Max Hansen

about

Max Hansen (22 December 1897 – 12 November 1961) was a Danish singer known as "The Little Caruso," as well as a cabaret artist, actor, and comedian. Hansen was born Max Josef Haller in Mannheim, Imperial Germany, as the illegitimate child of Danish actress Eva Haller and a Jewish father, or, according to other sources, a Swedish officer named Schürer von Waldheim. He was raised by foster parents in Munich, where he made his first appearance at the Cabaret Simplizissimus at the age of 17. In 1914, he moved to Vienna, performing in various smaller theatres as a singer and comedian. In 1924, Hansen originated the tenor role of Baron Kolomán Zsupán in Gräfin Mariza at Hubert Marischka's Theater an der Wien in Vienna. After 900 performances, the production transferred to the Metropoltheater in Berlin. In Berlin, Hansen co-founded the Kabarett der Komiker with Paul Morgan and Kurt Robitschek. He worked with Max Reinhardt on a revival of Offenbach's La belle Hélène and with Erik Charell on a production of Lehar's The Merry Widow. His most notable stage role was as Leopold the waiter in Ralph Benatzky's operetta-musical The White Horse Inn, a role he also played in Richard Oswald's 1926 silent film adaptation. In 1932, Hansen provoked the ire of the Nazis with his satirical song "War'n Sie schon mal in mich verliebt?" ("Have you ever been in love with me?"), which implied Adolf Hitler was homosexual. That same year, he also parodied opera and operetta soprano Gitta Alpár in a drag