gb-003348-wl1336
type: RecordSet
archival history: Nothing is known of the custodial history prior to deposit
biographical history: Josa Morgan Ruffner née Lederer was born in 1910 to Professor Lederer, a famous surgeon and Baroness Zenetti of Venice. She was catholic. She studied for the theatre with Professor Arndt of the famous Burgtheater. She married the star of stage and screen, playwright and wit, Paul Morgan, beloved by pre-war Berlin. She joined him when he was under contract in Hollywood to MGM. When they returned, Hitler rose to power. Paul Morgan's Theater der Komiker was taken away and they left for Vienna. Josa started broadcasting about her American experiences and wrote regularly in the Sunday edition of"Das Wiener Journal" In 1938 Paul Morgan was arrested and sent to Dachau then Buchenwald where he was killed (according to Josa) by special orders of Hitler who could not forgive him for ridiculing him. Josa was imprisoned in 1940 by the French as the holder of a German passport and taken to a concentration camp in the Pyrenees. In 1944 she married Mr Joseph Ruffner III and became an American citizen. Later became estranged from him living in Munich and London. The actor Paul Morgan was born as Paul Morgenstern. He belonged to the great theater actors of his time. He appeared at the"Simplicissimu" in 1914 and founded together with Kurt Robitschek and <a href"http://www.cyranos.ch/smhans-e.ht">Max Hansen the Berliner"Kabarett der Komike". As an established theater actor he dared to make first steps in the new and disapproved-of medium, film. To his early movies belong"Der Herr ohne Wohnun" (15),"Die Reise um die Erde in 80 Tage" as well as <a href"http://www.cyranos.ch/metrop-e.htm#lan">Fritz Lang's successful productions"Halbblu" and"Die Spinne". In the 1920's there followed other very successful movies, among them"Die Herrin der Wel","Kurfürstendam","Hedda Gable","Die Brüder Schellenber","Wehe, wenn sie losgelasse","Der Stolz der Kompagni","Venus im Frac","Casanov" und"Mora". The popularity of Paul Morgan gained in importance in the 30's. He played in the following years in numer…
related material: See photo archive
conditions of access: Open
has beginning date: 1915-05-01
has end date: 1982-03-01
has or had holder: gb-003348
has or had identifier: 1
has or had some members with language: deu
has or had some members with language: eng
has or had subject: 1068
has or had subject: 1008
has or had subject: 695
has or had subject: 1159
has or had subject: 43
has or had subject: 381
has or had subject: 703
has record set type: Collection
identifier: WL1336
record resource extent: 2 boxes, 42 photos
scope and content: The papers consist of correspondence, draft play scripts, newspaper articles, scrapbooks, news cuttings, photographs and ephemera, which together document the lives of an Austrian Jewish actor who died at Buchenwald before the war and his wife who became a prominent journalist and socialite.
title: Morgan and Morgan-Ruffner papers