Maria Paudler

German actress Maria Paudler (1903-1990) was a popular star of the late silent cinema. She also played the leading role in the first German TV-film.


French postcard by Cinémagazine-Edition, Paris, no. 852. Photo: Manassé, Wien.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 91/4. Photo: Aafa Film. Publicity still for Der Bettelstudent / The Beggar Student (Jacob Fleck, Luise Fleck, 1927) with Ernst Verebes.


Austrian postcard by Iris-Verlag, no. 5011. Photo: AAFA Film / Lux Film-Verleih. Maria Paudler and Fritz Kampers in Heiratsfieber / Marriage Fever (Rudolf Walther-Fein, 1928).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 3583/1, 1928-1929. Photo: Manassé, Wien. Caption: Doppelbildnis (double portrait).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 3583/3, 1928-1929. Photo: Atelier Manassé, Wien. Collection: Geoffrey Donaldson Institute.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 3593/1, 1928-1929. Photo: Aafa Film. Possibly referring to the film Mein Freund Harry / My Friend Harry (Max Obal, Rudolf Walther-Fein, 1928) starring Maria Paudler and Harry Liedtke.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 4179/1, 1929-1930. Photo: Aafa Film.


German postcard by Cicero Film. Distribution Deutsche Tonfilme.
The 'fine fleur' of late silent German cinema stars, united for a photo for an early sound film company. Standing left to right: Francis/Franz Lederer, Walter Rilla, Theodor Loos, Camilla Horn, Fritz Rasp and Walter Janssen. Sitting left to right: Paul Heidemann, Charlotte Susa, Betty Amann, Olga Tschechova, Maria Paudler and Jack Trevor. Might be publicity for the early sound comedy Die grosse Sehnsucht / The Great Longing (Stefan Szekely/Steve Sekely, 1930), in which all acted, mostly as themselves - only Loos and Horn played characters. The plot was an excuse for 35 stars to debut in a talking picture.

Harry Liedtke

Maria Paudler was born in Bodenbach, Austria-Hungary (now Podmokly, Czech Republic) in 1903. She was the daughter of an architect. She studied at the Academy of Music and Performing Arts in Prague. At the age of 17, she began her theatre career as Gretchen in 'Faust'. In 1923, Leopold Jessner invited her to Berlin to be the partner of matinee idol Alexander Moissi at the Preußische Staatstheater.

From 1925 on, she appeared in her first films, such as Der Jüngling aus der Konfektion / The Lad From Manufacture (Richard Löwenbein, 1926) with Curt Bois, Madame wünscht keine Kinder / Madame Doesn't Want Children (Alexander Korda, 1926) with Harry Liedtke, and Der Veilchenfresser / The Violet Eater (Friedrich Zelnik/Frederic Zelnik, 1926) starring Lil Dagover.

She then starred opposite Harry Liedtke in Der Bettelstudent / The Beggar Student (Jakob Fleck, Luise Fleck, 1927). Other silent films were Die weisse Spinne / The White Spider (Carl Boese, 1927), Orientexpress / Orient Express (Wilhelm Thiele, 1927), and Das letzte Fort / The Last Fort (Kurt Bernhardt/Curtis Bernhardt, 1928).

Maria Paudler was married to the actor Georg Czimag. After the separation, she was engaged to her frequent co-star Harry Liedtke.

In the 1930s, she concentrated on her stage work in Berlin and Vienna. She only played secondary parts in films like Zwei Welten / Two Worlds (Ewald André Dupont, 1930), Der falsche Ehemann / The Wrong Husband(Johannes Guter, 1931), and Junges Blut / Young Blood (Johannes Guter, 1936). She also played the leading role in the first German TV film Adrian, der Tulpendieb / Adrian, the Thief of Tulips in 1938.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 91/2. Photo: Aafa. Maria Paudler and Agnes Esterhazy in Der Bettelstudent / The Beggar Student (Jacob & Luise Fleck, 1927).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 91/6. Photo: Aafa-Film. Maria Paudler in Der Bettelstudent / The Beggar Student (Jacob Fleck, Luise Fleck, 1927).


