Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More - The Iffland Ring

Starting point is 00:00:00 August Wilhelm Ifland was one of the finest German actors in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. That fact alone would probably not make him worthy of a podcast episode. What does make him worthy of a podcast episode is a ring that bears his name, which has been passed down from actor to actor for over 200 years. It is a tradition that is still ongoing today. Learn more about the Iflan ring and the very odd tradition surrounding it on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. What if your perceptions about the past were wrong? ThruLine is a podcast that takes you back in time to uncover the parts of the story that may have gone unnoticed. It effectively turned day into night.

Starting point is 00:00:54 And how it shaped the world now. Time travel with us every week on the ThruLine podcast from NPR. I have to confess up front that this might be one of the oddest episodes of the podcast I've ever done. I had some doubt as to if I should even do it. The reason why I had doubts isn't because it's scandalous or anything like that, but rather the topic is one that is so obscure I wasn't sure it was worth doing. Then I realized the name of the show and the fact that I have hundreds of episodes I have to do every year and figure it I might as well just do it.

Starting point is 00:01:30 I'm guessing the vast majority of you listening are not familiar with the Iflan ring. If you are familiar with it, you are probably living in a German-speaking country. but even then, most people living in a German-speaking country probably don't know what the Iflan Ring is. The Iflan Ring is named after August Wilhelm Iflin, who by all accounts, was one of the greatest German actors of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. He started his career in 1779 in Mannheim and worked his way up the ladder until he became the director of the Prussian National Theater in Berlin and was made responsible for all stage presentations performed for the royal family. The thing about actors from this period is that we have no clue really how good they were or how they performed because there was no way to capture their performances. Another great 19th century actor? John Wilkes Booth. But that's another story.

Starting point is 00:02:20 Anyway, Iflin was significant enough to get a street named after him in Berlin. He died in 1814, but before he died, according to legend, he was given a small diamond-encrusted ring made with his profile in the center by arguably the greatest German playwright of all time. Johann Wolfgang von Gerta Many of the details around the foundation of the tradition are a bit sketchy, but supposedly in 1814, just before his death, at one of his last performances, Iflan gave the ring to another actor, Ludwig Devriand. The idea of passing down a ring supposedly came from a German play from this period called Nathan the Wise. In it there's a parable about a ring which has passed from father to son for generations.

Starting point is 00:03:01 Devrient, like Ifland, was considered one of the great actors of his era. When he died in 1832, he passed the ring along to his nephew, Emil Defriant, who by all accounts wasn't that great of an actor. At his death in 1872, he passed the ring on to Theodore During, who was also considered a fine but not great actor. He held the ring for only six years before he bequeathed it to Friedrich Hasseh in 1878. It was with Hossa that the history of the ring became more clear. Some people think that Hasa actually commissioned the ring for himself

Starting point is 00:03:33 and made up the entire backstory. However, there is little to no evidence for this. Hasa solidified the tradition of passing the ring to the person who was considered the greatest German-speaking stage actor. The theory goes that only a genius can recognize a genius. Hasa died in 1911 and wrote a letter dated 1908, which he gave the ring to Albert Bosserman. By all accounts, Bosserman was a great actor and didn't even know Hasa that well, but Hasa recognized him as the greatest German actor of the time. In the letter Hasse wrote to Bosserman, he said, quote, Take the ring, dear sir, Bosserman, wear it you will forever remain worthy of this rare award.

Starting point is 00:04:11 In time, you will bestow the ring to that Thespian that you consider the fittest, and finally remember sometimes your old comrades, end quote. Bosserman supposedly never actually wore the ring. He named three different actors to get the ring, but he outlived all three of them. When the third man Alexander Mosey died in 1935, he supposedly placed the ring. ring on his coffin to be cremated with him because he now considered it to be cursed. However, the director of the National Theater in Vienna, Herman Robling, saved the ring by grabbing it from the coffin. The ring was held at the Austrian National Library in Vienna.

