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2d 1932 WHOSE CHILD WAS MY CHILD?
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Franz Werfel and Walter Gropius in conversation.
WERFEL You'd
better stay with me. I know a few things about the true Alma
that no one else does. Not even this crazy Almaniac! And I'm
going to find out once and for all who was the father of my
son Martin.
GROPIUS That's
not hard. I was Alma's husband then, so I must be Martin's
father!
WERFEL That's
complete nonsense. Martin was my child. And anyway, he's dead.
GROPIUS I'm
sorry, Franz; I'm 100% sure it was me who got Alma pregnant
in December 1917. You weren't even in Vienna.
MAHLER Excuse
me?! - May I step in ?
WERFEL No,
no! No way! Many thanks! It's not possible! We've already
had the pleasure of suffering from your presence. Thank you.
It has to o end at some point!
GROPIUS Now
go away, will you?!
MAHLER Well where am I supposed to go? After all, I've only
got my music.
GROPIUS Well!
If only you had studied something respectable…!
MAHLER This is just what it was like when I was alive... -
Alma?! Alma!!!
GROPIUS Martin
was born in July 1918…
WERFEL No,
it was August 1918.
GROPIUS No,
it was July 1918!
ALMANIAC It
was in November 1918! An unforgettable day! I will never forget
it ! The street-fighting in Vienna... hundreds of thousands
in the city centre… swarming in from all boroughs…
a huge crowd! They gathered near the opera house, in front
of city hall… Then suddenly, a red flag on the roof of
the parliament! Silence…! Dead silence! And then the
shooting… machine-guns… explosions, smoke, street
fighting - a riot! That was the end of the Austrian-Hungarian
monarchy... the end! Two left dead, two left dead…!
GROPIUS Believe
me, it was in July. The end of July 1918. I would remember
, don't you think ? So: when the child was born, Alma was
in her eighth month.
WERFEL No,
no, no. Alma was in the seventh month. It was a seventh-month
child. That I know for sure. Otherwise everything would have
been much easier!
GROPIUS How
do you know that?
WERFEL Well,
that's what she has been claiming over and over for years.
The child was born prematurely because… errr- well, because…
ahh… I don't know!
GROPIUS By
the way: what was the reason for that premature birth? She
refused to talk to me about it. Did she ever tell you? No?
Isn't that strange…? The medical record didn't say what
caused that awful bleeding.
ALMANIAC Maybe
she inherited it from Gustav Mahler--- along with his royalties
--- „I bequeath upon my wife the estate on the Semmering
-- the score of Anton Bruckner's third symphony, the $100,000
in my American bank account, and „My Subterranean Streams“
---
GROPIUS „His
subterranean streams'? What's that? A posthumous Cantata?
An 11th symphony?
ALMANIAC No,
it's his haemorrhoids, in equal monthly instalments.
GROPIUS How
disgusting!
ALMANIAC You
call that disgusting? It's nothing compared to the naked truth.
You've only seen the medical reports of the Viennese doctor,
Professor Halban. (He flushes his livery exposing a blood
stained document) What a shame the first record of that incident
written by the village practitioner Dr. Erich Fleischhacker
was never found...
GROPIUS What
difference would it have made?
WERFEL (quickly:)
No difference at all! Leave us alone with your horror stories!
(To Gropius:) Some waiters are so disgusting, they ruin the
reputation of the finest households.
ALMANIAC And
some lovers don't spare their mistresses, even when they are
very pregnant. Love can be a bloody business, especially in
times of war! When everyone's emotions are on fire, and the
real men are far from home... bleeding for their fatherland
while the most beautiful ladies are left at the mercy of the
corrupt useless cowards at the military press headquarters!
WERFEL We've
had enough of your information. We'll call you if we need
anything. Thank you. (He gives him a tip.)
ALMANIAC Sorry.
You can't bribe me.
He exits.
GROPIUS I
thought your evidence was harder than this crazy nut.
