Marriage and the outbreak of war
Frankel’s feelings about his racial origins did not extend to the Jewish faith and, in 1932 he married ‘outside’, to the first of his three wives. This had profound repercussions for him and his family - his father, who died in 1935, never spoke with him again (although his mother did relent in time) and nor did his brother. Bizarrely, however, the two continued to meet - without, apparently, exchanging a word - in the latter’s dental surgery, where he continued to care for his brother’s teeth. Family and professional matters were not alone in occupying Frankel’s thoughts at this time: the rising tide of fascism in Germany was of grave concern and, with many of his contemporaries in artistic and intellectual circles, he was drawn to the ideals of communism.
Frankel relaxing at home
While he was a gentle man, Frankel was not an appeaser (martial characteristics have been noted in many of his works) and, at the outbreak of the War, he attempted to enlist. He did not, however, pass his ‘medical’ and could only attend to Home Guard duties, such as firewatch. The reason for this was a severe skin condition (psoriasis) which had been triggered by the tragic death of his second child and only daughter, in infancy, during 1937. Undoubtedly, this was a period of frustration for Frankel, unable to fight for his ideals and, at the same time, not able to sit back and do nothing. His work in commercial music continued, although, owing to the War, fewer film scores were required. A number of film commissions, however, were directly concerned with wartime propaganda. The Gen, a series of RAF newsreels; Bon Voyage and Aventure Malgache (Hitchcock shorts, both 1944), intended to encourage the French Resistance movement; The Broad Fourteens, a naval documentary, and The Fire of London, about the effects of the Blitz.
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