Magyar Hírek, 1985 (38. évfolyam, 2-26. szám)
1985-07-06 / 14. szám
TONY CURTIS IN BUDAPEST A star in search of his roots A solid ring of people formed around Tony Curtis in the foyer of Hotel Forum in Budapest. He was giving autograms, then waving to the photographers. When I asked him what brought him to Hungary he said briefly: "I returned home.” He meant the home of his parents, Mátészalka. That was the old town he wanted to visit. Tony Curtis was polite and friendly, but firm: He would not welcome the company of the gentlemen of the press at Mátészalka. “You see”—he said.—“My trip is something special. I want to see my father’s house where he came from. Nostalgia, that’s what this is about, in the true sense, attached to a place. What matters is that this is my business. It concerns just me. I want to be alone. You don’t mind, do you?” What he wants make, sense, his reasons are persuasive, but Tony Curtis does not know how much the good folks of Mátészalka are looking forward to his visit. It is most unlikely that he would be left to be on his own. One of the photographers did not bother to ask, he first went ahead to meet him on arrival. We agreed to meet the next day. The day before’s scene was repeated in the Hotel Forum and there’s nothing surprising about that. Who would not recognize his wellknown features ? Tony Curtis starred in one hundred and thirty motion pictures including the breath-takingly tense story of The Defiant Ones, The Boston Strangler, or that, classic comedy Some Like it Hot. One of his television series, The Persuaders, is being currently broadcast by Hungarian Television. Putting it mildly, the latter does not belong to the same league as the films I have listed above, yet the frolicking of Tony Curtis and Roger Moore raises it above the standard of the conventional soap-opera. In a sense, our conversation is peculiar, if for no other reason than because we mixed here and there Hungarian sentences into the English we used. “What were your impressions of Mátészalka?” “Well, at long last I found myself face to face with my roots at Mátészalka. It was an experience that went to the bóne. Imagine my father once walked where I walked, before I was born, when he did not even know that he was going to become the father of a son, whom he would name Bernard. Where perhaps his greatest problem was how to manage to go see the girl who lived at the end of the street... Where he used to stroll with friends, where he went to school, where he ate, where he said his prayers, where he was sad and happy. I was really speechless. I just stood there on those stones and felt a shiver inside. It was a powerful experience.” “When did your father leave Hungary?” “Most likely in 1920, but it could have been 1921. To the best of my knowledge he went to Hamburg first, and sailed for America from there.” “Did he have a trade?” “He was a tailor.” “And your mother? Was she also from Hungary?” (In Hungarian) Igen, a mama Debrecenben volt. (Yes, mom was in Debrecen.) (In English) “She met Dad only when they already lived in America.” “When did they get married?” “In 1924.” “And Bernard Schwarcz, that is Tony Curtis, was born in 1925?” “Yes, on the 3rd of June.” “How did your parents speak at home, in the family, among themselves?” * (Tony switches to Hungarian.) “Hungarian, only Hungarian.” (He continues in English.) “I was five and I still believed I was Hungarian and lived in Hungary, in Debrecen and” (again in Hungarian) “I did not know that I was in New York, for everybody in the neighbourhood was Hungarian.” “How old were you when you began to learn English?” “Perhaps five. I had a great shock, when I walked a few blocks away and did not find Hungarians there.” (He continues in Hungarian) I went home and asked: Dad, what is that? My father said, son, this is America and not Hungary ...” “When did your parents die?” “My father died in 1958, and my mother in 1972.” “In what language did you talk to your mother, when you met her, English, Hungarian, or mixed?" “At first I always began talking to her in English. And then, then I began to talk... No, you know, the truth is we only talked English. Sometimes in the beginning I addressed her in Hungarian, but later only in English.” “What did your father tell you about Hungary, when you were a child? Did he, for instance, sit on the edge of your bed just to talk about the old country?" (In Hungarian) “Oh, Dad told me a lot about how then he was a little boy living in a dear little town he did this and that, that he... (He continues in English) He told me much, very much about the country, about the animals, chickens (he repeats that in Hungarian: a csirkékről), about his Papa and Mama. He