German cigarette card by Salem, Dresden, Series 1, no. 4 (of 180). Photo: Emelka. Weiss Ferdl in Die Mutter der Kompagnie/The Company's Mother (Franz Seitz, 1931).
German postcard by "Das Programm von Heute" für Film und Theater G.m.b.H., Stuttgart. Photo: N.D.L.S.
German postcard by "Das Programm von Heute" für Film und Theater G.m.b.H., Stuttgart. Photo: Tobis.
A very sharp tongue
Weiss Ferdl or Weiß-Ferdl was born Ferdinand Weisheitinger in 1883 in Altötting, 96 km (60 miles) east of München (Munich). He was the son of a single waitress and grew up in Altötting with his grandmother. After a short time at the Salzburg Cathedral Singing School and an apprenticeship as a typesetter in Altötting, he moved in with relatives in Munich. He discovered his passion for the stage when he joined the Ernst Karl Folk Singers' Society. From 1903 to 1905 he did his military service in Metz.
In 1907 he was engaged at the Platzl Theatre, a popular restaurant and entertainment venue, which became his home. Just seven years later, he became its director. Ferdl had a very sharp tongue and was well-versed in the thoughts and feelings of the so-called little people, whose wishes, desires and dreams he was able to translate into hearty, critical verses.
During the First World War, he was head of the singing troupe of the 1st Bavarian Reserve Infantry Regiment, known as 'Platzl im Felde'. As the head of the troupe, he directed other folk singers, musicians and comedians. In 1921, together with Sepp Eringer, he again took over the management of the Platzl. Due to his increasing success with audiences, Weiß Ferdl remained loyal to the Platzl until the end of his stage career.
From 1928 to 1940, he also appeared in 18 films and thus became known outside Bavaria. In 1928, he made his film debut with a small part as a Baptist brother in the silent drama Hinter Klostermauern/Behind Monastery Walls (Franz Seitz, 1928), which starred Karl Neubert, Georg Jacoby, and Carl de Vogt. A year later, he appeared in another silent film, Links der Isar – rechts der Spree/Left of the Isar, Right of the Spree (Franz Seitz, 1929), made at the Emelka Studios in Munich.
But the sound film presented a whole new platform for him. For the Ufa in Berlin, he had a supporting part in the Operetta film Der unsterbliche Lump/The Immortal Vagabond (Gustav Ucicky, Joe May, 1930) starring Liane Haid, Gustav Fröhlich and Hans Adalbert Schlettow. He also appeared in the musical Das Lied der Nationen/The Song of the Nations (Rudolf Meinert, 1931) starring Camilla Horn, Igo Sym and Betty Amann. Then he had the starring role in Der Schützenkönig/The Champion Shot (Franz Seitz, 1932) opposite Max Adalbert and Gretl Theimer. The comedy was shot at the Bavaria Studios in Munich. He played the owner of a store in a small Bavarian town, who is angered when a new shop is opened by an arrival from Berlin (Adalbert) who also claims to be a better marksman than the local. It was followed by another starring role for Bavaria in the crime comedy Der Meisterdetektiv/The Master Detective (Franz Seitz, 1933) with Ery Bos and Hans Stüwe.
German cigarette card by Ross Verlag in the 'Bunte Filmbilder' series by Polo, series II, no. 447. Photo: Deka-Syndikat-Film.
German cigarette card by Ross Verlag in the 'Bunte Filmbilder' series by Greiling AG, no. 152. Photo: Majestic-Syndikat-Film.
I am not an intellectual
In the Nazi era, Weiss Ferdl performed regularly at NSDAP events. He socialised with Munich party celebrities and came to terms with those in power. He visited Hitler on the Obersalzberg as early as 1933 and wrote enthusiastically about it in his book ‘Guat troffa’. He joined the NSDAP in 1937. In the meanwhile, he continued to star in such comedies as Die beiden Seehunde/The Two Seals (Fred Sauer, 1934) in which he played a double role as the unpopular ruler of a small principality and his doppelganger, and Alles weg'n dem Hund/All Because of the Dog (Fred Sauer, 1935) with Julia Serda and child star Peter Bosse.
