Földessy Edina, Szűcs Alexandra, Wilhelm Gábor: Tabula 3/1 (Néprajzi Közlemények; Budapest, 2000)

HELTAI GYÖNGYI: Totó és Latyi komikuma: színházantropológiai modell

GYÖNGYI HELTAI The comic acting of Totö and Latyi: a model of theatre anthropology The 20th Century version of the traditional comic acting (De Marinis, 1994) represents an alternative way of making theatre opposed to the realistic-imitative tradition. It is connected to special populär genres and special institutions (café chantant, revue, variety, and operetta). This populär acting tradition emphasises the unique expressive personality of the comedian-craftsman opposed to the text-centred imitation style. On the levél of the immediate Performance context the article will discuss its different approach to the dramatic matériái, its special Performance techniques and its special relationship with the audience. The changes of this comic acting style in the 1930s-60s will be shown in a parallel artistic biography of Kálmán Latabár (Latyi) and Antonio De Curtiz (Totö). They are determining figures of this comic acting style in Hungary in Italy as were Chaplin, George Robey, Fred Karno, Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy in the music hall, or the Marx brothers or Eddie Cantor in the American vaudeville tradition. The article examines this populär acting style from functional points of view, based on the model proposed by Marco De Marinis. The components of this model are: the comedian's "loneliness on stage", the comedian's "auto-tradition", his "pluri-lingual capacity" and his "carnivalistic intertextuality".