Soma Morgenstern’s list of telephone numbers (1941/1943)
Soma Morgenstern’s list of telephone numbers (1941/1943)
Following an invitation from his friend Conrad H. Lester, Soma Morgenstern stayed in Los Angeles from the autumn of 1941 to the spring of 1943. The friends and acquaintances he met there included Bertolt Brecht, Liesl Frank, Gina Kaus, Otto Klemperer, Fritz Kortner, Arnold Schönberg, Friedrich Torberg and others.
Morgenstern had a postcard-format list in which he collected the telephone numbers of people he presumably had regular contact with during his stay in California. The list, something he used on an everyday basis, is today evidence of the well-known artists and intellectuals who formed part of Morgenstern’s social circle and also shows how important it was for many of those living in exile to maintain contacts and networks to other emigrants.
A popular meeting place among emigrants in addition to Salka Viertel’s house on Mabery Road (Santa Monica) was Alma Mahler Werfel’s salon. Werfel’s address on Los Tillos Road can also be found on the calling card.
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