Cissy Kraner was born on January 18, 1918 in Vienna into a Roman Catholic family. Following the occupation of Austria by Germany in 1938, she immigrated to Columbia. She went on to Caracas, Venezuela in 1939, where she began to perform with the Jewish writer, composer and librettist, Hugo Wiener. He too had escaped from Vienna following the occupation by the Nazis. Weiner accompanied Kraner at the piano with her songs in English, French, Spanish and Dutch. The couple soon became known as ‘Cissy and Hugo” and married in 1943. They settled in Mexico In 1946, but a year later had to return to Caracas because of Kraner’s illness. The couple continued to appear in cabarets and revues, and later at the Jockey Club restaurant in Caracas.
In 1948, Weiner visited Vienna where his plays were again being produced. A year later, following the premiere of one of his operettas, the couple returned to Austria. He became a writer for cabarets like ‘Casanova’ and ‘Simpl,’ both in Vienna. In 1951, they also performed at ‘Simpl’. In 1954, after brief engagements in Venezuela, the couple resettled in their native Vienna. Weiner expanded into writing for cinema. Kraner had acting and signing roles in twelve German language films, produced in West Germany and Austria, most of which were written by Weiner. The couple performed in many countries through the middle 1980’s, after which they retired in Vienna. Hugo Weiner died on May 14, 1993.