Joseph Schmidt - Geschichte eines kurzen Lebens

The story of Joseph Schmidt, born in 1904 in Czernowitz, Bukowina, a place as Paul Celan put it, where men and books lived. Schmidt soon studied to be a cantor in the synagogue, yet he wanted to be on stage and left for Germany. Already his first appearances in Berlin became a great success. His height of 1,52 m prohibited a career on stage. But Schmidt was lucky. Sound was invented for the cinema and the producers were looking for good material. And music was good material. The singers were the stars of their time, they did draw an audience. There was no division between popular and opera singers yet.