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ENDRE MARTON: STUDENTS OF VIENNA, 1949 the Interior, and functioning hereinafter as a Quasi-Ministry in itself.” In the meantime, a proposal for the Hungarian Stakhanovite movement was accepted, the first five-year plan (1950-1955) was drawn up, and a series of celebrations for Stalin’s 70 birthday (21% December, 1949) was prepared. Different fields of education, culture and science were transformed, and the nationalization of theatres took place as part of the process of directing all social spheres under party control.”° According to Margit Gaspar’s recollection, when she took over the management of the Operetta Theatre from Szabolcs Fényes, a famous composer as well as her predecessor and the renter of the theatre, “there was hardly any area of theatrical life which [...] would have had as much contact with the underworld as the Operetta Theatre”,”’ and officials referred to it as “a nest of the reaction of the petite bourgeoisie.””* According to Gyorgy Szirtes, who became artistic secretary of the Operetta Theatre in 1949 and later its technical director, the theatre had “a tax debt of more than one million [Forints], and one and a half months’ salary of the relatively small company had to be paid by the ministry”.”” However, the daily newspaper Szabad Nep reported soon that a “new spirit had moved” into the building, °° and the Operetta Theatre was the first to give the title and the cast of its opening performance among state-owned theatres.*! The premiere was preceded by extraordinary preparation: Margit Gaspar traveled to the countryside for talent research, made contracts with leading comedians and singers, and coordinated the signing of 32 actors, 16 choir 25 Gyarmati: A Rakosi-korszak, 157. 26 “By decision no. 53/1949 of The People’s Economic Council dated 21* July 1949 and the decision of the Council of Ministers dated 29" July 1949, the Operetta Theatre, the Müvész Theatre, the Kis Kamara Theatre, the Pest Theatre and the Belvärosi Theatre were brought under public ownership. [...] According to these decisions, the institutions operated as state theatres from 1 August 1949.” Zsuzsa Korossy: Szinhaziradnyitas a Rákosi-korszak első felében, in Tamás Gajdó (ed.): Színház és politika. Színháztörténeti tanulmányok 1949— 1989, Budapest, OSZMI, 2007, 52. — Their superior institution was the Ministry of Culture, which was formed on 11" June, 1949 and headed by Jézsef Révai. “Theatres were not allowed to hold any performances without the permission of the Ministry’s Department of Theatre.” Ibid., 71. Sándor Venczel: Virágkor tövisekkel. Beszélgetés Gáspár Margittal, Part 1, Színház 32:8 (1999), 16. — Cf. "When I became the manager, I was shocked to find that a famous matchmaker of the Hungarian Broadway went to the theatre in the evenings and settled with girls from the chorus or the dance choir." Ibid. A múlt színházi évad vázlatos értékelése, Typed manuscript, 15. Location: The National Archives of Hungary, XIX-I-3-n 1950.VI.8. Speech by György Szirtes, in Az operett kérdéseiről. A Fővárosi Operettszínház ankétja 1954. december 14-15-én, Budapest, Magyar Színház- és Filmművészeti Szövetség, 1955, 77—78. 30 (L.J.): ,Bécsi diákok". Az Állami Operettszínház kapunyitása, Szabad Nép, Vol. 7, No. 226, 294 September, 1949, 6. The powerful influence of this "new spirit" is also revealed in an entry written inside on the cover of the promptbook by pencil: “First opening play at the Operetta Theatre. Freedom! Mihälyne Szombathelyi”. Becsi didkok. Promptbook, Typed manuscript, Location: Budapest Operetta Theatre. 23 ¢
