GERMAN TENOR

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22349, 21 February 1936, Page 11

GERMAN TENOR

DIVORCED WIFE CHARGED ALLEGATION OF BLACKMAIL VIENNA. Feb. 19 Richard Tauber, world-famous German tenor and film star, who is reported to be engaged to Miss Diana Napier, an English screen actress, is attending the trial of his divorced wife Carlotta on a charge of blackmail. She is also being sued for the repayment of £7OOO paid to her since 1930. , According to the Public Prosecutor's indictment, the couple were married in Vienna in 1925 and were divorced in Berlin in 1928. Tauber stated that he had then given his wife £9OOO in alimony and had furnished a flat and given her jewellery and a motor-car. Carlotta alleged that in 1930 she had asked Tauber for further alimony, pointing out that the, Berlin divorce was hot legal in Austria and threatening to publish her memoirs of Tauber's private life. Tauber stated that he had agreed to a monthly allowance of £l2O >until 1940, on condition that his wife agreed to a divorce in Austria on his request. Last year Tauber, wishing to marry again, asked Carlotta to agree to a divorce. She refused and made further demands, which resulted in the present action. ' Carlotta's counsel says, he will repudiate the charge of blackmail and affirm that the 1930 alimony contract was drawn up and signed in the presence of several lawyers. The case stands adjourned.,^