Austrian postcard by Iris-Verlag, no. 5012. Photo: Phoebus Film / Verleih: Philipp & Co. Maria Paudler and Walter Rilla in Die weiße Spinne / The White Spider (Carl Boese, 1927).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 1777/3, 1927-1928. Photo: Filmhaus Bruckmann.


German postcard by Ross-Verlag, no. 3122/2, 1928-1929. Photo: Aafa Film.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 3122/3, 1928-1929. Photo: Aafa-Film. Maria Paudler in Heiratsfieber / Marriage Fever (Rudolf Walther-Fein, 1928).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 3273/1, 1928-1929. Photo: Aafa Film.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 3604/1, 1928-1929. Photo: Aafa Film.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 3849/2, 1928-1929. Photo: Aafa Film.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 4166/1, 1929-1930. Photo: Alex Binder.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 4687/1, 1929-1930. Photo: Atelier Böhm, Berlin.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 5371/1, 1930-1931. Photo: Deutsche Universal-Film. Maria Paudler and Walter Rilla in Die große Sehnsucht / The Great Desire (Steve Sekely, 1930).

Supporting parts

After the war, Maria Paudler was kept prisoner in the Czech Republic and was only set free after an order of the Red Army. She worked for a few years in Dresden as an actress and a director.

From 1949 to 1951, she had to recover from a serious car accident. She continued her film career in Berlin, and acted in supporting parts in such films as Einmal am Rhein / Once at the Rhine (Helmut Weiss, 1952), the Heinz Rühmann comedy Keine Angst vor grossen Tieren / No Fear For Big Animals (Ulrich Erfurth, 1953), and Ferien auf Immenhof / Holiday at Immenhof (Hermann Leitner, 1957).

In later years, she often appeared on TV, like in such crime series as Der Kommissar / The Police Inspector (1974) starring Erik Ode and in Polizeiinspektion 1 / Police Station 1 (1985), which was to be her last role.

In 1968, she was awarded a Bambi, and in 1982, the Filmband in Gold. She published her memoirs in 1977 with the title 'Auch Lachen will gelernt sein' (Laughing Also Has To Be Learned).

Maria Paudler died in 1990 in München. Her second husband was actor and director Kurt Skalden (1895-1975), with whom she had a son, actor Norbert Skalden (1936-1981), who committed suicide. She rests in the cemetery at Perlacher Forst.


French postcard by Europe, no. 482. Photo: Aafa-Film.


German promotion card by H.C. Stöckel, Hannover-Linden, for Matador Sportwolle. Photo: Ernst Schneider, Berlin.


Dutch postcard by City Film, no. 98.


Dutch postcard by City Film, no. 100.


Dutch postcard by City Film, no. 102.


Vintage postcard, no. 3795. Photo: Segall-Film. Gustav Fröhlich and Maria Paudler in So lang' noch ein Walzer vom Strauß erklingt (1931).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 6284/1, 1931-1932. Sent by mail in the Netherlands. Photo: Alex Binder.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 6311/1, 1931-1932. Photo: Atelier Schenker.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 7360/1, 1932-1933. Collection: Didier Hanson.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 7967/1, 1932-1933. Photo: Atelier Marion, Berlin.


German collector card in the series 'Vom Werden deutscher Filmkunst - Der Tonfilm', album no. 11, picture no. 53. Photo: Terra-Film / Ross Verlag. Maria Paudler and Harry Liedtke in Wenn am Sonntagabend die Dorfmusik spielt / When the Village Band Plays on a Sunday Evening (Charles Klein, 1933).

Sources: Thomas Staedeli (Cyranos), Philippe Pelletier (CinéArtistes - Now defunct), Wikipedia (German), and IMDb.

