Amerikai Magyar Szó, 1981. január-június (35. évfolyam, 1-26. szám)

1981-05-14 / 20. szám

AMERIKAI MAGYAR SZÓ Thursday, May 14. 1981. 2. iIbAIWR 111)8«» A Statement by Peter Bartók WE RECEIVED THE FOLLOWING STATEMENT FROM THE SON OF BELA BARTÓK On March 23, 1981 the N.Y. Times carried an article on page 1 about the litigation I allegedly have been “pressing” for 22 years over the estate of my father, Béla Bartók. The factually incorrect article was prepared without a single interview with me, and I am aware of no published correction based on information I supplied to the editor after its appearance. The following refers to the major errors in the article: The statement that I have been pressing a 22 year court fight beginning with my charge of improper administration and that I did not receive income I maintained I was entitled to is incorrect. Actually the litigation began when the trustee, Vic­tor Bator, claimed personal ownership of Béla Bar- tok’s musical manuscripts and other papers there­tofore understood to be the trust’s property, con­stituting my interest, and demanded that his claim be conceded as a condition before paying the in­come to Bela Bartok’s widow. I did not maintain in the litigation that I was entitled to that income, but that instructions of the widow (who was entitled to it) were ignored by the trustee (who disputed her right to request me to collect it for her). From 1959 to 1962 I assisted the widow in her effort to obtain her income from the trustee, and since 1963 I have been sued both by the trustee (later his successors) and the widow. In the litigation the trustee pressed his claim of personal ownership as to most of Béla Bartók’s ma­nuscripts; the widow’s attorneys made various claims designed to force their liquidation, and I de­fended the estate’s title to the manuscripts so they remain together until an eventual deposit in a sui­table cultural institution, I also tried to prohibit the trustee from altering some of Béla Bartók’s ma­nuscripts prior to their publication. Litigation con­tinues to this day concerning some documents, in­cluding poems in my father’s handwriting, that can not be located. There is no controversy (as alleged Let us learn Hungarian TRAVELING UTAZÁS by the New York Times) over whether a manu­script presented to a young lady by Bela Bartók in his youth became part of his estate when he died. A controversy does exist over Paul Sacher’s recent ownership claim as to the copyright on Bela Bar­tok’s First Violin Concerto, and its manuscript which Sacher gave to the Bartók Estate in a 1958 trade agreement after having acquired it from Stefi Gey er’s family. The litigation is not between me and the execu­tors of the estate, since the trustee litigated against both Bela Bartok’s widow and me, while both the trustee and the widow’s attorneys litigated against me. After the death of Victor Bator I did not conti­nue to press the suit against his sons and successor, Benjamin Suchoff, who was not chosen with my consent. In 1968 I took every conceivable step trying to terminate the litigation by agreement with Victor Bator’s sons, avoiding the appointment of Benjamin Suchoff. When the attorneys represen­ting Bela Bartok’s widow refused to agree to a settlement, they and Bator’s sons continued the lawsuit and the successor trustee became a fourth party to it. I have not alleged that the long drawn- out lawsuit was the executor’s fault, but that it was caused by the trustee (executor) and its length drawn out by attorneys of the widow. The court’s decision the N.Y. Times apparently received advance notice of, denied my motion of two years ago for an allowance to be represented by professional counsel if litigations against my father’s estate continue. In that motion, denied by the court on the occasion of my father’s 100th birthday, I did not claim to be paid someone else’s inheritance for my legal services, but requested compensation by those who maintained the litiga­tion for my expenses and loss of a major portion of my life they had a discretion not to inflict. Peter Bartók, Homosassa, Florida. April 24, 1981 No one in Budapest, a city of 2 million inhabi­tants, has to walk more than 500 meters from his apartment to find a tram, bus, subway, or subur­ban railway station. As many as 4.5 million com­7here, is a non-slop route between Budapest and Miskolc. When do passanger planes leave for ... ? What time does the plane leave for ...? Ilow many days in advance must I book my air-ticket? I want to fly to London ' next week. It"W much is an air- tickcl to Paris?