Finding Aid for the Fritzi Massary correspondence
6035
Michaela Ullmann, Lisa Ebiner Gavit
USC Libraries Special Collections
2013
Doheny Memorial Library 206
3550 Trousdale Parkway
Los Angeles, California 90089-0189
specol@usc.edu
Contributing Institution:
USC Libraries Special Collections
Title: Fritzi Massary correspondence
Creator:
Massary, Fritzi
Creator:
Oldak, Violet
Creator:
Frank, Liesl
Identifier/Call Number: 6035
Identifier/Call Number: 1889
Physical Description:
0.21 Linear Feet
1 box
Date (inclusive): 1934-1943
Abstract: This collection contains the correspondence of Fritzi Massary with her colleague and friend Violet Oldak. It also includes
one letter from Liesl Frank, Fritzi's daughter, to Violet Oldak; a newspaper clipping about Fritzi Massary; an enclosed letter
from Lili Darvas to Violet Oldak; a blank postcard featuring a publicity photograph of Massary; and a theater program. Violet
Oldak played the character Trudi in the original cast of Operette by Noel Coward and Fritzi Massary played Liesl Haren. They
became friends during this time and stayed in touch afterwards.
Language of Material:
English
.
Scope and Contents
Letters between Fritzi Massary and Violet Oldak. Both women were in the production regarding the original production of the
Operette by Noel Coward. The collection also includes one letter from Fritzi Massary's daughter, Liesl Frank, to Violet Oldak;
a newspaper clipping about Fritzi Massary; an enclosed letter from Lili Darvas to Violet Oldak; a blank postcard featuring
a publicity photograph of Massary; and a theater program.
Acquisition
Donated to USC by Caroline Mullan, a niece of Peter Oldak, Violet Oldak's son, in March 2013.
Biographical/Historical note
Violet Oldak was the daughter of Felix and Maria Clara Hedwig Wagner (nee Bartsch) who were German immigrants to Britain in
the 1890s. They changed their name to Warner at one point. Felix died in 1913. Violet Oldak married Felix Oldak. She also
had a brother named Arthur.
Fritzi Massary (born March 31, 1882, in Vienna, Austria, died January 30, 1969, in Los Angeles, California) was an Austrian-American
actress and soprano singer. Born as Friederike Massaryk, she was a leading operetta singer in Berlin and Vienna. By 1912 she
was established as the premier diva of her generation, and was known simply as "die Massary (the Massary)". She was closely
associated with Oscar Straus, creating roles in six of his operettas, notably Der letzte Walzer in 1920. Despite her 1903
conversion to Protestantism, Massary fled Germany in late 1932 because of her Jewish heritage. She traveled through Austria
and Switzerland to London, where she was befriended by Sir Noël Coward and starred in his Operette in 1938. In February 1939
she moved to Beverly Hills, California, where she lived until her death in 1969. Massary was married twice, first to an eye
doctor Bernhard Pollack, and then in 1917 to the Austrian actor Max Pallenberg (1877-1934), who died in a plane crash in Karlsbad.
Massary had a relationship withy Karl-Kuno Rollo Graf von Coudenhove (1887-1940), with whom she had her only child, Elisabeth
Maria Karl (called Liesl) (1903-1979). Liesl later married the author Bruno Frank. Though Coudenhove was Liesl's father, Massary
was never married to him. In fact, Coudenhove's family was nobility and threatened him with a mental institution to dissuade
him from marrying an actress.
(Source: Wikipedia)
Violet Oldak played the character Trudi in the original cast of Operette by Noel Coward and Fritzi Massary played Liesl Haren.
They became friends during this time and stayed in touch afterwards.
Conditions Governing Access
COLLECTION STORED OFF-SITE. Advance notice required for access.
Conditions Governing Use
All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Manuscripts Librarian.
Permission for publication is given on behalf of Special Collections as the owner of the physical items and is not intended
to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained.
Preferred Citation
[Box/folder# or item name], Fritzi Massary correspondence, Collection no. 6035, Special Collections, USC Libraries, University
of Southern California
Processing Information
The collection was rehoused and described by Michaela Ullmann and Lisa Ebiner Gavet in 2013.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Actresses -- England -- Archival resources
Actresses -- California -- Los Angeles -- Archival resources
Correspondence
Picture postcards
Theater programs
Frank, Liesl -- Correspondence
Oldak, Violet -- Correspondence
Massary, Fritzi -- Correspondence
Darvas, Lilli, 1902-1974 -- Correspondence
Box 1, Folder 1
Correspondence: Fritzi Massary to Violet Oldak 443642
September 7, 1943
Box 1, Folder 2
Correspondence: Fritzi Massary to Violet Oldak 443643
January 21, 1943
Box 1, Folder 3
Correspondence: Fritzi Massary to Violet Oldak 443644
February 6, 1942
Box 1, Folder 4
Correspondence: Fritzi Massary to Violet Oldak 443645
February 16, 1941
Box 1, Folder 5
Correspondence: Fritzi Massary to Violet Oldak 443646
July 9, 1940
Box 1, Folder 6
Correspondence: Fritzi Massary to Violet Oldak 443647
Box 1, Folder 7
Correspondence: Fritzi Massary to Violet Oldak 443648
Box 1, Folder 8
Postcard from Fritzi and Violet to Violet's Family 443649
April 8, 1937
Box 1, Folder 9
Correspondence: Liesl Frank to Violet Oldak 443650
Box 1, Folder 10
Newspaper clipping about Fritzi Massary: "A Piano in a Castle - and a Star Came Back" 443651
Box 1, Folder 11
Correspondence: Fritzi Massary to Violet Oldak
1937-09-15
Box 1, Folder 12
Correspondence: Fritzi Massary to Violet Oldak - with enclosed letter from Lili Darvas to Violet Oldak
1934-02-12
1937-09-21
Box 1, Folder 13
Correspondence: Fritzi Massary to Violet Oldak
1937-09-28
Box 1, Folder 14
Blank postcard with publicity photograph of Fritzi Massary
undated
Box 1, Folder 15
Miss Irene Vanbrugh's Jubilee Matinee - theater program
1938-06-20
