Emanuel Schlechter

Emanuel Schlechter

1906-03-26

Lwów

1942?

lyricist, screenwriter, and composer

During the 1930s there was not a person in Poland who was unfamiliar with lyrics written by Schlechter. In his short life he contributed hundreds of beautifully crafted, elegant, and formally innovative poems for popular songs. He started, while still in law school, by writing for cabaret theaters in his native Lwów. Later he moved to Warsaw and worked with a number of theatres, contributing texts (and sometimes music) for revues and cabaret songs, most notably for the fabled cabaret Qui pro Quo. Schlechter also dedicated much of his energies to cinema, writing lyrics and screenplays for many major Polish film productions. In fact, he helped to usher in a new era of musical film in Poland, by contributing the song lyrics to the first Polish sound-on-film production, Anybody Can Love. His title-song for this romantic musical comedy was an instant hit and remains familiar to Polish audiences till today. Likewise, his other hits, such as “Sex Appeal,” continue to be adopted by new generations of singers. Schechter also wrote and recorded Polish-language songs on Jewish themes. He was forced by the Nazis into the infamous Janowski camp in Lwów, where he died in 1942 or 43.

Maleszyńska, Joanna. "Ten chudy Schlechter," Poznańskie Studia Polonistyczne Seria Literacka 22 (42): 55-70.

Lerski, Tomasz. Syrena Record: pierwsza polska wytwórnia fonograficzna; Poland’s first recording company, 1904-1939. New York; Warsaw: Editions Karin, 2004.

Qui pro Quo

ZAiKS

Lwów (Janowska concentration camp ?)

Edmund Schlechter

EMAN

Olgierd Lech