John Blankenbaker's Germanna History Notes

Note 941

(To clear up a misconception, the names that have been giving are predominantly German, but the criteria for inclusion is Germanic, a slightly different concept.  Citizens of Austria and Switzerland also speak the Germanic language.)

In the category of film directors and producers, we have:

• William Dieterle,
• Carl Laemmle,
• Fritz Lang,
• Ernst Lubitsch,
• Friedrich Murnau,
• Erich Pommer,
• Otto Preminger,
• Max Reinhardt,
• Irving Thalberg,
• Erich Von Stroheim,
• Lois Weber, and
• Billy Wilder.

I give some more names in pairs, first the name you may know best, and then the original name:

• Fanny Brice ­ Her father was Charles Borach from Alsace
• Bob Dylan ­ Robert Alan Zimmermann
• John Denver ­ Henry John Deutschendorf, Jr.
• Hedda Hopper ­ Elda Furry
  
• Harry Houdini ­ Erik Weiss (sometimes classified as a Hungarian)
• George Jessel ­ George Jessel
• Lotte Lenya ­ Karoline Wilhelmine Blaumauer
• Louella O. Parsons ­ nee Oettinger von Trapps ­ the family was Austrian, but of course spoke German

Noted Broadway names:

• Oscar Hammerstein, I, was born in an area that is now Poland.  He was raised in Berlin, though and died in the US in 1919.  He had a grandson who was even more famous.
• The parents of Marcus Loew came from Vienna.  He owned theaters and later joined with MGM.  The name Loew is derived from the German word for lion .
• Charles Ringling and his four brothers were born Rüngeling.
• The "Rockettes" of Broadway are as American as apple pie.  Samuel Rothafel created the Rockettes and the Roxy theater chain.  He derived these names from his own name which means red apple.
• Florenz Ziegfeld came to the US in 1863 and was head of the Chicago Musical College for decades.  His son, of the same name, is known even better for his work on Broadway.  Apparently the family name is derived form Ziegenfeld meaning goat field.

In the next note I will start with the world of business and finance where there were outstanding contributions by many Germans.  Again, in passing, I am using the book, " Distinguished German-Americans ", by Charles R. Haller, which was published by Heritage Books, Inc. (31 Jul 00)