked against the Nazis was a fairy-tale figure.However, the "Katakombe" was closed on
May 10 ,1935 upon the order ofJoseph Goebbels ; Finck and his colleagues were interned for six weeks in KZEsterwegen . They took this in good stride, because they still performed despite their imprisonment. They reasoned that before the cabaret closed down they performed with uneasiness due of the fear of incarceration; now they did not fear performing because they were already in prison! It was due to the intervention of his friend, the actressKäthe Dorsch , who talked toHermann Göring that he was released with the condition that he not work in public for a year.Despite this he continued performing before live audiences, as well as in film, where he had a successful, if mediocre, career beginning in 1931. However, when he was threatened with arrest again, he joined the
Wehrmacht as a common soldier to avert imprisonment. He later used his wartime exploits for a cabaret programme: "Der brave Soldat schweigt" ("The Brave Soldier Shuts Up" - also in reference toJaroslav Hasek 's "The Good Soldier Svejk ").After the war he resumed his career in cabaret, founding the "Nebelhorn" in
Zurich and the "Mausefalle" inStuttgart . He continued his film career as well until 1972. He remained active in live performances, notably with a tour in the United States in 1968. He died inMunich .Partial filmography
Werner Finck made a lot of film and TV appearances in a career spanning about forty years, many of which are but brief appearances that showcased his talent:
*"Heute heiratet mein Mann" (1956)
*"Zürcher Verlobung, Die" (1957)
*"Vater, Mutter und neun Kinder" (1958)
*"Rosen für den Staatsanwalt" (1959)
*"Im weißen Rößl " (1960)
*"Sturm im Wasserglas" (1960)
*"Es muss nicht immer Kaviar sein" (1961)
*"Hurra, die Schule brennt" (1969)External links
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