Page 198 - 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

erarchy, nameless and replaceable extras.70 They did not appear in the pa-
pers and they could have only dreamed of a stay in the Hotel Royal. Their
salaries, however, appear to have been equal to those of the English girls:
around 32,000 Hungarian korona daily, while more prestigious artists
earned 17 million per night.71 Gyöngyi Heltai cites another article in this re-
gard, which claims that the English girls received a salary of 12–15 million
a month, while the Hungarians only 800,000–1 million.72 She argues that
this was due to the centre-periphery situation and the inequality of cul-
tural power. Nevertheless, her cited article criticises Blumenthal explicit-
ly, and demonises him.73 Even if this article is true (about which I have my
doubts) and the English girls had a significantly higher salary, it could have
been because they were a different class of girls (more professional, expe-
rienced etc.) and were unlikely to be engaged for a foreign job for less than
their English salaries. While we do not know much about the relationship
between Hungarian and English girls, at the penultimate performance

A conflict was generated on the stage where Sári C. Hungarian girl
pushed C. Pollin English girl by chance. After the scene, the English
miss hit the Hungarian in the wings. This was followed by terrible a
shouting up to the dressing rooms in which both groups participat­
ed. A serious clash was in the air, when the director with his good
diplomatic skills ended the quarrel.74
It is likely, one assumes, that the different social status of the English
girls might have been behind this outburst.

Dissemination in Hungarian theatre
After postponing opening night several times, Halló, Amerika! opened
on 30 January 1925. Színházi Élet listed 89 (!) female members of the audi-

70 “The stage manager reports to director Szabolcs that one of the girls fell sick. – Call her
replacement immediately from the standby!” Sipos, A nagy rövü – a színpadról nézve,
34–5.

71 Esti Kurír, April 12, 1925.
72 8 Órai Ujság, June 27, 1925.
73 “There are excellent Hungarian directors who could have directed better the show than

Haskell.” etc. Ibid.
74 Pesti Napló, May 14, 1925.

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