- Born
- Died
- Height5′ 1¾″ (1.57 m)
- Carl Meyer was the son of a stock speculator who committed suicide. He had to leave school at 15 to work as a secretary. Mayer moved away from Graz to Innsbruck and then Vienna, where he worked as a dramatist. Meanwhile, the events of the First World War turned him into a pacifist.
In 1917 he went to Berlin, where he worked at the small Residenztheater. He befriended Gilda Langer, the leading actress of the theatre and probably fell in love with her. He was tired of his job at the theatre when he wrote the script for "Das Kabinett des Doktor Caligari" (1920) together with Hans Janowitz. It is thought that Gilda Langer was supposed to star in the movie, but she suddenly engaged herself with director Paul Czinner and then died unexpectedly early in 1920. Mayer took care of her tombstone and notes from Wagner's "Tristan and Isolde" were engraved in it (this was found out by Olaf Brill who rediscovered the tombstone in 1995).
"Das Kabinett" made Mayer famous and soon he was a leading film writer, working with the best directors in Germany. He worked with F.W. Murnau on "Der Letzte Man" (1924, known as "The Last Laugh" in the USA) and he also wrote the scenario for Murnau's "Sunrise" (1927). But he was a perfectionist who worked slowly and this frequently resulted in conflicts or financial trouble.
Being a Jew as well as a pacifist, he had to flee Germany in 1933 after the Nazis came to power. He went to England, where he worked as an adviser to the British film industry. In London he became friends with director Paul Rotha.
In 1942 he was diagnosed with cancer. Near the end of his life he wanted to make a documentary on London, but due to anti-German sentiments he was unable to find a producer. His illness was maltreated and he died in 1944, poor and almost forgotten. All he left was 23 pounds and two books. He was buried at Highgate Cemetery and his epitaph reads 'Pioneer in the art of the cinema. Erected by his friends and fellow workers.' The city of Graz named a prize after him.- IMDb Mini Biography By: androom
- Somber themes
- He was responsible for writing exceptional pictures such as "The Last Laughter" and "Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans", both produced in collaboration with legendary Director F.W. Murnau. Their partnership is widely regarded by critics as one of the key Writer/Director partnerships in the History of the Moving Image.
- When the director Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau went to the USA with the script of Carl Mayer to "Sunrise" (27) in his pocket, the movie became a big hit in the USA as well and Carl Mayer's popularity increased again.
- Paul Rotha, friend of Mayer's London years, who described him thus: "An autumn leaf floating on a soft wind; always a smile in those eyes. That was the image of Carl which I carried with me when not in his company, and that is the image I have today -- nearly thirty-six years after his death. He never wore a hat to cover his mass of luxurious hair. Sometimes he resembled Beethoven. His clothing was always nondescript. You could never hear him walk. He would just appear, with the same smiling greeting, "Hallo, Paul!"".
- The screenwriter Carl Mayer had a difficult start into the life of an adult. When his father committed suicide after bad speculations Carl Mayer had to support the livelihood of his family with occasional jobs. Some of these jobs led him to the stage where he first was active as an extra and later also as an actor at small theaters. There he was also a dramatic adviser.
- Carl Mayer wrote his first screenplay for "Die Frau im Käfig" (1919) and shortly afterwards he had a big hit with his screenplay for "Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari" (1920) which he wrote together with Hans Janowitz.
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