"I am aware of the transience of every evening - but it fills me with pride." Fifty years ago, Elisabeth Orth made her debut at the Burgtheater in Vienna. At that time, after stops in Ulm and Munich, she played Luise in Schiller's "Kabale und Liebe." Since then, she has shaped many dozens of classical and modern roles at this theater, is an honorary member, and its doyenne. The Burgtheater without Orth? Hardly imaginable. Yet, the daughter of the great stage stars Paula Wessely and Attila Hörbiger did not make her career choice lightly. Like a cat, she crept around the hot porridge before explaining to her skeptical parents that she had applied to the Max Reinhardt Seminar and had been accepted. In her memoirs, Elisabeth Orth shares stories about her family, her childhood during the war, her youth in the post-war period, her years in Germany, and her two returns.