Wehner, George B.

Composer, actor, writer, painter, and spiritualist, George Benjamin Wehner (1890-1970) led an extraordinarily varied, yet strangely productive life.

Born in Detroit, Michigan, George was the son of the sculptor Carl Herman Wehner and Annie Haslett. Much of his early childhood, however, was spent in Newburgh, New York. Wehner's own musical abilities emerged early on, and, by the age of five, he had begun composing and had devised his own notational system. Following the death of his mother in 1904, George and his sister were sent to live with their maternal grandmother in suburban Detroit. Allegedly inspired by an immersion into Native American culture forged through his interactions with a nearby encampment of Ojibway Indians, George composed a four-act opera, which earned him a scholarship to the Michigan Conservatory of Music in 1908. He studied composition, theory, and piano, and, later, taught at the Conservatory. Around this same time, Wehner also began to explore more seriously those pronounced psychic abilities he already believed he possessed. He trained with local mediums and began to hold his own séances with friends and neighbors, as well as colleagues from the Conservatory. By the early 1920s, Wehner had left Detroit for New York City. He quickly infiltrated show business circles in New York, struggling as a songwriter and sometime performer, but finding greater success in building up a portfolio of clients for his services as a professional medium. Most notable among these patrons was the actress Minnie Maddern Fiske and designer Natacha Rambova. Wehner spent much of the rest of the decade focused on promoting his reputation as a medium; those efforts culminating in the publication of his autobiography, A Curious Life, in 1929.

By the early 1930s, Wehner appears to have abandoned "spiritual mediumship" as a profession and turned to writing fiction, as well as painting, as a career alternative.

He exhibited his watercolors at galleries and also began to compose music quite prolifically, turning out orchestral pieces, ballet scores, and other works for the stage. Among his performed compositions from this period were songs used in concerts by Ernestine Schumann-Heink and Maria Maximovitch; ballets for Katya Sergava and Alexis Rotov; and symphonic pieces put on by the WNYC Concert Orchestra and the New York City Symphony Orchestra in 1940 and 1941. Throughout the 1940s, Wehner maintained a feverish work pace. He also began to regularly attend the Cantonese Theatre of New York. Classical Chinese theater and music would have a profound influence on his later works for the stage, such as the opera, The Mark of Kings (1961). His financial situation was eased considerably in his later years when a friend left the composer a bequest of money after her death. In 1949, Wehner purchased a former rooming house in Brooklyn Heights, where he would live and work for the next twenty years. His musical output became even more prodigious during the last two decades of his life, when he composed the music and wrote the librettos for fourteen operas. Several of these works were presented by the Heights Opera Company in summer concerts at parks throughout New York. In 1965, the Amato Opera Theater staged the American premiere of his opera, Three Days After. Wehner also created new ballet scores later in life. The Cockfight (1959), with a scenario by Romana Kryzanowska, was performed at a workshop that featured her son, Paul Mejia, then a student at the School of American Ballet. Wehner continued to compose nearly up until the time of his death. He had begun work on a new opera and had completed the first act before being taken seriously ill and being hospitalized before his death.

From the description of George Wehner scores, 1936-1966. (New York Public Library). WorldCat record id: 122608306

As the title of his early autobiography, A Curious Life (1929), indicates, composer, actor, writer, painter, and spiritualist, George Benjamin Wehner (1890-1970) led an extraordinarily varied, yet strangely productive life. Indeed, it is often quite difficult to determine the validity of some of Wehner's own more extravagant assertions about his upbringing and career.

Born in Detroit, Michigan on June 30, 1890, George was the son of the sculptor Carl Herman Wehner and Annie Haslett (both of whom Wehner later maintained were descendants of European nobility). Much of his early childhood, however, was spent in Newburgh, New York, in an atmosphere he later recalled as being dominated by his mother's "lively Bohemian parties," in which young George encountered many prominent artists and writers, including naturalist John Burroughs, writer Harrier Beecher Stowe, and actress Sarah Bernhardt, as well as numerous notable opera singers. Wehner's own musical abilities emerged early on, and, by the age of five, he had begun composing and had devised his own notational system.

Following the death of his mother in 1904, George and his younger sister, Friederike, were sent to live with their maternal grandmother in suburban Detroit. Allegedly inspired by an immersion into Native American culture forged through his interactions with a nearby encampment of Ojibway Indians, George composed a four-act opera, The Delight of Life . This composition earned him a scholarship to the Michigan Conservatory of Music in 1908, where he studied composition, theory, and piano, and, later, taught harmony and piano classes. Around this same time, Wehner also began to explore more seriously those pronounced psychic abilities he already believed he possessed. He trained with local mediums and began to hold his own séances with friends and neighbors, as well as colleagues from the Conservatory.

