Alpár Ágnes: A kabaré - A fővárosi kabarék műsora, 1945-1980 (MSZI, Budapest, 1981)

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political changes marked by the government programme of 1953, the 20th party congress and the political consolidation starting in 1957. After years badly lacking humour, cabaret had a decisive role in the consolidation period. Humour helped to interpret and understand politics which seemed to be abstract and difficult to understand for many. The cabaret showed that socialist development needs every-day people and their honest work instead of supermen and idols. It became manifest that true authority is not undermined by humour and satire. Humour is not only a concomitant but a basic phenomenon of a healthy society. If people can laugh they are well-balanced and settled. Cabaret is a rather ephemeral theatrical form. Consequently, it's almost impossible to trace down all the cabaret companyies and find out their whole program. That is why this book doesn't contain the programs of different political party meetings in the coalition period (1945-1948), occasional programs of different unions, leagues and the asystematic cabaret programs of open-air theatres. In the post-war period no less than 29 theatrical undertakings were initiated, some of them not in theatres but in cafés. Places of amusement with cabaret programs or emplying diseuses in the first 5 years after the liberation are enlisted in the appendix. The importance and social role of the modern Hungarian cabaret was formulated by János Komlós who died unexpectedly during the correction of this book. It was János Komlós who in 1967 founded Mikroszkóp Theatre, a politically active theatrical forum, where he tried to refresh, revive the tradition of theatrical journalism. He regarded the whole activity of Mikroszkóp Theatre as a task of public education. Following the example set by Free Nation Cabaret, which visited its audience in factories, Mikroszkóp Theatre frequently held performances in suburban districts inhabited by workers as well as in industrial centres in the country. Hungarian cabaret is not only a theatrical genre, it has its counterpart: radiocabaret. However, it exceeds the (permitted) amount of this book. With these two volumes we made an attempt to prove the continuity of cabaret between 1901-1980 by means of relevant data to future historians. We very much hope that this continuity will not be interrupted in 1980.