Lothar, Ernst, 1890-1974

The actress Adrienne Gessner was Ernst Lothar's wife; they married in 1933. Lothar and his wife had been socially acquainted with Franz Werfel and Alma Mahler since at least 1934. Lothar had been director of the Josefstadt Theater in Vienna when Werfel's play, In einer Nacht, premiered there in 1937. At the time of the Anschluss in 1938, Lothar fled to Switzerland and then to France, and in 1939 emigrated to the U.S., settling at first in New York. From 1940 to 1944 he taught at Colorado College (Colorado Springs); in 1946 he returned to Austria as an appointee with the U.S. Office of War Information in the section for music and theater, and was involved in the de-nazification and rehabilitation of those aspects of Austrian cultural life. From 1948 until 1962 he was director of the Burgtheater in Vienna.

From the description of Correspondence to Alma Mahler and Franz Werfel, 1938-1955. (University of Pennsylvania Library). WorldCat record id: 155863829