Kadelburg, Gustav

(1851-1925)

   Playwright, actor. Kadelburg was a native Hungarian who began his acting career in Leipzig but by age 20 was engaged at the Wallner Theater in Berlin to play bon vivant roles. He then worked in Hamburg for a decade before returning to Berlin at the Deutsches Theater in 1884 under Adolph L'Arronge, for whom he began directing plays. At the Deutsches, Kadelburg met Oskar Blumenthal, who was then a theater critic but was also writing comedies under a pen name. They began a collaboration that resulted in some of the most popular fare to appear on Wilhelmine stages, including Das zweite Gesicht (Two-Faced, 1890), Die Grossstadtluft (Big City Airs, 1891), Die Orientreise (A Trip to the Orient, 1892), and most popular of all, Im weiss'n Rossi (The White Horse Inn, 1898). Kadelburg brought to the comedies they wrote a sure sense of comic structure and effective timing. Kadelburg's collaboration with Franz von Schönthan was less extensive but no less successful; their Die Goldfische (The Goldfish) remained one of the most frequently performed comedies through the Wilhelmine years.