WERFEL It's
no evidence at all. This man is cracked. Alma was right. She
has such a good heart, keeping all these poor creatures under
her roof. He'd make a good character for a novel. By the way,
did I tell you I'm planning to write the Divine Comedy for
our time? „Star for the Misbegotten“ but unfortunately
Eugene O'Neil beat me to it.
GROPIUS Then
call it „Star of the Unborn“! You've every right,
in your position as a childless father.
WERFEL What
do you mean „a childless father“?
GROPIUS Well,
of course you cannot be Martin's father, if the child was
born at the end of July…
WERFEL Why
not?!
GROPIUS …and
if Alma was in her seventh month…
WERFEL But
she was…
GROPIUS …then
the child was conceived in the last week of December 1917,
or in the first week of January 1918.
WERFEL What
is this going to prove?
GROPIUS just
tell me this: Were you with Alma in the beginning of 1918?
WERFEL In
the beginning of 1918? How can I remember?
GROPIUS Just
try!
WERFEL In
the beginning of 1918… in the beginning of 1918…
That was the stone-age!
GROPIUS No,
it wasn't the stone age, I was still married to Alma, you
know.
WERFEL Thank
you for reminding me.
GROPIUS You
are most welcome. Now, then, were you or were you not with
my wife during the first week of January 1918?
WERFEL You're
driving me crazy with your constant nagging and pestering!
I'm completely confused already! I don't know what you want!
January 1st, January 3rd, January 5th, Epiphany...! Why is
that so important to you?
GROPIUS I
want to know once and for all: who was the father of my child!
Was he my son, or were you his father?
WERFEL Our
child died before he was one year old. Leave him in peace.
GROPIUS Don't
worry about the child. He rests in peace. All I'm trying to
do, is find my own peace of mind.
WERFEL If
that is so important to you, let's call Alma and ask her.
GROPIUS Since
when do you believe Alma? Have you suddenly gone mad? She
is a born liar. If she happens to speak a word of truth, it's
either an oversight or a mistake. The few years I lived with
her polluted my life with so many lies! They are a cancer
gnawing away at the most intimate tissues of my soul.
WERFEL Surely
you exaggerate.
GROPIUS Do
I? How many times has she betrayed you?
WERFEL Never!
GROPIUS Ha
ha ha!
WERFEL Why
are you laughing?
GROPIUS My
dear friend, my beloved rival, you're either naive, or a master
of self-deception.
WERFEL You
mean you know ---
GROPIUS Not
everything, but…
WERFEL What
exactly?
GROPIUS I
know what I know about myself.
WERFEL You
mean, she betrayed me with you?
GROPIUS Does
it really surprise you?
WERFEL I
can't believe it!
GROPIUS If
you wish to deceive yourself - my congratulations! I'll not
trouble your peace of mind.
WERFEL When?
GROPIUS What
“when”?
WERFEL When
was it?
GROPIUS When
she was lying in the hospital, after she gave birth to Martin.
WERFEL You
made love to her right after she gave birth…?!
GROPIUS Are
you crazy?!
WERFEL So
what do you mean she betrayed me?
GROPIUS I
visited her in the hospital. I surprised her there when she
was on the phone with you. From the way she spoke on the phone,
I suddenly understood she was having an affair with you. With
you, Franz! That was a surprise, really! I wasn't prepared
for you! For you least of all. I asked her if you had been
her lover. Instead of answering, she played the sick one.
I understood everything. I didn't insist anymore. „Get
away, get away!“ she whispered. „I am sick and tired
of you!“ I suggested she call you. That made her mad,
angry,, hysterical, shouting and yelling: “Get him out
of my sight, that fat bow-legged Jew with his swollen lips,
nicotine-stained fingers, and oozing eye-slits!”
WERFEL Is
that all?
GROPIUS Of
course not, it only explains everything that happened before
- and later with you, with me, and with Kokoschka…
WERFEL don't
even mention his name.
