Werner Richard Heymann

“You don’t know me, but you've heard a lot of me already” were the words with which Heymann introduced melodies he played in the 1950s that everyone was familiar with. These included “Das gibt’s nur einmal” (Just Once For All Time), “Ein Freund, ein guter Freund” (Good Friends), “Das ist die Liebe der Matrosen” ( That’s How Sailors Love You), and “Irgendwo auf der Welt” (In a Year - in a Day). It is no wonder that, in the brief phase of the talking movies before 1933, he was UFA’s most successful film music composer. Born in 1896 in Königsberg, he began playing serious music and was one of the co-founders of literary-musical cabaret and general director of music at UFA in the times of the silent movies. After emigrating to France, he composed operettas, and then the music for more than 40 films in Hollywood, among these Lubitsch’s “Ninotchka”. When he returned to Germany, he was confronted with a very different situation to the one he had left. His eclectic family, his four wives and the balance he maintained between wit and humanitarianism are further highlights of this book.