Before Billy Wilder became the screenwriter and director of iconic films like Sunset Boulevard and Some Like It Hot, he worked as a freelance reporter, first in Vienna and then in Weimar Berlin. Billy Wilder on Assignment brings together more than fifty articles, translated into English for the first time, that Wilder (then known as “Billie”) published in magazines and newspapers between September 1925 and November 1930. From a humorous account of Wilder’s stint as a hired dancing companion in a posh Berlin hotel and his dispatches from the international film scene, to his astute profiles of writers, performers, and political figures, the collection offers fresh insights into the creative mind of one of Hollywood’s most revered writer-directors.
Wilder’s early writings—a heady mix of cultural essays, interviews, and reviews—contain the same sparkling wit and intelligence as his later Hollywood screenplays, while also casting light into the dark corners of Vienna and Berlin between the wars. Wilder covered everything: big-city sensations, jazz performances, film and theater openings, dance, photography, and all manner of mass entertainment. And he wrote about the most colorful figures of the day, including Charlie Chaplin, Cornelius Vanderbilt, the Prince of Wales, actor Adolphe Menjou, director Erich von Stroheim, and the Tiller Girls dance troupe. Film historian Noah Isenberg’s introduction and commentary place Wilder’s pieces—brilliantly translated by Shelley Frisch—in historical and biographical context, and rare photos capture Wilder and his circle during these formative years.
Filled with rich reportage and personal musings, Billy Wilder on Assignment showcases the burgeoning voice of a young journalist who would go on to become a great auteur.
Awards and Recognition
- A Times Literary Supplement Book of the Year 2021
- Longlisted for the Kraszna-Krausz Book Award, Moving Image Category
- Longlisted for the National Translation Award, American Literary Translators Association
"A revelation, a trove of snappy pieces that give the reader tantalizing glimpses of the mature film satirist."—Marc Weingarten, Washington Post
"The brightest moments here let you watch a little more of the human comedy through Billy Wilder’s eyes. Few saw it as clearly he did or had more fun writing it down."—Jeremy McCarter, Wall Street Journal
"Readers who come to Billy Wilder on Assignment to find the seeds of the films for which he is famous—nearly all of them, one assumes—will not be disappointed."—Ryan Ruby, Bookforum
"A delicious compilation."—Tobias Grey, Financial Times
"The most successful story in this collection, ‘Waiter, a Dancer, Please!,’ about being a hoofer for hire at a big hotel, is waspish and (if you allow for the choppy sentences) jazz-era excitable, New Yorker–ish, with a self-deprecating turn and a fairly urbane sense of the perfectly ridiculous."—Andrew O'Hagan, New York Review of Books
"Long before he became the celebrated filmmaker of 'Sunset Boulevard,' 'Some Like It Hot' and 'The Apartment,' a young Billy Wilder worked briefly as a dancer for hire in the ballroom of a fashionable Berlin hotel. As he described the endeavor . . . for a German newspaper in 1927, 'This is no easy way to earn your daily bread, nor is it the kind that sentimental, softhearted types can stomach. But others can live from it.' Wilder’s observations on his experience—from one of his many delightfully acerbic pieces of journalism anthologized in Billy Wilder on Assignment . . . get to the heart of our enduring obsessions with show business and the performing arts."—Dave Itzkoff, New York Times
"Sharp and witty. . . . Full of glorious turns of phrase, entertaining narratives, and quirky characters. . . . . Thumbing through Wilder’s essays from the 1920s will make you feel as if you are enjoying yourself at a German coffeehouse, catching up on popular culture, and planning your next weekend adventure in the Weimar Republic. Isenberg and Frisch have done a great service for film historians and fans of classic Hollywood."—Chris Yogerst, Los Angeles Review of Books
"An irresistible collection of articles, profiles, and reviews from Wilder’s salad-und-bratwurst days in Berlin, where he worked as a roving journalist, critic, and scene-maker between 1926 and 1930. . . . Isenberg is an expert guide to the Berlin-to-Hollywood axis, and Frisch is a veteran translator."—Thomas Doherty, Tablet Magazine
"Billy Wilder on Assignment is, as my colleague, TIME Magazine film critic Stephanie Zacharek kvelled to me in an email, ‘the little book you didn’t know you needed.'"—Jordan Hoffman, Times of Israel
"A must-read for film buffs and history aficionados alike."—Tobias Carroll, Inside Hook
"This new volume takes in the most significant staging posts of Wilder’s early career."—Gavin Plumley, Literary Review
"[Wilder] quickly moved on to Berlin and became a prolific writer of occasional pieces for papers such as Der Querschnitt and the Berliner Börsen Courier. Selections of these articles have been published before but are long out of print, and were never translated into English. Now, thankfully, Professor Isenberg of the University of Texas has put this frustrating situation to rights with a lively anthology, translated by Shelley Frisch into a brisk, punchy English which feels as though it must be an accurate reflection of the young Wilder’s original tone."—Jonathan Coe, Spectator
