Page 182 - 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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opereta med obema svetovnima vojnama
es from the press are biased one way or another: either ideologically (as the
show itself was interpreted as a political issue) or in focusing on marketing
matters in relation to the venue.
A journalist wrote in 1925: “Hungary now only owns a third of its for
mer territory, but it has only three theatres less than before.”3 This might have
been an exaggeration, but in fact we can observe a clear tendency of turning
Budapest orpheums and music halls into theatre enterprises after WWI.
The Fővárosi Orfeum [Municipal Orpheum] was bought by an American
theatre entrepreneur, Ben Blumenthal, who reopened it as Fővárosi Oper
ett Színház in 1922, and changed the variety show profile to operettas.4 Blu-
menthal defined himself as a businessman par excellence– with theatre in-
terests in Berlin and New York. It is unclear, however, what his role was
regarding the repertoire, because the theatre was run by Hungarian thea-
tre professionals: Imre Roboz, Dezső Tapolczai and Ernő Szabolcs. Based
on the list of premieres, the primary focus of the theatre was on Austri-
an, French and Hungarian operettas – until the end of 1924. It is unclear
who initiated the change in style and the repertoire – the press associat-
ed it personally with Blumenthal – which led to the staging of an Ameri-
can-style revue show. Blumenthal’s supposed goal might have been to re-
set the theatre’s business model: instead of creating a new production every
two months, only one spectacular show would run for the whole season
or even longer. This was an existing (and successful) business model on
Broadway. The shows of the Ziegfeld Follies had been staged like this in the
New Amsterdam Theatre since 1907; in London, the Palace Theatre staged
revues which ran for 300 performances on average; in Paris, the Folies
Bergère produced a single show each year from 1919 until 1944; and in Ber-
lin the Admiralspalast hosted the yearly Haller-revues. Blumenthal invited
an experienced American director to the Budapest Operetta, Jack Haskell
(1886–1963), who staged and choreographed several revues both in London
and New York.5 While it was a recurring phrase in the press that Haskell
and Blumenthal “bring a complete revue” to Budapest, the show was not a
3 Pesti Hírlap, June 6, 1925. All translations by the author, unless otherwise indicated.
4 See the list of productions: Lajos Koch, A Fővárosi Operettszínház műsora [Show cat-
alogue of the Municipal Operetta Theatre] (Budapest: MSZI, 1973).
5 Haskell enjoyed Blumenthal’s complete trust: he sent only two cables to Blumenthal
during his stay in Budapest. Mr. Haskell takes leave. English transcript of an article
in Ma Este, February 19, 1925. Országos Széchényi Könyvtár Színháztörténeti Tár
[National Széchényi Library Department of Theatre History; OSZK SzT], Irattár 374.
180
es from the press are biased one way or another: either ideologically (as the
show itself was interpreted as a political issue) or in focusing on marketing
matters in relation to the venue.
A journalist wrote in 1925: “Hungary now only owns a third of its for
mer territory, but it has only three theatres less than before.”3 This might have
been an exaggeration, but in fact we can observe a clear tendency of turning
Budapest orpheums and music halls into theatre enterprises after WWI.
The Fővárosi Orfeum [Municipal Orpheum] was bought by an American
theatre entrepreneur, Ben Blumenthal, who reopened it as Fővárosi Oper
ett Színház in 1922, and changed the variety show profile to operettas.4 Blu-
menthal defined himself as a businessman par excellence– with theatre in-
terests in Berlin and New York. It is unclear, however, what his role was
regarding the repertoire, because the theatre was run by Hungarian thea-
tre professionals: Imre Roboz, Dezső Tapolczai and Ernő Szabolcs. Based
on the list of premieres, the primary focus of the theatre was on Austri-
an, French and Hungarian operettas – until the end of 1924. It is unclear
who initiated the change in style and the repertoire – the press associat-
ed it personally with Blumenthal – which led to the staging of an Ameri-
can-style revue show. Blumenthal’s supposed goal might have been to re-
set the theatre’s business model: instead of creating a new production every
two months, only one spectacular show would run for the whole season
or even longer. This was an existing (and successful) business model on
Broadway. The shows of the Ziegfeld Follies had been staged like this in the
New Amsterdam Theatre since 1907; in London, the Palace Theatre staged
revues which ran for 300 performances on average; in Paris, the Folies
Bergère produced a single show each year from 1919 until 1944; and in Ber-
lin the Admiralspalast hosted the yearly Haller-revues. Blumenthal invited
an experienced American director to the Budapest Operetta, Jack Haskell
(1886–1963), who staged and choreographed several revues both in London
and New York.5 While it was a recurring phrase in the press that Haskell
and Blumenthal “bring a complete revue” to Budapest, the show was not a
3 Pesti Hírlap, June 6, 1925. All translations by the author, unless otherwise indicated.
4 See the list of productions: Lajos Koch, A Fővárosi Operettszínház műsora [Show cat-
alogue of the Municipal Operetta Theatre] (Budapest: MSZI, 1973).
5 Haskell enjoyed Blumenthal’s complete trust: he sent only two cables to Blumenthal
during his stay in Budapest. Mr. Haskell takes leave. English transcript of an article
in Ma Este, February 19, 1925. Országos Széchényi Könyvtár Színháztörténeti Tár
[National Széchényi Library Department of Theatre History; OSZK SzT], Irattár 374.
180
