Along with Bertolt Brecht and Gerhart Hauptmann, Carl Zuckmayer was one of the most popular and significant German dramatists of the twentieth century. His play Der fröhliche Weinberg (The Happy Vineyard, 1925) is given credit for the death of expressionism, and both Der Hauptmann von Köpenick (published, 1930; performed, 1931; translated as The Captain of Köpenick, 1932) and Des Teufels General (1946; translated as The Devil's General, 1962) were among the most-often-produced plays of the modern German stage. He brought to the theater a sympathy for the common people and a healthy identification with nature; he could be natural without being "naturalistic." His plays provided superb roles for some of the greatest actors of his time, such as Albert Bassermann, Käthe Dorsch, Käthe Haak, Attila Hörbiger, Werner Krauß, and Paula Wessely. His prose works, while not as successful as his dramas...