-Vo more tickets left for Friday. Is luggage paid separately? What is the free baggage allowance? Can I have a ticket reserved? Are meals and refresh­ments served on flight? What’s the route of that plane? What’s Ute flying-time? Where do we touch down, on our way? Which airport will the plane land on? You'll have to change to another plane in Prague. Leszállás nélkül juthat Budapestről Miskolcra. Mikor indulnak az utas­gépek . . . -be? Mikor indul a gép . . . -be? Hány nappal előbb kell a repülőjegyemet megváltani? A jövő héten akarok Londonba repülni. Mennyibe kerül egy repülőjegy Párizsba? Nincs már (több) jegy péntekre. Külön kell fizetni a poggyászért? Milyen súlyú csomag szállítható felár nélkül? Rezerváltathatok egy jegyet? Szolgainak fel ételt és frissítőket a légiót alatt? Mi annak a repülő­gépnek az útvonala? Mennyi a repülő menet­ideje? Hol szádunk le útközben? Melyik repülőtéren száll le a gép? Prágában át kell szállnia egy másik gépre. muting trips are recorded daily in the capital’s 1000 kilometer-long public transport network. AMERIKAI , MAGYAR SZQ USPS 023-980 ISSN 9194 7990 Published weekly, exc. last 2 weeks in July and 1st week in August by Hungarian Word, Inc. 130 E 16 St. New York, N Y. 10003. Ent. as 2nd Class Matter, Dec. 31. 1952 under the Act of March. 21.1879, at the P.O. of New York, N.Y. Szerkeszti a Szerkesztő Bizottság Előfizetési árak New Yorkban, az Egyesült Államokban egy eVre $ 18.- félévre $ 10.- Kanadaban es minden más külföldi ország­ban egy evre $ 20.- felevre $ 12.- Postrrjastert Send address changes to Hungarian Word, Inc. 130 E 16 St. New York, N.Y. 10003. LETTER TO THE EDITOR WASHINGTON,D.C. While marching on Sunday, May 3rd, to demonstrate against U.S. involvement in El Salvador, I made the following simple calcula­tion. The distance from the Lincoln Memorial to the Pentagon is about 12.000 feet. When I began to march from the Memorial, the start of the de­monstration had already arrived at the Pentagon rally site. We were marching 10 people abreast, and not quite in military precision, but with an approxi­mate spacing of two feet per row of marchers. This means that there were 6000 rows of 10 people each, marching at the same time. The product of 6000 x 10 is exactly 60.000; somewhat at variance with the 25.000 reported in the Washington Post on Monday, May 4th, and there were many more mar­chers to come. Knowing how keen the Post is about being accu­rate and truthful, it would appear that we again have need for Bill Green, the Post ombudsman. Certainly, President Reagan is entit'ed to know the most nearly correct number of people who agree or disagree with him about his policies. B.S. A Dog’s Life? By Alison Király I have always thought of pets simply as animals that you keep for company, friendship, or just for the joy of having an animal around. I have noticed however, that many people treat their pets more like members of the family instead of like animals - they anthropomorphize them. (Give it human cha­racteristics and qualities.) As a result, numerous people seem to care more for their pets than they do for the people around them. I believe people often turn to their animals to fill gaps in their emotional lives because, unlike human beings, pets give uncritical affection, are always there to “talk to”, and never “talk back”. Animals are also used as substitutes for children or for an un­cooperative husband or wife. We process six billion pounds of pet food annu­ally to feed our anima's while approximately 1000 million people (almost one quarter of the world’s population) are starving. One half of the ingredients used in the making of pet foods could be used to make food for these starving people! Shouldn’t it be considered socially unacceptable for billions and billions of dollars to be spent and billions and billi­ons of pounds of food to be eaten by pets when hu­man beings all over the world are in competition for that food? The production of increasing tons of food for pets seriously threatens the human food supply. Hungary’s tallest giant cedar has been placed un­der nature conservation. The gigantic, slender tree with a peaked crown stands in the park of Helesfa chateau in Baranya County and still continues to grow and extend its branches and crown. Its height matches that of village church spires. Another local giant tree is a Giant Redwood, whose height is nearly 30 meters, while the perimeter of its trunb is more than four meters.

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