The Eighth Hungarian Tribe, 1983 (10. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1983-06-01 / 6. szám
June, 1983 THE EIGHTH HUNGARIAN TRIBE Pi|t 5 Zilahy Sándor Heltay Miklós yitárius Gyuri PAUL PULITZER: THE HUNGARIAN THEATRE IN NEW JERSEY Zilahy Sándor; Heltay Miklós; Iván Juliska; Horváth Angela; Leskó Jolánka; Bodnár József; Kedves Illonka; Nagy Jóska; Vitárius Gyuri! How many readers of the Eighth Hungarian Tribe today can still recall who these people were? How many among the more than 1.6 million Hungarians in America? How many among the thousands in Canada? Not many! Not anymore! For, with the inexorable passage of the years, most of our first generation of Hungarians in the United States and Canada, who could have recognized these names in an instant, have passed on, while most of our second generation and almost all of our third generation have become so Americanized or Canadianized that both retain little, if any, recollection or knowledge of the Hungarian past in America or Canada. Worse yet, both of these present-day generations, it seems, remain virtually uninterested in their Hungarian heritage. This observable decline in Hungarian consciousness, of course, can be attributed to a considerable extent to the failure of those who came before us, as well as their organizations and institutions, to embrace succeeding generations into the fold. This was, indeed, a tragic error in judgment. But all is not yet lost! The names mentioned, along with so many others not listed, were household words throughout the Hungarian communities in the United States and Canada from the early 1930-s through the 1960-s. For they were all famous members of the cast of one of the most popular theatrical groups that ever staged performances of Hungarian plays and operettas in such cities as New Brunswick, New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Youngstown, Cleveland, Chicago, Welland, Toronto, and many other cities. This theatrical group was the ZILAHY SÁNDOR MAGYAR VÍGSZÍNHÁZA! Upon the untimely death of Sándor Zilahy, his theatrical group ceased to exist. Some of his group also passed away, while others went their different ways. Strangely enough, however, Zilahy’s legacy to the Hungarian theatre in America and Canada still survives in a small town in New Jersey and in the hearts and minds of several former members of his troupe. It is alive and well thanks to the efforts of Joseph Bodnár, Jean Bodnár, and Angela Horváth Pulitzer and the sponsorship of the more than 60-year-old, American-Hungarian Citizens Club of Rahway (807 Old Raritan Road, Clark, New Jersey 07066). Just recently, in fact, the membership of this club held a Testimonial Dinner in honor of their organization’s American-Hungarian Theatrical Group and to demonstrate their appreciation for its great contribution towards fostering the perpetuation of our Hungarian heritage. Newman Kornélia Horváth Angela Iván Juliska Leskó Jolánka
