For the German playwright (1896–1977), see Carl Zuckmayer.Carl Mayer (20 November 1894, Graz – 1 July 1944, London) was an Austrian screenplay writer who wrote or co-wrote the screenplays to The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920), The Haunted Castle (1921), Der Letzte Mann (1924), Tartuffe (1926), Sunrise (1927) and 4 Devils (1928), the last five being films directed by F. W. Murnau.Mayer was the son of a stock speculator who committed suicide, forcing the young Carl to leave school at 15, and go to work as a secretary. Mayer moved from Graz to Innsbruck and then Vienna, where he worked as a dramatist. The events of World War I turned him into a pacifist.In 1917, Mayer went to Berlin, where he worked at the small Residenztheater. He befriended Gilda Langer, a leading actress of the theater and fell in love with her. He wrote the script for Dr. Caligari (1920) with Hans Janowitz, and planned to have Langer star in the movie. However, Langer became engaged to director Paul Czinner, then Langer died unexpectedly early in 1920. (The role went to actress Lil Dagover instead.) Mayer paid for Langer's tombstone and had notes from Wagner's Tristan und Isolde engraved on it.Kabinett led to Mayer working with many leading directors in Germany. He worked with F. W. Murnau on Der Letzte Mann (1924, known as The Last Laugh in the English-speaking world) in Germany, and he also wrote the scenario for Murnau's Sunrise (1927), made during Murnau's stay in Hollywood. Mayer also co-wrote Berlin: Symphony of a Metropolis (1927) with Karl Freund and Walter Ruttmann.Shortly after working with Béla Balázs on the script for Das Blaue Licht (1932), which was directed by Leni Riefenstahl, Mayer moved to London in 1933 to escape the Nazi regime. Being a Jew as well as a pacifist, he had to flee Germany when the Nazis came to power. In London, he worked as an adviser to the British film industry, and became friends with British film figures such as director and film writer Paul Rotha.In 1942, Mayer was diagnosed with cancer. Near the end of his life, he wanted to make a documentary film on London, but due to anti-German sentiment and difficult economic conditions, he was unable to find a producer. His illness was treated somewhat ineptly due to war conditions and he died on 1 July 1944, poor and almost forgotten, having only 23 pounds in cash and two books. He was buried at Highgate Cemetery in London and his epitaph reads "Pioneer in the art of the cinema. Erected by his friends and fellow workers". The city of Graz has named a prize after him.
Carl Mayer wrote his last screenplays for the German film at the beginning of the 30s. Afterwards he left Germany and went to France where he wrote the script for "Mélo" (1932). Three years later he moved to England where his last screenplays came into being with "As You Like It" (1936), "Dreaming Lips" (1937) and "The Fourth Estate" (1940).
2
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.
3
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.
4
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!"".
5
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.
6
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.
$1 Million
