Wangenheim was a compromise choice as Hutter. I wanted Veidt, whom Grau proclaimed too old, too sinister-looking, and, he might have added, too intimately associated with me. Neither of us is happy with Wangenheim, but he was available. At the first production meeting, he looks over the room assignments and complains that the rooms have been apportioned hierarchically. The top floor, the one with the view, has been divided between art director Albin Grau, cameraman Fritz Arno Wagner, scenarist Henrik Galeen, and myself. Everyone looks to me to quash this kind of petty revolt. Wangenheim offers his chin and makes a face. He’s a left-winger and an aristocrat and probably feels isolated in this crew.

There is a hierarchy, I inform him. I congratulate him for having noticed. The arrangement is so our collaboration can continue at any and all hours. Grau, handing out room keys, suggests he spend less time worrying about accommodations and more worrying about his performance. Wangenheim then wants to know why his room is below Spiess’s, and why in fact Spiess has been brought along. One of those film company spats, unpleasantness tinged with subtextual insinuation. Why was there scrimping and saving on one end and splurging on the other? Spiess, I remind everyone, has lived in the east and could prove invaluable. The usual grumbling before the rebel angels retreat, quiescent for now and more trouble later.

The company, like a class of children, never understands: it’s not a matter of severity or love, but devotion to the work at hand. Behind my back, they poke fun at my unwillingness to show emotion even in disagreements. It is simple, simple, simple: by remaining master of myself, I remain master of the company. This is all I need to remember. Without that first mastery, all other authority is quickly at an end.

Persistent thoughts of H—. Lasker-Schüler claims to have no more information. Have I tried everyone else? Are there memory-tricks that would release new answers?

(—Record everything; revise later with Q in mind.)