5
GALILEO
A World Star joins the Brechtian team
By Jürgen Schebera
It was in late March 1944 when a momentous meet-
ing happened at the salon of Salka and Berthold Viertel in
Santa Monica. Bertolt Brecht and Hanns Eisler who both
lived in California since June 1941 or April 1942 respec-
tively, had been regular guests at the Viertel’s house, a
preferred meeting place of the German-Austrian commu-
nity of emigrants. On that evening in March the hostess
presented a high ranking “star guest” – British actor
Charles Laughton. And of course he also got into conver-
sation with Brecht and Eisler. Both of them had seen the
movie ‘The Private Life Of Henry VIII’ in London in 1936 –
Laughton’s first claim to international fame. (The lasting
impression could still be seen years later when Brecht gave
his ‘Furcht und Elend des dritten Reiches’ the English title
‘The Private Life Of The Master Race’ in 1943). When Brecht
mentioned how much he liked the scene where Laughton
played the English King devouring rather than eating a
chicken, the actor was delighted. This broke the ice. Soon,
the three would be working together.
Brecht appeared in Laughton's life at the right time.
The latter had not trodden the boards for almost a decade,
very much to his regret. Right from the beginning he
showed an interest in Brecht's dramatic productions. In re-
turn, the German emigrant admired the great actor – and
he soon noticed affinities to his own concept of the stage:
”Asked why he acted, Laughton answered: ‘because people
do not know how they are, but I think I can show them.’”
Laughton loved to read out to both small or big au-
diences. A few weeks after that meeting he did this at his
luxurious estate in Pacific Palisades and also at Brecht’s
modest house in Santa Monica. Brecht’s journal states on
29 April 1944:
“At our house he reads [Shakespeare’s]
‘Measure For Measure’ and at his house ‘The Tempest,’ sitting
on a white settee in front of a marvellous grandfather clock
in Bavarian Baroque style, his legs crossed Buddha-like under
his protruding belly. He reads the play from a small booklet,
partly like a scholar, partly like an actor, laughing at the
jokes, apologising from time to time when he has no com-
mand of the scene.”
At the time Laughton was preparing his first voice
recording for the D
ECCA
record company: two Bible excerpts