GROPIUS Why
not? He was the only man she ever really desired, while she
was cheating on both of us with one another. I hear now she's
flirting with the Catholic church. There's a rumour that she's
having an affair with a certain Father Hollnsteiner.
WERFEL Hollnsteiner?!
Oh, no! Ever Since he gave that beautiful sermon for Manon's
funeral, he's become Alma's confessor.
GROPIUS Her
confessor? I see! That's why he spent a night in her hotel-room
in Vienna last Sunday.
WERFEL Hollnsteiner
spent a night in her hotel room in Vienna? Who told you?
GROPIUS I
heard it in New York.
WERFEL Goddamn
her! The bleeding horny hag! !
GROPIUS Relax,
relax! Don't get excited.
WERFEL I've
cheated on her too.
GROPIUS Oh,
really? With whom? one of your heroines? With Barbara? With
Bernadette? Certainly not with Jacobovsky!
WERFEL You
can laugh, but at the time I was quite a rascal! I had an
ongoing affair with a certain Gertrud Spirk when I started
seeing Alma. Neither of them knew about the other. It was
easy, as long as Gertrud stayed in Prague, but things got
complicated when she insisted on coming to Vienna.
GROPIUS And
you let her come to Vienna while you were having an affair
with Alma?! How could you do that?
WERFEL I
couldn't help it! Both of them were clinging to me. Gertrud
sensed I wasn't whole-heartedly so to speak with her, so she
said: „Don't you think I'm going to let go of you!“
She was a sweet little thing in her own way, I must say...
GROPIUS When
did it all happen?
WERFEL It
was... let me see... by Summer it was all over... so it must
have been the winter of 1917, ... shortly after Christmas...
probably the beginning of January---
GROPIUS You
mean, the beginning of January 1918?
WERFEL That's
right.
GROPIUS That
was exactly when Alma got pregnant.
WERFEL yes,
that's when it was... now that you mention it, I remember
that Alma felt sick. She invited me to join her at a spa where
she was staying ----
GROPIUS Did
you join her?
WERFEL No,
of course not. I invented some silly pretext... I said I needed
to feel absolutely secure in order to open up, to offer myself
entirely and to enjoy....
GROPIUS That
means your affair was already under way at the time?
WERFEL Yes,
certainly.
GROPIUS So
by the end of December 1917 and during the first days of January
1918 you were having sex with Alma.
WERFEL How
am I supposed to remember after all this time?! I didn't keep
a diary of it all! My God! You're like a man obsessed! I told
you I'm not sure of the dates. Anyway, there was a break in
our relationship during Gertrud's short stay in Vienna.
GROPIUS When
was that?
WERFEL I
don't know! You hear me?! I don't know!!
GROPIUS But
I understand that this „break in your relationship“
occurred when Alma was already sick due to the early stages
of pregnancy.
WERFEL If
that's what you say -
GROPIUS No,
that's what you just said.
WERFEL I
don't know, I don't know, I don't know! Leave me in peace!
Please!!!!
GROPIUS Try
to think, man! Try to think! It's as important to you as it
is to me!
The Almaniac enters and interferes again:
ALMANIAC Not
finished yet? Whose son was it after all? Kokoschka's?
WERFEL Can't
you leave us in peace, you insufferable loon?
ALMANIAC Some
people recover from their Alma-mania, some never do. And for
some of them it becomes very important to understand what
their Alma has done to them.
WERFEL For
me, too, I can assure you! Alma is the only person who could
make me an artist, and she has done it. If I hadn't met her,
I would have written another few poems, and then sunk into
oblivion. It's thanks to her that I've become a world-renowned
novelist, a popular playwright and a successful script-writer.
It is Alma who made me a famous artist! It's thanks to her
that I will one day write The Divine Comedy of the twentieth
century! The day I get the Nobel prize, it will be thanks
to Alma's endless love! Yes! She loved a great many talented
men, but she loves me much more than she loved the others!
And baby Martin was my child! I'm sure of it.
ALMANIAC So
why did you kill him?
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