Page 191 - 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 ...
Figure 2: The stage crew of Halló, Amerika!
Színházi Élet XV, no. 7 (15–21 February 1925): 41.
– she looks insecurely at the audience. Suddenly 50 girls run in and
grab the ribbons on her biedermeier dress. The crinoline gives in for
the insult and starts growing. Grows and grows with the little Po
lette, two metres, now even taller than Lajos Újváry, three, four,
five, she almost outgrows the theatre while the jazz band plays; and
curtain.37
The scenes in the show changed rapidly,38 the prompt book was 44
pages long while Viennese operettas were usually 20–25 pages.39 To exe-
cute such changes, twice the amount of stage technicians were necessary,
with 82 stage hands, eight dressers, four stage managers worked on the
show each night.40 Moreover, to ensure a flawless run, six replacement girls
were changing parallel to the ones performing each night.41 The produc-
tion budget (and the show’s electric bills)42 thus exceeded any of the thea-
tre’s previous productions.43
37 Esti Kurír, January 6, 1925.
38 “It requires three and a half minutes to move the used sets and set up the new one.”
Iván Sipos, “A nagy rövü – a színpadról nézve” [The big revue – watching from
the stage], Színházi Élet XV, no. 8 (22–28 February 1925): 34–5, https://epa.oszk.
hu/02300/02343/00550/pdf/.
39 Esti Kurír, November 5, 1927.
40 Esti Kurír, January 6, 1925.
41 Sipos, A nagy rövü – a színpadról nézve, 34–5.
42 Esti Kurír, April 12, 1925.
43 See Gyöngyi Heltai’s cited works or Books of Fővárosi Operett Színház – Vígszínház,
OSZK SzT Irattár 374 122/1.
189
Figure 2: The stage crew of Halló, Amerika!
Színházi Élet XV, no. 7 (15–21 February 1925): 41.
– she looks insecurely at the audience. Suddenly 50 girls run in and
grab the ribbons on her biedermeier dress. The crinoline gives in for
the insult and starts growing. Grows and grows with the little Po
lette, two metres, now even taller than Lajos Újváry, three, four,
five, she almost outgrows the theatre while the jazz band plays; and
curtain.37
The scenes in the show changed rapidly,38 the prompt book was 44
pages long while Viennese operettas were usually 20–25 pages.39 To exe-
cute such changes, twice the amount of stage technicians were necessary,
with 82 stage hands, eight dressers, four stage managers worked on the
show each night.40 Moreover, to ensure a flawless run, six replacement girls
were changing parallel to the ones performing each night.41 The produc-
tion budget (and the show’s electric bills)42 thus exceeded any of the thea-
tre’s previous productions.43
37 Esti Kurír, January 6, 1925.
38 “It requires three and a half minutes to move the used sets and set up the new one.”
Iván Sipos, “A nagy rövü – a színpadról nézve” [The big revue – watching from
the stage], Színházi Élet XV, no. 8 (22–28 February 1925): 34–5, https://epa.oszk.
hu/02300/02343/00550/pdf/.
39 Esti Kurír, November 5, 1927.
40 Esti Kurír, January 6, 1925.
41 Sipos, A nagy rövü – a színpadról nézve, 34–5.
42 Esti Kurír, April 12, 1925.
43 See Gyöngyi Heltai’s cited works or Books of Fővárosi Operett Színház – Vígszínház,
OSZK SzT Irattár 374 122/1.
189
