Page 194 - 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
P. 194
0 opereta med obema svetovnima vojnama
1921
1922 e distribution of the 14,738 hits for the word "görl"
1923 in digitized Hungarian press between 1920 and 1950
19242000
19251800
19261600
19271400
19281200
19291000
1930800
1931600
1932400
1933200
19340
1935
1936Number of hits by year
1937
1938Graph 1: The appearance of the word “görl” in digitised Hungarian press54
1939
1940As the Graph 1 shows, the term was widely used in 1925, with Halló,
1941Amerika!, reached its peak in 1928, then it was mentioned less and less un-
1942til it practically disappeared in 1950.55 The word not only referred to the per-
1943formers (considered to be the lowest in theatre hierarchy), but was also iden-
1944tified with a certain lifestyle. It was a socio-cultural phenomenon which
1945already existed in American and European metropolises, and by the time
1946the show opened in Hungary, the first studies were also being published
1947about its aesthetics.56 Halló, Amerika! was not the first Budapest show dom-
1948inated by a large number of girls;57 but definitely the first modern one whose
1949
195054 Source: Arcanum Digital Database. The collection does not host the complete Hun-
garian press, although it now has almost 30 million pages including major daily
newspapers. Nevertheless, we have to be aware of the limits of OCR and diacrit-
ic signs and words, as for Görlitz, Gorlice might be also included among the results.
Among the 256 hits between 1900–1919 for görl only two was referring to showgirls.
55 See Molnár, Vörös csillagok, 212–20.
56 Fritz Giese, Girlkultur (München: Delphin, 1925); Siegfried Kracauer, Ornament der
Masse (Berlin: Surhkamp, 2009 [1927]). So far, only an exhibition, Az ismeretlen görl
[The unknown girl] in the Hungarian Museum of Trade and Commerce (2016) put
them into their focus – curated by the author.
57 In 1906, Király Színház produced a show titled Madár Matyi written by Jenő Hel-
tai and Ferenc Molnár; featuring 24 dancers and 84 (!) female performers in total.
One of its main themes was the Vurstli, the Budapest fairgrounds, upon which Mol-
nár wrote his world famous play, Liliom, three years later. Budapesti Hírlap, May 10,
1906.
192
1921
1922 e distribution of the 14,738 hits for the word "görl"
1923 in digitized Hungarian press between 1920 and 1950
19242000
19251800
19261600
19271400
19281200
19291000
1930800
1931600
1932400
1933200
19340
1935
1936Number of hits by year
1937
1938Graph 1: The appearance of the word “görl” in digitised Hungarian press54
1939
1940As the Graph 1 shows, the term was widely used in 1925, with Halló,
1941Amerika!, reached its peak in 1928, then it was mentioned less and less un-
1942til it practically disappeared in 1950.55 The word not only referred to the per-
1943formers (considered to be the lowest in theatre hierarchy), but was also iden-
1944tified with a certain lifestyle. It was a socio-cultural phenomenon which
1945already existed in American and European metropolises, and by the time
1946the show opened in Hungary, the first studies were also being published
1947about its aesthetics.56 Halló, Amerika! was not the first Budapest show dom-
1948inated by a large number of girls;57 but definitely the first modern one whose
1949
195054 Source: Arcanum Digital Database. The collection does not host the complete Hun-
garian press, although it now has almost 30 million pages including major daily
newspapers. Nevertheless, we have to be aware of the limits of OCR and diacrit-
ic signs and words, as for Görlitz, Gorlice might be also included among the results.
Among the 256 hits between 1900–1919 for görl only two was referring to showgirls.
55 See Molnár, Vörös csillagok, 212–20.
56 Fritz Giese, Girlkultur (München: Delphin, 1925); Siegfried Kracauer, Ornament der
Masse (Berlin: Surhkamp, 2009 [1927]). So far, only an exhibition, Az ismeretlen görl
[The unknown girl] in the Hungarian Museum of Trade and Commerce (2016) put
them into their focus – curated by the author.
57 In 1906, Király Színház produced a show titled Madár Matyi written by Jenő Hel-
tai and Ferenc Molnár; featuring 24 dancers and 84 (!) female performers in total.
One of its main themes was the Vurstli, the Budapest fairgrounds, upon which Mol-
nár wrote his world famous play, Liliom, three years later. Budapesti Hírlap, May 10,
1906.
192