Der Bettelstudent (1927)

Der Bettelstudent/The Beggar Student (Jacob Fleck and Luise Fleck, 1927) is a silent film operetta, a popular genre of the Weimar cinema. It is an adaptation of Carl Millöcker's popular operetta The Beggar Student, but without the music. The cast is lead by Harry Liedtke, Agnes Esterhazy and Maria Paudler.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 91/1. Photo: Aafa. Publicity still for Der Bettelstudent/The Beggar Student (Jacob Fleck, Luise Fleck, 1927) with Agnes Esterhazy and Harry Liedtke.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 91/2. Photo: Aafa. Publicity still for Der Bettelstudent/The Beggar Student (Jacob & Luise Fleck, 1927) with Maria Paudler and Agnes Esterhazy.

One of the triumphs of the European musical theatre of its era

I've never seen this film version of Der Bettelstudent/The Beggar Student, but the publicity photos on this series of Ross Verlag postcards are enticing. The film's sets were done by Botho Hoefer and Hans Minzloff under the art direction of Rudolf Walther-Fein and the camera work was done by Edoardo Lamberti and Guido Seeber. All five did an elegant job.

The cast is also promising. Harry Liedtke plays the lead as Simon the beggar student, and his leading ladies are the beautiful Agnes Esterhazy as countess Laura and Maria Paudler as her sister Bronislawa. Furthermore there is Ida Wüst as Gräfin Nowalska, the mother of the girls, Ernö Verebes as Jan, another student, and there are the scene stealers Hans Junkermann, Kurt Vespermann and Hermann Picha as the authorities.

Walter Reisch wrote the screenplay for Der Bettelstudent/The Beggar Student (Jacob Fleck, Luise Fleck, 1927). He gave another direction to the story of the operetta by Carl Millöcker. As in the original, the film is situated in Krakow, 1704. Poland is under the rule of the unpopular Saxon king, August II. Two poor, revolting students Simon and Jan have been jailed by Colonel Ollendorf. But they can trick the officer and conquer the hearts of the two daughters of Countess Palmatica Nowalska. But at the end of this cheerful film version, even Colonel Ollendorf does not remain empty-handed. Author Reisch gave Ollendorf the countess as a wife.

Carl Millöcker's operetta with a libretto by F. Zell and Richard Genée was premiered at the Theater an der Wien in Vienna, on 6 December 1882. It was an immense success. In Berlin, the Friedrich-Wilhelmstädtisches Theater’s production proved a sensation, racing past its 200th performance in seven months and in Hungary the reception won by A koldusdiák was equally as violent. The operetta was one of the triumphs of the European musical theatre of its era, and was played regularly throughout Europe and the US for many years. There have been nearly 5,000 productions since 1882.

The operetta has been filmed at least six times. The first adaptation, a silent 1922 film by Hans Steinhoff is considered lost. Der Bettelstudent (1927) by the husband and wife team of Jacob & Luise Fleck was the second silent version. In 1931, sound adaptations in both an English and a German version followed, The Beggar Student (Victor Hanbury, John Harvel, 1931) and Der Bettelstudent (Victor Janson, 1931). In the latter starred Hans Heinz Bollmann, Jarmila Novotná, and Truus van Aalten.

Two other German sound versions later followed, Der Bettelstudent (Georg Jacoby, 1936) with Johannes Heesters and Marika Rökk, and Der Bettelstudent (Werner Jacobs, 1956) starring Gerhard Riedmann and Waltraut Haas. The most recent The Beggar Student to come to the screen did so in Hungary in 1977, directed by László Seregi. Local operetta star Marika Németh played Countess Palmatica. It has also been adapted for German television, and the operetta continues to be performed on stage.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 91/3. Photo: Aafa. Publicity still for Der Bettelstudent/The Beggar Student (Jacob Fleck, Luise Fleck, 1927) with Agnes Esterhazy and Harry Liedtke.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 91/4. Photo: Aafa Film. Publicity still for Der Bettelstudent/The Beggar Student (Jacob Fleck, Luise Fleck, 1927) with Maria Paudler and Ernö (or Ernst) Verebes.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 91/5. Photo: Aafa. Publicity still for Der Bettelstudent/The Beggar Student (Jacob Fleck, Luise Fleck, 1927) with Agnes Esterhazy. Collection: Didier Hanson.

Sources: Kurt Gänzl (Operetta Research Center), Wikipedia (German and English), and IMDb.