Somogyi Múzeumok Közleményei 9. (1992)

Varga Éva: „A cseperkekalap” K. Pap János színművei

„A CSEPERKEKALAP" 247 30 К. Pap János:Csurgói diák. Kaposvár, 1939., Szerző. 55. p. 31 Uo. 65. p. 32 Uo. 58. p. Paulay Ede, miután a Nemzetiben több darabot rendezett, statisztaként növendékeit is felléptette. A többszöri átöltözés a többnyire szegény színinövendékeknek jövedelmi forrást jelentett (25 krajcár egy átöltözés). De pl. Az ember tragédiájában szereplő „két vívó növendék az egyiptomi jelenetben külön 50 krajcárt kapott. Ezért érdemes volt meghalni mint rabszolgának." 33 Szinnyei:Magyar írók élete és munkái. 307. p. K. Pap János: Csurgói diák. 61. p. Somogyi Helikon. Szerk.: Hortobágyi Ágost 106. p. 34 K. Pap János: Csurgói diák. Kaposvár, 1939, Szerző. 61. p. 35 Uo. 64. p. 36 Uo. 68. p. 37 A cseperkekalap színlap-plakátja. = Országos Széchenyi Könyvtár Színháztörténeti Tár. On 28 July, 1944 the Kaposvár dailies announced the death of János К. Pap, retired school headmaster

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2 His literary and theatrical activities (he was an actor too) are commemorated in a short obituary. These days it is only the older generation, who were entertained by his plays, who will remember him. The celebrated and well-known playwright of the interwar period has become old-fashioned together with the genre which he represented. Due to the appearance of the more modern branches of the entertainment industry and to the restructuring of society, those old days have already been forgotten. The youth of our time can learn about the role of the folk play in the development of Hungarian drama and literature only from the history of literature and culture. The life of the masses has changed, „...the taste of the public has changed so the folk play had to change too."

3 The folk play was already an interesting museum piece on the stage of the Horthy era. Our author, who debuted with his first plays in the 80s and 90s of the 19th century on the stages of Népszínház (Folk Theatre) and Krisztinavárosi Színkör (Playcircle of Krisztinaváros), could not evolve his literary activity until the second half of the 1920s because of his provincial and low class origin as well as his helplessness. As a result of his belated appearance his name could not enter the 'hall of fame' of emiK. Pap János: Csurgói diák. Kaposvár, 1939. Szerző. 78. p. Egyetértés. 1891., május 10. sz. A cseperkekalap szó Somogyban használatos kifejezés, keskeny karimájú, domború tetejű velúrkalapotjelent. (Ld! Új Magyar Tájszótár. Főszerk.: B. Lőrinczy Eva. I. köt. Bp., 1979., Akadémiai. 849. p.) 38 Molnár Ferenc: A népszínmű jövője. = Fővárosi Lapok. 311. sz. Hoffmann Sándor: A népszínműről. = Magyar Szemle. 1891., 38-42. sz. Z.A hanyatló népszínmű.= Jelenkor. 1896., 8. sz. Rakodzay Pál: A haldokló népszínmű.=Fővárosi Lapok. 1896., 3. sz. 39 Galamb Sándor: A magyar dráma története 1867-től 1896-ig. II. köt., Bp., 1944., Akadémiai. 321. p. 40 K. Pap János: Csurgói diák. Kaposvár, 1939, Szerző. 84. p. 41 Uo. 87. p. nent writers, and his works could not be mentioned together with the classics because the pieces of art of the time were already influenced by the wind of change; they were evaluated according to new requirements in the competition of the various products of mass culture. Although he did not leave plays of immortal value behind, his folk plays and other writings, although kitschy or mediocre, gire us a chance to learn about the public taste of the time. The academic value of worthless literature is that the history of this literature is the history of its readers at the same time. This kind of literature can tell us the most about the consumers of this culture, primarily the rising strata of country people, because it was mostly they who favoured the plays of János К. Pap, beside other authors. The study of literature had looked down aristocratically on entertaining literature until very recently. (Not to mention the „country" scholars, who, to achieve acknowledgement of their activity, prefer not to deal with these inferior authors and with the interesting phenomena of rural mass culture.) So the intellectual heritage of János К. Pap has not been properly placed in the history of culture either. This study - also as a way of compensation for the 47 years silence aims to present an interesting personality in the literary life of Kaposvár and through his activity the consumers of the cultural products of the period. EVA VARGA: THE MUSHROOM HAT The Plays of János К. Pap Resume