Varga Éva: Sors és sanzon. Rácz Vali emlékeiből (Kaposvár, 2012)
_ ( ir> //<'<'/r\ The political changes in Hungary commencing in 1989 encouraged some notable representatives of the Western emigrant Hungarian community to re-discover their home, either in the form of their lives’ work, or also their physical bodies, to place the mementos of their careers in public collections. Performer artist Vali Rácz’s return home exemplifies those above. What really happened with her? A popular Hungarian star of the 1930ies and 40ies, she was better known abroad after her emigration in 1956 than at home. She had to share many emigrant colleagues’ fate of being hushed up in her homeland as a persona non grata for the regime. Since her visit home in 1989, several lucky encounters with representatives of the media and museums have taken place. In 1990 as a result of the initiative of the contemporary leaders of the village Gölle, a life’s art exhibition opened in her house of birth, the István Fekete Memorial House in Gölle. As luck would have it, Vali’s house of birth is the same building in Gölle where the famous Hungarian writer, István Fekete was born: the former teacher’s official quarters. According to Vali Rácz’s will, her valuable collection of historic and other interest was donated to the co. Somogy Museum. As a result of the cooperation between 1989 and 1995 - Vali kept contact personally or via mail as her health would allow - several new potential pieces emerged. Based on the documents and the artist’s precise information, the overall picture became complete: who she was. The middle-aged people of the nineties had barely heard her name. The elderly - those over sixty - however, spoke of her as a star of their youth, the uncrowned queen of the stage, one of the most talented performers of contemporary Hungarian movie hits and chansons. To make their enthusiasm clear for the younger generation: she was frequently compared to Marlene Dietrich. She did sing Lili Marlene, too, however, her repertoire also included the poetry of Endre Ady, Ernő Szép, Attila József, Mihály Babits, Gyula Juhász, the ballads of Francois Villon - to mention only a few. For six years every night, she appeared in the elegant Hangli with her programme of literary value. A number of famous composers like Ferenc Lehár competed for the privilege of writing a song for her. In 1939, Lehár called her to Vienna to feature in a new operetta dedicated directly to her. The great plan as so many others was balked by history. Between 1936 and 1943, Vali played in 19 films and another two after the war.