Starting point is 00:04:46 In 1946, they had a meeting with Bosterman and he refused to take the ring back or name a successor. With this, the Austrian National Theater became the de facto caretaker and overseer of the tradition. Bosterman died in 1952 without assigning a recipient. So, for the only only one of the only time, time in the ring's history, in 1954, it was given on the basis of a meeting held by the Austrian Actors Guild. They awarded it to Werner Krauss. It was in 1954 that the formal rules regarding the ring were established. The first rule is that the recipient must declare a successor within three months of receiving the ring to the Austrian National Theater. The selection will be held in secret until the death of the holder, or unless a successor should pass away and another successor has to be named.

Starting point is 00:05:28 Second, if there is no successor named, then a committee of the Austrian National Theater will appoint one. And finally, the ring is the property of the Austrian government, but the next holder of the ring will always be determined by the current holder. Krause probably wasn't the best choice to give the ring to. While he was most certainly an accomplished actor, he was also very much a Nazi. He was a cultural ambassador for Nazi Germany and performed in anti-Semitic propaganda films like Suss the Jew. Krauss only held the ring for five years and died in 1959. He then awarded the ring to Yosef Meinrad. According to his widow, he wanted to leave the ring to the Austrian actress Alma Seidler,

Starting point is 00:06:09 but he felt bound by custom to leave it to a man, and more on Alma Seidler in a bit. It was unknown who Minrad's original choice was, but he changed his will in 1984, and when he died in 1996, his choice was the Swiss actor Bruno Gans. Unless you're German, you're probably aren't familiar with any of the names I've mentioned so far in this episode. However, whether you know it or not, you are probably familiar with Bruno Gans. If you've ever seen the meme videos where Hitler is in the bunker and he starts yelling at his subordinates, but they put incorrect English subtitles over it, the person playing Hitler is Bruno Gans. Gons passed away in 2019 after holding the ring for 23 years.

Starting point is 00:06:49 His appointed successor and the current holder of the ring is Jens Herzer, who was only 47 at the time he received it. I mentioned before that Werner Krauss wanted to give the ring to Alma Seidler. When Seidler passed away in 1978, the Austrian government decided just to create a new ring using this lineage that would honor the greatest German-speaking female actress, and it was called the Alma Seidler Ring. The first ring was given in 1979 to Paula Wesley, who was a popular actress in post-war Austria. She died in the year 2000 at the age of 93, and passed the ring along to the Swiss actress Anne-Marie

Starting point is 00:07:24 Ringer. She passed away in 2014 at the age of 89 and handed the ring down to its current recipient, the Austrian actress Regina Fritch. Both of the current ring holders are in their 50s, so it may very well be decades before we see another ring transfer. There are a lot of awards and honors which are given to actors. In America, there are the Oscar and Emmy Awards, and in Germany there's the Lola Awards. The Ifland and Siedler rings, however, are very unique. Not only are they some of the oldest awards in acting, but they are all. also traditions unlike anything else in the world. Everything Everywhere Daily is an Airwave Media podcast.

Starting point is 00:08:04 The executive producer is Darcy Adams. The associate producers are Thor Thompson and Peter Bennett. Today's review comes from listener Bing Jimenez 69 over at Podchaser. They write, If you have a hunger for knowledge, this podcast is the perfect international buffet. A little bit of flavor from everywhere. Just like a buffet, you may tend to binge, but you won't have the regret afterwards. Keep up the good work.

Starting point is 00:08:26 Thank you, Bing Jimenez. If podcasts are a buffet, then I like to consider myself a high-end Vegas buffet on prime rib or seafood night. Just remember not to fill up on the carbs because that's how they make all their money. Remember, if you leave a review over at Podchaser until the end of April, they'll make a donation to help feed Ukrainian refugees, which will be matched by several other podcasting companies. At first on, I'm notting and betrowned. It was an underholler forat-goy of the Dutch folk. but all these are letters

Starting point is 00:09:02 will be churned. With your own blood will they be churned. She will be sofer in their

Starting point is 00:09:09 own blood.

Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More - The Iffland Ring

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