His "salon comedies", staged by the National Theater Bucharest, borrowed from various authors, including Roberto Bracco, Henri Lavedan, and Haralamb Lecca, peaking in popularity in 1913, with Păianjenul ("The Spider").

Herz was finally acquitted in March 1919; the controversy nevertheless survived, also leading to authorship disputes with a former friend, Ioan Alexandru Brătescu-Voinești, and provoking the enmity of writers Liviu Rebreanu and George Ranetti.

Starring in his own plays, he also served for a while as editor of a cultural supplement, Adevărul Literar și Artistic, then briefly as head of Dimineața daily and as interviewer for the Radio Company.

[1][2] On his paternal side, he belonged to Austrian nobility, and had links with the Duchy of Bukovina: his grandfather, Baron Adolf von Herz, was president of the imperial railway connecting Lemberg to Iași; he married a Maria Moreau.

[17] Adolf Sr's other son, Edmond, was a former officer in the Austrian Army; he had married Iza, daughter of Prince Dimitrie Ghica,[18] who reportedly frowned upon his in-laws' Jewishness.

[24] A colleague of Herz's, the future theater chronicler Paul I. Prodan, notes that he was a sentimental figure, who lamented the fate of snowmen used by other students for snowball target practice.

[27] After completing high school in 1907, Herz entered the literature and philosophy faculty of the University of Bucharest, where he was a good student and drew favorable notice from professors such as Titu Maiorescu, Mihail Dragomirescu and Pompiliu Eliade.

[3][36] Five other plays came in quick succession: Noaptea Învierii ("Resurrection Night", 1909), Când ochii plâng ("When Eyes Shed Tears", 1911), Păianjenul ("The Spider", 1913), Bunicul ("Grandfather", also 1913), and Cuceritorul ("The Conqueror", 1914).

[50] Other writers maintained favorable opinions of Păianjenul: Livescu finds in it both of Herz's faces, "the poet and the humorist", joined with "clear precision in creating scenarios and a technique that is anything but banal";[51] while Massoff sees it as "the first and perhaps the best of Romania's salon comedies".

[54] In writing Bunicul, Herz was apparently inspired by Henri Lavedan's Marquis de Priola, similarly depicting an aging seducer, Manole Corbea, trying and failing to win the favors of a much younger woman.

[1] In 1910–1911, he visited the Romanian communities of Austria-Hungary, including Bukovina, as part of a literary tour that also hosted Iorga, Eftimiu, Emil Gârleanu, Octavian Goga, Al. T. Stamatiad, and Caton Theodorian.

[76] Over those months, Herz had drifted toward support for the Central Powers, writing theatrical columns in Steagul newspaper and having friendly encounters with a "Germanophile" agent, Alexandru Bogdan-Pitești.

[85] On September 27, Herz, together with Liviu Rebreanu, had inaugurated a cultural daily, Scena ("The Stage"), which had contributions from a diverse selection of writers: Davila, Felix Aderca, Victor Anestin, Sarina Cassvan, Vasile Demetrius, Gala Galaction, Lucrezzia Karnabatt, Adrian Maniu, Barbu Nemțeanu, I. Peltz, Camil Petrescu, Tudor Teodorescu-Braniște, and I. C.

[94] Other pieces attacked Ententist writers and theater professionals who had resettled in Iași, singling out Diamandy, Ranetti, Sadoveanu, Nicolae N. Beldiceanu, Petre Locusteanu, and Corneliu Moldovanu.

[96] Other members of this exile cohort did not resent Herz for his stances: a December 1917 letter sent from Iași by actor Alexandru Mavrodi shows that he regularly read Scena, and that he was glad to learn of Rândunica's "apparent success".

[103] During that summer, several other of Herz's revues were produced at Ambasadori, including: Fata cu trei case din dafin ("Three-housed Girl of the Laurel Tree"), Țațo nu te supăra ("Frump Be Not Mad"), and Bac (from "Baccarat").

[104] Scena also reported on tours by Theater an der Wien and Darmstadt Court Opera, as well as German plays staged by Romanian managers such as Velimir Maximilian and Marioara Voiculescu.

[106] Around that time, the brochure Caricatura sub ocupație ("Caricature during the Occupation"), attributed by Călinescu to Herz himself[3] and by others to Maniu,[107] presented the work of a staff cartoonist by the name of Philips, who had "tried to replace our famous draftsmen".

[1] According to his friend Gyr, as an editor he was superior to the "vulgar" Mihail Sevastos: under Herz's tenure, Adevărul Literar și Artistic remained "the meeting spot of all literary talent", with contributions that were "lively and varied".

[140] Also in 1925, alongside Dragomirescu, Brătescu-Voinești, Rebreanu and V. Al. Jean, Herz was an executive of Filmul Românesc society, dedicated to the promotion and moral review of Romanian cinema productions.

[2] Later contributions for Tănase's revues were Din toată inima ("With a Full Heart")[144] and Între ciocan și nicovală ("Between a Rock and a Hard Place"), co-authored with Nicolae Vlădoianu; both were performed by and his troupe in 1928.

[145] Alongside Vlădoianu and Nicolae Kirițescu, Herz, using the pen name "Puck", also wrote the show Negru pe alb ("Black on White"), made famous for starring an African American dancer, Josephine Baker.

[2] In December 1934, the satirists at Veselia magazine ridiculed Herz for allowing his actors to perform in Bucharest revues, and also for using the Craiova stage for self-promotion: "The [season's] opening show will comprise fragments from Păianjenul, Omul de zăpadă, Mărgeluș etc., as read out by the author himself".

[23] From 1932, journalist Eugen Constant had been highly critical of Herz's management, alleging that he was "entirely adverse to the Oltenian psyche", a "character with a Germanic coat of arms and the reputation of a streetwise authors of revues."

[161] In summer 1935, Izbânda Garden hosted performances of Domnul de la ora 5 ("Mr. Five o'Clock"), adapted by Herz from a revue by Pierre Weber, and with Velimir Maximilian as a lead.

[162] In late 1935, Herz was living at his own villa in Floreasca, but had left it unplastered, and was considering selling it, because of his financial woes; he confessed his troubles to Rampa reporter Jack Berariu, noting that he was working on two lighthearted comedies, Mincinoasa ("Lady Liar") and Oul lui Columb ("Egg of Columbus").

[166] Herz spoke to Berariu about his belief that he would not live to see his children growing up, and also expressed regrets about not having stayed in military school, since an army career "would have prevented my nationality and my religion from being a topic of discussion.

[2] In 1937, Marconi Garden of Bucharest continued to run works by Herz, including Fustele de la minister ("Ministry Skirts"), an adaptation from Weber and Maurice Hennequin.

[20] Herz's original plays were again performed during World War II: in November 1939, the municipal theater of Focșani produced Păianjenul, specifically as a tribute to its deceased author.

In a 1966 colloquium, actor Niki Atanasiu observed that amateur "people's theaters" were keen on staging Omul de zăpadă, "in which I myself appeared as a youth, but which I cannot imagine will contribute anything towards enlightening the masses.