"The opportunity to read Wilder’s journalism in English is welcome. . . . What’s particularly impressive, even slightly eerie, is how many times this young film buff and Americanophile wrote about people he would later work with in Hollywood."—Bookforum
"A delightful and illuminating collection."—Sam Wasson, Air Mail
"There is no question that Billy Wilder on Assignment is the most historically important recent book exploring the early days of a major filmmaker. It compiles, for the first time, Wilder’s writings as a young freelance reporter in 1920s Berlin and Vienna. The result is an incredible glimpse of Wilder’s mind at a key age."—Christopher Schobert, The Film Stage
"Billy Wilder On Assignment . . . explores the roots of one of Hollywood’s most accomplished and acclaimed directors in the fervid journalistic atmosphere of Central Europe between world wars. . . . Shelley Frisch—one of the nimblest and liveliest translators working today—renders Wilder’s journalism into an English that leaps off the page with deadline urgency. . . . Isenberg's collection offers those interested in the Golden Age of Hollywood valuable new insight into one of its most significant personalities. It is also a vivid account of the vanished world that helped shape Billy Wilder."—Wilson Quarterly
"Let it be said that Billy Wilder on Assignment – Dispatches from Weimar Berlin and Interwar Vienna, is an altogether wonderful read. In fact it reads as if a fine, literary, malt-whiskey."—David Marx, David Marx: Book Reviews
"The new anthology Billy Wilder on Assignment proves Wilder's verbal and narrative gifts existed long before he set foot in Hollywood during the 1930s."—Dan Lybarger, Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette
"Readers will have fun picking out elements, traits and incidents in these lively witty texts and attempting to match them with Wilder’s later cinematic masterpieces."—Alexander Adams, Alexander Adams Art
"Billy Wilder on Assignment . . . provides a long-overdue translation of Billy Wilder’s early writings in German. . . . The anthology will be of interest to both the academic and general public."—Nora Gortcheva, EuropeNow
"Very nice."—Tom Stoppard, Times Literary Supplement
"In this first English-language compilation of Wilder’s early journalism . . . we can see the mischievous humour and love of snappy dialogue characteristic of his later movies."—Monica Porter, The Jewish Chronicle
"Billy Wilder on Assignment: Dispatches from Weimar Berlin and Interwar Vienna is a revealing collection of his lively reportage from those two cities. . . . [The book] create[s] a portrait of a man who is so much more complex than a mere cynic."—Kevin Lally, Cineaste Magazine
"“Billy Wilder on Assignment is a beautifully assembled collection of the early writings of a master storyteller whose body of work has entertained moviemakers and movie watchers for generations."—Leonora Cravotta, American Spectator
"Among the gems of Billy Wilder on Assignment is the famous backstory about young Billie working as a dancer for hire, chronicled with sheepishness and brio by the man himself. In this enticing collection of Wilder’s journalism, we find him on the make, insatiably curious, unhampered by snob values, and finding plenty of nourishment in prewar Berlin for his famous sardonic streak. The reviews and interviews show the future director learning the trade, always with an eye to what works."—Molly Haskell, author of Frankly, My Dear: “Gone with the Wind” Revisited
"While it’s a given that Billy Wilder’s Weimar film reportage would be of great historical interest, his appreciations of such figures as Asta Nielsen and Erich von Stroheim are gems among many. Wilder’s youthful journalism proves to be as brash and cynical as—and even more entertaining than—one would expect."—J. Hoberman, author Film After Film: Or, What Became of 21st Century Cinema?
"Who was Billy Wilder before he became the director of brilliant, lasting films like Some Like It Hot, Sunset Boulevard, and The Apartment? He was a journalist, essayist, and critic for newspapers in Vienna and Weimar Berlin, serving up spry profiles and elegant, witty essays. These newly translated works are a delight, and editor Noah Isenberg is an equally charming guide, bringing to life the early career of a man who would turn into one of Hollywood’s funniest and most observant filmmakers."—Stephanie Zacharek, film critic for Time
"Billy Wilder’s background as a journalist had a direct relationship with his subsequent career as a celebrated director and screenwriter. This timely book—an eclectic mix of Wilder’s reviews, interviews, and glosses on metropolitan life—will interest his many fans and those fascinated with the Weimar Republic."—Gerd Gemünden, author of A Foreign Affair: Billy Wilder’s American Films
"Billy Wilder on Assignment offers a selection of charming prose pieces from the early years of the legendary movie director and screenwriter. These brilliant vignettes present a unique window into the fascinating and turbulent culture of Weimar-era Berlin, written by one of its wittiest observers. A pleasure to read."—Christian Rogowski, Amherst College
