Magyar Hírek, 1984 (37. évfolyam, 2-26. szám)
1984-12-22 / 25-26. szám
THE "GOLI” IS TWO HUNDRED YEARS OLD LÚDAS MATYI, VUK AND OTHERS An interview with film-director Attila Dargay An ancient factory building stands among the new high rise flats in the historical centre of Óbuda. This is the Goldberger textile mill, known to all and sundry as “The Goli”. The start of the works, was two hundred years ago in 1784 as a dyeing shop founded by the Goldberger-family within the recently renovated threefour foot walls. And the fabrics dyed there soon reached distant countries and continents. This oldest of Budapest factory has a great past. But what of the future? "We are present on markets everywhere, from Scandinavia to Australia—Vince Zobor the manager, says. We succeeded in maintaining the reputation of the mill. The major portion of our production goes to4 other countries either directly or in processed forms. And we make a profit, which enables us to spend some sixty million forint annually on reconstruction.' "What else can the ‘Goli’ offer?’’ “When demand grows—and this is expected—production will grow. Many new products must be developed. The most essential condition is the progress of technology. There is also room for internal improvement, better management, better quality. This is the most effective way of rationalizing costs.” We tour the factory. Old walls, huge new machines, beautifully coloured fabrics everywhere. “This is Tünde”—István Medve, works engineer points at a white fabric with a tiny flower pattern. “We sell it in many countries, even in Australia. That other fabric with the wood fibre pattern is named I soldo. It was ordered by Soviet and French buyers. And those preshrunk yellow cloths will go to Sweden.” “How long have you been with the mill?" “28 years. My father worked here for 45 years. My uncle, aunt, and even my grandmother also worked for the ‘Goli’. This is why I came here.” “Are you familiar with the history of the factory?” “Yes, and not only from books. I heard many stories about the past in the factory as well as at home. Generations passed their memories and their knowledge to succeeding generations.” What is the heritage of the two hundred years old Goli? This is the subject we discuss in the printery. The printing shop is the heart of the factory, this is where the colours of the patterns are printed on the dyed fabrics using huge cylinders. Only three of us talk about this at first, Miklós Juhász, the head of the department, a chemist, who has worked here since 1953, first as a printing worker, then he completed his university studies while working, and Frigyes Popovics, a works engineer, who became a printer in 1950. One by one, others join us too. Béla Korányi, who started working here in 1948, and others. “What did the two hundred years leave to our time?” “The spirit of the ‘Goli’. To be in the vanguard all the time.” “What is the secret of this?” “To quickly recognize the demands of fashion, industrial possibilities, and to appear on the market before anybody else." “Do you also l ave the necessary capacities.” “Progress has not stopped here in the past forty years. Tibor Hidasi, a technical adviser, who died recently, came to work here in 1934. He spent fifty years in the Goli. Fifty years!... The knowledge of Hidasi, and the other old craftsmen, lives on." “What is the most valuable part of the heritage?” “The reputation built by succeeding generations of the founding Goldberger family, which we are trying to maintain.” “Did the past forty years produce new values?” “Yes, many of them. We live and think in a different way”—answers Miklós Juhász. “We were about to bid farewell to our old foreman, and wondered what could we give him that he would not forget, and that would be a gift from all of us? Well, we put in an extra shift to celebrate. And we printed 300,000 meters of fabric during that shift instead of the usual 160,000 meters. More than ever in the history of the factory . . . Could anyone dream before that the factory would once produce that much in honour of an old Óbuda worker? TAMÁS ACZÉL KOVACH Attila Dargay figured already in the making of the first fairy-tale film in 1951, under Gyula Macskássy, as a detail draughtsman. He was there when the separate cartoon film studio was not yet formed, since it did not promise to be profitable, and also when it did get established, after the small staff made its operations profitable with advertising films. He received the first Western commission: the 13 part Arthur series made for an American company. Ludas Matyi was his first fullfeature film; the great success of Vuk is indicated by the fact that it has long been in demand on the international market. Now he is working on his third full-feature film Staffi, based on Jókai’s Gypsy Baron (Cigánybáró). We discussed whether he was doing what he wished. “I had a dream after Vuk, I wanted to make a full-feature film of Csongor és Tünde. I worked on it for eighteen months. The characters were ready: the three devils— soot and smoke, Mirigy—fogs, marsh-fire, tinder and shadow. If Mirigy is shadow, then Tünde is light. I tried to create something with these characters that only animation can do. I fell in love with the text of the poet Mihály Vörösmarty, but the whole work just could not be compressed into a single film, and Vörösmarty could not be cut. Thus the whole plan went up in smoke. Instead of Csongor és Tünde, I am now working on Szaffi. Why this? Because it is a good, romantic story.” “Would you prefer working on Csongor és Tünde?” “I prefer working on this, because this is the easier, although it is really harder.” “After a few short cartoons you have made series exclusively, and lately only full-feature films. Is this what you consider to be your true genre?” “When József Nepp invented Gusztáv, several of us contributed to the series. To a man, we all had a few unrealized ideas, short-film stories, for which no money was available. We sorted out the best of these for Gusztáv, naturally adapting them to the character of the series. We put our heart and mind into this work, and regarded the episodes based on our own ideas as wholly our individual films. It is often heard that what I am doing is conservative. To put it more mildly: traditional. I say it is not sufficiently that. When one is making a film, one most decide for whom one intends to make it: the critics, the children, or to the bosses? I made my decision. I have no intention to try to cut new paths in this full-feature world. I did not even complete the course, which the predecessors cut since the twenties and the thirties.” “Do you consider it reasonable to run the same course?” “I had a thought-provoking experience at an international film festival. One of Walt Disney’s films was projected one afternoon. I noticed, that the kid sitting next to me laughed at the same episodes I used to enjoy in my childhood. If something which is conservative, still has such a strong effect on the public, then let me be conservative. I also want to achieve the same effect, I want to cheer up people, make them laugh and feel good. When Lúdas Matyi was shown in the children’s town, at Főt, and I saw the faces of small children light up, I saw them laughing and happy, it was worth more to me than any prize. That was when I decided to make films for children only. This is very easy, and also very hard. We had to make Vuk within a short time, and comparatively cheaply. We used simple solutions. which is apparent, for instance, in the movement of the characters. I always ask the opinion of children, my future audience. I draw a number of sketches of the characters. and I show them to children. They chose the versions they would most like to see in the film. Naturally, they vote for the ones they like most.” ÉVA BÁRSONY 61
