Beate Hemmerlein

Nana – Memories of a nanny 1923 – 1975

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In 1923, as a very young woman of 22, Nana entered the service of Georg II Anton and Emy Mautner Markhof. Coming from the German noble family of Kittlitz, the Berliner was a trained baby nurse for the Empress Augusta Viktoria family and ended up in the Mautner Markhof household by chance, which she was never to leave until Emy’s death in 1974. Not only did three generations of “Mautners” grow up with her, she was also the closest confidante and experienced the severe economic crisis of the 1920s, the war years, the Russian occupation and the reconstruction together with the family. Her memories not only bring past times back to life, but also many characters.

Thank you Nana!

Nana bei der Ehrenrunde im Hof mit ihrem Moped, das sie zum 70. Geburtstag von Emy Mautner Markhof geschenkt bekommen hatte

Nanas Erinnerungen, 1923 – 1975

Beate Hemmerlein

Gaaden – family residence of Georg II Anton and Emilie „Emy“ Mautner Markhof

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At the end of the 1920s, Georg II Anton acquired a plot of land of around 80 hectares between Gaaden and Siegenfeld in Lower Austria. As neither electricity nor water connections were available, these had to be installed first and plans for a transformer in the forest and a well were submitted in 1927. From 1928 to 1931, he then built the “Landgut zwei Eichen” estate on a small hill, named after two large oak trees that still stand in the courtyard to this day. Originally, Gaaden was only intended as a summer residence. Unfortunately, Georg II was only able to enjoy the paradise he had created for a short time, as he died there on 16 September 1934. After his death, his widow Emy continued to live there and Gaaden, whose location was also ideally suited geographically, became a family center for all children and grandchildren.

Many vivid accounts of life in Gaaden can be found in the German edition of “Nana’s Memories”.

Georg II. Antons und Emys Landgut „Zwei Eichen“ in Gaaden/Wien

Georg II. Anton, Originalzeichung von R. v. Reifschneider, 1927

Beate Hemmerlein

The Hager advertising agency: When Manfred II Mautner Markhof was writing advertising history.

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Manfred II Mautner Markhof, also called “Professor” for short, was without doubt one of, if not THE leading founder of the Austrian media and advertising landscape. At a time when the multinational agency networks with multiple name, identity and personnel changes, one thinks back with sadness of the decades successfully managed owner agency, which could concentrate with stability and continuity on making their customers even more successful.

It is therefore not surprising that even twenty years after Die Hager officially closed its gates at Seilerststätte 13 forever, this milestone of innovative Austrian entrepreneurship is still being paid tribute to. Alexander Schönburg, founder and owner of the lifestyle magazine Notorious, expresses his reminiscence in the first episode of his “Mad Man Stories”.

 

Read article in German

 

More about the Hager advertising agency:

Brochure Hager Gesellschaft KG

Brochure Hager Life 1952 – 1992

 

Prof. Dr. h.c. Manfred II. Mautner Markhof at his desk in the Hager advertising agency

Hager door hanger in the 1950s and 1960s


Hager door hanger still in use in the 2020s

Beate Hemmerlein

“PAC- MAN™ Arcade Line” by Sophia Castell-Rüdenhausen

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Arcade Line by Sophia Castell-Rüdenhausen

With Sophia Marie Castell-Rüdenhausen, daughter of Theodor Heinrich Mautner Markhof and granddaughter of Manfred II Mautner Markhof, the creative potential of her father and grandfather will be continued in the next generation. After trainings and internships in Vienna, Florence, Munich, London and Madrid in the Fashion & Design sector, in 2018 she founded her company VIER with its headquarters in her new home in Germany.

Sophia’s passion is shoe design, especially men’s shoes, to which she also dedicated her launch collection. Their “Arcade Line” is not only a tribute to PAC- MAN™, the cult video game of the 80s, but also and above all a reinterpretation of the classic brogues. Each pair of VIER shoes is handcrafted in Portugal by a family company that has mastered the traditional craft of shoe making for generations and has perfected the Goodyear welt technique. Such welted shoes not only impress with their excellent manufacturing quality, but also with their special durability, stability of fit, high breathability and last but not least special ease of repair.

