“You don’t know me but you’ve heard a lot of me already” were the words with which Heymann introduced the melodies he played in the 1950s that everyone was familiar with. These included “Das gibt’s nur einmal, das kommt nicht wieder” (Just Once For All Time), “Ein Freund, ein guter Freund” (A Good Friend), “Das ist die Liebe der Matrosen” (The Love of Sailors), and “Irgendwo auf der Welt” (Somewhere in the World). It is no wonder that, in the brief phase of the talkie before 1933, he was one of UFA’s most successful film music composers. Born in 1896 in Königsberg, he began playing serious music and was one of the co-founders of literary-musical cabaret and general director of music at UFA in the silent-movie era. After emigrating to France, he composed operettas, and following that the music for more than 40 films in Hollywood, among these Lubitsch’s “Ninotchka”. When he returned to Germany he was confronted with a very different situation to the one he had left. His eclectic family, his four wives and the balance he maintained between wit and a humanitarian outlook on life are further highlights of this book.

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