However, Konjunkturritter/Financial Opportunists (Fritz Kampers, 1934) with Sabine Peters and Hans Adalbert Schlettow was not harmless entertainment. The film's title was a well-known phrase to attack Jews and Konjunkturritter was one of the first openly anti-Semitic films produced under the Nazi regime. Later Bavarian comedies included Befehl ist Befehl/Orders Are Orders (Alwin Elling, 1936) with Trude Hesterberg, and Gordian, der Tyrann/Gordian the Tyrant (Fred Sauer, 1937) with Paul Richter.
During the Nazi era, the popular music show 'Wunschkonzert für die Wehrmacht' (Request Concert for the Wehrmacht) was broadcast on the German radio network every Sunday afternoon. It claimed to broadcast music requested by men in the armed forces, thus uniting the armed forces and the homefront in 'Volksgemeinschaft'. Reich Minister Joseph Goebbels insisted that all German performers contribute to it, and concluded that a film based on it would be even more successful. Indeed, the Propaganda film Wunschkonzert/Request Concert (Eduard von Borsody, 1941) became, after Die große Liebe/The Great Love (Rolf Hansen, 1942) starring Zarah Leander, the most popular film of wartime Germany, reaching the second-highest gross. Weiss Ferdl sang a song in the film, 'Bin ich froh, ich bin kein Intellektueller' (I'm so glad I'm no intellectual). After World War II, the Allied Control Council, which, in 1945, subjected all German-language films then on release to an ideological examination, banned 'Goebbels pet child's' performance. It was released later in West Germany with clearance from the FSK motion picture rating system.
Weiss Ferdl wrote several plays and books. In 1941 he published the book 'Ich bin kein Intellektueller. Ein heiteres Buch' (I am not an intellectual. A cheerful book). Two years later, he published 'Der Freibrief'. That same year, the comedian had to give up his stage career due to a heart condition. After the end of the war, the American military government confiscated the Mercedes of the wealthy folk singer. It was only during this time that he ever travelled by tram, laying the foundations for his later successful song about Line 8.
In the course of denazification, Weiß Ferdl presented himself as a threat to the regime despite his membership in several Nazi sub-organisations. He referred to disputes with the party leadership due to his jokes. In the court proceedings on 27 October 1946, he was sentenced to 2,000 Reichsmark. Weiss Ferdl died of heart failure in Munich in 1949, only one year after the other great comic Karl Valentin. The 65-year-old Ferdl was buried in the Solln forest cemetery. He was 65. In Bavaria, he is still celebrated alongside Karl Valentin. His famous song 'Ein Wagen von der Linie Acht' (A Carriage from Line 8) is still played to this day. It is a mocking song about the Munich people and the trams in Munich. A fountain, centrally located at Munich's Viktualienmarkt, is dedicated to his memory. The Weiß-Ferdl-Mittelschule, a secondary school in Altötting, has a retired blue Munich Tram carriage in the southeast corner of the schoolyard.
German postcard by Das Programm von Heute für Film und Theater / Ross Verlag, Berlin. Photo: Bavaria. Weiss Ferdl in Der arme Millionär/The Poor Millionaire (Joe Stöckel, 1939).
German postcard. Multi-picture postcard from left under Weiss Ferdl as a Baptist brother in the silent drama Hinter Klostermauern/Behind Monastery Walls (Franz Seitz, 1928), as the Burgomaster in Der unsterbliche Lump/The Immortal Vagabond (Gustav Ucicky, Joe May, 1930), as Staudinger in Links der Isar – rechts der Spree/Left of the Isar, Right of the Spree (Franz Seitz, 1929) and as master butcher X. Huber in 'Der Dickschädel'.
Sources: Thomas Staedeli (Cyranos), Volkssaengenrei (German), Wikipedia (English and German) and IMDb.
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