But Sophia’s shoes are not only characterized by excellent quality in production and materials, they have that certain something, the subtle twist that surprises. At first glance conservative, the “Arcade” reveals its small secrets in tiny details, which not only make the wearer happy but let him also feel a certain sense of independence and freedom in his professional uniform, the suit. The brand wants to meet the needs of men who are aware of their traditional role, who have integrated into it and adapted to it, but have retained their independence and freedom inside.

View Arcade Line

VIER shoes, “Iconic PAC- MAN™”, Collection Arcade Line

VIER shoes, “Iconic PAC- MAN™”, Collection Arcade Line

VIER shoes, “Iconic PAC- MAN™”, Collection Arcade Line

Beate Hemmerlein

Georg III and the Ethiopian adventure

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Since George III Mautner Markhof always endeavoured to set up companies abroad, he decided in 1937, at the end of the Italo-Ethiopian War, to acquire a dilapidated brewery in Addis Ababa. So the cousins ​​Georg III and Manfred I personally, as equal partners, took over the largest brewery in Africa, which was to be called San Giorgio in memory of Floridsdorf. Since this could only be done together with an Italian partner (it was decided in favour of a Roman lawyer) via a very complicated company structure, there were great difficulties starting and maintaining operations.

The brewery was in a sorry state. A desolate building with equally desolate machines awaited the new owners. In October 1937, machine foreman Weissenhofer from Schwechat was sent to Ethiopia with his son Wilhelm to carry out the necessary technical renovations. The equipment of the St. Georg Brewery, which had been closed, was used. The water quality was so miserable that it seemed downright impossible to brew a decent beer. Later it turned out that the African barley was also completely unsuitable, so that it had to be imported from Schwechat. Wilhelm Weissenhofer finally succeeded with three other Europeans and around twenty local workers to renovate the brewery and improve the water quality. From 1938 on it was possible to produce a decent beer, although the circumstances could not have been more difficult. The language barrier was enormous, it was only with great effort that it was possible to communicate to the locals what was expected of them. The competition was considerable; foreign beer imports stormed the market.

In 1940 Gerhard Mautner Markhof came to see if everything was going well and Afredo Conte della Feld (married to Erika Hebra, a great-granddaughter of Adolf Ignaz) was appointed director. Just when the first successes were showing and Amedeo Duke of Aosta, Vicerory of Italian East Africa, had honoured the brewery with his visit, the victorious English conquered the country in 1941, which in turn meant the end of the brewery. Emperor Haile Selassie returned to his country, declared the brewery confiscated on the spot and had it transferred to his wife immediately. George III and Manfred I had to convince the emperor after 1945 that the brewery was an Italian company, but indeed was entirely Austrian-owned and that Austria was not considered an enemy of the British. After numerous attempts at mediation and proceedings at international courts, which were very expensive for the Mautner Markhof family, Haile Selassie finally wanted to speak to Georg III personally. This conversation between the god-like emperor and the “little” entrepreneur, who worked with “Wiener Schmäh” and tactical breaks in conversation, should not have lacked a certain bizarre. According to tradition, Georg III annoyed the very linguistic Haile Selassie furthermore with endless translations in three languages ​​and so he finally managed to convince him of his point of view. Manfred I and Georg III received compensation that, although not quite the amount requested, was at least satisfactory. At the same time Wilhelm Weissenhofer, who had been taken prisoner of war and had been interned since 1941, was allowed to return to Austria. Even today, a beer in Ethiopia reminds of the Mautner Markhof era.

The emblem of the Ethiopian St. George Beer

Signets der Abessinischen Brauerei San Giorgio in Anlehnung an St. Georg Floridsdorf

Beate Hemmerlein

Georg III and the Brazilian adventure

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Cervejaria Vienense – when the Schwechat brewery expanded to Brazil

After the war and his return to Austria George III continued to support the takeover policy of foreign breweries and therefore also used his contacts in Brazil, where he had spent several years of war. With a share capital of 11 million Cruzeiros, he founded the Companhia Paulista de Cervejas, in which the Schwechat Brewery had held 55% of the voting shares.

