German Lessons, Thesping and Voice-overs

Can you imagine the fuss created by choosing to put on that particular play in Berlin?

When I first arrived in Berlin I started having German lessons from a truly delightful lady who had suffered great indignities at the hands of the invading Russians in 1945. I will not use her real name her to protect her safety and privacy so I'll call her Marie for the purpose of this anecdote. I found to my delight that she taught the language my way! She believed that it was essential to learn grammar before vocabulary and I progressed rapidly. I also very quickly learned not to mention Russia or Russian in her presence.

After a few private lessons in Brooke Wavell Barracks in Spandau, where Marie held regular formal classes for British soldiers newly arrived in Berlin, she invited me to her flat where she lived with her sister and, thereafter, most of my lessons were held there. I can't now remember where the flat was but it was on the 2^nd or 3^rd floor of one of those typical enormous Berlin 'town houses'. I always suspected that Marie knew far more about my job than she ever let on but we never discussed 'shop'. Certainly she told me that she gave German lessons to many British servicemen, from the highest rank down to the lowest.

One day I told Marie in general conversation (in my halting German) that I had somewhat reluctantly been appointed Officer i/c the RAF Gatow Theatre Club and that I had subsequently been persuaded to 'tread the boards' for the very first time since appearing as Prince Charming in my primary school production of Cinderella in the 1940s.

At the time I took over as Officer in charge, the Club had already decided that their next production would be 'The Diary of Anne Frank'. It turned out that the Producer was short of a 'mature' man to play the minor part of Dr Dussel the dentist and I was persuaded to step in. Can you imagine the fuss created by choosing to put on that particular play in Berlin? A very senior officer asked me the loaded question: 'Are you sure it's appropriate to put on "Anne Frank" in Berlin?' I considered my career prospects and then decided to back the Club members. I don't think that was the answer expected of me but the production went ahead and played to full and appreciative houses.

Intoxicated by the thrill of acting (!!) I then took part in several more productions. My final appearance, far less controversial, was playing Toad in what was said to be the German premier of 'Toad of Toad Hall'. I was dismayed when I realised the vast number of lines I would have to learn and very nearly chickened out. To help me I recorded myself reading the entire play onto my Revox reel-to-reel tape recorder but leaving gaps just long enough for me to speak Toad's lines when I replayed the tape.

Towards the end of my tour in Berlin I  got a part-time job doing the English 'voice-overs' for a German film in a studio very close to the Wall and just around the corner from Checkpoint Charlie. The film was a lengthy and, it has to be said, very boring documentary about German cars which was being prepared for its English release. The film studio was the one that dubbed the film 'My Fair Lady' into German. For that they had used a girl with a broad Berlin accent to play Eliza Doolittle the cockney girl (Audrey Hepburn). Someone had recommended me to the Producer, he gave me an audition and decided that my voice was just what he wanted.

Recording the voice-overs was quite straightforward - all I had to do was read the lines from the script and that part of the job did not take very long. Doing the many lip sync scenes, however, was much more demanding and it was a difficult skill for me to learn from scratch. It was very time consuming and required great patience, but it was rewarding in both senses of the word. Fortunately someone else had translated the German script into English so all I had to do was sync my words with the lips of the German actor on the screen. Occasionally I was able to offer small changes to make the English script more appropriate. I sat on a high stool watching a huge screen. Standing by my shoulder was the lady who, presumably, had written the English script. A red warning light at the side of the screen flashed three times and on the third flash I was supposed to start reciting the lines I'd memorised. That didn't work because I was always late. I soon learned that I was supposed to breath in on the first two flashes and start speaking instantly on the third flash. At first I tried too hard - a common mistake apparently. It seems I was concentrating too much on the lips of the German speaker on the film and as a result my speech came out haltingly and in a monotone. Eventually I got the hang of it and we then progressed rapidly.

I finished the job just before I left Berlin at the end of my tour so I never did see the results of my efforts. After my final 'performance' the entire production team had laid on a small party for me and the Producer told me that I'd had learned the job faster than many 'professionals' they had to deal with.

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