was a very successful theatrical director for musical revues and
operettas, especially at Großes Schauspielhaus in Berlin.
Revolutionized the German musical theatre by developing the idea of 'staged nudity' and by combining European operetta with idioms of the American music theatre, hoping to create a more 'cosmopolitan German'style.
Studied dance and was discovered by the writer Karl Vollmoeller during a 1913 performance of a ballet-pantomime at the Deutsches Theater in Berlin.