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Lilly Flohr at the Elite Bar

Posted: August 8th, 2009 | No Comments »

Elite Bar - 1941In 1941 the Elite Bar on Medhurst Road (Taixing Road) at the corner of Bubbling Well Road (Nanjing West Road) had just been redecorated and was advertising the ‘popular vocalist’ Lilly Flohr. Was Lilly Flohr, ‘who would be flattered to see you’, worth going along to see you ask? Well maybe, if that Lilly Flohr was (and I think she was) the same Lilly Flohr that had been a mildly successful actress in the German silent movies.If so then she ended up in Shanghai and continued her career singing at the Elite Bar.

The Austrian-born Lilly Flohr had been a successful actress, cabaret artist and singer who had first appeared on stage at 8 years old in Vienna and made her first film in 1918 – the picture opposite looks pretty early and not more than a few years off that. She went on to make about 25 films with some leading rolls including in Fridericus Rex (1922, pictured below) – all were German films though in 1927 she appeared in the Romanian film Lia with an all Romanian cast – apparently she lilly 2very much wanted to do this and the production was paid for by her German businessman husband who wanted to fulfill the wish of his wife. Her last film was Kinder der Strasse in 1928. Strangely for someone who was apparently a good singer, after the introduction of sound films she retired from the business. She then seems to disappear only to resurface in Shanghai later still acting and singing though not sure about the businessman husband.

I’m assuming Lilly was a Jewish refugee – Flohr is often a Jewish name and Lilly appears on the cast lists of several German language operas and she is mentioned with affection in several Jewish memoirs of Shanghai (assuming it’s the same Lilly) including Irene Eber’s Voices From Shanghai where Lilly is noted as a first rate actress existing in the immigrant theatre in Shanghai. Another Jewish memoirist of old Shanghai Ralph Harpuder remembers Lilly in German operas and has a link to a cast list including her. Though I’m not exactly sure when Lilly was born Ithink we can assume that her Elite Bar performances were towards her more mature years – though could still belt out a tune it seems and still had a reputation from the Austrian Theatre and German silent movie world.

lilly



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