Ludwig Dessoir

DESSOIR, LUDWIG (1810-1874), German actor, whose name was originally Leopold Dessauer, was born on Dec. 15, 181o, at Posen, the son of a Jewish tradesman. He made his first appearance on the stage there in 1824 in a small part. After some experience at the theatre in Posen and on tour, he was engaged at Leipzig from 1834-36. In 1836 he was at the Breslau municipal theatre, and during 1837-39 at Budapest. From there he went to Karlsruhe and in 1847 to Berlin where his success in Othello and Hamlet won him a permanent engagement at the Hof theatre. In 1853 he appeared in London. He retired in 1872 and died on Dec. 3o, 1874, in Berlin. Dessoir was twice married; by his first wife he had one son, the actor Ferdinand Dessoir (1836– 92). In spite of certain physical disabilities Ludwig Dessoir's genius raised him to the first rank of actors, especially as an interpreter of Shakespeare's characters. G. H. Lewes placed Dessoir's Othello above that of Kean, and the Athenaeum pre ferred him in this part to Brooks or Macready.

DE STEFANI, ALBERTO

(1879– ), Italian economist and statesman, was born at Verona on Oct. 6, 1879. Educated at the university of Padua he became professor of political economy at the Superior Commercial Institute of Venice. In 1921 he was returned to the Chamber as a Fascist and was Mussolini's first Minister of Finance. Later he was also entrusted with the Treas ury department and welded the two into a single ministry. He abolished useless expenditure and simplified the fiscal system, reducing innumerable taxes to three main sources of revenue, with the result that, in three years a deficit of 6,5oo,000,000 lire was converted into a surplus of 2o9,000,000. His measures for re straining speculation in the currency and stock markets during the financial slump in the spring of 1925 were less successful; he lost the confidence of the banking community, and in July was superseded by Count Volpi.