Professor Karl Farkas

Karl Farkas was born in Vienna as one of four legitimate children of the Hungarian Jewish couple Moritz Farkas and Franziska, née Lang. His parents ran a shoe store and wanted Karl Farkas to become a lawyer and his older brother Stefan to take over the shoe business later. When his parents refuse to accept Stefan Farkas' wish to become a painter, he commits suicide. Marked by this loss, his parents let their second son Karl live out his passion for the theater. Even as a schoolboy - he attended the k.k. Staatsrealschule Glasergasse [today: Erich Fried Realgymnasium] - Farkas wrote his first comic scenes.

At the end of July 1914, Karl Farkas was drafted into the 4th Royal Hungarian Honved Infantry Regiment. Among other things, he was deployed in the temporary recapture of Przemysl. After being wounded by shrapnel, he was deployed on the Russian, Romanian and Italian fronts. After an offensive at the Altano position near Monte Tomba, Karl Farkas is awarded the Silver Medal for Bravery as a battalion gas protection officer.

After returning home from the First World War, Karl Farkas attends the Academy of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna and makes his debut in Olomouc as Tsarevich in a play by Gabryela Zapolska. After various appearances in Moravia and Austria, he returned to Vienna in 1921. There he was engaged by director Egon Dorn at the Simpl cabaret and worked under the nickname 'The Tick' as a "lightning poet". With Fritz Grünbaum, he performs in double conférences, an art form that originated in Budapest. In 1924 he married the actress Anny Hán. From 1926, Farkas worked at the Vienna Bürgertheater. On October 6, 1928, his revue 'You'll Laugh!' premiered at the Vienna Stadttheater, which had been reopened by Emil and Arthur Schwarz, in which Karl Farkas appeared with Max Brod and Hugo Fischer-Köppe in the leading roles. In the same year, his son is born and he acquires a villa built in 1906 for himself and his family as a summer retreat in Dörfl in the market town of Reichenau an der Rax. On March 10, 1938, the last performance with Fritz Grünbaum and Karl Farkas took place at the Simpl.

As a successful cabaret artist and director of the Simpl, he had to witness the invasion of Austria by the German Wehrmacht on March 12, 1938. With the occupation of Austria by Hitler's Germany, the 'Nuremberg Racial Laws' also came into force on Austrian territory, according to which Karl Farkas was classified as a 'full Jew'.

On March 25, 1938, Karl Farkas and his family managed to emigrate to Paris via Czechoslovakia. With the outbreak of World War II, Karl Farkas was interned as an 'enemy alien' on September 3, 1939, first in a camp in a stadium in the Parisian suburb of Colombes and then in Camp de Meslay-du-Maine. He was released from there on May 9, 1940 and immediately volunteered for the French army to fight against the Third Reich. However, he was rejected as unfit.

After France's capitulation in June 1940, Karl Farkas managed to flee across the Pyrenees through Spain and Portugal to the United States of America. As the family was destitute, they were not allowed to enter the country but were detained in Ellis Island. A friend of Karl Farkas, Leo Rice, manages to raise the necessary amount of money within a few days and the family is allowed to enter the United States of America.

After he is still banned from working, he keeps himself and his family afloat with financial loans and small contributions towards expenses.

From 1943, Karl Farkas was allowed to go to work and was able to keep himself and his family financially afloat.

In the United States of America, Karl Farkas experienced the liberation of Austria with the defeat of the Third Reich. On August 28, 1946, he and his family returned to Austria.

In 1950, he began performing at the Simpl again, which he ran until his death. He also worked as an author and director and wrote all the revues together with Hugo Wiener. His ensemble included Maxi Böhm, Ossy Kolmann, Fritz Muliar, Heinz Conrads, Hugo Wiener and Cissy Kraner. He presents the 'Aktualitätlichkeiten' on the radio station Rot-Weiß-Rot. ORF radio broadcasts the program 'What do you think, Mr. Farkas? Hugo Wiener also writes the double conferences for Karl Farkas and his new partners, first Ernst Waldbrunn, later Maxi Böhm. From 1957, he appeared regularly on radio and television. His Bilanzen became popular on ORF: Bilanz des Jahres, Bilanz des Monats and Bilanz der Saison'.

In 1965, Karl Farkas became the first cabaret artist in history to be awarded the professional title of "Professor" by the Austrian Federal President in recognition of his services to Austrian cabaret. After the war, he afforded himself a summer house in Edlach an der Rax. He had a particularly close relationship with his colleague Maxi Böhm and his family; he was especially fond of Böhm's daughter Christa, who died young and called him "Uncle Karl".

From 1 January 1969, the 'Bilanz des Monats', i.e. the Farkas-Waldbrunn double conferences, were already available in color. ORF introduced color television with the New Year's Concert in 1969. In 1970, Karl Farkas and Ernst Waldbrunn appear as puppets. They are produced by Austrian puppet artist Arminio Rothstein.