The chronology of Wehner's activities during the following decade is not entirely clear. At some point, the Conservatory went bankrupt and Wehner was unable to find support to continue his musical training in Europe, as he once had planned, and he eventually stopped teaching at the school. He and his sister found work appearing with Jessie Bonstelle's stock company at the Garrick Theatre in character parts. Wehner was rejected for military service during the First World War, but did wartime work at the Dodge Ordnance War Plant. It was during this period that he began to accept payment for conducting séances, which initially outraged his family, particularly his father.

By the early 1920s, Wehner had starting writing popular songs and he left Detroit with a friend for New York City. He soon encountered songwriter Louis Breau, with whom he managed to collaborate on a hit, I Want My Mammy (1921), which was introduced by Eddie Cantor in the revue, The Midnight Rounders . Wehner quickly infiltrated show business circles in New York, struggling as a songwriter and sometime performer, but finding greater success in building up a portfolio of clients for his services as a professional medium. Most notable among these patrons was the actress Minnie Maddern Fiske. He was closely associated with Mrs. Fiske for several months, until the two had a falling out, but he appears to have acted more in the capacity of a spiritual advisor, rather than as a performer with her troupe.

After the death of his father in October 1921 and a stint in vaudeville that occupied most of 1922, Wehner spent much of the rest of the decade focused on promoting his reputation as a medium; those efforts culminating in the publication of his autobiography in 1929. Perhaps Wehner's most advantageous connection became the Richard Hudnut family. Wehner had been introduced to the designer, Natacha Rambova, in 1925 by her mother (Hudnut's third wife) and he had begun leading regular weekly séances for them and their friends. He was invited to travel with Rambova and her entourage to Europe in 1926. This trip provided Wehner with numerous opportunities to further his psychic career, but he reached the apex of his fame when he foretold the death of Rambova's estranged husband, Rudolph Valentino, after the film star was hospitalized. He went on to console the grieving Rambova in a series of séances following Valentino's death, in which he enabled Rambova to communicate with the spirit of the late actor. These incidents were widely publicized by Rambova in serial installments in the New York Graphic, which also were published in book form.

It was Rambova who introduced Wehner to noted occult writer, Talbot Mundy, and his wife, Dawn Allen, in 1927. Mundy took an extreme interest in Wehner's work, encouraging the publication of, and providing the introduction to, Wehner's volume of memoirs in 1929. Wehner's increasingly erratic behavior, however, soon would alienate Mundy, who later repudiated his belief in Wehner's authenticity as a medium.

By the early 1930s, Wehner appears to have abandoned "spiritual mediumship" as a profession and turned to writing fiction, as well as painting, as a career alternative. He exhibited his watercolors at galleries in New York City during the mid-1930s, alongside the work of close friends, Margrete Overbeck (who, as a high school student, had designed the official Denver city flag) and Katherine Winterburn. Wehner also began to compose music quite prolifically, turning out orchestral pieces, ballet scores and other works for the stage. Among his performed compositions from this period were songs used in concerts by Ernestine Schumann-Heink and Maria Maximovitch; ballets for Katya Sergava and Alexis Rotov; and symphonic pieces put on by the WNYC Concert Orchestra and the New York City Symphony Orchestra in 1940 and 1941.

Throughout the 1940s, Wehner maintained a feverish work pace. He also began to regularly attend the Cantonese Theatre of New York. Classical Chinese theater and music would have a profound influence on his later works for the stage, such as the opera, The Mark of Kings (1961). Wehner began to work on an epic novel, The Bridge of Fire, which apparently never was published. His financial situation was eased considerably in his later years when Winterburn left the composer a bequest of money after her death. In 1949, Wehner purchased a former rooming house at 69 Cranberry Street in Brooklyn Heights, where he would live and work for the next twenty years.

Wehner's musical output became even more prodigious. During the last two decades of his life, he composed the music and wrote the librettos for fourteen operas. Several of these works, including The Amiable Beast, So Sings the Bell, and The Wild Swan were presented by the Heights Opera Company, under the direction of George O'Farrell, in concerts at parks throughout New York during the summer of 1961. In 1964, the same company produced Into the Silence at the New York World's Fair, in addition to a Central Park performance. The following year, the Amato Opera Theater staged the American premiere of Three Days After . Wehner also created new ballet scores later in life. The Cockfight (1959), with a scenario by Romana Kryzanowska, was performed at a workshop that featured her son, Paul Mejia, then a student at the School of American Ballet.

Wehner continued to compose nearly up until the time of his death. He had begun work on a new opera, inspired by Hiroshige's The Fifty-Three Stages of the Tokaido, and had completed the first act before being taken seriously ill. Wehner passed away at Long Island College Hospital in Brooklyn on January 12, 1970.

From the guide to the George Wehner scores, 1936-1966, (The New York Public Library. Music Division.)