did not have to be asked much to talk, whenever he sat down beside me he just talked and talked.” “Is this the first time you have come to Hungary?” “Yes, the very first.” “How come you never came before?” “I made up my mind to come several times, but I could never make the time.” “Forgive me another odd question, but how much does reality remind you of your father’s words?” “I think there is a tiny gap only between the two. What lived in my imagination, and what my father told me about Hungary is by and large the same as Hungary is in reality. At least the two are very much alike. (In Hungarian) People are happy here, (again in English) Hungary is clean, well run, very friendly, and the cooking is out of this world. You know, Hungary seems old fashioned to me, another generation lives here, a different world.” “And the young people?” “They are the same as everywhere. Young people everywhere have the same pleasures and the same desires.” “Did you meet anybody who knew your father?” “Perhaps I did. There was an old man there, seven or eight years younger than my father ... I doubt, though, that there could be many people who knew him. My father would be 85 now if he were alive.” “When in the course of your life people asked you about your origins what did you answer?” “That I was a Hungarian-American.” “Are you proud of your Hungarian origin?” “Yes, I am. Absolutely. Why, aren’t you?” “Did you learn about Hungarian literature or history?” “Indeed I did. Only very little, but I still know something about them.” “And what are your plans, will you come again?” “Yes. I will, very soon.” “How much work do you do a year?” “Twenty or thirty weeks. Perhaps only fifteen weeks. Very, very little. Less and less, now.” “In other words there is morePme for trips like the present?” “In Hungarian (Igen, igen, igen.) Yes, yes, yes.” oy. ti. l'HOTO: ANDREA FELVEGI A slightly abbreviated and edited text of the interview, published in the Hungarian section of the previous issue. CHRONICLE Protection of endangered species Zoltán Rakonczay, Deputy President of the National Bureau for the Protection of the Environment and Nature informed the press that Hungary has joined to the Washington Agreement on the Protection of endangered Species. The international agreement limits the trade in animals and makes it subject to certain conditions. By joining Hungary has undertaken the obligation to issue export licences concerning animals and plants of endangered species only under strictly» circumscribed conditions and to arrange the transportation of live animals according to the safety measures stipulated. Some two hundred species of mammals and birds have become extinct in recent centuries, and the survival of a further three hundred species is seriously endangered including the imperial and bald eagles, the peregrine falcon and various owls that are natives of Hungary. Unfortunately, international trade in wild animals is responsible for the depletion of endangered animal species, since the price of trophies and eggs is very high on the black market. This i?-..what the Washington Agreement wants ot fight. Zoltán Kodály Memorial Museum A memorial museum is being established in the former Budapest home of Zoltán Kodály, where documents of the life and work of the composer will be on display. Other premisses will be converted to make them suitable for temporary exhibitions and chamber music recitals. A room will also be made available to Kodály scholars. The original furnishings of the library and sitting room of the apartment as well as the 1,800 piece sheetmusic library and the 4,000 volume library of the artist were donated to the museum by Kodály’s widow, née Sarolta Péczely. The Kodály memorial museum is scheduled to open in the middle of 1986. Revival of Fiddler on the Roof After twelve years the Fővárosi Operettszínház (Municipal Operetta Theatre) has successfully revived Fiddler on the Roof, the musical by Joseph Stein, Sheldon Herfiick and Jerry Bock. The theatre was fully booked out for the first series of a hundred and twenty performances again starring Ferenc Bessenyei in the title role, László Vámos is the director. The revival is a great critical and box office success. The composer of the music of the play also visited Budapest to see the performance. After the performance Jerry Bock chatted with members of the company and thanked them for their performances which proved a particularly pleasant experience for him since his stay in Budapest coincided with his 35th wedding anniversary. Jerry Bock admitted on the occasion that his maternal grandfather was born in Hungary. “But I was still very young, when he died, I do not know much about him.” 30 I
