The total of 6 letters from Werfel date from 1942 and 1943, and all pertain to Werfel's work on his play Jacobowsky und der Oberst (Jacobowsky and the Colonel), which was being adapted for a Broadway production; in several instances the letters contain messages which Werfel was asking Joseph to convey to Jed Harris, the theater producer with whom Werfel was collaborating at the time. (1 of these letters from Werfel is in the form of a typed transcript, which Joseph included in a letter to Adolf Klarmann dated 1962.) 2 letters from Joseph to Alma Mahler in 1962 pertain to the care of Franz Werfel's grave in Rosedale Cemetery, Los Angeles; 2 receipts from the cemetery are included. Later letters to Isolde Klarmann (Radzinowicz) often speak of Anna Mahler, with the last letters, in 1988, reflecting on Anna's death. Also included is a copy of an essay by Joseph entitled "Werfel, Alma, Kokoschka, the actor George," his reminiscences about his acquaintance with Alma Mahler and Franz Werfel; Joseph met the couple for the first time in 1933, but he begins his essay with a recounting of his experience working as an assistant to the director and actor Heinrich George, on a production of Oskar Kokoschka's play "Orpheus und Euridike" in 1921, when he says he first heard Alma Mahler's name mentioned. Joseph submitted the essay to The New Yorker for publication, but it was rejected and has never been published. The copy of the essay is apparently incomplete; it runs to page 39 and breaks off mid-sentence. A German-language version corresponding to approximately the first 12 pages of this essay is contained in the folder for correspondent: Hilmes, Oliver.
