Else Baring(1908-1999)
- Actress
Elizabeth Susanne Maria Baar was born in Vienna, the elder of two
children.
Having completed her schooling, Else, as she was known to friends and family, told her parents that she wanted to enter the theatre. Her mother advised her to "get a real job first"; advice that proved useful later, and that Else passed on to others.
She was apprenticed to a dressmaker and learned the skills to qualify for graduation. She joined the theatre during the early 1930s, and was prominent in the theatre in Vienna.
She married Alfred Schlesinger, an engineer who also loved the theatre, and they changed their surname to Baring - "Bar" from her maiden name and "ing" the German honorific for an engineer.
With the approach of World War II, the young couple decided to leave Austria, and eventually reached Australia, via Britain. They were sponsored by William Morris, the founder of Morris Motors, who later became Lord Nuffield.
Upon arrival in Australia, they settled in Wylde Street in Potts Point. Alfred's engineering credentials were not recognized, and he had to fall back on his father's trade - the making of rubber stamps.
Here her mother's advice paid off: Else was able to supplement their income by working as a dressmaker.
In 1941, they founded the Little Viennese Theatre in Australia, its first performance staged at the home of Walter and Hedy Magnus in Manning Road, Double Bay. The aims of the theatre included keeping the German language alive for native speakers in Sydney, training interested Australians in the language as spoken by Germans and fund-raising for various charities - largely, but not exclusively, Jewish.
One of their early donations was a grand piano to be used in the Opera House. They also brought famous Austrian and German actors to Australia for cameo roles.
The Little Viennese Theatre was recognized as an integral part of the multicultural environment in Sydney in the '60s and '70s.
In recognition of his services to the theatre, Alfred was made a member in the Order of Australia in 1975, but Else made her contribution, too.
One story, widely remembered by family and friends, concerns the actor Henri Szeps, who, while an engineering student at Sydney University, asked Else for advice on breaking into the theatre. Holding fast to her mother's edict, she told him to finish his degree, which he did before trying his luck on the stage. An early role was with the Viennese Theatre, as Harold Seidman, a medical student. Szeps can still remember one of the play's best lines, when father says to son: "Tell me the truth, Harold. Do you really want to be a writer, or do you just want to be a bum with a high-class excuse?"
As a girl, Else had had the good fortune to attend the first Salzburg Festival in 1920, and returned every couple of years until she suffered a stroke in 1997. She and her husband were recognized by the Austrian Government for their contribution to the spread of Austrian culture by various means, including sponsorship to the 75th Salzburg Festival in 1995.
Having completed her schooling, Else, as she was known to friends and family, told her parents that she wanted to enter the theatre. Her mother advised her to "get a real job first"; advice that proved useful later, and that Else passed on to others.
She was apprenticed to a dressmaker and learned the skills to qualify for graduation. She joined the theatre during the early 1930s, and was prominent in the theatre in Vienna.
She married Alfred Schlesinger, an engineer who also loved the theatre, and they changed their surname to Baring - "Bar" from her maiden name and "ing" the German honorific for an engineer.
With the approach of World War II, the young couple decided to leave Austria, and eventually reached Australia, via Britain. They were sponsored by William Morris, the founder of Morris Motors, who later became Lord Nuffield.
Upon arrival in Australia, they settled in Wylde Street in Potts Point. Alfred's engineering credentials were not recognized, and he had to fall back on his father's trade - the making of rubber stamps.
Here her mother's advice paid off: Else was able to supplement their income by working as a dressmaker.
In 1941, they founded the Little Viennese Theatre in Australia, its first performance staged at the home of Walter and Hedy Magnus in Manning Road, Double Bay. The aims of the theatre included keeping the German language alive for native speakers in Sydney, training interested Australians in the language as spoken by Germans and fund-raising for various charities - largely, but not exclusively, Jewish.
One of their early donations was a grand piano to be used in the Opera House. They also brought famous Austrian and German actors to Australia for cameo roles.
The Little Viennese Theatre was recognized as an integral part of the multicultural environment in Sydney in the '60s and '70s.
In recognition of his services to the theatre, Alfred was made a member in the Order of Australia in 1975, but Else made her contribution, too.
One story, widely remembered by family and friends, concerns the actor Henri Szeps, who, while an engineering student at Sydney University, asked Else for advice on breaking into the theatre. Holding fast to her mother's edict, she told him to finish his degree, which he did before trying his luck on the stage. An early role was with the Viennese Theatre, as Harold Seidman, a medical student. Szeps can still remember one of the play's best lines, when father says to son: "Tell me the truth, Harold. Do you really want to be a writer, or do you just want to be a bum with a high-class excuse?"
As a girl, Else had had the good fortune to attend the first Salzburg Festival in 1920, and returned every couple of years until she suffered a stroke in 1997. She and her husband were recognized by the Austrian Government for their contribution to the spread of Austrian culture by various means, including sponsorship to the 75th Salzburg Festival in 1995.