He used the equipment of the Nussdorf brewery, which had been bought in 1950 thanks to an increase in the share capital. For the organization of the transport, all machines were dismantled into two halves, one half of which was transported via Hamburg and the other half via Trieste. This was done to ensure that the devices really arrived in South America and could not be set up anywhere near the Ural (George III was a chronic enemy of the Soviets). 8 million schillings and 62 railroad cars were required for that.

The undertaking was fortunate and the Brazilian “Vienense” was successful for a number of years. However, George III, was unable to inspire any other family member to join the “new home” permanently. The poor Brazilian economic situation of the following years and the devaluation of money almost caused the project, however, to fail, so that the “four-in-hand-management” (Georg III, Gustav, Gerhard, Manfred I) were very much in favour of welcoming a new partner. So, the Brazilian brewery group Cervejaria Brahma was taking over the large capital increase and started actively participating in the business management. Subsequently they could sell the entire stake to Cervejaria Brahma until 1959 and withdraw again successfully, as they claimed. It is said that with an investment volume of 9.5 million schillings, cash returns of 16 million schillings were ultimately made.

Marius Mautner Markhof (left) and Georg III Mautner Markhof (front right) at the opening of the Brazilian brewery in 1954

1954: Tasting of the first glass, the Radetzky March was played as signature music. Marius Mautner Markhof (left) and Georg III (right) with the Viennese master brewer Ing. Urban, who had fled to Brazil from the Russians. He had slapped a communist member of the workers` council on the face and otherwise would have been “transferred” to a GULAG.

George III Mautner Markhof hands over the ballots for the election of Miss Vienense

Theodor Heinrich Mautner Markhof

Richard Strauss to Manfred I Mautner Markhof in the deep despair of 1941

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Richard Strauss had helped Manfred I considerably by intervening with Goebbels. With the handed-down words, “He is a friend, it must be a mistake”, he got him out of the Gestapo prison. And in return, the latter then hid Richard Strauss’s grandson Richard, whose mother was Jewish, in the Simmering factory disguised as a worker. In this way, a friendly relationship between the families was maintained until the next generation, because it was precisely that Richard, who, in turn, entrusted me in the 1980s with his daughter Madelaine’s entry into the advertising business.

The following letter is preserved in handwriting and describes in a moving way the desperate mood Richard Strauss was in during the winter of 1944.

 

Garmisch 24.1.44

Dear friend Manfred,

After a lot of worrying and anxiety and your, unfortunately all too justified, concerns, Christian finally arrived here happily with the good Martin and reported how lovingly you and the dear Pussy have taken care of my homeless children. Many thanks also from the very desperate Pauline! In my destroyed life, the family now is the last and only ray of hope (I especially thank you for taking Richard into your care, even though I thought about his future a little differently). I hear with great regret that many bad things have already happened to you. Hopefully at least your beautiful new home will be preserved, even if I have to say goodbye to the happy hours there forever.

**

Maybe you will come back here again, where we could (for the time being!) play a Skat as a memory. In the house next door, I can even offer a small picture gallery (a very beautifully preserved Madonna from Northern Italy and a very exceptional piazetta), and furthermore I can present a new arrangement of the “Rosenkavalier waltz“, which the dear Philharmonic Orchestra will play at my forthcoming funeral, so that I do not enter the waltz heaven too sadly when I join my name mates, because my life has been over since August 16th. My life’s work has been destroyed, the German opera has been destroyed, German music has been banished to the inferno of the machine, where its tortured soul suffers a sad, miserable existence, my dear, beautiful little house, of which I was so proud of, destroyed.

