Page 185 - Weiss, Jernej, ur./ed. 2021. Opereta med obema svetovnima vojnama ▪︎ Operetta between the Two World Wars. Koper/Ljubljana: Založba Univerze na Primorskem in Festival Ljubljana. Studia musicologica Labacensia, 5
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288 metres of velvet, 16 pairs of shoes, 12 yellow top hats, 5 bathtubs ...
position the styles attributed to local and cosmopolitan cultures.14 In fact,
this debate inspired Imre Kálmán’s 1928 operetta, Die Herzogin von Chica
go, and Béla Zerkovitz’s Miss Amerika in 1929.
Director Jack Haskell’s methods also did little to help the theatre’s im-
age in the press. “His way of theatre making,” as the press put it, ended up
in scandals. He gave instructions using a whistle, and soon had a quarrel
with the stage crew who were unable to fit the set of a mountain on stage. 15
A week later he had another quarrel with a stage manager; after that with
a chorus girl, who he even kicked – and this is just what was printed in the
papers.
Haskell insulted an actress – even more, he had a difference with
manager Tapolczai. The quarrel spread like the Spanish flu to oth
er members of the crew, so at 1 PM everybody was upset with every
body. The majority though was on Tapolczai’s side.16
Not much later the performers stopped the rehearsal to talk to the
manager about how Haskell addressed them. On January 27, Haskell faint-
ed from exhaustion, but two days later he again physically insulted an Eng-
lish girl.17 The two sides of the press interpreted it differently: conservatives
that by insulting a girl the arrogant Englishman had hurt Hungary’s na-
tional pride, and the liberal side defended him by saying that he was sim-
ply prioritising the show.18 Defending his brutality became much easier af-
ter the premiere, when the show opened to rave reviews:
Whatever measures had to be taken, it is now clear that such disci
pline, precision, synchronisation, such amount of stage tricks, such
dazzling acting was never seen on Hungarian stage before – and
14 See Kornél Zipernovszky, “‘Who will win – the jazz or Gypsy, it is hard to tell:’ Gyp-
sy musicians defend Hungarian national culture against American jazz,” in AMER
ICANA - E-Journal of American Studies in Hungary, vol. X, Special issue on jazz,
http://americanaejournal.hu/vol10jazz/zipernovszky.
15 Esti Kurír, January 4, 1925.
16 Pesti Napló, January 9, 1925.
17 Several physical insults and fights happened even after Haskell left. In March Lala
Collins had a quarrel with the leading man, Tibor Halmay. Collins hit Halmay,
who punched back so hard that Collins fainted and had to skip a performance. Új
Nemzedék, March 25, 1925.
18 “[...] it was about time to bring a director to Budapest who teaches discipline to the ac
tors.” Pesti Hírlap, January 8, 1925.
183
position the styles attributed to local and cosmopolitan cultures.14 In fact,
this debate inspired Imre Kálmán’s 1928 operetta, Die Herzogin von Chica
go, and Béla Zerkovitz’s Miss Amerika in 1929.
Director Jack Haskell’s methods also did little to help the theatre’s im-
age in the press. “His way of theatre making,” as the press put it, ended up
in scandals. He gave instructions using a whistle, and soon had a quarrel
with the stage crew who were unable to fit the set of a mountain on stage. 15
A week later he had another quarrel with a stage manager; after that with
a chorus girl, who he even kicked – and this is just what was printed in the
papers.
Haskell insulted an actress – even more, he had a difference with
manager Tapolczai. The quarrel spread like the Spanish flu to oth
er members of the crew, so at 1 PM everybody was upset with every
body. The majority though was on Tapolczai’s side.16
Not much later the performers stopped the rehearsal to talk to the
manager about how Haskell addressed them. On January 27, Haskell faint-
ed from exhaustion, but two days later he again physically insulted an Eng-
lish girl.17 The two sides of the press interpreted it differently: conservatives
that by insulting a girl the arrogant Englishman had hurt Hungary’s na-
tional pride, and the liberal side defended him by saying that he was sim-
ply prioritising the show.18 Defending his brutality became much easier af-
ter the premiere, when the show opened to rave reviews:
Whatever measures had to be taken, it is now clear that such disci
pline, precision, synchronisation, such amount of stage tricks, such
dazzling acting was never seen on Hungarian stage before – and
14 See Kornél Zipernovszky, “‘Who will win – the jazz or Gypsy, it is hard to tell:’ Gyp-
sy musicians defend Hungarian national culture against American jazz,” in AMER
ICANA - E-Journal of American Studies in Hungary, vol. X, Special issue on jazz,
http://americanaejournal.hu/vol10jazz/zipernovszky.
15 Esti Kurír, January 4, 1925.
16 Pesti Napló, January 9, 1925.
17 Several physical insults and fights happened even after Haskell left. In March Lala
Collins had a quarrel with the leading man, Tibor Halmay. Collins hit Halmay,
who punched back so hard that Collins fainted and had to skip a performance. Új
Nemzedék, March 25, 1925.
18 “[...] it was about time to bring a director to Budapest who teaches discipline to the ac
tors.” Pesti Hírlap, January 8, 1925.
183
