LUBITSCH, ERNST

LUBITSCH, ERNST (1892–1947), film producer and director. Lubitsch was born in Berlin and gained early acting experience in max reinhardt 's troupe. From 1913 he played comic parts in the movies, creating the role of "Meyer" or "Moritz" (archetypical Jewish names in Germany), the butt of good-natured low comedy in a series of successful films. Lubitsch progressed from actor to director and from 1914 to 1917 made many slapstick comedies. Having been persuaded to make serious motion pictures, he produced several successful films which brought Pola Negri to the screen. In 1922 he moved to Los Angeles to direct Rosita with Mary Pickford. Many other successes followed, but Lubitsch really made his name with the advent of the "talkies," and especially with his film The Love Parade (1929), which starred Maurice Chevalier and Jeanette MacDonald. Lubitsch was a master of subtle humor which, when combined with fanciful situations, came to be regarded as the "Lubitsch touch." His pictures had a zany, implausible quality which appealed to millions of film-goers. His later successes included The Smiling Lieutenant (1931); Trouble in Paradise (1932); The Merry Widow (1934); and Ninotchka (1939), starring Greta Garbo. -BIBLIOGRAPHY: H.G. Weinberg, The Lubitsch Touch (1968), incl. bibl.; A. Sarris (ed.), Interviews with Film Directors (1967), 281–5; L. Jacobs, The Rise of the American Film (1939), index. (Stewart Kampel)