16 • Friday, May 15, 1981 THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS LIFE'S SPECIAL EVENTS 1) S HOULD BE RECORDED FOREVER VIDEO TAPE YOUR SPECIAL OCCASION • Weddings • Bar Mitzvas • Private Parties • Anniversaries • Birthdays • Etc. See Our FULL-SERVICE Studio LEGAL TAPES, INC. Established 10 years 22530 W. 8 Mile Rd. 35-Video or 353-3355 1 Southfield `Servus Du' Recounts Life of Robert Stolz "Servus Du," the tradi- tional Austrian greeting, is also the title of the fascinat- ing memoirs of a world famous musician whosd life and work spanned empires, revolutions and continents. Born in 1880 in the. old Austro-Hungarian Empire, Robert Stolz grew up to be- come-Vienna's last waltz and operetta king. He knew everyone from the last two Hapsburg em- perors to Marilyn Monroe and Albert Einstein. Nor was he a stranger to adven- ture. The "Pure Aryan" melody king of early Ger- man sound films, Stolz re- peatedly risked his life to smuggle Jewish and politi- cal fugitives -from the Ges- tapo across the border to Austria. After the "Au- schluss" in 1938 he carved out a new career in New York and Hollywood and then spent his last years composing, conducting and recording for millions of fans in Europe, North and THIS SATURDAY ONLY! THE INCREDIBLE SAVIN AUCTION ON COPIERS. That's right, an auction on copier systems that's destined to make history! This Saturday only at 10:00 am at the Detroit area branch of the Savin Corporation. Savin has grown so big they must move into larger quarters and that means you can save hundreds of dollars on new and used Savin, and other used national brand copiers. The doors open- at 10:00 am, and the auction starts at noon, this Saturday only, May 16th, at the Detroit area branch of the Savin Corporation. Refreshments will be served and on the spot financing is available. 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This is his story, told in his own warm, amusing words and those of his wife to author Aram Bakshian Jr. In the setting of his ex- citing century (1880-1975) Robert Stolz, the last great master of the "Silver Age" of Viennese operetta and songs con- fides his loves, misadven- tures and tragedies, and also his triumphs as a composer and conductor, his collaboration with celebrated singers, direc- tors and actors, and his friendship and conversa- tions with musical im- mortals including Brahms, Bruckner, Puc- cini, Johann Strauss and Franz Lehar. Richly illustrated with 130 photographs and fac- similies, the text gives the first full portrait of the Vie- nnese Waltz King many people thought of only as a lucky, carefree child of the muse. But there was more to Robert Stolz. Cruelty and injustice also weighed more heavily on him than private cares. Despite his "Pure Aryan" status, the encouragement of the Nazi authorities and the popular- ity of his melodies such as "Two Hearts in Three Quar- ter Time," "Don't Ask Me Why" (immortalized by Marlene Dietrich and Richard Tauber), "The Woods of Vienna Are Cal- ling" and hundreds of other global hits popularized in early German sound films, Robert Stolz helped scores of persecuted Jews and politi- cal refugees to escape from Hitler's thugs. In the 1930s he was divid- ing his time between his home in Vienna and Berlin where he composed scores for films. He and Franz Lehar were the only two in- ternationally known com- posers of the day in Ger- many who were not Jewish. A friend asked Stolz to help a woman who wanted to flee the country. She had no money, no papers, and her husband had been thrown into prison. Stolz hid the woman and her two children under blankets in the back of his very large and very elegant car, taped the detested swastika to the side, sat up front with his chauffeur and headed' for the Germany-Austria border. At the checkpoint Stolz engaged the guard in such an amiable conversation that the guard, flustered -at meeting a celebrity, never bothered to check the car. Stolz was so elated that he made 21 more rescue trips between 1933 and 1938 — feats for which the Israeli government later honored him. After Hitler annexed Au- stria in 1938, Stolz' Vienna flat became a haven for Jews. Humanitarian efforts ended when his brother Max phoned in the middle of the night. Max, who was a member of the Nazi Party, ordered Robert to get rid of his Jewish guests or "I'll come with the Gestapok and put them where they belong and you with them!" Robert replied, "You go to hell and your Fuhrer with you!" Then he fled to Par-is. In Paris, with the out- break of the Second World War, his fourth wife abandoned him, tak- ing all of his papers and possessions and he was thrown into a French interment camp as an enemy alien without documents. Friendless, penniless and seriously ill, he was rescued by "Einzi," a young student who would become his adoring wife and in- separable companion for the remaining 35 years of his life. Einzi's real name was Yvonne Louise Ul- rich. The final chapter of Robert's exile took him to America — New York and Hollywood. Here in exile Robert Stolz was reunited with old friends like the legendary Max Reinhardt and the "Diva of the Cen- tury," Maria Jeritza. He also made new friends including Igor Stravinsky, Charlie Chaplin, Mae West, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Marilyn Monioe, Fred As- taire, W. C. Fields, Leonard Bernstein, Judy Garland, Clark Gable and Orson Wel- les. Stolz had guest conductor appearances with every m-ajor orchestra in the United States and two Oscar nominations for film scores, and he had a senti- mental return to ruined .post-war Vienna where, to- gether with his beloved Einzi, he began yet another career reviving the moreale of a crushed Germany and Austria and providing popular concert, theater, re- cord and film music. In her epilogue, Einzi Stolz describes their Vie- nnese homecoming, the tense tragi-comic setting of occupied Vienna, and the long hard road to new freedom and prosperity. As director of his cele- brated "Night in Vienna" concerts throughout Europe, America and the Middle East, as a master of modern recording studio- technique, and as the last living link • to Johann Strauss ever to direct "Fledermaus" in the Vienna Staatsoper, Robert Stolz ended his 95 years of hectic and highly dramatic life as -Europe's musical "Grand Old Man," actively conduct- ing and composing to the very end.