***

I will never see or hear my works again in this world – I wanted Mozart and Schubert had taken me to their Elysium at the age of 80, I could have brought Gluck the beautiful bust. Well, let us forget about it! Forget it all! Now I only hope that my incorrigibly optimistic children with healthy skin will come out of the horror of poor, beautiful, and dear Vienna. We have already prepared everything for their welcome: whatever furniture and household items they will bring with them will be stored. I am trying to accomplish things with the help of military relations, which, thanks to the good General Schubert (whom I wrote a letter of thanks yesterday), has proven to be the only feasible option to find a second furniture van, and also to continue to prepare the grounds here for “racial defilers” and “half-breeds”!1

****

Tomorrow I will find out more details, and I will also try to have a spare hut built, perhaps also with the help of the Wehrmacht. In any case, the children can get into a warm bed as soon as possible, where Christian already feels very comfortable. Please, show this letter to Bubi – I cannot write everything again. I will only give you a message when I have something new to report. My poor wife has calmed down a bit now, too. Please, give my greetings to the whole dear Mautner family especially to the honoured parents who have always been cheerful “with me” and dear poor Böhm – how often do I think of him and his beautiful Strauss week!


Gone – gone it says in the Capriccio!

Yours faithfully,
Richard Strauss

 

1 Strauss alludes to the fact that his son Franz is married to the Jewess Alice, whose son Richard was considered to be a Jewish half-breed according to the racial ideology of the NS since the Nuremberg Laws (1935).

 



Richard Strauss’s handwritten lines to his friend Manfred I Mautner Markhof

Written by Theodor Heinrich Mautner Markhof

Theodor Heinrich Mautner Markhof

Manfred I Mautner Markhof, Richard Strauss and Skat

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Manfred I Mautner Markhof, also known as MMM, had a long-standing, deep and respectful friendship with the great composer Richard Strauss. A passion that connected them, was undoubtedly Skat. The following memories have been shared in the Mautner Markhof family:

As is well known, Richard Strauss was a passionate card player who also liked to play for quite large amounts. However, he never entered a gaming room. When MMM once asked him in Monte Carlo why he never went to the casino, he said that on the one hand he was bored with losing little money, but on the other hand never wanted to get involved in playing beyond his means, however exciting such a game might be. This attitude seemed so reasonable to MMM that he had never entered a gaming room again from that time on.

In the incomparably beautiful Eden Hotel in Nervi they both played Piquet for days because a third person was missing for Skat. MMM had an unlikely lucky streak and continued to win. At that time, foreign exchange management in Germany was very strict and money transfers abroad were almost impossible. After MMM had just collected his winnings, Richard Strauss asked him to call the mighty musician of Monte Carlo, Monsieur Ginsberg. He answered the phone and Strauss picked up the handset, which had always made him uncomfortable.

To the great delight of the other, Strauss agreed to conduct a second concert. MMM was pleased as well, but Richard Strauss only meant with a smile on his face, “After the losses you inflicted on me in the game, I have no choice but to conduct another concert, because after all the hotel bill has to be paid.” My grandfather, from his own experience, always had to strongly contradict the rumour that Richard Strauss was a bad loser. Strauss liked to play and, with equanimity, pocketed profits as well as accepted losses.

The reason why Richard Strauss was such a passionate Skat player was because that activity was the only way that allowed him to clear his mind, to switch off from the music – as he emphasized several times. Music always accompanied him everywhere, and the notes just flowed out of him. When the German composer Hans Pfitzner once complained to Richard Strauss, “If you only knew how much effort and hard work went into my opera Palestrina, you would talk differently!”. He replied, “I don’t know why you compose at all when you find it so difficult.”

Manfred I. Mautner Markhof (center), Richard Strauss (right)

 

Written by Theodor Mautner Markhof

Theodor Heinrich Mautner Markhof

The Kupelwieser Waltz

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The Kupelwieser Waltz is a unique case of an oral tradition, the written documentation of which we owe to the good friendship of my grandmother Maria Mautner Markhof (née Kupelwieser) with Richard Strauss. On this from the memoirs of my grandfather Manfred I Mautner Markhof:

