Messter, Oskar

FILM MAKER, FILM PRODUCER (GERMANY)
BORN 21 Nov 1866, Berlin - DIED 7 Dec 1943, Tegernsee, Bayern
BIRTH NAME Messter, Oskar Eduard
GRAVE LOCATION Tegernsee, Bayern: Friedhof, Seestraße

Oskar Messler was the son of the optician Eduard Messter. He was trained as an optician as well and took over his father's business when he was 28 years old. In 1887 he had married Margarete Wittmann and in 1893 they had a son, Oskar.

In 1896 he brought a film projector to the market, he opened an artificial light studio at the Friedrichstrasse and he took over the Under den Linden theater to start a cinema. In 1900 he founded several companies and he started his own studio the produced silent movies. He showed his invention the Biophone at the world Fair in St. Louis in 1904. He helped the actress Henny Porten to launch her film career. In 1912 with Friedrich Simon Archenhold he made a film recording of a solar eclipse using the telescope in Treptow. After World War I broke out he produced a newsreel from war events. In 1918 he bought the house Zum Leitenbauer in Tegernsee. In Tegernsee he befriended Jullius Patzak and Ludwig Ganghofer.

He divorced his first wife and in 1928 he married Antonie Maria Theresia König (1898-1978). During the 1930 he was involved in the production of movies. One of them was "Mädchen in Uniform" (1931). During the Weimar Republik he had joined the anti-democratic organisation Stahlhelm, Bund der Frontsoldaten and he was celebrated by the nazis after them came to power. By that time his film activities had ended. In 1936 he published a memoir, "Mein Weg mit dem Film". During his last years he lived withdrawn in his house in Tegensee.

Related persons
• cooperated with Archenhold, Friedrich Simon
• cooperated with Porten, Henny

Images

The grave of Oskar Messter at the cemetery in Tegensee.
Picture by Androom (25 Aug 2008)

 

Sources
Oskar Messter – Wikipedia


Meteyard, Eliza

Published: 26 Feb 2022
Last update: 26 Feb 2022