His older brother Walther Heymann who died young wrote expressionistic poems for the magazine Der Sturm published by Herwalth Walden.

Although he had served in the Prussian Army during World War I,[2] he later became involved with the post-war radical politics and pacifism of the Berlin scene.

When the theater impresario Max Reinhardt opened the satirical cabaret Sound and Smoke he became, with Friedrich Hollaender, one of its two main pianists.

Later the film producer Erich Pommer introduced him to the UFA studio, where he wrote music that accompanied over a dozen silents, including Faust by F. W. Murnau and Spies by Fritz Lang.

Among these films is The Congress Dances, directed by Erik Charell, with whom he would work again soon on Caravan in Hollywood, after he left his country early, along with other artists, when the National Socialists took power in 1933.