“My wife once played a small but very typical waltz from Franz Schubert, a friend of her great-grandfather Leopold, to our friend Richard Strauss. It was composed in 1826 on the occasion of the wedding of her great-grandparents, Leopold Kupelwieser and Johanna von Lutz – a cousin of  Franz Grillparzer. It is a characteristic of this incredibly talented and music-loving era that Schubert did not need to write that waltz down at all, it was enough that he played it a few times and everyone could replay it by heart. This is how my wife had learned it from her grandfather Paul Kupelwieser – the founder of Brioni – and so the family’s waltz was preserved for the next generation. One day now, before an agreed game of skat in Simmering, to our greatest delight, Richard Strauss suggested putting the waltz on paper. My wife played for him, he took some notes and a few days later he gave us a neat fair copy of the little piece of music. In terms of music history, this document is remarkable, since Richard Strauss obviously could not resist colouring some expressions “Straussian”, what music lovers and connoisseurs will recognize immediately.”

Kupelwieser Waltz, version of Richard Strauss by Isolde Ahlgrimm, Deutsche Grammophon

Kupelwieser Waltz version of “Pussy“ Mautner Markhof, Deutsche Grammophon

Report Austrian Music Magazine

The Waltz

Sheet music Kupelwieser Waltz, 1943

Maria “Pussy” Mautner Markhof playing her beloved family waltz

by Theodor Heinrich Mautner Markhof

Theodor Heinrich Mautner Markhof

Magda Mautner Markhof by Gustav Klimt

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Study/portrait of Magda Grasmayr, the ninth child of Carl Ferdinand Mautner von Markhof.

Gustav Klimt drew her in 1904 with black pen on paper, 55 x 34.6 cm

Magda was born on April 14, 1881 in Vienna and, thanks to the influence of her mother Editha Freiin Sunstenau von Schützenthal, grew up in a household in which the artistic elite of the time regularly got together. Besides Gustav Klimt, Josef Hoffmann, Kolo Moser also Bruno Walter and Gustav Mahler were regular guests in the family palace on Vienna’s main street Landstraßer Hauptstraße.

She appeared as a young girl when, on November 18, 1903, she and her mother became co-founders of the “New Women’s Club”. Magda, like her mother and sister Ditha (married to Koloman Moser), was very art-minded and graduated from art school in Vienna under Alfred Roller and as well completed painting lessons with Maurice Denis in Paris. Her doll’s house was the central object of an exhibition of the Secession under Adolf Böhm. Her apartment and studio furnished by Josef Hoffmann developed into a prestigious stomping ground where Albert Paris Gütersloh and Alfred Gerstenbrand liked to socialize.

Magda Mautner Markhof, 1904 by Gustav Klimt


Study by Gustav Klimt on an unfinished portrait of Magda Mautner Markhof

Magda aimed to compile a collection of contemporary Austrian art. For example, she owned the Gustav Klimt painting Hope I, 1903, originally acquired by Fritz Waerndorfer. She also bought the Egon Schiele painting Autumn Tree in Stirred Air (Winter Tree), in 1912, which she acquired for a total of 400 crowns. “I am now sending you 100 crowns, 200 crowns in November, then 100 crowns in December. I prefer the two landscapes more than your figurative works, which are often quite strange to me. By watching your drawings, I also have the feeling that you have a completely different view of things than I do. Nevertheless, I would like to have one of your works because I would like to fully represent young Viennese art in my collection.”

In 1913, she married the teacher Alois Grasmayr, who came from an Innviertel peasant family, with whom she moved to Salzburg, where they purchased a villa on the Mönchsberg, the Bristol and Stein hotels, as well as two inns and a mountain farm. The house on the Mönchsberg became a social centre for artists and writers in the interwar years. Magda herself published poems in a Viennese daily paper, Alois his “Little Faust Book”, which was intended to explain the content of Goethe’s Faust I and II to a wider audience in dialect language.

Magda died on August 22, 1944 in Salzburg, Alois followed on March 11, 1955.


“Melancholie” – Bildnis der Magda Grasmayr, geb. Mautner von Markhof by Eduard Veith

Puppenhaus der Magda Mautner von Markhof (1908)

Puppenhaus (Stiegenhaus) der Magda Mautner von Markhof (1908)

Puppenhaus (Speisezimmer) der Magda Mautner von Markhof (1908)


Written by Theodor Heinrich Mautner Markhof