Oldal 38 [38]
A REFASHIONED IMAGE OF REVOLUTION AS MUSICAL THEATRE
a judge at a show trial, and stated that Latabár made no attempt to approach
his character, “just repeated his usual, trite and shameful tricks that made an
unworthy, wandering circus from the Operetta Theatre”. Latabar’s acting did
include some arbitrary moments,” but it was part of the special "mask""" that
the actor (who was defended by Margit Gaspar in a letter to Rakosi because
of the attacks on The Grand Duchess of Gerolstein) created for himself as “a
direct descendant of great clowns” However, Mâria Mezei and Andor Ajtay,
who were deliberately placed at the time of the nationalization in a theatre that
was not “suitable” for them,” received no negative criticism at all. According
to Margit Gaspar, the two of them “were brought to us out of punishment” and
she took them over for “socialist preservation”, but the working community
created tasks as worthy and rewarding to them!!! as it did for Teri Fejes and
Robert Ratonyi, who also played supporting roles, but funny and witty ones.
STAGE DESIGN AND SOUND
While the scenery designed specifically for Students of Vienna had the effect
of novelty and exclusivity, the orchestral sound had particular richness and
consistency. The change in stage scenery is best judged in relation to the
95 y.y.: Bécsi diákok, 6.
According to Róbert Rátonyi, "we had a scene together. [...] Iwas aspyand wanted to find out
under cover of night why the astronomer, played by Latyi, came to Vienna. He was believed
to be in favor of the revolution. But the astronomer was trying to unmask the spy too!
The scene was planned for two minutes, and we figured we’d both put on beggars’ clothes,
similar to each other’s. The director’s instruction was that we should cross the stage, the
audience laughs and that’s it. The effect was incredible. Intoxicated by success, we added
half a sentence to the original text every night, and after a few days the two-minute scene
lasted half an hour. I also convinced a lighting assistant to give more light to the stage to
make our scene more effective. But it resulted in the beautiful scenery depicting Vienna at
night, designed by Zoltan Fülöp from the Opera House, being fully illuminated. And the
set had lost its effect. We continued this game until Endre Marton, the director saw one of
the performances and threatened to give us a fine.” Robert Sugár: Volt egyszer egy Ratonyi,
Budapest, ROKA-EX Kft. — Telerädiö Reklämszerkesztöseg, 1993, 86.
Cf. Heltai: Az operett metamorfözisai, 79-83.
Letter from Margit Gäspär to Mätyäs Räkosi. Typed manuscript, Location: The National
Archives of Hungary, 276. f. 65.cs. 335.
According to Zsuzsa Korossy, it was Tamäs Major who condemned “Märia Mezei and
Andor Ajtay as greedy money-hunters and expelled them out of prosaic theatres.” Korossy:
Szinhäziränyitäs, 53.
Bános: A színigazgató, 29.
Margit Gáspár mentions several times the deep respect she had for the two "displaced"
artists. She defended Mária Mezei when, at a meeting in the ministry, Tamás Major said
that “Mezei’s case is no longer an artistic one, but a case for the ÁVO", i.e. the infamous
State Protection Authority. (Venczel: Viragkor, Part 1, 21.) She also offered Andor Ajtay
the opportunity of acting as a director too. He staged The Violet of Montmartre, the second
production of the nationalized Operetta Theatre.
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